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English As Global Language

English began as a West Germanic language brought to England by Saxons in 400 AD. It has evolved over time from Old English to Middle English to Modern English, being influenced by French, Latin, Greek and many other languages. Today English has a vocabulary of over 750,000 words, and is spoken by hundreds of millions of people as either a first or second language globally, having become the dominant international language of business, science, aviation, diplomacy and pop culture due to British colonial expansion starting in the 17th century.

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Hari Hara Sudhan Kaliappan
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Topics covered

  • English influence,
  • characteristics,
  • language resources,
  • English communication,
  • language of education,
  • Middle English,
  • language statistics,
  • English speakers,
  • native speakers,
  • language trends
197 views16 pages

English As Global Language

English began as a West Germanic language brought to England by Saxons in 400 AD. It has evolved over time from Old English to Middle English to Modern English, being influenced by French, Latin, Greek and many other languages. Today English has a vocabulary of over 750,000 words, and is spoken by hundreds of millions of people as either a first or second language globally, having become the dominant international language of business, science, aviation, diplomacy and pop culture due to British colonial expansion starting in the 17th century.

Uploaded by

Hari Hara Sudhan Kaliappan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Topics covered

  • English influence,
  • characteristics,
  • language resources,
  • English communication,
  • language of education,
  • Middle English,
  • language statistics,
  • English speakers,
  • native speakers,
  • language trends

ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL

LANGUAGE
Plan
 Development of the English language
 Characteristics of English
 English as the language of the world
Development Of The English
Language
 English began as a west Germanic
language which was broughy to England by
the Saxons around 400 AD.
According to the periods of the development
English is known as:

 Old English
 Middle English
 Modern English
 English of today
Old English
 is the spoken and written language
between 400 and 1100 AD
 Many words come from Old English
>man,woman,king,mother,give,wash
(brought by the Saxons) and sky,take,get
(brought by Vikings)
Middle English

was developed from about 1300 to 1500

was influenced by French during the
Norman Conquest in 1066 >the words
connected with government, e.g.
sovereign,royal,court,legal,government

was influenced by Latin, the language of
religion and
learning>minister,angel,school,grammar
Modern English
 was influenced by the English used in
London and changed a great deal until the
end of the 18th century.
 Many words were introduced from Greek
and Latin to express new ideas in
science,medicine and philisophy>
physics,species,architecture,encyclopedia.
English of today
 80% of the word-stock is foreign-born
 Most world languages have contributed
some words to English at some
time>city,village,mansion (French),
cigar,mosquito,tornado(Spanish),coffee,ca
viar(Turkish),jungle,shampoo,pyjamas(Hin
di),jazz,tango,zombie(African)
 The standard English is known as BBC
English
 Few British people know much about
grammar
 An RP (Received Pronunciation) accent is
now associated mainly with the upper class
es.
 Many younger educated people have a
modified regional accent.
Characteristics

Spelling and pronunciation seem to be the
most difficult aspects in English

English is very rich in synonyms - each with
its own shade of meaning

Huge vocabulary which numbers about
750,000 words (first-ranked in the world)

Educated English speakers use
approximately 5,000 words in speech.
 7,500 words is a target for an advanced
learner
 2,500 words are acquired for the period of
time of three years and used by native
speakers in everyday life (they use very few
words to express everything with the help of
language flexibility)
The most common English
words
 1 the
 2 be
 3 of
 4 and
 5a
The Language Of The World
 The English encompasses the globe.
 It became a global language only after the
17th century, when Englishmen sailed to
faraway lands and thanks to its
establishment as a mother tongue outside
England, in all the continents of the world.
 It dominates the planet as the medium of
exchange in science,
technology,commerce,tourism,diplomacy
and pop culture.
 English is
 - the native language of 12 countries
 - an official or semiofficial tongue in 33
others
 345 million people use English as their first
language and 400 million as their second
 This means that 1 out of every 7 people in
the world claims some knowledge of
English!
You can use
English to
make
foreign
friends!
Tips for Learning English

Talk with foreigners! Travel and study abroad

Watch movies and TV Listen to music and the radio

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