The English Language is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now a global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that would later take their name, England, both names ultimately deriving from the Anglia peninsula in the Baltic Sea. It is closely related to the Frisian languages, but its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse (a North Germanic language), as well as by Latin and French.
The English language has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the 5th century, are collectively called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England; this was a period in which the language was influenced by French. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to England, and the first publication of William Shakespeare’s works. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, and later the United States, Modern English has been spreading around the world since its early days.
In its written form English uses a Latin alphabet including 26 letters: (21 consonants and 5 vowels). Of these 26 letters 9 are silent (not pronounced) in certain words or at specific times within words: b in lamb, d in handkerchief, g in gist, k in knee, l in psalm, n in autumn , p in psychology , t in Castle . There are also 5 digraphs not part of standard 26-letter alphabet used: ch in cheese , sh in shower , th as two distinct phonemes /θ/ and /ð/ spelling thin or this respectively (as well as for θin θis ), wh as two phonemes /hw/ spelling who and why , ph used mainly foreign words such as philosophy . Although there are 28 letters (including digraphs) there are only 24 different phonemes because some sounds are represented by two letters (allophones): t + ion = ʃun ; ou = /uː/ double o only used at end of word or before l qu so ci si ph ew stion -tion -ssion -xion -tion ; ck = k at end of word or before ing er ur ; s = z before voiced sound -ge -dge -ve -zle ; th can be either voiceless /θ/ or voiced /ð/ thin this ; gh can be either silent drop at end of words high laugh nightigh right light weight where fgh serve no phonetic purpose at all but do distinguish between different words: enough rough tough cough bough hiccough . There are about 200 million native speakers who use this language for daily communication making it 3rd most widely spoken language after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish .
Class I Subject English L 5 Keywords: Ms Seema Kharbanda
