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On Standard English . The international language. Lingua franca. The official language of the United Nations, the European Union and many organizations. The third most commonly spoken language in the world after Chinese and Spanish. All these describe the English language and then some. Historically, English in its ancestral form was brought into England in the 5th century AD by three invading Germanic tribes: the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. The name England and the term English are derived from the place of origin of the Angles called Englaland and their language that was called Englisc. Briefly, the evolution of English can be divided into three periods: the Old English (450-1100 AD); the Middle English (1100-1500) and the Modern English (1500-present). The Modern English period is further classified into the Early Modern English (1500-1800) and the Late Modern English (1800-present). The colonization of North America by Britain gave rise to American English which has distinct differences with British English in terms of phonology, pronunciation, grammar, lexicon and syntax. Consequently, the expansionist policy of Britain from the 1600s to the 1900s gave rise to more varieties of English. Geographically speaking, the varieties of English can be assigned in four major areas of the world: America, which includes the United States, Canada and the Caribbean; the British Isles, covering England, Ireland, and Wales; Africa comprised of East Africa, South Africa, and West Africa; and the Asia-Pacific region that consists of South and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Today, American English is particularly influential, especially the cultivated variety spoken by educated Americans which is called standard English, because of the United States' status as the lone superpower of the world. The dominance of American English pervades the written and spoken discourse of business, government, education, politics, religion, law,

medicine, technology, etc. and popular culture such as cinema, television, music, trade and the Internet. Standard English can be said to be the language of power. This is also very much true of other languages which are prevalent in other countries. If there is standard English, there is also standard French, standard Italian, standard Dutch, to name a few, and the histories of these so called standard languages are very similar. Why can it be said that standard English is the language of power? Historically, no standard English existed in 12th and 13th century England but this changed in the 14th and 15th centuries with the increasing ascendance of London over other cities. ...London had become the political and in some aspects the social head of English life in a much unified England. Many of the major affairs had to be handled in London. More and more, the English language, the English of London, was used in the legal documents of politics and business. Solely because of the fact that more of the important affairs of English life were conducted in this London English rather than in Winchester English, London English became standard English. ... Standard English, therefore, is historically, a local dialect which was used to carry on the major affairs of English life and which gained thereby a social prestige ( Fries, 1972, p. 350). This pattern has been the historical trend with the invading country or the dominant class imposing its language on the occupied nation or the non-dominant class. The language of the ruling class, therefore, is the standard language. In the case of Great Britain, during its heyday as an imperial power from the 17th century to the early 20th century, the language of the royalty, that of Received Pronunciation was the world standard in speaking and writing English. With the wane of Britain in the world stage came the ascendance of the United States and the

American variety, notably Choice Spoken English as used by Harry Shaw, is the standard English today. Warren and McCloskey, 1993, specifically pointed out that ...The form of language that becomes the standard typically is not selected by virtue of any inherent linguistic features, but because it is used by people with higher social status. In other words, the standard language is not the one that wins out due to simple or clear rules or even frequency of use, but because of the political clout of its speakers (e.g. English is the so-called international language, even though there may be more native speakers of other languages... (pp. 220-221). They added that ...[i]n countries where one language predominates (either in prevalence or by being spoken by those in power), speakers of the minority or nondominant language are typically viewed as less intelligent, less ambitious, and less attractive... (p. 221). This phenomenon is called linguistic hegemony which ...is achieved when dominant groups create a consensus by convincing others to accept their language norms and usage as standard or paradigmatic (Wiley, 2000). Fromkin et al. agree that the adoption of a particular dialect as the standard language is not because a dialect ...is more expressive, more logical, more complex or more regular than any other dialect or language Any judgments, therefore, as to the superiority or inferiority of a particular dialect or language are social judgments... (2003, p. 457). Foss and Hakes (1978) concluded that because of the variety and prevalence of observed language differences make the concept of a standard language almost a myth (Warren and McCloskey, 1993, p. 206) Standard English or for that matter, other languages that have become standard in other countries, share the same history in the sense that it is the language of the ruling class. It is but natural because power is exercised by the dominant class and the instrument for perpetuating dominance is through language.As Fairclough has written: Ideologies are closely linked to

power. ... Ideologies are closely linked to language, because using language is the commonest form of social behaviour, and the form of social behaviour where we rely most on commonsense assumptions. [T] he exercise of power, in modern society, is increasingly achieved through ideology, and more particularly through the ideological workings of language. (2000, p. 2)

REFERENCES Commonwealth of Nations. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations> English language. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language> 29 Aug. 2012 History of the English Language. <http://www.englishclub.com/english-language-history.htm> 29 Aug. 2012 Fairclough, Norman. Language and Power, Second Edition. Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited, 2001. Fries, Charles C. Standard English, pp. 349-351. Language: Introductory Readings, ed. by Virginia P. Clark et al. New York: St. Martins Press, 1972 Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams. An Introduction to Language, seventh edition. Boston: Wadsworth, 2003. Warren, Amye R. and Laura A. McCloskey. Pragmatics: Language in Social Contexts. Chapter 6, pp. 195-237. Jean Berko Gleason, editor. The Development of Language. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.