ENGLAND
LANGUAGES |
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As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by millions of
people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it
remains the principal tongue today (although not officially enshrined as
such). An Indo-European language in the Germanic family, it is closely
related to Dutch, suggesting geographic proximity between the ancient Dutch
and ancient Anglo-Saxons before the latter invaded Britain. As the
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its
literature and poetry has survived. |
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Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman conquest (1066),
English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the
Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was
confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was
conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries,
however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for
all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive
to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs
of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the
renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more
recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always
remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced
words.
The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English is
the only language used in England for general official business. The other
national languages of the UK (Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scots Gaelic) are
confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an
equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business on both
sides of the Anglo-Welsh border or in Wales itself).
The only native spoken language in England other than English is the nearly
extinct Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall by around
3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required
for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local
government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Cornwall County Council has produced a draft strategy to develop these
plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively
promote the language.
Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign
language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that
70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred
language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish,
BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by
the government. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL
interpreters.
Different languages from around the world, especially from the former
British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to England
by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority
communities, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Chinese and
Vietnamese. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the
relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this
occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific
legislative ordinances.
Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations
in England, including Romany.
Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of
distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents
may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country. |
