Varieties of English
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, varieties of English include British English (including Irish English), American English and Canadian English, Australian/New Zealand English (listed together by EB), India-Pakistan English (also listed together), and African English (especially as spoken in Republic of South Africa).[1]
As a natural language[edit]
Major varieties of spoken English[edit]
English is spoken by large numbers of people in Africa, North America, the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand, and parts of Asia.
One million or more native speakers[edit]
Major English speaking countries/regions with one million native speakers or more include (data from Ethnologue[2] unless noted):
- American English 225M speakers (2010 census)
- Australian English 15.6M speakers (2006 census)
- British English 55.6M native speakers (2012)
- Canadian English 19.4M speakers (2011 census)
- Hiberno-English (Irish English) 4.27M speakers (2012)
- Hong Kong English c. 2.88M speakers (2001)[3]–3.1M (2011)[4] (English is co-official language there)
- 2011 HK census, 238,288 reported English as their "usual" language.[4]
- Jamaican English 2.6M native speakers[5]
- New Zealand English 3.82M speakers (2013 census)
- Singapore English 1.1M native (2010)
- South African English 4.89M native speakers (2011 census)
Millions of non-native speakers[edit]
Many countries have millions of non-native English speakers. International English is sometimes considered a distinct variation of English. The countries with substantial numbers of English speakers and their own varieties of English are listed below.
India[edit]
English is the first language of 230,000 people in India. English has 125 million speakers in India, more than any other language except Hindi.[6]
Nigeria[edit]
Nigeria was the third- or fourth-place English speaking country worldwide in 2000, behind the U.S., the U.K. and ahead of India if c. 30 million speakers of Nigerian Pidgin English are counted.[7][8]
As of 2010, there were 83 million speakers of English in Nigeria, with growth of approximately 6% per year. English is an official national language, and the de facto national language for business, government and education.[9]
Others[edit]
Other countries with 50 million or more speakers of English include Pakistan (Pakistani English) and the Philippines (Philippine English).
Pidgins and creoles[edit]
Pidgins and creoles exist which are based on, or incorporate, English, including Chinook Jargon (a mostly extinct trade language), American Indian Pidgin English, and Manglish (Malaysian English-Malay-Chinese-Tamil).
A pan-Asian English variation called Globalese has been described.[10]
As a constructed language[edit]
Several constructed languages exist based on English, which have never been adopted as a vernacular. These constructed languages include Basic English, E-Prime, Globish, Newspeak, Pure Saxon English,[11]:302 Special English, Simplified English, Synthetic English,[11]:309 Merican,[11]:310 and Inglish.[11]:313 Language scholars have stated that constructed languages are "no longer of practical use" with English as a de facto global language.[12]
Technical and occupational[edit]
English has been adopted in many fields of international endeavor. Specialized subsets of English are used in certain fields.
- Aviation and air traffic control – Aviation English (used for Air traffic control)[13][14][15]
- Computing – English in computing
- Maritime navigation – Seaspeak, Standard Marine Communication Phrases (see also MarTEL testing)
- Police and emergency services – PoliceSpeak
References[edit]
- ^ Brittanica 1974.
- ^ English at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ^ Bolton 2002, p. 2.
- ^ a b HONG KONG GOVERNMENT'S CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT 2011
- ^ Crystal 2003, p. 109.
- ^ "Indiaspeak: English is our 2nd language", The Times of India, Mar 14, 2010
- ^ Barbara Wallraff (November 2000), "What Global Language?", The Atlantic, retrieved 2015-10-22
- ^ Ethnologue 2009
- ^ Robert Pinon, Jon Haydon (2010), The Benefits of the English Language for Individuals and Societies: Quantitative Indicators from Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Bangladesh and Pakistan (PDF), Euromonitor International
- ^ Nunan 2012, p. 186.
- ^ a b c d Okrent 2010.
- ^ Fischer 2004, p. 181 "[T]he goal [of constructed languages] is no longer of practical use... Living languages are of far greater influence in the world ... world languages are emerging naturally for the first time in history. Indeed, the English language -- by historical circumstance, not by design -- presently counts more second-language speakers than any other tongue on Earth and numbers are growing."
- ^ Sharkey, Joe (2012-05-21), "English Skills a Concern as Global Aviation Grows", The New York Times, retrieved 2015-10-22
- ^ Millward, David (2008-03-05), "English to become compulsory for pilots", The Telegraph, retrieved 2015-10-22
- ^ Hu, Claire (2014-02-26), Language of air travel: How traffic control keeps you safe, CNN, retrieved 2015-10-22
Books[edit]
- "English Language§Varieties of English", Encyclopædia Britannica (Fifth ed.), Vol. 6 Earth–Everglades, pp. 883–886, 1974
- Bolton, K. (2002), Hong Kong English: Autonomy and Creativity, Asian Englishes Today, Hong Kong University Press, ISBN 978-962-209-553-3, retrieved 2015-10-22
- Crystal, David (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (Second ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 109. ISBN 0-521-53033-4. Retrieved 2006-07-20.
- Fischer, Steven Roger (2004), History of Language, Reaktion Books, ISBN 978-1-86189-594-3
- Okrent, A. (2010), In the Land of Invented Languages: A Celebration of Linguistic Creativity, Madness, and Genius, Spiegel & Grau Trade Paperbacks, ISBN 978-0-8129-8089-9
- Nunan, David (2012), What Is This Thing Called Language?, Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-1-137-28499-0
External links[edit]
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Wikivoyage has a travel guide for English language varieties. |
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