The rise of America

British colonisation over a period of three centuries scattered the English language to all the continents of the world. But the spread of American English in the twentieth century has contributed most to the increasing number of English-speakers in the world today.

In the 1770s, the English spoken by the colonists in America hardly differed from the English spoken in Britain. These people still referred to Britain as the mother country and their language was a last, lingering link with the homeland they had left. But once the political breakaway had occurred, contact between the two countries diminished and American English began to develop a character of its own.

When Noah Webster compiled his first dictionary of American English in 1806, he was clearly thinking of it as a language in its own right. Successive editions of the dictionary gave proof that the gap between British and American English was widening. Languages are constantly changing and English is no exception. But in the case of American English, mass immigration speeded up the pace of change.

 

New influences

he immigrants, Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, Chinese, Italians, Poles, Russians, Mexicans, Hungarians and Jews, flooded into what has become known as the melting pot of American society. But they did not melt into it without adding something of their own. The traditions, customs, food and culture of their nations of origin can all be found to a greater or lesser degree in the America of today. It is not surprising, therefore, that American English shows many traces of the languages which the immigrants originally spoke. Zucchini, bagel, smorgasbord and strudel are all food-related words that have been borrowed from other languages. Nor is it surprising that this great variety of cultures was seen as a serious threat to uniting them into one nation.

Immigrants to the United States have to pass a test of competence in English before they can gain full citizenship. The result is that the American population today is the largest body of English-speakers in the world.

 

World domination

i~ i the British over the centuries spread English across the world by colonisation, America has spread it even more effectively and quickly by different means. Who in the world has not heard of Coca Cola, McDonald's, IBM, General Motors, Microsoft and Boeing? It is clear that American industries have made their own forms of conquest. The state of the American dollar influences all the money markets of the world. United States foreign policy affects many other countries, both near and far.

Along with all this economic and political power, there is also unequalled power in all the fields of communication, information and entertainment. No other country has played a greater part in the development of the computer. America leads the world in the design and manufacture of hardware and in the development and production of software. UNESCO figures show that 94 per cent of Internet communications are in English.

Early in the twentieth century, America established itself as the world leader in the new medium of the cinema. In 1906, the first full-length movie was made there and in the following year film-making began in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles. In many countries of the world today, most people's familiarity with English comes from films, TV and other types of American entertainment.

 

Spanglish?

America is responsible for an overwhelming proportion of the English which is spoken all over the world today: words like hamburger, movie and jeep are known to everyone. Ironically, if there is any challenge at all to the dominance of English, it may come from inside America itself.

The last fifty years have seen an enormous number of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Amigo, taco, ranch and lasso are all words of Spanish origin which have crept into the language. In parts of Elorida, Texas and California Spanish represents a serious alternative to English as the language of the community. But the United States remains an English-speaking nation

with an unparalleled influence over the rest of the world.