Unit2EnglisharoundtheworldTheroadtomodernEnglishAttheendofthe16thcentury,aboutfivetosevenmillionpeoplespokeEnglish.NearlyallofthemlivedinEngland.Laterinthenextcentury,peoplefromEnglandmadevoyagestoconquerotherpartsoftheworldandbecauseofthat,Englishbegantobespokeninmanyothercountries.Today,morepeoplespeakEnglishastheirfirst,secondorforeignlanguagethaneverbefore.NativeEnglishspeakerscanunderstandeachothereveniftheydon’tspeakthesamekindofEnglish.Lookatthisexample:BritishBetty:Wouldyouliketoseemyflat?AmericanAmy:Yes.I’dliketocomeuptoyourapartment.SowhyhasEnglishchangedovertime?Actually,alllanguageschangeanddevelopwhenculturesmeetandcommunicatewitheachother.Atfirst,theEnglishspokeninEnglandbetweenaboutAD450and1150wasverydifferentfromtheEnglishspokentoday.ItwasbasedmoreonGermanthantheEnglishwespeakatpresent.ThengraduallybetweenaboutAD800and1150,EnglishbecamelesslikeGermanbecausethosewhoruledEnglandspokefirstDanishandlaterFrench.ThesenewsettlersenrichedtheEnglishlanguageandespeciallyitsvocabulary.Sobythe1600’sShakespearewasabletomakeuseofawidervocabularythaneverbefore.In1620someBritishsettlersmovedtoAmerica.Laterinthe18thcenturysomeBritishpeopleweretakentoAustraliatoo.Englishbegantobespokeninbothcountries.Finallybythe19thcenturythelanguagewassettled.AtthattimetwobigchangesinEnglishspellinghappened:firstSamuelJohnsonwrotehisdictionaryandlaterNoahWebsterwroteTheAmericaDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage.ThelattergaveaseparateidentitytoAmericanEnglishspelling.EnglishnowisalsospokenasaforeignorsecondlanguageinSouthAsia.Forexample,IndiahasaverylargenumberoffluentEnglishspeakersbecauseBritainruledIndiafrom1765to1947.DuringthattimeEnglishbecamethelanguageforgovernmentandeducation.EnglishisalsospokeninSingaporeandMalaysiaandcountriesinAfricasuchasSouthAfrica.TodaythenumberofpeoplelearningEnglishinChinaisincreasingrapidly.Infact,ChinamayhavethelargestnumberofEnglishlearners.WillChineseEnglishdevelopitsownidentity?Onlytimewilltell.STANDARDENGLISHANDDIALECTSWhatisstandardEnglish?IsitspokeninBritain,theUS,Canada,Australia,IndiaandNewZealand?Believeitornot,thereisnosuchthingasstandardEnglish.Thisisbecauseintheearlydaysofradio,thosewhoreportedthenewswereexpectedtospeakexcellentEnglish.However,onTVandtheradioyouwillheardifferencesinthewaypeoplespeak.Whenpeopleuse
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sandexpressionsdifferentfrom“standardlanguage”,itiscalledadialect.AmericanEnglishhasmanydialects,especiallythemidwestern,southern,AfricanAmericanandSpanishdialects.EveninsomepartsoftheUSA,twopeoplefromneighboringtownsspeakalittledifferently.AmericanEnglishhassomanydialectsbecausepeoplehavecomefromallovertheworld.Geographyalsoplaysapartinmakingdialects.SomepeoplewholiveinthemountainsoftheeasternUSAspeakwithanolderkindofEnglishdialect.WhenAmericansmovedfromoneplacetoanother,theytooktheirdialectswiththem.SopeoplefromthemountainsinthesoutheasternUSAspeakwithalmostthesamedialectaspeopleinthenorthwesternUSA.TheUSAisalargecountryinwhichmanydifferentdialectsarespoken.AlthoughmanyAmericansmovealot,theystillrecognizeandunderstandeachother’sdialects.