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Where Are English- Language Speakers Distributed?

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Where Are English- Language Speakers Distributed? Chapter 5: Language 137 The global distribution of languages results from a combi- nation of two geographic processes—interaction and isolation. Origin and Diffusion People in two locations speak the same language because of migration from one of the locations to another. If the two of English groups have few connections with each other after the migra- English is the first language of 328 million people and is spoken tion, the language spoken by each will begin to differ. After a fluently by another one-half to one billion people (Figure 5-1). long period without contact, the two groups will speak lan- English is an official language in 57 countries, more than any guages that are so different they are classified as separate other language, and is the predominant language in two more languages. (Australia and the United States). Two billion people—one-third The interplay between interaction and isolation helps to of the world—live in a country where English is an official lan- explain regions of individual languages and entire language guage, even if they cannot speak it (Figure 5-2). families. The difference is that individual languages emerged in the recent past as a result of historically documented events, whereas language families emerged several thousand years English Colonies before recorded history. The contemporary distribution of English speakers around the world exists because the people of England migrated with their language when they established colonies during the past four centuries. Compare Figure 5-2 with Figure 8-8, which shows the KEY ISSUE 1 location of former British colonies. English is an official language in most of the former British colonies. Where Are English- English first diffused west from England to North America in the seventeenth century. The first English colonies were built in Language Speakers North America, beginning with Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. After England defeated Distributed? France in a battle to dominate the North American colonies during the eighteenth century, the position of English as the ■ Origin and Diffusion of English principal language of North America was assured, even after the ■ Dialects of English United States and Canada became independent countries. Similarly, the British took control of Ireland in the seven- The location of English-language speakers serves as a case teenth century, South Asia in the mid-eighteenth century, the study for understanding the process by which any lan- South Pacific in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen- guage is distributed around the world. A language origi- turies, and southern Africa in the late nineteenth century. In each nates at a particular place and diffuses to other locations case, English became an official language, even if only the colo- through the migration of its speakers. ■ nial rulers and a handful of elite local residents could speak it. More recently, the United States has been responsible for diffusing English to several places, most notably the Philip- pines, which Spain ceded to the United States in 1899, a year after losing the Spanish-American War. After gaining full independence in 1946, the Philip- pines retained English as one of its offi- cial languages along with Filipino. Origin of English in England The global distribution of English may be a function primarily of migration from England since the seventeenth century, but that does not explain how English came to be the principal language of the British Isles in the first place, or why Eng- lish is classified as a Germanic language. The British Isles had been inhabited for thousands of years, but we know nothing of their early languages until FIGURE 5-1 Teaching English. English is widely taught around the world, including this school in Thailand. tribes called the Celts arrived around 138 The Cultural Landscape 80° ARCTIC OCEAN ARCTIC OCEAN 70° Arctic Circle 60° 60° UNITED CANADA KINGDOM IRELAND 50° 50° 50° 50° PACIFIC 40° 40° 40° PAKISTAN 40° UNITED STATES ATLANTIC MALTA OCEAN OCEAN ISRAEL 30° 30° 30° 30° ANTIGUA & Tropic of BAHAMAS BARBUDA Tropic of Cancer DOMINICA Cancer INDIA JAMAICA ST. LUCIA 20° GAMBIA ARABIAN 20° BELIZE PHILIPPINES 160° PACIFIC SIERRA SEA BAY OF ST. KITTS & NEVIS BARBADOS LEONE SUDAN BENGAL 140° 150° ST. VINCENT & NIGERIA MARSHALL IS. 10° THE GRENADINES 10° OCEAN GRENADA GHANA ETHIOPIA BRUNEI PALAU TRINIDAD & LIBERIA CAMEROON TOBAGO MICRONESIA UGANDA 50° 60° 70° 80° 90° KIRIBATI 130° 120° 110° 100° 90° GUYANA 0° 0° KENYA SINGAPORE PAPUA Equator RWANDA NAURU SEYCHELLES NEW INDIAN OCEAN GUINEA TUVALU TANZANIA SOLOMON IS. 10° 10° 10° MALAWI 120° 150° 160° 170° 180° SAMOA ZAMBIA CORAL VANUATU FIJI ZIMBABWE MAURITIUS SEA 20° 20° 20° NAMIBIA 20° TONGA 20° BOTSWANA MADAGASCAR Tropic of Capricorn AUSTRALIA English official SWAZILAND PACIFIC 30° 30° 30° SOUTH 30° 30° 30° or predominant AFRICA LESOTHO OCEAN NEW ZEALAND 40° 40° 40° 40° 40° 40° 110° 120° 130° 140° 150° 160°180° 170° 160° 150° 50° 50° 50° 50° 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 MILES 0 1,0002,000 3,000 KILOMETERS MODIFIED GOODE'S HOMOLOSINE EQUAL-AREA PROJECTION FIGURE 5-2 English-speaking countries. English is an official language in 57 countries. English is also the predominant language in the United States and Australia, although neither country has declared it to be the official language. 2000 B.C., speaking languages we call Celtic. Then, around A.D. century. Although defeated in their effort to conquer the 450, tribes from mainland Europe invaded, pushing the Celts islands, many Vikings remained in the country to enrich the into the remote northern and western parts of Britain, includ- language with new words. ing Cornwall and the highlands of Scotland and Wales. NORMAN INVASION. English is a good bit different from GERMAN INVASION. The invading tribes were the Angles, German today primarily because England was conquered by the Jutes, and Saxons. All three were Germanic tribes—the Jutes from Normans in 1066. The Normans, who came from present-day northern Denmark, the Angles from southern Denmark, and the Normandy in France, spoke French, which they established as Saxons from northwestern Germany (Figure 5-3). The three tribes England’s official language for the next 300 years. The leaders of who brought the beginnings of English to the British Isles shared a England, including the royal family, nobles, judges, and clergy, language similar to that of other peoples in the region from which therefore spoke French. However, the majority of the people, they came. Today, English people and others who trace their who had little education, did not know French, so they cultural heritage back to England are often called Anglo-Saxons, continued to speak English to each other. after the two larger tribes. Modern English has evolved primarily England lost control of Normandy in 1204, during the reign from the language spoken by the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. The of King John, and entered a long period of conflict with France. name England comes from Angles’ land. In Old English, Angles was As a result, fewer people in England wished to speak French, spelled Engles, and the Angles’ language was known as englisc. The and English again became the country’s unchallenged domi- Angles came from a corner, or angle, of Germany known as nant language. Recognizing that nearly everyone in England Schleswig-Holstein. was speaking English, Parliament enacted the Statute of Plead- At some time in history, all Germanic people spoke a com- ing in 1362 to change the official language of court business mon language, but that time predates written records. The from French to English. However, Parliament continued to common origin of English with other Germanic languages can conduct business in French until 1489. be reconstructed by analyzing language differences that During the 300-year period that French was the official lan- emerged after Germanic groups migrated to separate territories guage of England, the Germanic language used by the common and lived in isolation from each other, allowing their languages people and the French used by the leaders mingled to form a to continue evolving independently. new language. Modern English owes its simpler, straightfor- Other peoples subsequently invaded England and added ward words, such as sky, horse, man, and woman, to its Ger- their languages to the basic English. Vikings from present-day manic roots, and fancy, more elegant words, such as celestial, Norway landed on the northeast coast of England in the ninth equestrian, masculine, and feminine, to its French invaders. Chapter 5: Language 139 5° 0 5° every word has a unique isogloss, boundary lines NORWAY of different words coalesce in some locations to form regions. When speakers of a language migrate to other locations, various dialects of that lan- guage may develop. This was the case with the Scotland ry tu migration of English speakers to North America n e C several hundred years ago. Because of its large th 9 number of speakers and widespread distribu- North Sea JUTES tion, English has an especially large number of DENMARK dialects. North Americans are well aware that they speak English differently from the British, ANGLES not to mention people living in India, Pakistan, Irish ANGLES Australia, and other English-speaking coun- Sea Hu m tries. Further, English varies by regions within ber R. SAXONS individual countries. In both the United States The ry Wash tu and England, northerners sound different from n LIMIT OF ANGLO-SAXON e C SETTLEMENT TO A.D. 626 MIDDLE EAST h southerners. ANGLES 5t Wales ANGLES WEST In a language with multiple dialects, one SAXONS EAST Th SAXONS dialect may be recognized as the standard lan- a me s GERMANY SOUTH R. guage, which is a dialect that is well established SAXONS and widely recognized as the most acceptable for Cornwall JUTES 50° Isle of government, business, education, and mass com- Wight INVASION AND munication.
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