English

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A language of United Kingdom

Autonym
English
User Population

60,020,000 in United Kingdom, all users. L1 users: 56,600,000 in United Kingdom (2011 census). England and Wales 49,800,000, Scotland 5,118,000, Northern Ireland 1,681,000. L2 users: 3,420,000 (2011 census). Total users in all countries: 1,452,471,410 (as L1: 372,862,090; as L2: 1079,609,320).

Language Status

1 (National). De facto national language.

Dialects

Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, West Country, East Anglia, Birmingham (Brummie, Brummy), South Wales, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cornwall, Cumberland, Central Cumberland, Devonshire, East Devonshire, Dorset, Durham, Bolton Lancashire, North Lancashire, Radcliffe Lancashire, Northumberland, Norfolk, Newcastle Northumberland, Tyneside Northumberland, Lowland Scottish, Somerset, Sussex, Westmorland, North Wiltshire, Craven Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Sheffield Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Glaswegian. Many local English varieties around the world. Lexical similarity: 61% with Frisian [fry], 60% with German [deu], 27% with French [fra], 24% with Russian [rus], 20% with Portuguese [por].

Typology

SVO; prepositions; genitives after noun heads; articles, adjectives, numerals before noun heads; question word initial; word order distinguishes subject, object, indirect objects, given and new information, topic and comment; active and passive; causative; comparative; consonant and vowel clusters; 24 consonants, 13 vowels, 8 diphthongs; non-tonal; free stress; phrasal verbs.

Language Use

Some also use French [fra] (European Commission 2006). A few also use Spanish [spa] (European Commission 2006). A few also use Standard German [deu] (European Commission 2006).

Language Development

Taught in all primary and secondary schools. Taught in all tertiary schools. Fully developed. Bible: 1382–2002.

Writing

Braille script [Brai]. Deseret Alphabet [Dsrt], developed in 1854 with limited usage until 1877. Latin script [Latn], primary usage. Shavian (Shaw) script [Shaw], no longer in use.

Other Comments

Christian.

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