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by supersizeme on January 25th, 2008

supersizeme

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When and under what circumstances did ENGLISH first become our universal language?

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  • by Kahzane on January 26th, 2008

    Kahzane

    It used to be that French was the international language of diplomacy.

    But on July 4, 1776, a new guy took over.
    Now everybody respects the country that commands respect.

    Even the British can't keep up with the English language that America has put around the world, by it's economic and business dominance, the commerce which moulds and controls every culture and ethnicity around the globe.

    There, I said it. Economics is power.
    Don't hate us for ruling you. Just buy and sell more stuff, and submit.
    Our language will become yours.

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  • by VSPrasad on January 26th, 2008

    VSPrasad

    English is an Anglo-Frisian language. Germanic-speaking peoples from northwest Germany (Saxons and Angles) and Jutland (Jutes) invaded what is now known as Eastern England around the fifth century AD. It is a matter of debate whether the Old English language spread by displacement of the original population, or the native Celts gradually adopted the language and culture of a new ruling class, or a combination of both of these processes.

    Whatever their origin, these Germanic dialects eventually coalesced to a degree (there remained geographical variation) and formed what is today called Old English. Old English loosely resembles some coastal dialects in what are now northwest Germany and the Netherlands (i.e., Frisia). Throughout the history of written Old English, it retained a synthetic structure closer to that of Proto-Indo-European, largely adopting West Saxon scribal conventions, while spoken Old English became increasingly analytic in nature, losing the more complex noun case system, relying more heavily on prepositions and fixed word order to convey meaning. This is evident in the Middle English period, when literature was to an increasing extent recorded with spoken dialectal variation intact, after written Old English lost its status as the literary language of the nobility. It has been postulated that English retains some traits from a Celtic substratum. Later, it was influenced by the related North Germanic language Old Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north and the east coast down to London, the area known as the Danelaw.

    The Norman Conquest of England in 1066 profoundly influenced the evolution of the language. For about 300 years after this, the Normans used Anglo-Norman, which was close to Old French, as the language of the court, law and administration. By the fourteenth century, Anglo-Norman borrowings had contributed roughly 10,000 words to English, of which 75% remain in use.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language

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  • by hijklmno on January 26th, 2008

    hijklmno

    Very complicated question that has a thousand answers. I recommend a book called "The Histories of English" by the linguist David Crystal. You can find a review (and ultra-brief summary) here:

    http://www.worldwidewords.org/reviews/re-cry1.htm

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  • by Athrael on January 25th, 2008

    Athrael

    Economics/business has been the main driving force for the globalization of English.

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