Talk:English language

Guyana and Jamaica
Guyana and Jamaica are both English speaking - quite so. Local creole are also decidedly English dialects which rely heavily on old English - and far easier to understand than, say, Cockney. English is the native tongue and official language in Guyana and Jamaica of books, press, tv and government. To state otherwise is to demand that native English speakers fit some artificially and quite possibly racist rule regarding geographic place or 'acceptable' dialect. For a long time the French Academy rejected Quebecois as French. Wikipedia shouldn't be committing a similar error here in separating "lesser" people from recognition of speaking their own claimed native language. 208.59.107.13 (talk) 16:44, 7 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I don't see where the article runs afoul of this advice. Guyana is not mentioned. Jamaica is mentioned a number of times: (1) the infobox list of dialects, including "Jamaican", "American", "British"; (2) where it is described as an "outer circle country" that has a "much smaller proportion [than other groups in the model] of native speakers of English but much use of English as a second language for education, government, or domestic business, and its routine use for school instruction and official interactions with the government"; (3) where it says "The most prominent varieties are Jamaican English and Jamaican Creole." Perhaps you are conflating what the article says about Jamaican creole, and the Jamaican flavour of English.  signed, Willondon (talk)  17:04, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Not mentioning Guyana - the only native English speaking nation in South America - is a vast encyclopedic oversight by any measure. And Jamaican creole is a dialect somewhat distinguished by not using the “th” sound and not pronouncing the “h” sound in the beginning of a Standard English word. It is English and written as so in all of the local daily newspapers. By what standard do we discriminate against Guyana and Jamaica in denying them of their own domestic claims of English as their native language?
 * Both Guyana and Jamacia should be listed in this article under the heading, "Countries and territories where English is the native language of the majority. 208.59.107.13 (talk) 18:43, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
 * There are a few lists linked to (one in "See also"), but none currently in the article (or encyclopedia) specifically list where English is "the native language of the majority". The Jamaican Patois article says "Jamaican Creole exists in gradations between more conservative creole forms that are not significantly mutually intelligible with English, and forms virtually identical to Standard English." So where I read this article as referring to two distinct things (Jamaican Patois, and Jamaican English), that article seems to be describing a continuum. Bottom line, I don't see where there is any discrimination or denying going on here.  signed, Willondon (talk)  19:17, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Guyana is not mentioned. Not mentioning Guyana - the only native English speaking nation in South America - is a vast encyclopedic oversight by any measure. Neither Jamaica nor Guyana are recognized as nations that are native language English speakers. Why? 208.59.107.13 (talk) 23:27, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Very good question: where's Guyana in the article? No answer forthcoming, it seems. Perhaps the first step, given the elaboration of Kachru's three circles model, would be to establish where Guyana fits in that classification. Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 00:40, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

Is the UDHR sample really necessary?
If someone is reading an entire article written in English about English, do they really need a two-sentence sample of the English language? Doesn't this entire article serve as a "sample" due to being written in English? It's almost like it's pretending not to be written in English when it obviously is. Eightos (talk) 02:38, 27 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I agree that that's ridiculous. Can be deleted unless someone has some compelling reason we can't think of. Wolfdog (talk) 13:03, 27 March 2024 (UTC)


 * ✅  signed, Willondon (talk)  14:21, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Source updates for vocab section
The source that is used to confirm the number of English words is described as a 1989 Oxford English Dictionary, and links to an archived page. This needs to be updated. Also, I think that the English vocabulary's famous designation as the largest in the world should be addressed here. Norabur (talk) 02:39, 30 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Although I've heard of this designation in pop culture, do we have an actual credible source/study that supports the claim? Wolfdog (talk) 16:38, 5 May 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 May 2024
Change "United States of America" to "United States" 4.39.220.106 (talk) 18:13, 13 May 2024 (UTC)


 * ✅  signed, Willondon (talk)  18:19, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

British English
No mention of MLE or estruary English? MLE in particular is spreading to many cities in England. Definitely worth a mention. Bigbotnot2 (talk) 20:28, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

Questionable examples of Norse influence
"Other core Norse loanwords include "give", "get", "sky", "skirt", "egg", and "cake", typically displacing a native Anglo-Saxon equivalent."

How is "give" a Norse loanword, when it is common all over the West Germanic languages? (Dutch and Low German "geven", High German "geben" etc.) "skirt" (with a shifted meaning) can also be found in German "Schürze", probably stemming from Middle Low German schörte, from Old Saxon skurtia!

"cake" is "Kuchen" in German.

Granted, some originally used West Germanic words might have been given up and later re-introduced via Norse words of the same etymology...94.219.14.131 (talk) 02:41, 14 July 2024 (UTC).


 * Pretty easily:
 * skirt and shirt are cognate doublets, but are of Norse and Anglo-Saxon origin respectively.
 * give displaced its Anglo-Saxon doublet, which fell out of use as yiven during the Middle English period
 * And so on. Remsense  诉  02:53, 14 July 2024 (UTC)