The Growth and Importance of English Essay Example for Free

The Growth and Importance of English Essay The definition of a global language, is a language which has been given a specific place within countries and communities around the world, even in places where there are very few native speakers of this language. Although English is not the most widely spoken language in the world in terms of the number of native speakers there are many more native Chinese speakers than native English speakers it is described as a global language and Chinese is not. This is because there are few other communities in the world that give Chinese, be it Mandarin or Cantonese, a particular use or function, probably due to the fact that its alphabet is so different from that which is used in the majority of the rest of the world. It is impossible to know exactly how many English speakers there are in the world, but according to estimates, there are more than 350 million native English speakers and more than 400 million speakers of English as a second, or foreign, language. These figures are especially impressive considering the fact that this mass popularity only came about in approximately the last three centuries. The English languages influence spans across the globe and is more influential in the world of media, communication, business and government than any other, even in certain countries where English is used, or regarded, as a minority language. It is the language of maritime communication and international air traffic control and is acknowledged as the language of popular culture primarily in the entertainment fields of cinema and music. The English languages earliest origins are from the Germanic language group. This group began as a common language about 3,000 years ago. Many different European languages developed from this Germanic group, depending on which part of this sector the region of the Elbe river they were closer to. For example, North Germanic evolved into the modern Scandinavian languages of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic; and East Germanic, which was adopted by Southeast European countries. West Germanic, however, is the language from which English developed, along with German, Dutch and Flemish. This West Germanic language first came over to Britain in the 5th Century when Germanic peoples from Jutland (the Jutes) and Denmark (the Saxons) invaded. They forced the original inhabitants the Celts to the outskirts of Britain Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Ireland. It is for this reason that the a lot of the original Celtic language still remains in the Scottish, Irish and Welsh languages. The Germanic invaders language was almost identical to Modern Frisian, the language which is now referred to as Old English. Depending on where in Britain the Jutes and the Saxons settled, new dialects emerged. The most prominent of these being Northumbrian in the North of England, Mercian in the Midlands, West Saxon in the South and West, and Kentish in the Southeast. Around two hundred years later, during the 8th Century, the Vikings invaded Britain from Scandinavia. As with the original Germanic invaders, they brought with them a new language dimension Old Norse. This language however, was itself descended from North Germanic and so was very similar to the Old English which was being spoken in England. As the language spoken throughout Scandinavia at the time was mostly understandable by the Anglo-Saxons, they brought, with relative ease, many new words to the language of England, especially to the Northern regions. In 1066, the Duke of Normandy, William the Conqueror, did as name suggests, and invaded and conquered England, and its Anglo-Saxon inhabitants. As with the Viking invasion two hundred and fifty years previously, the new rulers of England brought with them a specific addition to the language. However, also like the Vikings, the language spoken by the Normans had descended from the Germanic group and was called Anglo-Norman. However, it was in fact a French dialect which had simply been influenced by Germanic language features. It therefore was unlike the languages which had been brought to England during the previous two conquests, as it featured Latin based lexis and grammar, but with a basic Germanic heredity. Although Old English had already been remotely influenced by Latin during the Roman occupation of Britain during the 7th Century, the language of England now properly incorporated distinct Latinate linguistic features. The mixture of these two languages French and Old English came to be known as Middle English. The French dimension began to slowly dilute itself however, when the original Norman rulers lost ownership of Normandy when it was conquered by the French King in 1204, and therefore lost contact with the province they had once owned, and focused on their main land England. The Middle English language remained more or less the same for several centuries (apart from inevitable lexical developments) until the late 1400s, when a great invention revolutionised the English language and became the last major factor in the development of Modern English. This ground-breaking device was the printing press, which was created by William Caxton in 1476. It made such a significant impact because, for the first time ever, the English language could be written and produced in mass amounts relatively easily. This meant that news could be spread quicker and with less difficulty, as bulletins, leaflets and books could be produced in large quantities at a lower price, as writing was no longer done by hand and therefore took a lot less time. As books were now cheaper, the literacy rate rose and the masses began to educate themselves. Reading was therefore no longer reserved for the nobility. This also meant, however, that the English language had to be standardised for everyone to be able to read it with the same facility. The dialect of London, where the first printing press and most of the future publishing houses were located, therefore became the standard way of writing. Spelling and grammar rules were fixed and the Middle English dialect, finally became the standardised language that we know it to be today. This was later confirmed in 1604, when the first ever English language dictionary was published. So, now that English had more or less fully developed itself, how did it, instead of other, ancient languages such as Latin, Greek, Arabic and Chinese grow to become so powerful and overtake these well-established languages in between Shakespeares era and the 20th Century? The first reason is the exploration and colonisation of distant countries and areas around the world by Britain who, at the height of its empires rule (late 19th and early 20th Century), ruled over 1/3 of the world. The British explorers travelled far and wide, conquering regions and establishing English as their primary language, as a means of exerting a civilising influence on countries within the empire, and in order to demonstrate their superiority. Many of these colonies, most of which have since become independent, still use English as their principal or official language, for example the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Malaysia. This is due to the fact that many of these countries have numerous different regional dialects, for example in India (which utilises English as its official language) a census recorded over 200 different mother tongues even though the Indian constitution recognises only 18 official Indian langu ages. The colonisation of the United States in particular made a great impact upon the use of English as a global language. As early as during the 1750s, renowned philosopher and writer David Hume rightly stated that, Our solid and increasing establishments in America promise a superior stability and duration to the English language. This is because during the 1800s, England was firmly establishing itself as the workshop of the world, and with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, during which, England paved the way for the invention of technological wonders, America gained speed in the race for economic power. With the invention, in the early 1900s, of steam technology, came the real breakthrough in the globalisation of the English language, as the press became mechanised and so news about British and American technological developments travelled further, and more frequently, to the colonies by the new railways and steamships. The news of these miraculous inventions now reached the rest of the world with such haste, and international markets soon realised that if they wanted to make a significant impact during the Industrial Revolution, they had to improve their knowledge of what technology was being invented. As much of this technology came from England and America, the directions about how to use the machinery were written in  English and so foreign traders had to learn English, or at least have enough capability to ensure basic understanding. In fact, it has been stated that when all of the industrial and scientific developments from America are added to those from Britain, it can be calculated that over half of the significant technological yield of the Industrial Revolution was written in English. These technological advancements that were being made had widespread linguistic consequences. New terminology used to describe the industrial and scientific developments was invented, and rapidly became part of the English language, adding thousands of words to the already growing lexicon. These newly improved modes of transportation (steamships) also helped the expansion of English, as travel and exploration became easier. New lands were being discovered and so the English language was able to spread even further. For example, in 1769, British explorer James Cook discovered Australia and by 1790, Britain had already set up its first penal colony in Sydney, in order to relieve the pressure on the overcrowded English prisons. It became the destination for British convicts who had been declared criminally incurable. However, the convicts thrived and began farming, which built up a reasonable economy. The population increased, and eventually Australia was no longer regarded as the island made up solely of prisoners, and it became an economically developed continent with English as its mother tongue. Slavery was also a way of spreading the English language. During the 1700s, Westerners began to take Africans from their native land, which had already almost entirely been colonised by the Europeans, and exported them back to their own countries as a means of free labour. Even once they had been shipped abroad, their captors were worried that they would band together and revolt against them. The way in which they decided to stop this from happening was by grouping up the slaves by what language they spoke. Those who were from the same parts of Africa or who spoke the same language or dialect were separated. They were now helpless they could not communicate with each other in order to rise against their new masters, which was  exactly what their owners wanted. However, in order to be able to get these slaves to work for them, the Westerners had to teach them their own language. As many slaves were transported to America in particular, they were taught how to speak English. This language became their only means of communication with not only their masters, but with each other as well. The English language was thus expanded even further. It was also from this that the black vernacular of today developed itself. Although during the first half of the 19th Century (the beginning of the Industrial Revolution) new transport systems were developed (as mentioned above) and vastly improved communications between countries and continents, the real breakthroughs came in the second half of the century. This was the invention of the telegraph and then the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, which made interpersonal contact across countries almost instantaneous. These means of communication greatly helped the growth of the English language, because they are widely regarded as two of the most influential developments of the century, and were either patented, developed or created by an American. By the end of the 19th Century therefore, America had overtaken Britain, as well as everyone else, as the worlds fastest growing economy. By the early 20th Century, Britain and the United States were known for their economic imperialism they together invested more money than any other country in the world and were known as the global economic trade capitals. The rest of the world could see how much money these two countries were making and therefore wanted to join them, however, like with the Industrial Revolution, to do so, they had to learn the economic language, which at this point in history, was most definitely English. David Crystal states that If the metaphor money talks has any meaning at all, those were the days when it was shouting loudly and the language in which it was shouting was chiefly English. Today English is incredibly wide-spread and it is constantly expanding. The main reason for this, in my opinion, is because of the media. The first medium through which English is, and was, spread is through newspapers.  Everybody needs to know what is going on, in not only their country, but abroad as well. Newspapers are the main publication which are indispensable, because no matter what scientific or technological developments are created, the world will still need this type of information delivered through this simple and cost-effective medium. This is why the fact that five thousand newspapers, more than half of the newspapers published in the world, are published in English, is so important to the constant growth of the English language. Television and cinema are other forms of media which greatly helped English get to the position it has reached today. The technology of this industry was first developed in Europe and America during the 19th Century, and by 1900, Britain and France were leading the way in the art of filmmaking. The First World War stopped them in their tracks however, which gave America the chance to gain dominance within the field. Feature films were developed, and the actors became stars across the world, thus solidifying Americas control over the film industry, which it still maintains today. Their industry is the largest and richest, and therefore the films which are produced, are sent off all around the world where they are subtitled (or dubbed). Through watching these movies, people abroad are learning the English language, whilst being entertained. The same can be said of the power which American television has over the world, and its obvious benefits. For example, two hundred and fifty million Chinese people (more than the population of the United States itself) are learning English on TV. Popular culture, in particular pop music, also affected and is still affecting the growth and spread of the English language. The phonograph the first machine which could ever record and reproduce sound, was invented in America in 1877 by American, Thomas A. Edison. Most of the significant technological developments made in the record industry therefore took place in America. The invention of LP disks and records was obviously not the beginning of music, but it gave music the ability to travel across the world without the composer or artist having to travel themselves. It therefore  allowed other countries to experience foreign music, especially American music, which was increasingly popular because of its often fast-paced beat which was ideal for dancing, which symbolised the carefree notion which Europe, during the First World War, craved. In conclusion, the English languages label of global language is one which is entirely founded. It has proved its dominance all around the world, its power has spanned many centuries, and today, with the internet the means of communication of the future recording 94% of its sites as being written in English, it is safe to say that it will continue to do so for many future generations.

Who Am I? Essay example -- Writing Education Essays

Who Am I? Today as I look back at the first paper that I wrote for this class, I see that it is not the type of paper that I usually write. It is not full of big, sophisticated words. Rather it is a paper that does what it is supposed to, explain in simple english my thoughts on the subject. Those thoughts are that today most college kids are whiners and students go to college because it is the norm. I also gave a couple of abstracts to these. I never really took a stand as to which of those pertained to me. But I think that they all do in a sense. In a way I am irresponsible. I leave stuff to the last minute, I cram, and I get a attitude and just say screw it. As for the metaphor part of the first paper, I do feel that I am a parent and the university is my child. This interpretation is sort of like a cartogram. A cartogram is a map that is distorted to a relationship between two distinctive regions. The regions in this case is the university and myself. This is distorted because the universi ty is much larger than me, and it takes care of me. The second metaphor that I pondered is a little more down to Earth. The university is our god, and if we do not give, we shalt not receive. All of these lead into who I am. In essence I am a hippocrate. I condemn the students who procrastinate, while I am one of the worst at procrastinating. Take this paper for example. I am sitting at my roommates computer, it's eight o'clock Tuesday night, and I'm drinking a whiskey-coke. I already mentioned the child/parent thing. The god part of it is the same, though. I feel I am a god. I can so all of this and still get the grades. At least that the way it seems to be. In actuality I tried it, and it didn't work. The person who wrote the paper is no... ...y writing, I do not see myself. I see someone that's pleasing the audience with what he writes, but not pleasing himself. I am not happy writing stuff that is drab and has to sense of commitment. But that is what has always been a requirement. I like writing this kind of paper better. A paper that I can write with some sort of enthusiasm, eventhough I am better at writing the other kind. Writing this way just makes me feel better. I don't know, call me kooky. In the first paper I wrote with a very prominent mask. But as the papers progressed, I think that I might have been starting to shed that mask a little. Maybe it was the different style of writing. Maybe it was just me. Maybe it was due to the E-mail discussion, where got to people with out even talking to them directly. I don't know. The experience has been really productive. I just hope I can keep it up.

Creating a united ummah between 622 and 632 Essay

Explain and comment on the ways in which Muhammad set about creating a united ummah between 622 and 632 Key to explaining the creation of the united ummah is the admission by Islam of the wars that were necessary in achieving their aim. The Muslim belief about 622 is that Muhammad and the muhajirun who followed him from Mecca to Medina were mostly accepted by most residents of Medina. The foundation for this was that they had been asked there in the first place – they were supposed to bring about a peaceful revolution in a city wrought with violence and feuds between seperate tribes of people. As such, Islam was going to be the heal on the wounds that were plighting Medina. The non-Muslim view however is that Jews and munafiqun had difficulties in accepting the ideals of Islam and ridiculed it. Muhammad was faced with a challenge in bringing the people round to his point of view, and by the end of 622, had only managed to persuade 1000. The first undisputed, all-out battle of the creation of the ummah was in 624. This was the Battle of Badr. While Muslims claim that the battle was fought out of loyalty to Allah alone, non-Muslims claim that it was based on a desire for revenge against the Meccans who had forced them to leave their original home. The evidence that Muslims claim to have supporting their argument is the very fact that Muhammad and his followers won the battle – they had Allah on their side, as is described in Sura 7. Sura 7 is however believed by opponents to have been written at a different time to the Qur’an, so cannot be taken at face value. Non-believers claim that Muhammad was acting with intolerance, which overrided the supposed obligation from Allah that he had to act on. 625 saw the Battle of Uhud, which saw Abu Sufyan setting out in opposition to Muhammad. His 3000 men would logically make light work of the 700 that Muhammad could call upon – Muslim belief follows that Allah was testing the faith of his followers in allowing one side to be so much bigger than the other. Non-Muslim belief obviously ranges, but some have argued that God could not have solely been on Muhammad’s side, given that the prophet emerged from the battle with war wounds, and that some Meccans disobeyed orders, so there were other forces acting on the battle than those of Allah. Abu Sufyan set out to kill Muhammad again in 627, with the Battle of the Ditches. In this battle, Muhammad and his army were met with the force of 10,000 men. Stalemate arose when Muhammad dug trenches, and a storm saw off the Meccans, who had started disputes between themselves anyway. Non-Muslim suspicion of this story is largely insubstantial, although the morality of murdering 600-900 Jews later on in the year has been brought into question. This, and the sale of women and children into slavery by Muhammad’s followers has been backed up with the teaching from the Qur’an reading ‘God does not love the treacherous, the belief by many Muslims that it was the only way they had of creating the religious theocracy that they wanted, and the belief that they had every right to return the violence that they claim had been initiated on them by the Jews and Meccans. Muhammad set out to improve the relations between the Medinans and the Meccans in 628, when the two cities agreed to sign the Treaty of Hudabiya outside Meccan city boundaries. Muslims consider this treaty to authenticate Muhammad’s status as a reluctant warrior because it was supposed to secure peace and the right for any Meccans to become Muslims if they wanted to. Islam’s status as being ‘more than a religion’ is also authenticated by the treaty, which Muslims believe portrayed Muhammad as being a capable politician – he also allowed Jews to enjoy religious freedom, in return for an extra tax. The Islamic belief that the Muhammad communicated with emperors of Byzantium and Abyssinia is toned down by non-Muslim theory, which suggests that he spoke to Arabian peninsula leaders at the most. Some Meccans were voluntarily converted to Islam when the faith reached Mecca on a small pilgramage in 629, but the main influx of population to the faith came in 630 when Muhammad took the ciy by force. In the following year, he sent out armies supporting his leaders when they spread the word of Islam – the role that these forces played in converting people to Islam is disputed by Non-Muslims. â€Å"There is much evidence to support the view that Muhammad’s motives were political and personal, rather than religious.† Firstly, it would not have been reasonable for Muhammad’s motives to have been solely religious. He would not have been able to have been as successful as he was if they had been – this is because Islam is, in the eyes of believers and non-believers alike, more than just a religion. The Islamic beliefs take precedence over politics, and the individual desires of one person. This makes it almost socialistic in its principles, which in turn explain how Muhammad found it such a task to actually spread the faith. It is unlikely that Muhammad’s motives were personal, as in the event that they had been, it would have been unlikely he would have set himself aside for so much criticism or persecution in fighting the Meccans. He would have stayed in Mecca and made a living as a trader if this was what he wanted. He would however have had political motives. These would have been necessary in converting a brutal city into a religious theocracy, and would have to have been backed up with a resolution to act in possibly violent ways to carry them through. What Muhammad was doing was by no means easy – he put his life on the line for Allah, who had already put him through visions to tell him what he had to do. Muhammad has been described by some people as being hungry for power, leading to his crusades, battles and treaties across Arabia. What it must be remembered is that he died in 632 as a reasonably old man – he fought not for himself but for Allah.

Ulysses S Grant at the Battle of Shiloh

General Ulysses Grant’s overwhelming victories at Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862 caused the withdrawal of Confederate forces not only from the State of Kentucky but also from most of Western Tennessee. Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston positioned his forces, numbered at 45,000 troops, at and around Corinth, Mississippi. This location was an important transportation center since it was a junction for both the Mobile Ohio and Memphis Charleston railroads, often referred to as the crossroads of the Confederacy. General Johnston Dies During a Sneak Attack By April 1862, Major General Grant’s Army of Tennessee had grown to nearly 49,000 soldiers. They needed a rest, so Grant made camp on the western side of the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing while he was awaiting re-enforcements and also training soldiers who had no battle experience. Grant was also planning with Brigadier General William T. Sherman for their attack on the Confederate Army at Corinth, Mississippi. Further, Grant was waiting for the Army of Ohio to arrive, commanded by Major General Don Carlos Buell.   Instead of sitting and waiting at Corinth, General Johnston had moved his Confederate troops near Pittsburg Landing. On the morning of April 6, 1862, Johnston made a surprise attack against Grant’s Army pushing their backs up against the Tennessee River. Around 2:15 p.m. that day, Johnston was shot behind his right knee and  died within an hour. Before his death, Johnston sent his personal physician to treat injured Union soldiers. There is speculation that Johnston didn’t feel the injury to his right knee due to numbness from a wound to his pelvis that he suffered from a duel fought during the Texas War for Independence in 1837. Grants Counter Attack The Confederate forces were now led by General Pierre G.T. Beauregard. Though Grants forces were believed to be vulnerable, Beauregard made what would prove to be an unwise decision to cease fighting near dusk of that first day. That evening, Major General Buell and his 18,000 soldiers finally arrived at Grant’s camp near Pittsburg’s Landing. In the morning, Grant made his counter-attack against the Confederate forces resulting in a major victory for the Union Army. In addition, Grant and Sherman forged a close friendship on the Shiloh battlefield that remained with them throughout the Civil War and arguably led to the ultimate victory by Union at the end of this conflict.   Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh is probably one of the most significant battles of the Civil War. In addition to losing the battle, the Confederacy suffered a loss that may have cost them the war—Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston’s death that happened on the first day of the battle. History has considered General Johnston to have been the Confederacy’s most able commander at the time of his death – Robert E. Lee was not a field commander at this time—as Johnston had been a career military officer with over 30 years of active experience. By the end of the war, Johnston would be the highest ranking officer killed on either side.   The Battle of Shiloh was the deadliest battle in the history of the U.S. up until that time with casualties that exceeded a total of 23,000 for both sides. After the Battle of Shiloh, it was quite clear to Grant that the only way to defeat the Confederacy would be to destroy their armies. Grant Excels Despite His Alcoholism Although Grant received both praise and criticism for his actions leading up to and during the Battle of Shiloh, Major General Henry Halleck removed Grant from command of the Army of the Tennessee and transferred command to Brigadier General George H. Thomas. Halleck based his decision partially on allegations of alcoholism on the part of Grant and promoted Grant to the position of being second-in-command of the western armies, which essentially removed Grant from being an active field commander. Grant wanted to command, and he was ready to resign and walk away until Sherman convinced him otherwise. After Shiloh, Halleck made a snail crawl to Corinth, Mississippi taking 30 days to move his army 19 miles and in the process allowed the entire Confederate force stationed there just to walk away. Needless to say, Grant was returned to his position of commanding the Army of the Tennessee and Halleck became the Union’s general-in-chief. This means that Halleck moved away from the front and became a bureaucrat whose major responsibility was the coordination of all Union forces in the field. This was a key decision as Halleck was able to excel in this position and work well with Grant as they continued to fight the Confederacy.