The English language had been around for about four hundred years before it began to be called English. It first emerged sometime during the fifth century AD, when a number of Germanic tribes from the north of Europe – whom we now refer to collectively as the Anglo Saxons arrived in Britain, bringing with them their several indigenous dialects. Over the next few hundred years, these tribes established roots and began spreading out across the country, that is why the language slowly developed.In the ninth century, the term of “English “began to be regularly used to refer to the language (Crystal, 2005, p. 27).
English did not become English until at least four centuries into its existence. During this early period of its history, English was just one of many languages spoken in Britain. The Anglo – Saxon Chronicles – the earliest history of Britain written in English. The island of Britain is eight hundred miles long and two hundred broad. There are five languages, English, Brito – Welsh, Scottish, Pictish, and Latin.
The Britons were the first inhabitants of the land. So in the beginning, English was just one language among several; it was a language without strong identity and special status. One section of the population of an island of the western coast of continental Europe has spoken a local language.
The way of English has changed throughout history, as we can recognize the difficulties in categorizing language and varieties. If we ask the different varieties can be considered the same language, so we can ask to what extent modern – day English – the English we are reading now – is the same language which that introduced to the British Isles one and half Millennia ago.The English is currently spoken by 1500 to 2000 million people in hundreds of countries, and operates as the main form. In hundreds of countries, and operates as the main form of communication in important domains such as global business and science. It is precisely because of statistics such as these that some people feel the language has developed in such a way that, conceptually, it is now a quite different entity from its pre-globalised incarnation
