View source for English in the Commonwealth of Nations

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{{More citations needed|date=March 2019|reason=The vast majority of the article is unsourced. A spot check with the main articles on the subjects summarized here shows that it generally seems to be correct, but citations need to be pulled from those main articles (or all new ones made to other reliable sources, but that would take more work).}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
[[File:Commonwealth of Nations.svg|thumb|Current Commonwealth members (dark blue), former members (orange), and [[British Overseas Territories]] and Crown Dependencies (light blue)]]
[[File:Please Do Not Step or Sit on Graves - Genocide Memorial Center - Kigali - Rwanda.jpg|thumb|upright|English and [[Kinyarwanda]] text in [[Kigali]], [[Rwanda]]. Rwanda, a Commonwealth country, was never associated with the [[British Empire]].]]
The use of the [[English language]] in current and former [[Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth countries]] was largely inherited from [[British Empire|British colonisation]], with some exceptions. English serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations and the language forms part of the [[Commonwealth of Nations#Culture|common culture]] of [[Commonwealth of Nations|the Commonwealth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joining the Commonwealth |url=https://thecommonwealth.org/about/joining |website=Commonwealth |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307201807/https://thecommonwealth.org/about/joining |url-status=live |access-date=2022-03-27 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=The Commonwealth |url=https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/peace-rights-and-security/the-commonwealth/ |website=New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade |access-date=2024-01-08 }}</ref>
'''''Commonwealth English''''' [[wikt:Commonwealth_English|refers]] to English as practised in the Commonwealth; the term is most often interchangeable with ''[[British English]]'', but is also used to distinguish between British English and that in the rest of the Commonwealth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Commonwealth English |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/commonwealth-english_n?tl=true |access-date=7 May 2024 |website=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]}}</ref> English in the Commonwealth is diverse, and many regions have developed their own local varieties of the language. In [[Languages of Cyprus|Cyprus]], it does not have [[official language|official status]] but is widely used as a {{Lang|la|[[lingua franca]]}}.<ref name="Ammon et al. 2006">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMZm0w0k1c4C |title=Sociolinguistics: an international handbook of the science of language and society / Soziolinguistik: ein internationales Handbuch zur Wissenschaft von Sprache und Gesellschaft |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |date=2006 |isbn=9783110184181 |editor1-last=Ammon |editor1-first=Ulrich |edition=2nd |series=Handbooks of linguistics and communication science / Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft |volume=3 |location=Berlin |page=1888 |chapter=Greece and Cyprus |editor2-last=Dittmar |editor2-first=Norbert |editor3-last=Mattheier |editor3-first=Klaus J. |editor4-last=Trudgill |editor4-first=Peter }}</ref> English is spoken as a first or second language in most of the Commonwealth.
Written English in the current and former Commonwealth generally favours British English spelling as opposed to [[American English]],<ref>{{cite book |title=New Oxford Style Manual |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2016 }}</ref> with some exceptions, particularly in Canada, where there are strong influences from neighbouring American English.<ref>Boberg, Charles (2004) [https://books.google.com/books?id=gZV7AAAAQBAJ Standard Canadian English] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411040924/https://books.google.com/books?id=gZV7AAAAQBAJ|date=11 April 2023}}." In Raymond Hickey. ''Standards of English: Codified Varieties Around the World''. Cambridge University Press. p. 159.</ref> Few Commonwealth countries besides Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom have produced their own English [[dictionaries]] and [[style guide]]s, and may rely on those produced in other countries.
== Native varieties ==
[[Southern Hemisphere]] native varieties of English began to develop during the 18th century, with the colonisation of Australasia and South Africa. [[Australian English]] and [[New Zealand English]] are closely related to each other and share some similarities with [[South African English]] (though it has unique influences from indigenous African languages, and [[Dutch language|Dutch]] influences it inherited along with the development of [[Afrikaans]] from Dutch).<ref name="Bayard2000">{{cite journal |last=Bayard |first=Donn |year=2000 |title=New Zealand English: Origins, Relationships, and Prospects |url=https://www.ualberta.ca/~johnnewm/NZEnglish/Bayard.pdf |journal=Moderna Språk |location=Sweden |publisher=Linnaeus University |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=8–14 |doi=10.58221/mosp.v94i1.9625 |issn=2000-3560 |s2cid=254175799 |access-date=24 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The southern hemisphere |date=1982 |work=Accents of English: Beyond the British Isles |volume=3 |pages=592–622 |editor-last=Wells |editor-first=J. C. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/accents-of-english/southern-hemisphere/3597353D207E702A03C64F1AC46C2507 |access-date=2024-06-17 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511611766.006 |isbn=978-0-521-28541-4}}</ref>
[[Canadian English]] contains elements of [[British English]] and [[American English]], as well as many [[A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles|Canadianism]]s and some French influences. It is the product of several waves of immigration and settlement, from Britain, Ireland, France, the United States, and around the world, over a period of more than two centuries. Modern Canadian English has taken significant vocabulary and spelling from the shared political and social institutions of Commonwealth countries.
=== Caribbean ===
[[Caribbean English]] is influenced by the English-based [[Creole language|Creole]] varieties spoken, but they are not one and the same. There is a great deal of variation in the way English is spoken, with a "Standard English" at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum and Creole languages at the other. These dialects have roots in 17th-century British and [[Hiberno-English|Irish English]], and [[Languages of Africa|African language]]s, plus localised influences from other [[Colonial Era|colonial]] languages including French, Spanish, and Dutch; unlike most native varieties of English, West Indian dialects often tend to be [[syllable-timed]] rather than [[stress-timed]].
== Non-native varieties ==
Second-language varieties of English in [[Africa]] and [[Asia]] have often undergone "[[Indigenization|indigenisation]]"; that is, each English-speaking community has developed (or is in the process of developing) its own standards of usage, often under the influence of local languages. These dialects are sometimes referred to as ''New Englishes'' (McArthur, p.&nbsp;36); most of them inherited [[Rhoticity in English|non-rhoticity]] from Southern British English.
=== Africa ===
Several dialects of [[List of English dialects|West African English]] exist, with a lot of regional variation and some influence from indigenous languages. West African English tends to be [[Isochrony|syllable-timed]], and its [[phoneme]] inventory is much simpler than that of [[Received Pronunciation]]; this sometimes affects [[mutual intelligibility]] with native varieties of English. A distinctive [[List of English dialects|North African English]], often with significant influences from [[Bantu languages]] such as [[Swahili language|Swahili]], is spoken in countries such as [[Kenya]], [[Uganda]], or [[Tanzania]], particularly in [[Nairobi]] and other cities where there is an expanding middle class, for whom English is increasingly being used in the home as the first language.
Small communities of native English speakers can be found in [[Zimbabwe]], [[Botswana]], and [[Namibia]]; the dialects spoken are similar to native [[South African English]].
Prior to [[Togo]]'s admission at the [[2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting]], Togolese Foreign Minister [[Robert Dussey]] said that he expected Commonwealth membership to provide opportunities for Togolese citizens to learn [[English language|English]], and remarked that the country sought closer ties with the [[English-speaking world|Anglophone world]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Lawson |first=Alice |date=2022-06-24 |title=Togo sees Commonwealth entry as pivot to English-speaking world |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/togo-sees-commonwealth-entry-pivot-english-speaking-world-2022-06-24/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref>
=== Asia ===
==== Hong Kong ====
[[Hong Kong]] ceased to be part of the Commonwealth (by virtue of being a British territory) in 1997. Nonetheless, [[Hong Kong English|the English language there]] still enjoys status as an official language.<ref name="Eoyang">{{Cite journal |last=Eoyang<!--Eoyang is treated as the surname https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?doc.view=entire_text&docId=InU-Ar-VAD9712 and https://peace-intl.org/about-us/leadership/professor-eugene-chen-eoyang/ and https://www.ln.edu.hk/eng/images/data/website/EOYANG-Eugene-Chen.pdf --> |first=Eugene Chen |date=2000 |title=From the Imperial to the Empirical: Teaching English in Hong Kong |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25595704 |journal=Profession |language=en |pages=62–74 |jstor=25595704}}</ref>
==== Indian subcontinent ====
{{See also|Englishisation#South Asia}}
English was introduced into [[the subcontinent]] by the [[British Raj]]. Among the partitioned post-independent countries, [[India]] has the largest English-speaking population in the Commonwealth, although comparatively very few speakers of [[Indian English]] are first-language speakers. The same is true of English spoken in other parts of [[South Asia]], e.g. [[Pakistani English]], [[Sri Lankan English]], [[Bangladeshi English]] and [[Myanmar English]]. [[South Asian English]] phonology is highly variable; stress, rhythm and intonation are generally different from those of native varieties. There are also several peculiarities at the levels of morphology, syntax and usage, some of which can also be found among educated speakers.
==== Malay Archipelago ====
[[Southeast Asian English]] comprises [[Singapore English]], [[Malaysian English]], and [[Brunei English]]; it features some influence from [[Malay language|Malay]] and [[Chinese language|Chinese]] languages, as well as [[Indian English]].
==See also==
* [[British English]]
* [[American English]]
* [[EF English Proficiency Index]]
* [[English-speaking world]]
'''Other languages:'''
* [[Community of Portuguese Language Countries]]
* [[Dutch Language Union]]
* {{lang|fr|[[Francophonie]]}}
* [[Latin Union]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
* [[Tom McArthur (linguist)|McArthur, Tom]] (2002). ''The Oxford Guide to World English''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-866248-3}}.
* Peters, Pam (2004). ''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-62181-X}}.
* [[Peter Trudgill|Trudgill, Peter]] & Hannah, Jean (2002). ''International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English''; 4th ed. London: Arnold. {{ISBN|0-340-80834-9}}.
{{refend}}
{{Commonwealth of Nations topics}}
[[Category:Dialects of English|Commonwealth of Nations]]
[[Category:Symbols of the Commonwealth of Nations]]