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Types of English Language
The term British English is used
to discern the quality of written English language in United Kingdom
from other varieties of written English language. This term is used
by Americans to refer to spoken versions of English used in England,
whereas British people tend to say that they speak English and the
rest of the world speaks English with an accent like Canadian
accent, American accent or Indian accent. The term does not exist in
a Britisher’s vocabulary. Although the Americans refer to English
spoken outside America as British English, a more apt term to use
would be Commonwealth English.
The formal form of written English
used in United Kingdom, referred to as British English, is taught in
schools and is universally knows as Commonwealth English. It has a
slight emphasis on a few words that are localized. After all the
uniqueness and claims by British that they speak “English”, dialects
and their variants are evident within the United Kingdom.
Substantial differences can be found in the way the language is
spoken in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Even parts of
England have varied dialects for the spoken language.
History of London dating to 9th
century AD made the language spoken in London and East Midlands, the
official and standard language. This form of English was accepted
for use in the government branches of literature, education and law.
English has long since gone through extensive overhauls as any other
language of the world. The first ever dictionary to recode British
spellings was published in 1755 as Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of
the English Language.
The widespread use of the English
language around the world is attributed to the might of the British
Empire which once ruled many parts. The influence of English on
these parts was predominantly the English used by the British ruling
class. This English is the English used in south eastern England (in
London), the main university towns of Cambridge and Oxford. This
changed in the later part of the 20th century when United
States dominated the world arena due to its military, economic and
political dominance. The most prominent form of English spoken today
all over the world is American English. This has come about due to
widespread distribution and high acceptance of the culture of United
States made popular through its cultural products like books, music
and films.
The teaching of English in schools
all around the world still revolves around British English
especially in India, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa and
Singapore, American English has made inroads into the schools of
China, Japan and other Asian nations. The countries which have
British English taught in their schools have a deep cultural
influence of English spoken in the United Kingdom.
English language enjoys the status
of being the official language of many countries although not many
speakers of these countries speak English. This came about due to
the dominance and cultural influence of the British Empire in 18th
and 19th centuries followed up by economic, military and
political influence in the late 20th century to the
current period. This has caused English to be learnt at least as a
second language in most schools of the world because of its
requirement in most occupations including airlines, cinema,
internet, science and varied others. Thus English has become the
third most spoken language in the word with about 400 million
speakers, coming only after Chinese and Hindi.
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