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.
The English language evolved in England, from a set of West Germanic dialects spoken by the Angles and Saxons, who arrived from continental Europe in the 5th century.
Vocabulary items entering English from Norse (including the pronouns they and 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.g., Canute the Great).
During the late medieval period, King Henry V of England (lived 1387–1422) ordered the use of the English of his day in proceedings before him and before the government bureaucracies.
Scots, as 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 Northumbrian, which also serve as the basis of Northern English dialects such as those of Yorkshire and Newcastle upon Tyne.
As the political influence of London grew, the Chancery version of the language developed into a written standard across Great Britain, further progressing in the modern period as Scotland became united with England as a result of the Acts of Union of 1707.
The establishment of the first permanent English-speaking colony in North America in 1607 was a major step towards the globalisation of the language.
[8] The inner circle is the traditional base of English and includes countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland and the anglophone populations of the former British colonies of the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and various islands of the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean.
English in this circle is used for official purposes such as in business, news broadcasts, schools, and air traffic.
The expanding circle refers to those countries where English has no official role, but is nonetheless important for certain functions, e.g., international business and tourism.
In many cases this leads to accents derived from the native languages altering pronunciations of the spoken English in these countries.
Linguists who have been active in this field are Jennifer Jenkins, Barbara Seidlhofer, Christiane Meierkord and Joachim Grzega.
These include creating a positive atmosphere, accepting an offer with "Yes, please" or refusing with "No, thank you", and small talk topics to choose and to avoid.
— McArthur (2002, p. 444–445)It especially means English words and phrases generally understood throughout the English-speaking world as opposed to localisms.
Any regional variety of English has a set of political, social and cultural connotations attached to it, even the so-called 'standard' forms.
Edward Trimnell, author of Why You Need a Foreign Language & How to Learn One (2005) argues that the international version of English is only adequate for communicating basic ideas.
For complex discussions and business/technical situations, English is not an adequate communication tool for non-native speakers of the language.
Trimnell also asserts that native English-speakers have become "dependent on the language skills of others" by placing their faith in international English.
Kramsch and Sullivan (1996) describe how Western methodology and textbooks have been appropriated to suit local Vietnamese culture.
The Pakistani textbook "Primary Stage English" includes lessons such as Pakistan My Country, Our Flag, and Our Great Leader (Malik 1993: 5,6,7), which might sound jingoistic to Western ears.
We may, in due course, all need to be in control of two standard Englishes—the one which gives us our national and local identity, and the other which puts us in touch with the rest of the human race.
Many academics often publish material in journals requiring different varieties of English and change style and spellings as necessary without great difficulty.
As far as spelling is concerned, the differences between American and British usage became noticeable due to the first influential lexicographers (dictionary writers) on each side of the Atlantic.
The difference in strategy and philosophy of Johnson and Webster are largely responsible for the main division in English spelling that exists today.
The individualistic approach gives control to individual authors to write and spell as they wish (within purported standard conventions) and to accept the validity of differences.
The new dialect approach appears in The Cambridge Guide to English Usage (Peters, 2004), which attempts to avoid any language bias and accordingly uses an idiosyncratic international spelling system of mixed American and British forms.