 Hi, I welcome you to a short e-lecture where I will briefly discuss the development of English from a regional to a global language. I will proceed as follows. First, I will list the central periods of English and will then talk about the main triggers towards the development of English as a global language. Using the three circles model, I will then look at the main types of English in a global context. So let's start with a brief historical overview. Old English, the first period of English, was clearly Germanic in character with many properties taken over from continental Germanic. Middle English, by contrast, changed to a language where many typical Germanic aspects were lost and romance in particular French properties came in. Most obviously in the vocabulary. And early modern English had fixed many of these aspects. It was now clearly different from its German predecessors. It had a rich vocabulary and a new sound repertoire, and it became the initial stage for the spread of English around the world. The first significant step in the progress of English towards its status as a global language did not take place before the end of the 16th century. By the end of the reign of Elizabeth the first in 1603, literature had boomed through the works of Spencer, Marlowe and in particular Shakespeare. And Francis Drake and Walter Rawley had laid the foundation for the expanding influence of English in the new world and of course later than in Australia. According to the Indian linguist Braj Kashru, the spread of English around the world can be defined in terms of three concentric circles. The inner circle refers to the traditional historical and sociolinguistic origins of English where it is used as a first or native language. And here are the main countries of course Great Britain, then we have North America with Canada and the United States, Australia and New Zealand and often forgotten Ireland. Now these countries are members of the inner circle with about 400 million speakers, almost 70% of which are from the United States. The second circle, the so-called outer circle, includes countries colonized by Britain and the United States where English is spoken as a second language and where it plays an important historical and governmental role in multilingual settings. Here are the central ones, for example in Asia we have India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In Africa we find this sort of English in South Africa, in Kenya, in Ghana, in Nigeria and in Tanzania to name the main ones. And then of course in the Caribbean in Jamaica and in the Pacific Ocean on the Philippines. The countries in the expanding circle did not institutionalize English as an official language but recognized the importance of English as a foreign language. Well and this concerns almost the whole world, countries such as Israel, Japan, China, Egypt, Korea, Nepal, Russia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, the whole of Western Europe plus the Caribbean countries and of course the South African continent with more than one billion speakers. Let us take a brief look at the inner circle development now and let's start with North America. The first permanent settlement in North America began with the arrival of England's second expedition in 1607. The first by Sir Walter Rawley and his fellow explorers who arrived in 1584 had been forced to return to England as a consequence of conflicts with the native people. The new southern colonists came mainly from England's west country, their tide water accents that's a technical term still exists in some isolated valleys. They are said to be the closest to the sound of Shakespeare's English, that is early modern English of course. Then in 1620 the first group of Puritans arrived on the Mayflower. These people did not want to return to England, what the pilgrim fathers had in common was their search for a land where they could found a new religious kingdom which would be free from persecution. 1681 brought new shiploads of immigrants, the Quakers from the north of England and the North Midlands who settled in Pennsylvania. Later there was a vast wave of immigration from Northern Ireland and Scotland to this area. By the time independence was declared in 1776, one in seven of the colonial population was Scots Irish. Today we can identify the following major dialects in North America. For example ethnic varieties such as African American English, some people prefer the term African American vernacular English and American Indian English. Or we have regional varieties such as North Eastern American English, Southern States American English or Canadian English. In Australia, Britain established its first penal colony at Sydney after James Cook's visit in 1770 in order to relieve the pressure on the overcrowded prisons in England. So let's write down 70 as a key figure here. The about 130,000 prisoners were followed by a wave of settlers. By 1850 the population of Australia was about 400,000 and by 1900 nearly 4 million. Today almost 18 million people live on the Australian continent. The British Isles provided the main source of settlers and thus the main influence on the language. And what about the future? Well if there has ever been such a thing as a world language, English is one today. During less than 300 years English developed from a regional language to a global language. Today English constitutes the most widely used individual language with more than 300 million native speakers and more than 1.5 billion official users. In considering the future of English the following main aspects have to be considered. For example the role of the British Empire. Some sociolinguists expect a strong reaction against continuing the use of the English language as the language of the former colonial power and in favor of promoting the indigenous languages. That's one possibility. On the other hand the North American influence may increase. The United States has the largest percentage of native speakers of English and the country has been influential in many ways. It is more involved in modern developments than any other nation. It is in control of the digital revolution. Hence its dominance and the dominance of American English may even increase. The spread of English around the world could also have an important consequence. English will become more open to linguistic change with totally unpredictable results. The emergence of new varieties of English in territories where the language has taken root demonstrates this. These new Englishes are somewhat like the dialects we all recognize within our own country except that they are on an international scale applying to whole countries or regions. Well and in the future with many national Englishes little would change. People would still have their national dialects for use within their own country. However when the need came to communicate with people from other countries they would use a globally understandable form. A type of world standard spoken English. This standard already exists in its infancy though and it continues to develop especially through the use of the internet and modern mass media. Thereby international intelligibility is guaranteed while at the same time national identity is preserved. Well today English constitutes the most widely used language of our time. From a regional language that was by and large influenced by many other languages it has developed to the world's number one communication system. If you wish a global lingua franca and the influence on other languages is omnipresent. Thank you very much for your attention.