The Origins and Development of the English Language by John Algeo

Author:John Algeo [Algeo, John]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Language Arts & Disciplines, Linguistics, General
ISBN: 9781428231450
Google: 1aJ9U9nrjqsC
Amazon: 1428231455
Publisher: Cengage Learning
Published: 2009-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

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Late Modern

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9

± C H A P T E R

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English

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(1800–Present)

The history of English since 1800 has been a story of expansion—in geography, in

speakers, and in the purposes for which English is used. Geographically, English

was spread around the world, first by British colonization and empire-building,

and more recently by American activities in world affairs. Braj Kachru has pro-

posed three circles of English: an inner circle of native speakers in countries where

English is the primary language, an outer circle of second-language speakers in

countries where English has wide use alongside native official languages, and an

expanding circle of foreign-language speakers in countries where English has no

official standing but is used for ever-increasing special purposes.

SOME KEY EVENTS IN THE LATE MODERN PERIOD

The following events during recent centuries significantly influenced the develop-

ment of the English language.

• 1803 The Louisiana Purchase acquired U.S. territory beyond the Mississippi

River, ultimately resulting in westward expansion to the Pacific Ocean.

• 1805 A victory over the French at the battle of Trafalgar established British

naval supremacy.

• 1806 The British occupied Cape Colony in South Africa, thus preparing the

way for the arrival in 1820 of a large number of British settlers.

• 1828 Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language was

published.

• 1840 In New Zealand, by the Treaty of Waitangi, native Maori ceded

sovereignty to the British crown.

• 1857 A proposal at the Philological Society of London led to work that

resulted in the New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1928), reissued

as the Oxford English Dictionary (1933), 2nd edition 1989, now revised online.

181

182

chapter 9

• 1858 The Government of India Act transferred power from the East India

Company to the crown, thus creating the British Raj in India.

• 1861–5 The American Civil War established the indissolubility of the Union

and abolished slavery in America.

• 1898 The four-month Spanish-American War made the United States a world

power with overseas possessions and thus a major participant in international

politics.

• 1906 The first public radio broadcast was aired, leading in 1920 to the first

American commercial radio station in Pittsburgh.

• 1914–18 World War I created an alliance between the United States and the

United Kingdom.

• 1922 The British Broadcasting Company (after 1927, Corporation) was

established and became a major conveyor of information in English around the

world.

• 1927 The first motion picture with spoken dialog, The Jazz Singer, was

released.

• 1936 The first high-definition television service was established by the BBC,

to be followed by cable service in the early 1950s and satellite service in the

early 1960s.

• 1939–45 World War II further solidified the British-American link.

• 1945 The charter of the United Nations was produced at San Francisco,

leading to the establishment of UN headquarters in New York City.

• 1947 British India was divided into India and Pakistan, and both were

given independence.

• 1961 Merriam Webster’s Third New International Dictionary was

published.

• 1983 The Internet was created.

• 1992 The first Web browser for the World Wide Web was released.

• 2007 An estimated 363 billion text messages were sent in the United States,

429 billion in China, and 2.3 trillion world wide.

THE NATIONAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH

The world’s total number of English speakers may be more than a billion, although

competence varies greatly and exact numbers are elusive.

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