一種民族語言（包括詞匯）的發(fā)展與民族的歷史密切可關(guān)合砂。要了解英語語匯的發(fā)展史瓶蝴，不可避免地跟整個(gè)英語的發(fā)展史映皆，乃至英國的歷史密不可分。

不列顛群島的最早居民是凱爾特人凉敲，又稱不列顛人衣盾。公元前55年，羅馬人在凱薩大帝的率領(lǐng)下侵入不列顛群島爷抓，凱爾特人被羅馬人趕入威爾士和蘇格蘭的深山之中势决。直到公元410年，羅馬占領(lǐng)時(shí)期才告結(jié)束蓝撇。隨后果复，來自德國北部平原的三個(gè)日耳曼部落盎格魯人，撒克森人和朱特人開始來到不列顛定居渤昌。英語就是盎格魯—撒克森人的語言虽抄。

語言史學(xué)家一般把英語的歷史分為三個(gè)時(shí)期：1、古英語時(shí)期独柑，2迈窟、中古英語時(shí)期，3忌栅、現(xiàn)代英語時(shí)期菠隆。

1、古英語時(shí)期（又稱盎格魯-薩克森時(shí)期公元450—1100年）

日爾曼部落在不列顛定居后狂秘，名自占領(lǐng)一些地區(qū)骇径。盎格魯人占領(lǐng)了泰晤士河以北的英格蘭的大部分地區(qū)和蘇格蘭的低地，朱特人占領(lǐng)了肯特郡一帶地區(qū)者春，撒克森人占領(lǐng)了泰晤士河以南的大部分地區(qū)破衔。各個(gè)部落建立了一些小王國，出現(xiàn)了英國歷史上的七國時(shí)代钱烟。直到公元830年晰筛，阿爾弗雷德大王才統(tǒng)一了整個(gè)英格蘭地區(qū)嫡丙。由于全國長(zhǎng)期沒有統(tǒng)一，所以古英語時(shí)期存在著多種方言读第，主要方言有四種：西薩克森語曙博，肯特語，莫西亞語和北恩布里亞語怜瞒。這四種方言都曾一度占主導(dǎo)地位父泳。西撒克森語保存下來的手搞最多。其它方言在形成英語的過程中也起過很重要的作用吴汪。

古英語的詞匯有著濃厚的日爾曼語族的特點(diǎn)惠窄。這主要表現(xiàn)為復(fù)合法是重要的構(gòu)詞方法。復(fù)合詞在古英語詞匯中占有顯著的地位漾橙。據(jù)統(tǒng)計(jì)杆融，在史詩《貝奧武夫》3183行詩句中，竟有1069個(gè)復(fù)合詞霜运。有些復(fù)合詞中不重讀部分脾歇，漸漸失去了獨(dú)立地位，而演變成了詞綴淘捡，如for-, in-, -ful 等派生法在古英語中也廣泛使用藕各。共有二十四個(gè)名詞后綴、十五個(gè)形容詞后綴案淋，-dom, -hood, -ship, -ness, -the, -ful,- ish 等詞綴都可溯源到古英語時(shí)期座韵。古英語時(shí)期的詩歌有一種特殊的修辭手法险绘，即頭韻(alliteration)踢京，由此產(chǎn)生的許多短語一直保留到現(xiàn)在，如night and main, friend or foe, a labour of love宦棺。

古英語時(shí)期有兩個(gè)重要的歷史事件瓣距，給英語詞匯帶來較大的影響。第一件事是基督教傳入英國代咸。公元597年蹈丸，一個(gè)名叫奧古斯丁的牧師從羅馬來到英國傳教。羅馬文化隨著基督教傳入了英國呐芥。與此同時(shí)逻杖，一批拉丁詞進(jìn)入了英語。

第二件事是北歐人入侵英國思瘟。從公元790年開始荸百，大批斯堪的那維亞人在英國定居。丹麥國王卡紐特還一度成為英國的君主滨攻。斯堪的那維亞人和英國人頻繁交往够话，所以有許多斯堪的那維亞各國的詞語進(jìn)入了英語蓝翰。

2、中古英語時(shí)期（公元1100—1500年）

公元1066年女嘲，諾曼人在征服王威廉率領(lǐng)下畜份，橫渡英吉利海峽，在哈斯丁戰(zhàn)役中擊潰了盎格魯-薩克森軍隊(duì)欣尼，英王哈路德戰(zhàn)死爆雹，英國被征服。這在歷史上被稱為諾曼征服媒至。從此顶别，英國結(jié)束了分裂狀態(tài)，置于中央集權(quán)的封建統(tǒng)治之下拒啰。謹(jǐn)曼征服是英國歷史上的重要轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)驯绎，對(duì)英語的發(fā)展有巨大的影響。

諾曼征服之后谋旦，謹(jǐn)曼人占據(jù)了教會(huì)和政府的一切重要職務(wù)剩失。以后的二、三百年里册着，謹(jǐn)曼法語成為英國的官方語言拴孤。普通人仍然講英語，但英語的文字記載卻幾乎中斷甲捏。中古英語一般右以分為兩個(gè)時(shí)期演熟，1204年后，英語逐漸恢復(fù)主導(dǎo)地位司顿。1362年英王愛德華三世首次用英語向議會(huì)致詞芒粹。十五世紀(jì)，倫敦標(biāo)準(zhǔn)方言興起大溜。1476年化漆，卡克斯頓把印刷術(shù)傳入英國，對(duì)英語拼寫標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化钦奋、傳播英語書面語都起了很大的推進(jìn)作用座云。

在中古英語時(shí)期，英語歷經(jīng)了劇烈變化付材。詞尾變化大多消失朦拖，名詞的性也消失了。詞序厌衔，虛詞和語調(diào)成了表示句子關(guān)系的主要手段璧帝。如果說古一英語與其它日爾曼語族的語言一樣是典型的綜合語，那么到了中古英語末期葵诈，英語已逐漸具有分析語的特性裸弦。而且這個(gè)趨勢(shì)一直在繼續(xù)著祟同。

詞匯方面的變化也是顯著的。由于諾曼法語一度是英國統(tǒng)治階級(jí)的語言理疙，大批法語詞涌入英語晕城。在政治、宗教窖贤、法律砖顷、軍事、社交赃梧、服飾滤蝠、飲食等凡是與統(tǒng)治階級(jí)有關(guān)的一切領(lǐng)域都有反映。法語詞成了這些領(lǐng)域所用詞語的主體。從此，英語改變了運(yùn)用復(fù)合法創(chuàng)造新詞的主要手段幔睬，并用來指稱新事物，表達(dá)新概念這一日爾曼語族語言的特征览闰，而向外來語敞開了大門。用直接引進(jìn)借詞的方法來滿足對(duì)新詞的需要巷折。這一變化對(duì)英語詞匯的發(fā)展影響深遠(yuǎn)压鉴，為日后大量借詞—主要是希臘語詞、拉丁語詞—進(jìn)入英語鋪平了道路锻拘。

隨著眾多的法語借詞被吸收進(jìn)英語油吭，一些法語和拉丁語的詞綴也被英語化了，成為英語構(gòu)詞的重要素材署拟。如前綴dis-, en-, inter-, mal-, non-, pre-, re-, semi-, sub-后綴如-able, -acy, -age, -al, -ancy/ency, -ate, -ory, -ance, -ant/-ent, -ician, -ise婉宰。與此同時(shí)，有些英語本族語的詞綴反而被廢棄不用了芯丧。在復(fù)合詞的構(gòu)成格式方面芍阎，也吸收了法語的一些特色世曾，例如：名詞+形容詞缨恒，副詞+過去分詞(例by-gone)。這些現(xiàn)象轮听，語言學(xué)史上稱為英語的羅曼語化骗露。這就是為什么從譜系關(guān)系上看，英語與德語同族血巍，但現(xiàn)代英語的詞匯和法語更相近的原因萧锉。

大量的法語詞的涌入，也使英語詞匯起了詞義變化述寡。有一些英語固有的詞被淘汰掉了柿隙，有一些雖然還存在叶洞，但詞義范圍有所改變，或者帶上特有的文體色彩和感情色彩禀崖。例如：wed在古英語中作“結(jié)婚”解衩辟，但在中古英語時(shí)期傳入了法語詞”merry”，英語中“結(jié)婚”這一意義漸漸由marry來表示波附，wed只用在引申意義中了艺晴；它的動(dòng)名詞wedding還是一個(gè)常用的詞，但只限于指“婚禮”掸屡。帶有不同文體意義的英語本族語詞與法語并存封寞，組成了英語中特有的同義詞群格式。

3仅财、現(xiàn)代英語時(shí)期（1500-- ）

到中古英語末期狈究，英語已經(jīng)確立了作為英國國語的地位。喬叟的作品證明盏求，英語已成為一種成熟的文學(xué)語言谦炒。英語語法的簡(jiǎn)單化過程已大體完成，拼寫走向固定风喇，基本詞匯也已形成宁改。總之魂莫，現(xiàn)代英語的基礎(chǔ)也已經(jīng)奠定还蹲。如果說閱讀中古英語以前的英語仿佛是在讀另外一種語言，那么十六世紀(jì)以后的英語與當(dāng)代的英語的差別也就不那么明顯了“铱迹現(xiàn)代英語一般以1700年為界谜喊，分為早期現(xiàn)代英語與后期現(xiàn)代英語。1700年英語規(guī)范化和標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化過程已經(jīng)完成倦始，這以后英語的語音和語法都無大的變化斗遏，只有詞匯不斷地?cái)U(kuò)大和豐富。

早期現(xiàn)代英語時(shí)期鞋邑，對(duì)英語詞匯的影響最大的是文藝復(fù)興運(yùn)動(dòng)诵次。文專職復(fù)興運(yùn)動(dòng)是十四世紀(jì)在意大利開始的，在十六世紀(jì)以后的兩個(gè)世紀(jì)內(nèi)對(duì)英國的影響很大枚碗。在這一時(shí)期逾一，強(qiáng)調(diào)研究古代希臘、羅馬文化肮雨，以對(duì)抗中世紀(jì)的封建文化遵堵。于是許多外來詞，主要是拉丁語和希臘語的詞語傳入英語，成為英語的書面語和術(shù)語詞的基本部分陌宿。同時(shí)也為英語提供了大量的同義詞锡足。希臘和拉丁語詞進(jìn)入英語后有的保留了原來的形式，如 climax, appendix, exterior, axis壳坪；有的失去了詞尾舱污，如（擴(kuò)號(hào)內(nèi)為拉丁語）, consult (consultare), exclusion (exclusioneum) exotic (exoticus)；還有的改變了詞尾弥虐，使之更適合英語的形式扩灯，如形容詞詞尾us 變成了ous或變成al，名詞詞尾tas變?yōu)閠y霜瘪。

經(jīng)過1640年英國資產(chǎn)階級(jí)革命和其后的工業(yè)革命珠插，英帝國開始向外擴(kuò)張，與世界各地的交往日趨頻繁颖对，全球各地的語言都有語匯進(jìn)入了英語捻撑，例如：harem[波斯語，商隊(duì)]缤底，bazaar[波斯語顾患，市場(chǎng)]，shawl[波斯語个唧，披肩]江解，kiosk[土耳其語，涼亭]徙歼，coffee[土耳其語]犁河， nabob[印地語，大富翁]魄梯，soy[日語桨螺，醬油]，orang-outang[馬來語酿秸，猩猩]灭翔，paddy[馬來語，稻]辣苏。

與此同時(shí)肝箱，由于與法國一直保持著密切關(guān)系，法語詞仍然源源不斷地傳入英語考润。這一時(shí)期傳入英語的法語詞很多保留了法語在發(fā)音和拼寫上的特征狭园，如protégé读处，被保護(hù)人糊治，chaise兩輪馬車。

在構(gòu)詞法方面罚舱，截短單詞和混成詞迅速增加井辜。依靠元音交替構(gòu)成新詞的方法被逐漸廢棄了绎谦。

在這一時(shí)期，英語被帶到了英國以外的一些地區(qū)粥脚、國家窃肠。成為那里的通用語言。這里應(yīng)特別提到的美國英語刷允。隨著時(shí)間的推移冤留，大西洋兩邊的盎格魯-薩克森人使用的英語盡管基本相同，但在語言树灶，拼寫和語法方面都開始出現(xiàn)一些區(qū)別纤怒。

二十世紀(jì)以來，英美的科學(xué)文化有了很大的發(fā)展天通，各式各樣的宣傳媒介越來越普及泊窘，又發(fā)生了兩次世界大戰(zhàn)，從們之間的交往越來越多像寒，英語的詞匯也隨著越來越豐富烘豹。詞匯量有了成倍的增加。英語作為一種國際的語言诺祸，是英國携悯，美國，澳大利亞筷笨，新西蘭蚌卤，加拿大等國的國語。使用人口過三億四千萬以上奥秆，是在國際上使用最廣泛的語言逊彭，在國際交往中起著重要的作用。

經(jīng)過1500年的變遷构订，英語從幾個(gè)日耳曼部族的語言發(fā)展為今天具有重大國際影響的語言侮叮，這固然有政治，經(jīng)濟(jì)悼瘾，社會(huì)的原因囊榜，但英語本身也有其它主要語言所沒有的長(zhǎng)處。詞匯的國際性便是他的優(yōu)點(diǎn)之一亥宿。從本單元簡(jiǎn)略地回顧中可以看出英語善于吸收外來詞卸勺。一方面英語屬于日爾曼語族，有日爾曼語的共同詞語烫扼，另一方面又長(zhǎng)期與法語及其它羅曼語族語言的聯(lián)系密切曙求，同時(shí)吸收了大量古典詞語。可以說悟狱，英語把代表歐洲主要文化的詞語兼收并蓄于一身静浴，這在歐洲各語言中間是獨(dú)特的。從語法角度看挤渐，英語詞尾變化簡(jiǎn)單苹享，沒有復(fù)雜的性數(shù)格變化。英語正在不斷向分析性語言的方向發(fā)展浴麻，向簡(jiǎn)化的方向發(fā)展得问，英語的詞序起的作用越來越大，這也使英語比較容易學(xué)習(xí)软免，特別是容易入門了椭赋。

英語也有他的弱點(diǎn)。最容易察覺的便是拼讀不統(tǒng)一或杠，造成的拼寫混亂哪怔。此外，同義詞向抢、慣用語特別多认境，這固然使其表現(xiàn)力強(qiáng)，但同時(shí)也給英語學(xué)習(xí)者帶來了不少的因難挟鸠。

English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today. The Indo-European family includes several major branches: Latin and the modern Romance languages (French etc.); the Germanic languages (English, German, Swedish etc.); the Indo-Iranian languages (Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.); the Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech etc.); the Baltic languages of Latvian and Lithuanian; the Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish Gaelic etc.); Greek.

The influence of the original Indo-European language can be seen today, even though no written record of it exists. The word for father, for example, is vater in German, pater in Latin, and pitr in Sanskrit. These words are all cognates, similar words in different languages that share the same root.

By the second century BC, this Common Germanic language had split into three distinct sub-groups:

East Germanic was spoken by peoples who migrated back to southeastern Europe. No East Germanic language is spoken today, and the only written East Germanic language that survives is Gothic.

North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic (but not Finnish, which is related to Hungarian and Estonian and is not an Indo-European language).

West Germanic is the ancestor of modern German, Dutch, Flemish, Frisian, and English.

Old English (500-1100 AD)

West Germanic invaders from Jutland and southern Denmark: the Angles (whose name is the source of the words England and English), Saxons, and Jutes, began to settle in the British Isles in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. They spoke a mutually intelligible language, similar to modern Frisian - the language of the northeastern region of the Netherlands - that is called Old English. Four major dialects of Old English emerged, Northumbrian in the north of England, Mercian in the Midlands, West Saxon in the south and west, and Kentish in the Southeast.

These invaders pushed the original, Celtic-speaking inhabitants out of what is now England into Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland, leaving behind a few Celtic words. These Celtic languages survive today in the Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland and in Welsh. Cornish, unfortunately, is, in linguistic terms, now a dead language. (The last native Cornish speaker died in 1777) Also influencing English at this time were the Vikings. Norse invasions and settlement, beginning around 850, brought many North Germanic words into the language, particularly in the north of England. Some examples are dream, which had meant 'joy' until the Vikings imparted its current meaning on it from the Scandinavian cognate draumr, and skirt, which continues to live alongside its native English cognate shirt.

The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. In fact, only about one sixth of the known Old English words have descendants surviving today. But this is deceptive; Old English is much more important than these statistics would indicate. About half of the most commonly used words in modern English have Old English roots. Words like be, water, and strong, for example, derive from Old English roots.

Old English, whose best known surviving example is the poem Beowulf, lasted until about 1100. Shortly after the most important event in the development and history of the English language, the Norman Conquest.

The Norman Conquest and Middle English (1100-1500)

William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066 AD. The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman. The Normans were also of Germanic stock ("Norman" comes from "Norseman") and Anglo-Norman was a French dialect that had considerable Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language, mainly through vestiges of the Roman occupation and from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the seventh century (ecclesiastical terms such as priest, vicar, and mass came into the language this way), but now there was a wholesale infusion of Romance (Anglo-Norman) words.

The influence of the Normans can be illustrated by looking at two words, beef and cow. Beef, commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic cow. Many legal terms, such as indict, jury , and verdict have Anglo-Norman roots because the Normans ran the courts. This split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances.

Sometimes French words replaced Old English words; crime replaced firen and uncle replaced eam. Other times, French and Old English components combined to form a new word, as the French gentle and the Germanic man formed gentleman. Other times, two different words with roughly the same meaning survive into modern English. Thus we have the Germanic doom and the French judgment, or wish and desire.

In 1204 AD, King John lost the province of Normandy to the King of France. This began a process where the Norman nobles of England became increasingly estranged from their French cousins. England became the chief concern of the nobility, rather than their estates in France, and consequently the nobility adopted a modified English as their native tongue. About 150 years later, the Black Death (1349-50) killed about one third of the English population. And as a result of this the labouring and merchant classes grew in economic and social importance, and along with them English increased in importance compared to Anglo-Norman.

This mixture of the two languages came to be known as Middle English. The most famous example of Middle English is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Unlike Old English, Middle English can be read, albeit with difficulty, by modern English-speaking people.

By 1362, the linguistic division between the nobility and the commoners was largely over. In that year, the Statute of Pleading was adopted, which made English the language of the courts and it began to be used in Parliament.

The Middle English period came to a close around 1500 AD with the rise of Modern English.

Early Modern English (1500-1800)

The next wave of innovation in English came with the Renaissance. The revival of classical scholarship brought many classical Latin and Greek words into the Language. These borrowings were deliberate and many bemoaned the adoption of these "inkhorn" terms, but many survive to this day. Shakespeare's character Holofernes in Loves Labor Lost is a satire of an overenthusiastic schoolmaster who is too fond of Latinisms.

Many students having difficulty understanding Shakespeare would be surprised to learn that he wrote in modern English. But, as can be seen in the earlier example of the Lord's Prayer, Elizabethan English has much more in common with our language today than it does with the language of Chaucer. Many familiar words and phrases were coined or first recorded by Shakespeare, some 2,000 words and countless idioms are his. Newcomers to Shakespeare are often shocked at the number of cliches contained in his plays, until they realize that he coined them and they became cliches afterwards. "One fell swoop," "vanish into thin air," and "flesh and blood" are all Shakespeare's. Words he bequeathed to the language include "critical," "leapfrog," "majestic," "dwindle," and "pedant."

Two other major factors influenced the language and served to separate Middle and Modern English. The first was the Great Vowel Shift. This was a change in pronunciation that began around 1400. While modern English speakers can read Chaucer with some difficulty, Chaucer's pronunciation would have been completely unintelligible to the modern ear. Shakespeare, on the other hand, would be accented, but understandable. Vowel sounds began to be made further to the front of the mouth and the letter "e" at the end of words became silent. Chaucer's Lyf (pronounced "leef") became the modern life. In Middle English name was pronounced "nam-a," five was pronounced "feef," and down was pronounced "doon." In linguistic terms, the shift was rather sudden, the major changes occurring within a century. The shift is still not over, however, vowel sounds are still shortening although the change has become considerably more gradual.

The last major factor in the development of Modern English was the advent of the printing press. William Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1476. Books became cheaper and as a result, literacy became more common. Publishing for the masses became a profitable enterprise, and works in English, as opposed to Latin, became more common. Finally, the printing press brought standardization to English. The dialect of London, where most publishing houses were located, became the standard. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the first English dictionary was published in 1604.

Late-Modern English (1800-Present)

The principal distinction between early- and late-modern English is vocabulary. Pronunciation, grammar, and spelling are largely the same, but Late-Modern English has many more words. These words are the result of two historical factors. The first is the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the technological society. This necessitated new words for things and ideas that had not previously existed. The second was the British Empire. At its height, Britain ruled one quarter of the earth's surface, and English adopted many foreign words and made them its own.

The industrial and scientific revolutions created a need for neologisms to describe the new creations and discoveries. For this, English relied heavily on Latin and Greek. Words like oxygen, protein, nuclear, and vaccine did not exist in the classical languages, but they were created from Latin and Greek roots. Such neologisms were not exclusively created from classical roots though, English roots were used for such terms as horsepower, airplane, and typewriter.

This burst of neologisms continues today, perhaps most visible in the field of electronics and computers. Byte, cyber-, bios, hard-drive, and microchip are good examples.

Also, the rise of the British Empire and the growth of global trade served not only to introduce English to the world, but to introduce words into English. Hindi, and the other languages of the Indian subcontinent, provided many words, such as pundit, shampoo, pajamas, and juggernaut. Virtually every language on Earth has contributed to the development of English, from Finnish (sauna) and Japanese (tycoon) to the vast contributions of French and Latin.

The British Empire was a maritime empire, and the influence of nautical terms on the English language has been great. Phrases like three sheets to the wind have their origins onboard ships.

Finally, the military influence on the language during the latter half of twentieth century was significant. Before the Great War, military service for English-speaking persons was rare; both Britain and the United States maintained small, volunteer militaries. Military slang existed, but with the exception of nautical terms, rarely influenced standard English. During the mid-20th century, however, a large number of British and American men served in the military. And consequently military slang entered the language like never before. Blockbuster, nose dive, camouflage, radar, roadblock, spearhead, and landing strip are all military terms that made their way into standard English.

American English and other varieties

Also significant beginning around 1600 AD was the English colonization of North America and the subsequent creation of American English. Some pronunciations and usages "froze" when they reached the American shore. In certain respects, some varieties of American English are closer to the English of Shakespeare than modern Standard English ('English English' or as it is often incorrectly termed 'British English') is. Some "Americanisms" are actually originally English English expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost at home (e.g., fall as a synonym for autumn, trash for rubbish, and loan as a verb instead of lend).

The American dialect also served as the route of introduction for many native American words into the English language. Most often, these were place names like Mississippi, Roanoke, and Iowa. Indian-sounding names like Idaho were sometimes created that had no native-American roots. But, names for other things besides places were also common. Raccoon, tomato, canoe, barbecue, savanna, and hickory have native American roots, although in many cases the original Indian words were mangled almost beyond recognition.

Spanish has also been great influence on American English. Mustang, canyon, ranch, stampede, and vigilante are all examples of Spanish words that made their way into English through the settlement of the American West.

A lesser number of words have entered American English from French and West African languages.

Likewise dialects of English have developed in many of the former colonies of the British Empire. There are distinct forms of the English language spoken in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India and many other parts of the world.

Global English

English has now inarguably achieved global status. Whenever we turn on the news to find out what's happening in East Asia, or the Balkans, or Africa, or South America, or practically anywhere, local people are being interviewed and telling us about it in English. To illustrate the point when Pope John Paul II arrived in the Middle East recently to retrace Christ's footsteps and addressed Christians, Muslims and Jews, the pontiff spoke not Latin, not Arabic, not Italian, not Hebrew, not his native Polish. He spoke in English.

Indeed, if one looks at some of the facts about the amazing reach of the English language many would be surprised. English is used in over 90 countries as an official or semi-official language. English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN. It is the de facto working language of 98 percent of international research physicists and research chemists. It is the official language of the European Central Bank, even though the bank is in Frankfurt and neither Britain nor any other predominantly English-speaking country is a member of the European Monetary Union. It is the language in which Indian parents and black parents in South Africa overwhelmingly wish their children to be educated. It is believed that over one billion people worldwide are currently learning English.

One of the more remarkable aspects of the spread of English around the world has been the extent to which Europeans are adopting it as their internal lingua franca. English is spreading from northern Europe to the south and is now firmly entrenched as a second language in countries such as Sweden, Norway, Netherlands and Denmark. Although not an official language in any of these countries if one visits any of them it would seem that almost everyone there can communicate with ease in English. Indeed, if one switches on a television in Holland one would find as many channels in English (albeit subtitled), as there are in Dutch.

As part of the European Year of Languages, a special survey of European attitudes towards and their use of languages has just published. The report confirms that at the beginning of 2001 English is the most widely known foreign or second language, with 43% of Europeans claiming they speak it in addition to their mother tongue. Sweden now heads the league table of English speakers, with over 89% of the population saying they can speak the language well or very well. However, in contrast, only 36% of Spanish and Portuguese nationals speak English. What's more, English is the language rated as most useful to know, with over 77% of Europeans who do not speak English as their first language, rating it as useful. French rated 38%, German 23% and Spanish 6%

English has without a doubt become the global language.