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General introduction General introduction Philip Seargeant The English language had been around for about four hundred years before it began to be called English. It first emerged sometime during the fifth century AD, when a number of Germanic tribes from the north of Europe – whom we now refer to collectively as the AngloSaxons – arrived in Britain, bringing with them their several indigenous dialects. Over the next few hundred years, as these tribes established roots and began spreading out across the country, the language slowly developed. Yet it was not until the ninth century that the term ‘English’ began to be regularly used to refer to the language (Crystal, 2005, p. 27). English did not become ‘English’ until at least four centuries into its existence. During this early period of its history, English was just one of many languages spoken on the British mainland. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles – the earliest history of Britain written in English – begin their account of the country by explaining that: The island of Britain is eight hundred miles long and two hundred broad. There are five languages, English, Brito-Welsh, Scottish, Pictish and Latin. The first inhabitants of this land were the Britons. (The Peterborough Chronicle, c.1150, translated in Freeborn, 2006, p. 13) So in the beginning, English was just one language among several; it was a language without a particularly strong identity and with no special status. For the first few centuries of its life, it was very much a local language, spoken by one section of the population of an island off the western coast of continental Europe. 1 English in the World Figure 1 The opening lines of the Peterborough Chronicle in the original Old English 2 General introduction Fast-forward one a half millennia and English is now spread extensively across the globe. Today, it is used, in one form or another, by more people, in more areas, and for a wider set of purposes, than any other language. That unnamed language which began life as a parochial dialect spoken by one faction of a group of invading tribes from northern Europe now has a status unmatched by any other language on earth. The question this raises – and one of the questions we’ll be addressing in this book – is how and why this dramatic shift took place. What happened to transform English from that small parochial language into the pre-eminent medium of international communication in the modern world? Why has this particular language, from all the other countless systems of speech that the human race has developed throughout its history, risen to such a position of prominence? The emergence of English as a global language is not the end of the story, though. The fact that English is now established as an important linguistic force in countless communities around the world does not mean that there is little more to say about it. Nor does it mean that those same processes of change and development that brought the language to this position are not still happening. In fact, in the opinion of some scholars the present moment is a critical juncture in the history of the language. In their opinion, English is now going through a transformation almost on a par with what happened when those Germanic tribes first arrived in Britain 1500 years ago. Now, as then, both the form and status of English are in a state of dynamic change – and this is producing a great deal of debate about the nature of English itself. The focus and structure of the book This book takes as its starting point the global existence of the English language and looks at both how and why it came to occupy this position, and what the consequences of its global spread are for the way it is used and perceived around the world. In the first half of the book, we will examine the history of the language, beginning with its arrival in Britain in the fifth century and moving up to the present day and its status as a language with a truly global reach. The first four chapters cover the historical story, with Chapter 1 opening up the questions that the book as a whole will address, and Chapters 2, 3 and 4 then tracking the history of the language, first within England and the British Isles, then to various territories overseas in the wake of colonial expansion, and finally to its current existence as a language which has a presence in diverse contexts all across the globe. 3 English in the World The second half of the book then considers the forms that the language takes around the world, how it is used as a means of expression, and how it relates to issues of both personal and cultural identity. Building on the historical context established in the first half, Chapters 5, 6 and 7 examine, in turn, contemporary varieties of English, how English is used alongside other languages, and how English itself continues to vary and change. An important point that recurs across these chapters is the role that English plays in people’s lives. For although the subject of the book is nominally the English language, language would not exist without the people who speak it, and for this reason our examination situates English firmly within the social, cultural and political contexts in which it is used. Finally, throughout our exploration, we will reflect on the way that English is and has been studied, and on how we know what we know about the language. In other words, we shall look at the methods and approaches linguists use to explore its history and to investigate the processes of variation and change. For not only does an understanding of these methods offer us an insight into the working practices of language studies as an academic area, it can also contribute to our overall understanding of the language itself, and of the ever-evolving role that English plays in the lives of millions of people around the globe. Note to readers In addition to features such as readings, activities, boxes and key terms that are described in the series preface, the book also includes two appendices. These comprise a timeline indicating key dates in the history of the English language (Appendix 1) and a note on conventions for describing the language (Appendix 2). We point you to these at various stages during the course of the book, but you may also like to use them for general reference purposes as you are reading through the chapters. 4