Editing International English (section)

===Origins===
{{further|History of the English language|Proto-Indo-European|Proto-Germanic|Proto-West Germanic|Proto-English|Old English|Middle English|Early Modern English|Modern English}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2011}}

The modern concept of "International English" does not exist in isolation, but is the product of centuries of development of the [[English language]].

The English language evolved in [[England]], from a set of [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] dialects spoken by the [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] and [[Saxons]], who arrived from continental Europe in the 5th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The origins and development of the English language|last=John|first=Algeo|others=Butcher, Carmen Acevedo,, Based on: Pyles, Thomas, 1905–1980.|isbn=9781133307273|edition=Seventh|location=Boston, MA|oclc=843494734|date = January 2013}}</ref> Those dialects became known as ''Englisc'' (literally "Anglish"), the language today referred to as Anglo-Saxon or [[Old English]] (the language of the poem ''[[Beowulf]]''). However, less than a quarter of the vocabulary of [[Modern English]] is derived from the shared ancestry with other West Germanic languages because of extensive borrowings from [[Norse language|Norse]], [[Norman language|Norman]], [[Latin]], and other languages. It was during the [[Viking]] invasions of the Anglo-Saxon period that Old English was influenced by contact with [[Norse language|Norse]], a group of [[North Germanic languages|North Germanic]] dialects spoken by the [[Vikings]], who came to control a large region in the North of England known as the [[Danelaw]]. Vocabulary items entering English from Norse (including the pronouns ''they'' and ''them'') are thus attributable to the on-again-off-again Viking occupation of Northern England during the centuries prior to the [[Norman Conquest]] (see, e.g., [[Canute the Great]]). Soon after the [[Norman Conquest]] of 1066, the ''Englisc'' language ceased being a literary language (see, e.g., [[Ormulum]]) and was replaced by [[Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman]] as the written language of England. During the Norman Period, English absorbed a significant component of French vocabulary (approximately one-third of the vocabulary of [[Modern English]]).  With this new vocabulary, additional vocabulary borrowed from Latin (with Greek, another approximately one-third of [[Modern English]] vocabulary, though some borrowings from Latin and Greek date from later periods), a simplified grammar, and use of the orthographic conventions of French instead of Old English orthography, the language became [[Middle English]] (the language of [[Chaucer]]).  The "difficulty" of English as a written language thus began in the [[High Middle Ages]], when French orthographic conventions were used to spell a language whose original, more suitable orthography had been forgotten after centuries of nonuse. During the late medieval period, King [[Henry V of England]] (lived 1387–1422) ordered the use of the English of his day in proceedings before him and before the government bureaucracies. That led to the development of [[Middle English#Chancery Standard|Chancery English]], a standardised form used in the government bureaucracy. (The use of so-called [[Law French]] in English courts continued through the Renaissance, however.)

The emergence of English as a language of [[Wales]] results from the incorporation of Wales into England and also dates from approximately this time period.  Soon afterward, the development of [[printing]] by [[William Caxton|Caxton]] and others accelerated the development of a standardised form of English.  Following [[Great Vowel Shift|a change in vowel pronunciation]] that marks the transition of English from the medieval to the Renaissance period, the language of the Chancery and Caxton became [[Early Modern English]] (the language of [[Shakespeare]]'s day) and with relatively moderate changes eventually developed into the English language of today. [[Scots language|Scots]], as spoken in the lowlands and along the east coast of Scotland, developed largely independent of Modern English, and is based on the Northern dialects of Anglo-Saxon, particularly [[Northumbrian Old English|Northumbrian]], which also serve as the basis of Northern English dialects such as those of [[Yorkshire English|Yorkshire]] and [[Geordie|Newcastle upon Tyne]].  Northumbria was within the Danelaw and therefore experienced greater influence from Norse than did the Southern dialects.  As the political influence of London grew, the [[Chancery Standard#Chancery Standard|Chancery]] version of the language developed into a written standard across [[Great Britain]], further progressing in the modern period as [[Scotland]] became united with England as a result of the [[Acts of Union 1707|Acts of Union of 1707]].

English was introduced to [[Ireland]] twice—a medieval introduction that led to the development of the now-extinct [[Yola language|Yola]] and [[Fingallian]] dialects, and a modern introduction in which [[Hiberno-English]] largely replaced [[Irish language|Irish]] as the most widely spoken language during the 19th century, following the [[Act of Union 1800|Act of Union of 1800]]. [[Received Pronunciation]] (RP) is generally viewed as a 19th-century development and is not reflected in [[North American English]] dialects (except for an affected [[Good American Speech|Transatlantic accent]] of the early to mid-20th century), which are based on 18th-century English.

The establishment of the first permanent English-speaking colony in [[North America]] in 1607 was a major step towards the [[globalisation]] of the language. [[British English]] was only partially standardised when the American colonies were established. Isolated from each other by the Atlantic Ocean, the dialects in England and the colonies began evolving independently.

The [[First Fleet|British colonisation of Australia]] starting in 1788 brought the English language to Oceania. By the 19th century, the standardisation of [[British English]] was more settled than it had been in the previous century, and this relatively well-established English was brought to [[Africa]], [[Asia]] and [[New Zealand]]. It developed both as the language of English-speaking settlers from Britain and Ireland, and as the administrative language imposed on speakers of other languages in the various parts of the [[British Empire]]. The first form can be seen in [[New Zealand English]], and the latter in [[Indian English]]. In [[Europe]], English received a more central role particularly since 1919, when the [[Treaty of Versailles]] was composed not only in [[French language|French]], the common language of diplomacy at the time, but, under special request from American president Woodrow Wilson, also in English – a major milestone in the globalisation of English.{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}}

The English-speaking regions of [[Canada]] and the [[Caribbean]] are caught between historical connections with the UK and the Commonwealth and geographical and economic connections with the U.S. In some things they tend to follow British standards, whereas in others, especially commercial, they follow the U.S. standard.