English is a West Germanic language whose origin is in the dialects of Anglo-Frisian , which were made on the island of Britain by Germanic tribes came to settle there, and then heavily influenced, especially at the lexical level, Languages by settlers from Scandinavia, Normandy and northern France in general in the Middle Ages and the modern French. As for other languages, borrowing from ancient Greek and Latin have consistently enriched the lexicon until today. Other Romance idioms and dialects of the former colonies have influenced British English in a much less significant. By cons, these influences are real in different English-speaking countries (the influence of the languages of substrate ), thus are varieties that can in turn mark the British English (American English for example).

Classification

English is a Germanic language family, in which the languages are closest to the Frisian and the Scots , but who nevertheless suffered several times the influence of other Germanic languages like Old Norse , in various languages Romance , especially French , Latin-Roman influence that can be seen not only in words that are a priori lexical borrowings (already seen or appointments, French expressions used in English; embargo of the Spanish ; cupola, folio stiletto or Italian), but in very many words etymon Latin (like expect exspectare , school choir, or scuttle scutes). A very large number of French borrowings have retained their original spelling (tail, table, smart, center, attention) but are pronounced differently.

Geographic distribution

The English in the world. Dark blue, countries where English is an official or de facto official. In blue, countries where there is an official language (except for Quebec , a province) but not the first language spoken.

Pie chart giving the relative proportions of speakers of English as mother tongue in the major English-speaking world.

Official status

English is also the official language of some villages in the Dominican Republic , near the border of Haiti (where they speak an English of the nineteenth ^century, former slaves from the southern states of the United States who fled Civil War ).

English is also one of the first languages of Belize (with Spanish), from Canada ( Canadian English , with French ), of India (Hindi and English and 21 other state languages), of of Ireland (with Irish ), from Singapore (with Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and other Asian languages), of South Africa (with the Zulu , the Xhosa , the Afrikaans and the Sotho north) and Egypt. It is the non-official language most used in Israel and the United Arab Emirates (language of communication of the population to 74% foreign). This is the usual language on the island of St. Martin in part under the France and part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In Hong Kong , is an official language and widely used in the business world. Learned from kindergarten, it is the language of instruction in some primary schools, many secondary schools and all universities. A significant number of students attain a level of English speaker. This language is so widely used that it is inappropriate to say that it is a second language or foreign language. In Thailand, English is also used for business, but after Chinese.

Derived languages

English has given birth:

• many pidgins and creoles ;
• the Basic Franais , artificial language created by CK Ogden and IA Richards in 1930. It contains not more than 850 words: those that are essential to everyday life (expression of feelings included) plus those needed to define the other time a conversation;
• the special Franais (English Special), composed of about 2000 words, excluding idioms and spoken at reduced speed (25% slower than normal diction), this variety of English is a language used by radio VOA (The VOA) to broadcast its programs worldwide;
• the simple Franais , a language which are transcribed from articles written in English originally richer but more difficult to access.

Spread of English

The liberal globalization, a catalyst for the spread of English

The growing influence of English for several decades because of the globalization of trade and technology, dominated by major powers speaking this language , the United Kingdom and the United States in particular. Writing in 1989 , Maurice Pergnier , describes this situation as follows:

"The socio-economic supremacy of the United States, from which flows a powerful cultural hegemony, has made English a few decades, the language of universal communication undisputed. There are few precedents (...) if we exclude the case (...) of Latin , from late antiquity to the Renaissance. "

The predominance of English has replaced the French in the twentieth ^century, following the two world wars with France and is exhausted by the strengthening of political and economic clout of the United States.

The view that English is the universal language of communication undisputed, and the most suitable choice for international communication, is strongly disputed (see Report Grin and Esperanto ).

English occupies positions increasingly strong in the world, particularly in Europe. The linguist Claude Hagege believes that the reason is the significant development in contemporary Europe, economic liberal , whose English is the medium. Neither the Commission nor the European states have so far responded in a coordinated and effective response to this situation, they have not yet seen the serious issues . The origins of liberal foundations of English, a natural solidarity unites the English language and the ideology of free trade , which dominated the English conception of human relations and trade from David Hume (1740) and Adam Smith (1776) , which inspired the liberal doctrines of David Ricardo (1817) and John Stuart Mill (1848) .

Claude Truchot believes that the use of English words in the speech, which is a practice that has strengthened over the past fifteen years, has a dimension ideological , insofar as its purpose is to express modernity and internationality avoiding the use of language .

On August 21, 2002, "Le Canard Enchaine" reported that the fall in stock of Vivendi was originally the press conference call "disastrous" held August 14 in English by Jean-Rene Fourtou after the presentation of the accounts of Vivendi " Far from reassuring analysts, the press and investors, the declarations of the new group's president, made in English, have accelerated the drop in the stock exchange. A director had said: "I do not want to mislead you, but boards are now held in English, and sometimes I do not understand in detail the decisions taken there."

A number of multinationals have refused the hegemony of English as illustrated by the remarks of Jean-Francois Dehecq, CEO of Sanofi-Aventis, said during an interview with the newspaper L'Expansion (27/06/2005) which asked him what was the language used in his group, he replied: "This is certainly not English. A multinational is a company where everyone can speak their language. In a meeting, the brains of people we need. If you force them to speak English, the Anglo-Saxons arrived with 100% capacity, people who speak very well, with 50%, and the majority, with 10%. By trying to be all Anglo-Saxon, it is not surprising that it is the Anglo-Saxons win. "

Broadcasting in science and technology

The use of English words is significant in sectors such as IT , and telecommunications as was (and still is, actually) the Italian for music. But new technologies (DVD multi-lingual, global Internet) and the adaptation of firms to their customers (CNN broadcasts in several languages, making the Microsoft Windows software in several languages) have dealt a blow on the domination of English. English is since 1951 the language used in aviation, decision of the ICAO. More and more scientific research work (theses, studies, etc..) Are written in English or are being translated into that language.

In some non-English speakers (like Switzerland ), English became official language in part of higher education.

Broadcasting in international relations

During the nineteenth ^century, English has acquired the world instead of the language most commonly used in international meetings, although multilingualism is the norm. While the French were up to the First World War the preferred language of diplomatic relations and contractual relations, the growing importance of English-speaking states in international relations has encouraged the use of English over the French or German.

Extending the basis of speakers

English is the second language, official or de facto, numerous States, including some with high population growth ( Nigeria for example). This is the most widely learned foreign language in the world with an ever increasing number of learners, it benefits from a spread in all countries on all continents, with a growing base of users .

Some researchers ^, .

Under a 2000 study, published in Issue 26-27, 2002, Lkartidningen, magazines for Swedish physicians, 111 general practitioners in Denmark, Sweden and Norway have read the same review article for 10 minutes. Half has read in his mother tongue, the other half in English. Questions were raised immediately after the reading. In general, all physicians Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are fairly comfortable with the English language through the education received in school as well as through television, movies and songs. Moreover, their language is related to English. They also read books in English studies, subscribe to medical journals in English. In this study, physicians indicated that they all understood English. 42% of them reported that they had even read a weekly news in English. This study found that physicians who had read the English text had lost 25% of the information from the same text read in their mother tongue.

Controversy over this broadcast

In a speech to the United States in 2000, Margaret Thatcher tied the dominance of English on the political and economic domination of this country : "In the twenty-first ^century , the dominant power is America, the dominant language English is the dominant economic model is the Anglo-Saxon capitalism " .

Some researchers complain that increasing dominance , they describe as linguistic imperialism , and the risks which they believe may arise, including the risk of hegemony (English takes the place of other languages) or social selection (must speak English to be part of the elite).

It is in this perspective that France issued the price of carpets English intended to criticize the French personalities who put a particular zeal in the unjustified use of English. Thus in 1999, Louis Schweitzer, former CEO of Renault, had received the award for having decided to use only English in the relationship between the multinational frameworks. However in April 2001, AFP informed him that he abandoned this course and acknowledged that English was more of a handicap than a help: "The language was a difficulty a bit higher than we thought. We chose English as the language of the covenant, but this proved a handicap with a reduced efficiency of both sides. "

Especially since ¹ May 2008 , the London Protocol requires knowledge of English or German to avoid breaking the law on patents ^{Indirect influences}

The influence of the English language (in fact the Anglo-American) reflects the economic and political power of the United States and their influence in the world, much more than that of the United Kingdom, the cradle of the English language. It is accompanied by a more general socio-cultural influence, exercised in addition to language, social learning and the cinema . It may thus have a significant impact on the lifestyles of non-English speaking countries, the phenomenon of Americanization .

Writing and spelling

English uses the Latin alphabet (including, formerly, or letters like ; see the history of the English language ). He uses signs diacritics for writing words of foreign origin. His spelling stems from a long historical process and there is often more accurate correspondence between it and the current pronunciation.

From the sixteenth century, several people have suggested simplifying the spelling of English , some, including Benjamin Franklin and George Bernard Shaw , have even proposed a phonetic writing, but without success. The word fictional Ghoti was used as an example of the inadequacy of current spelling.

Pronunciation

Vowels

The symbols in the list below are those of the International Phonetic Alphabet as used for the transcription of English by most dictionaries, specialized or not, since the late 1970's.

Vowels brief

: i f fteen (five), f i sh (fish), ch i ps (fries, chips)

e: m e n (men) to the e t (left)

: m a n (man), a t c (cat)

: d o g (dog)

: g oo ds (property), to p u t (set)

: s u n (sun), dr nk u (drunk)

: Bassist e r (sister), th e dog (the dog)

Long vowels

i: s ea (sea), to r ea d (read)

c a r (car) has rk s (dark)

w a ll (wall), the aw (law)

u : m n oo (moon)

f i rst (first), b i rd (bird)

Diphthongs

a f i ve (five), h i gh (top)

e: ke sn a (snake), n me (name) has Sh kespeare

: oi l (oil), b oy (boy)

a c ow (cow), or nt to c (count)

: r oa d (road), o ld (old)

e h ai r (hair), teddy b ea r (teddy bear)

: b ee r (beer)

: p oo r (poor)

triphthongs

a f ry (Fire)

a: fl ow er (flower)

The sequences called triphthongs are actually made of two syllables:

ie a diphthong followed by.

Consonants

The table below shows the system of English consonants with the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

When a box contains two sounds, the top one is voiceless (consonants "deaf" or "non-voiced, like when we whisper) the bottom one is voiced (consonant" sound "or" voiced ").

Grammar

See detailed article: English Grammar

Conjugation

Glossary

Number of words

Unlike other languages, there is no formal organization which identifies English words. As also the current importance of language in scientific research that many words are created every day (some promise for wide distribution, while others use proprietary), there is no complete list. Dictionary Oxford Dictionary Franais , one of the most complete, contains over 600,000 entries, including obsolete words, technical words and words from local dialects. This number seems to be confirmed by the Webster's Third New International, which listed 450,000 words in 1961. However, their inputs do not coincide completely and it is estimated that the combined reach is 750,000 words, a total which is higher than that found in other languages . They often duplicating the words of Anglo-Saxon existing: in some cases one of two words supplanted another, whereas in many other cases the two continued to coexist, leading to a juxtaposition of different words related to same concept but with slightly different meanings. Thus, next to house, a word of Germanic origin (compare German Haus), which means "house", there is' mansion, originally French word that means a Norman "big house", a " manor " , or freedom and liberty, two words very close, with the first and second general sense referring to a political system of rights and duties . Similarly we find pairs of words from different language groups, such as moon and lunar, tooth and dentist, weapon and Disarmament.

Origin of words

In 1973, Thomas and Dieter Wolff Finkenstaedt, based on 80 000 words of the Shorter Oxford Dictionary ^(3rd edition), established in Ordered Profusion the following distribution :

• langue d'oil , the Norman mainly but there are also Picard and finally Old French: 28.3%
• Latin , including scientific and technical words of recent fabrication: 28.24%
• Old and Middle English, Old Norse and Dutch : 25%
• Greek : 5.33%
• Etymology unknown: 4.02%
• words derived from proper names: 3.28%
• all other languages: less than 1% .

These estimates should be taken with great caution because many words have entered English via another language (eg Latin words via Norman French). These problems of definition lead to different assessments. Thus the French linguist Henriette Walter says his side more than two-thirds of English words are of French origin, while borrowing from French to English does not exceed more than 4% . The abundance of terms, even common, from the French said that much of the vocabulary is more accessible to Francophones, as speakers of Germanic languages however, such as Dutch, German or Scandinavian languages. There are words from the Old French (enjoy, challenge, bacon), but also from French contemporary modern see (facade, restaurant, yet). Some words have been borrowed and then re-borrow the same "challenge" is a French word of English (a challenge), itself derived from Old French chalenge , Bacon also removed the use of French in the sixteenth ^Century Income and "smokers" across the Channel in the late ^nineteenth century , etc..

The contribution of the Old Norse , following the raids and settlements of Vikings that took place in the late eighth ^century to the late tenth ^century, is quite small numerically but gave modern English some of his words most Current: skirt, sky, skin, Botha, Sami, get, again, cake, knife, etc.. and influenced the phonetics, for example: give instead of gi (e) f-an (g = y) , sister instead of Old English sweoster , etc..

Borrowing from Celtic languages are extremely few: David Crystal believes that no more than two dozen, which is curious if it is true that these languages dominated the British Isles before the arrival of the Saxons. A few words remain in modern English, as crag (rock) or galore (galore), sometimes in regional dialects, and especially in place names (London, Thames, Kent). Celtic roots are found as number and pen (hill), Coombe or Combe (valley), tor (rock) (in Torquay), Don (river) (in Doncaster), etc.. .

Although English has absorbed many foreign words, the heart of Anglo-Saxon lexicon remains: the first 100 words of the Corpus of American English from Brown University, assembled in the 1960s, are Anglo-Saxon. The most common words in the English language (grammatical words as in, the, be, or as lexical father, love, name, etc..) Are words of Anglo-Saxon .

References

Notes

References

See also

The has a category English.

The has entries for " English "and" English ".

The has course on " Department: English.

Bibliography

• Henriette Walter , L'Aventure languages in the West, Editions Robert Laffont, 1994, the chapter on Germanic languages
• Henriette Walter , Evil be to him who evil thinks, Editions Robert Laffont, 2001, on round trips of words between English and French
• JP Vinay and J. Darbelnet , Comparative Stylistics of French and English, Paris, Didier, 1958
• (In) David Crystal , The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Cambridge University Press, 1995
• David Crystal , as a Global Language Franais, Cambridge University ^Press, 2nd ed.
• (In) EJ Dobson Franais Pronunciation 1500-1700, 2 ed., 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.
• (In) Fausto Cercignani , Shakespeare's Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.

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