Expansion of English beyond England

The establishment of English-speaking colonies in North America at the beginning of the 17th century
was the most important fact in making English an international language.
Remember that South America was the first place to be discovered by Portuguese and Spanish
colonizers in the late 15th century.
It is important to have it in mind, because we may know that other European languages often came into
contact with English in the colonies and influenced its development.
The first successful English settlement was that of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620.

When examining the early period of settlement, we are questioned a) how and when American English became
different from British English? And b) how did internal dialect differences in American English arise? The
variety of English which was implanted in North America was that of the Early Modern period in Britain. It had
been claimed that many of the differences between American and British English can be explained in terms if
a “colonial lag”, that the language of colonial settlers is more conservative than that of the country they left.
Thus, some features of American English, such as the pronunciation of /r/ in words like card, might be
attributed to the fact that /r/ in such words was pronounced in Early Modern period in England. And although
the speech of Londoners later became “r-less”, this was too late to influence the speech of those who had
already left.

Once colonies were independent of England in 1783, the linguistic matter –the differences between American
and British English- became a burning issue for some of the founders of the new republic, such as for Noah
Webster.

The spread of English across the Globe: Social, Political and Cultural factors

From the seventeenth century onwards, the English began to extend their language over the world. It is due to
so important factors as the power of the British Empire, the importance in the Industrial revolution taking place
in England for the first time or the supremacy of America in all over the world. Moreover, we all know that
English has become a global language in the last fifty years, being the official language of the international and
multinational companies and industries, and the language of Internet.
It is important to have in mind how and why English has spread across the globe the way it has:

Date Facts

17th and 18th centuries English spread as a result of British colonialism

18th and 19th centuries English spread as the language of British leadership
in the Industrial Revolution

Late 19th and early English spread as the language of American

20th c. economic superiority and political leadership.

Second half of 2th c. English spread as a consequence of American

technological domination.
a) British Colonialism

We all know that long before this expansion of English as a global language, there were other minor spreads of
the language, as for instance the spread of English to Scotland because of the military escapades of William the
Conqueror (11th century) or to Ireland with the Anglo-Norman troops sent by Henry II.
But in global terms, the spread of English began in 16th century, when the language became a tool of imperial
expansion, and end up by gaining a special place in the history of a significant number of countries. This was
what happened in USA, but also in other colonial areas. You have here a table in which you can find how
English spread took place in different territories conquered by the English.

Place Facts

French were present in Canada from 1530, and competing with Britain for
domination. Finally, French defeated by Britain. French and English
Canada languages there, but French-speakers remained in the East when process
of English colonization began. English in contact with native languages,
but the former predominated. However, the French of Quebec remained.

The The most spoken language is Spanish, but there are also other
Caribbean European languages (complex colonial history). African slaves in this
area, they developed creoles as a means of communicating among
themselves. It gained societal status. However, no creole has gained
enough status to be accepted as a national language. Nowadays, English
and Spanish are the official languages.

Australia Discovered by Captain James Cook in 1770, it served as the first

penal colony. British prisons were overcrowded and convicts were sent to
Australia. By 1900 it had 4 million inhabitants from British Isles. Contact
between indigenous and colonizers led to borrowing items. English as the
official language. There has been American English influence, and
vocabulary has been affected.

New No convicts in New Zealand, and slow settlement. It became an

Zealand official colony in 1840. By 1900, it has a quarter of million people. People
there are more inclusive of the indigenous population and it is one reason
why the language contains a large number of Maori words, in contrast to
Australian English. They reject American English in favor of British
English.

South British control in 1806, and settlement from 1820 onwards, when
Africa Englishmen got lands there. English became the official language of the
region in 1822 and by the end of 19th c., there were half a million
immigrants there, most of them spoken English. Afrikaans-speakers used
English as a second language, and nowadays English is one of the 11
official languages in South Africa.
South About 40 million users of English, the 3rd-larger English using area
Asia after USA and Great Britain. English developed as a medium of control –
administration, education, etc.- in the period of the British Raj (1765-
1947), creating an English-based subculture in the subcontinent. The basis
for the subculture was the English language –as language is equated with
power.

Former Bu the 19th c., the increase in trade and activities in opposition to
Colonial slave trade brought English to the entire West African coast, and several
Africa: English-based pidgins and creoles developed. English is still taught and
West used, being an official language there. British varieties of English develop
Africa in 6 particular countries, which have English as an official language:
Sierra Leone, Ghana, The Gambia, Nigeria, Cameroon and Liberia.

East Visited by English in the 16th century, it was not explored until
Africa 1850s. The Imperial East Africa Company was founded in 1888, and a
series of colonial protectorates was established. There are 6 main states
with a history of British rule that gave English official status when they
gained their independence: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia
and Zimbabwe.

South- There is a mixture of English and Australian English, and

East India American influence increased in the 1940s. The British influence there
and South began with Captain James Cook and English become rapidly an influential
Pacific language in the British territories of South Pacific. And because of the
very different cultural circumstances in different parts of the region, no
one South Asian English variety has emerged.

b) Industrial Revolution
As we can imagine, British colonialism was the first step of the expansion of English across the world. But it is
also very important the Industrial Revolution in terms of the spread of English. Britain was the leader of the
Industrial Revolution, and large-scale manufacturing and production machinery were just some of the major
technological advancements being pioneered there. Countries which needed this new industrial knowledge
could access it via the medium of English, something which made powerful again the language internationally.

And the development of technology was side by side with the spread of English. For instance, English was the
language in which the system of telegraph was developed, and English became the international language of all
telegraph operators.

c) American Economic superiority and Political Leadership.

Although Britain had been the greatest political, economic and industrial power in the world in the 18 th century,
by the end of the 19th and the early 20th centuries USA emerged as an economic and political superpower.
During this time, the countries if the world began to came together in international organizations, and they need
to be able to communicate. However, it was very expensive to run multilingual operations, so they decided that
English would be the language used in their international interactions. Moreover, The League of Nations was
created after the World War I, but then it was replaced by the United Nations, which ends up in New York.
Thus, the world´s focus shifted to the United States.

The influence of United States combined then the economic and political factors and the huge seize of its
population: The United States has 70 per cent of all native speakers of English in the world.

d) American Technology Leadership.

After the World War II and particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, the computer revolution began all over the
world. It was due to the American technology and the American know-how. So, it is logic that the language of
the computers is English. The main reason why it is like this is the fact that, although it could be designed with
languages of one own country, this process it very expensive.

e) Other factors.

- Advertising: During the 19th century the use of advertisements in publication increased, especially in more
industrialized countries, due to the fact that there was more money and also more people interesting on them. In
USA, however, they realized that if they put advertisements in their magazines, they could put lower the price
of their magazines, something which led them to sell more and more of them. And as the international market
grew, the media spread to all parts of the world, and became one of the most noticeable global manifestations of
English language use. American English ruled.

- Broadcasting: As it has been already mentioned, the invention and use of telegraph supposed a very great
impulse to English language. Britain was the pioneer in the use of telegraph, and all communications were made
in English, having being necessary that all telegraph operators spoke English. So, it was one of the most
important fact in the spread of English though the world.

- Motion pictures: The new technologies altered the way of public entertainment, and it also serves as a thrust
of the English language. The development of the cinema was made initially by France and England, but the
years during the World War I supposed a kind of blockage of cinema, and then American began to dominate it.
Moreover, when the sound was added to the films, it was the spoken English which came to the movies. And
although the film industry was developed also in other countries, it is still English language the dominant
medium, maybe because the main studio, Hollywood, is in an English-spoken area.

- Popular music: The other important entertainment technology was the recording industry, and also here the
English language had the dominance. All the major recording companies in popular music had English-
language origins, and when popular music arrived, it was in English scene mostly. The pop groups of English-
speaking nations dominated the recording world: Elvis Presley in USA or the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in
UK. No other single source has spread English around the world so rapidly.

- International travel and safety: The medium in transportation and accommodation is English. Equally,
English instructions about safety on international flights and sailings and indications about emergency
procedures are in English. English then has become the international language. “Airspeak”, the language of
international aircraft control, emerged after the Second War World, and it was decided that English would be
the international language of aviation.

- Education: Internationally, areas as science and technology have the medium of English language to spread
over the world their ideas. It is the main reason why many countries have adopted English as the chief foreign
languages in schools. It is obvious that people all over the world have to know English if they are students, as
most of the important words in the field of education are written in English.