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The English language descends from Old English, the West Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons. Most of its grammar, its core vocabulary and the most common words are Germanic. [1] However, the percentage of loans in everyday conversation varies by dialect and idiolect, even if English vocabulary at large has a greater Romance influence.
English continues to gain new loanwords and calques ("loan translations") from languages all over the world, and words from languages other than the ancestral Anglo-Saxon language make up about 60% of the vocabulary of English.
As of 2024, there are 57 sovereign states and 28 non-sovereign entities where English is an official language. Many administrative divisions have declared English an official language at the local or regional level. Most states where English is an official language are former territories of the British Empire.
The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, [1] [2] making it the largest language by number of speakers, the third largest language by number of native speakers and the most widespread language geographically.
India in the state of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (with 21 other languages, and with [[ Hindi and English language as the link language and official language of Union) Singapore (with English, Chinese and Malay) [26] Sri Lanka (with Sinhala, and with English as a link language) Tammari:
This is a list of countries by number of languages according to the 22nd edition of Ethnologue (2019). [ 1 ] Papua New Guinea has the largest number of languages in the world.
Isle of Man: the main language is English, but a small percentage of the population have some knowledge of Manx Gaelic, which is used officially to a limited extent, e.g. in bilingual street signs, some official documents and for ceremonial purposes. Guernsey: the main language is English. French is spoken as well.
Middle English † – Englisch, English, Inglis Formerly spoken in: the British Isles; Middle French † – françois, franceis Formerly spoken in: France; Middle High German † – diutsch, tiutsch Formerly spoken in: Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland; Middle Irish † – Gaoidhealg Formerly spoken in: Ireland, Scotland and the ...