Introduction English is the most popular language in the world.  English is outstripped only by  Chinese which is first language of biggest population. But the Chinese speakers are concentrated in china only unlike English speakers who are on the whole globe.   But English  is the most common  second language.   In India,  English enjoys a unique position as second language of people all over the country.  English is second language of all regions in India.  In fact, English is the link language bringing together people from North and south, East and West.  It will be of interest that English is official language of Nagaland- a North East Indian state.  The Nagas have many tribal languages and hence they have adopted English as their official state language. Incidentally, the Roman alphabet is used for all North East languages except Assamese. The birth of English English was not even in existence till 6th century. The history of English language is fascinating.  English owes her richness to a stew of influences, reflecting many influxes of peoples into the island of Britain, from the Celts, Romans,  Anglo Saxons, Vikings, Normans, Jews, West Indians and Asians.  The language has also been spiced up by Britain’s long history of overseas adventures, trade and expansion.  There are English speaking countries historically close to Britain, such as U.S.A., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and south Africa , which have added their own distinct flavor.  Indo European A new language developed more than six thousand years ago around the Black Sea. There are few traces of prehistoric people and  no writings. The new language is called Indo-European.   This language gradually developed into English, as we speak today.  Around 2000 B.C. Indo European split into branches, one of which is Germanic. The Germanic speaking people moved to Northern Europe. Those who settled to the North laid the foundation for Scandinavian languages. The western branch spoke German and Dutch.  Later overseas adventures of these people had an impact on the British. Old English At the time of Germanic movements,  the people of Britain spoke Celtic language. In AD 43, Emperor Claudius sent an expedition that established a Roman presence in Britain lasting until the early 5th century, when troops were under attack from Goths. With the Romans gone, the Britons were attacked from the North by Picts and Scots.  Their king Vortigern invited the German speaking Saxons from across the sea . Soon, Angles, Saxons and Jutes from parts of modern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands were taking over the land, and  influencing the language. By the end of 7th Century,  OLD ENGLISH  established its identity. There were many dialects but the kind spoken in Southern England, or Wessex – the kingdom of West Saxons- became the main form when Alfred the Great  began to unite England in the 9th century. Old English words were short and expressed simple concepts, such as, the, to, be,a, from and with. Old English used some letters that are no more in use.  A strong influence on Old English was the Old Norse- spoken by the Vuikings, who set sail from Norway, Sweden and Denmark to attack  the south and east of England at the end of 8th century.  Fighting continued  until Alfred the Great made a treaty with their leader Guthrum, in 886, which established the Danelaw, an area of England subject to Danish Law. French influence The Norman invasion of England in 1066 heralded the rise of  a new French influenced language- medieval or Middle English- which is closer to modern English. For nearly 300 years, French was the language of the crown and nobility.  Thousand of French words entered English. Prefixes such as con, de, dis, ex, ance, ant, ent, ity, ment, tion came via French from Latin. In the 15th century, there was also a change in the way that many English words were pronounced, known as great vowel shift. Before the change, the  a in fame sounded like the a in present day father. This change explains the seeming peculiarity of many English spellings as we use today. Advent  of press- making of early modern English In 1476, William Caxton, an English merchant, set up a press in Westminster, London and began to print books in English. Thus English was available for wide consumption, helping to build a stable version and imposing some sort of order on how it was transcribed. This was the beginning of early modern English. It is also the language of the authorized version of Bible, or King James Bible, an English translation made in 1611 at the order of James  I, and for more than 300 years version used   in church and at home. Influence of other languages While Caxton was turning out the first printed English pages, ‘a rebirth of learning’ was flourishing in continental Europe and spreading slowly to Britain.   Words from Latin and Greek  were  used to  express new concepts, such as  chaos, democracy, skeleton etc.  French, Italian and Spanish also became source for new words. The addition of new words in English continued with the great age of exploration, spurred on by the first  voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492.  Europeans visited  Africa, America and the far east, and thus new words were imported. Affect of colonial expansion Trade and colonial expansion from the 16th century onwards took English far beyond the shores of Britain. American English was the first variety followed soon by others.  When America won her independence from Britain in 1776, the U.s. dictionary writer Noah Webster  availed the chance to create a new linguistic identity by making “American Dictionary of the English Language” (1828). He favored simplified spellings like center, color etc. By 1800, English had become recognizably  modern.  The significant feature of modern English is thousand of words appearing every year. From the time of Industrial revolution, which began in England in the late 18th century, Science and technology have been a  good source of new terms, with computer (geek, icon), internet (blog, podcast), mobile phones( texting, smileys) etc. Slang is another source of fresh language. Particularly among the young. Increasing informality is reflected in our daily use of English. We are more likely to say-  bike, pub and bra than bicycle, house and brassiere. If enough people use a word, English will absorb it. The democratic nature of English is shown by the liberty with which journalists and advertising copywriters invent words. These innovative words include- adultescent( a middle aged person with adolescent manner and dress), infotainment etc. Conclusion In the 21st century, English is the global language of the internet, business, science  and technology. American English is the most influential form but emerging varieties, such as Hinglish (English used by Hindi spreakers), Japlis (Japanese English), Singlish (Singaporean variety) are also transforming the language. However, we still need standard English so that we may speak conveniently to each other.      

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