International English is the concept of the English language as a global means of communication in numerous dialects, and the movement towards an international standard for the language. Sometimes, "international English" and the related terms above refer to a desired standardisation, i.
There have been many proposals for making International English more accessible to people from different nationalities. Basic English is an example, but it failed to make progress. More recently, there have been proposals for English as a lingua franca ELF in which non-native speakers take a highly active role in the development of the language.
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There has been slow progress in adopting alternate spellings. The modern concept of International English does not exist in isolation, but is the product of centuries of development of the English language. The English language evolved in Englandfrom English As An International Language set of West Germanic dialects spoken by the Angles and Saxonswho arrived from continental Europe link the 5th century. However, less than a quarter of the vocabulary of Modern English is derived from the shared ancestry with other West Germanic languages because Lxnguage extensive borrowings from NorseNormanLatinand other languages. It was during English As An International Language Viking invasions of the Anglo-Saxon period that Old English was influenced by contact with Norsea group of North Germanic dialects spoken by the Vikingswho came to control a large region in the North of England known as the Danelaw.
Vocabulary items entering English from Norse including the pronouns theyand them are thus attributable to the on-again-off-again Viking occupation of Northern England during the centuries prior to the Norman Conquest see, e. Soon after the Norman Conquest ofthe Englisc language ceased Englush a literary language see, e.
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During the Norman Period, English absorbed a significant component of French vocabulary approximately one-third of the vocabulary of Modern English. With this new vocabulary, additional vocabulary borrowed from Latin with Greek, another approximately one-third of Modern English vocabulary, though some borrowings from Latin and Greek date from later periodsa English As An International Language grammar, and use of the orthographic conventions of French instead of Old English orthography, the language became Middle English the language of Chaucer.
The "difficulty" of English as a written language thus began in the High Middle Ageswhen French orthographic conventions were used to spell a language whose original, more suitable orthography had been forgotten after centuries of nonuse.
During the late medieval period, King Henry V of England lived — ordered the use of the English of his day in proceedings before him and before the government bureaucracies. That led to the development of Chancery Englisha standardised form used in the government bureaucracy.
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The use of so-called Law French in English courts continued through the Renaissance, however. The emergence of English as a language of Wales results from the incorporation of Wales into England and also dates from English As An International Language this time period. Soon afterward, the development of printing by Caxton and others accelerated the development of a standardised form of English.
Following a change in vowel pronunciation that marks the transition of English from the medieval to the Renaissance period, the language of the Chancery and Caxton became Early Modern English the language of Shakespeare 's day and with relatively moderate changes eventually developed into the English language of today. Scotsas spoken in the lowlands and along the east coast of Scotland, developed largely independent of Modern English, and is based on the Northern dialects of Anglo-Saxon, particularly Northumbrianwhich also serve as the basis of Northern English dialects such as those of Yorkshire and Newcastle upon Tyne.]
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