Editing Pluricentric language (section)

=== English ===
{{Main|List of dialects of English|Regional accents of English|List of countries by English-speaking population}}
English is a pluricentric language,<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Crystal |year=2003 |title=A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics |publisher=Blackwell}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=P.H. |last=Matthews |year=2007 |title=Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> with [[American and British English differences|differences]] in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, etc., between each of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, North America, the Caribbean, Ireland, English-speaking African countries, Singapore, India, and Oceania. Educated native English speakers using their version of one of the [[Standard English|standard forms of English]] are almost completely mutually intelligible, but non-standard forms present significant dialectal variations, and are marked by reduced intelligibility.

British and American English are the two most commonly taught varieties in the education systems where English is taught as a [[foreign language|second language]]. British English tends to predominate in Europe and the former British colonies of the West Indies, Africa, and Asia, where English is not the [[first language]] of the majority of the population. (The [[Falkland Islands]], a British territory off the southeast coast of South America with English as its native language, have their [[falkland Islands English|own dialect]], while British English is the standard.) In contrast, American English tends to dominate instruction in Latin America and East Asia<ref>Yuko Goto Butler. "How Are Nonnative-English-Speaking Teachers Perceived by Young Learners?" ''TESOL Quarterly''. Vol. 41, No. 4 (Dec., 2007), pp. 731–755.</ref><ref>Timothy J. Riney, Naoyuki Takagi & Kumiko Inutsuka. "Phonetic Parameters and Perceptual Judgments of Accent in English by American and Japanese Listeners." ''TESOL Quarterly'' Vol. 39, No. 3 (Sep., 2005), pp. 441–466</ref> (In Latin America, British English is taught in schools with British curriculum in countries with descendants of British settlers.)

Due to globalisation and the resulting spread of the language in recent decades, English is becoming increasingly decentralised, with daily use and statewide study of the language in schools growing in most regions of the world. However, in the global context, the number of native speakers of English is much smaller than the number of non-native speakers of English of reasonable competence. In 2018, it was estimated that for every native speaker of English, there are six non-native speakers of reasonable competence,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dollinger|first=Stefan|url=https://www.academia.edu/35184221|title=Creating Canadian English|journal=Cambridge University Press|year=2019|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=18}}</ref> raising the questions of [[English as a lingua franca]] as the most widely spoken form of the language.

[[Philippine English]] (which is predominantly spoken as a second language) has been primarily influenced by American English. The rise of the [[call center industry in the Philippines]] has encouraged some [[Filipino people|Filipinos]] to [[accent reduction|"polish" or neutralize their accents]] to make them more closely resemble the accents of their client countries.

Countries such as [[Australian English|Australia]], [[New Zealand English|New Zealand]], and [[Canadian English|Canada]] have their own well-established varieties of English which are the standard within those countries but are far more rarely taught overseas to second language learners.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leitner|first=Gerhard|title=English as a pluricentric language|publisher=Mouton|year=1992|editor-last=Clyne|editor-first=Michael|location=Berlin|pages=208}}</ref> (Standard English in Australia and New Zealand is related to British English in its common pronunciation and vocabulary; a similar relationship exists between Canadian English and American English.)

English was historically pluricentric when it was used across the independent kingdoms of [[Kingdom of England|England]] and [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] prior to the [[Acts of Union 1707|Acts of Union]] in 1707. [[English language in England|English English]] and [[Scottish English]] are now subsections of British English.