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British English and North American English, the two major varieties of the language, are together spoken by 400 million people. The total number of English speakers worldwide may exceed one billion. [32] There have been attempts to predict future English evolution, though they have been met with skepticism. [33]
Norse influence was strongest in the north-eastern varieties of Old English spoken in the Danelaw area around York, which was the centre of Norse colonisation; today these features are still particularly present in Scots and Northern English. The centre of Norsified English was in the Midlands around Lindsey. After 920 CE, when Lindsey was ...
North American English encompasses the English language as spoken in both the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, [ 2 ] plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), vocabulary, and grammar of U.S. English and Canadian English , linguists often group the two together.
There has been a Dutch presence in North America since establishment of 17th-century colony of New Netherland (parts of New York, New Jersey and Delaware), where Dutch was spoken by the New Netherlander, the original settlers, and their descendants. It was still spoken in the region at the time of the American Revolution and thereafter.
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.
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, [b] is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. [4] English is the most widely spoken language in the United States .
Of the first documented African slaves to arrive in English North America, on the frigate White Lion in August 1619, [4] were an African man and woman, later named Antoney and Isabella. Listed in the 1624 census in Virginia, they became the first African family recorded in Jamestown. [52]
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.