Editing English in the Commonwealth of Nations

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{{Use British English|date=March 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}[[File:Please Do Not Step or Sit on Graves - Genocide Memorial Center - Kigali - Rwanda.jpg|thumb|upright|[[English language|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|countries]] of [[Commonwealth of Nations|the Commonwealth]] was largely inherited from [[British Empire|British colonisation]], with some exceptions. English forms part of the Commonwealth's [[Commonwealth of Nations#Culture|common culture]] and serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations.<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><ref>{{Cite web |title=Joining the Commonwealth |url=https://thecommonwealth.org/about/joining |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307201807/https://thecommonwealth.org/about/joining |archive-date=7 March 2022 |access-date=2022-03-27 |website=Commonwealth Secretariat}}</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. The [[Official language|official status]] of English varies; in [[Bangladeshi English|Bangladesh]], it lacks any but is widely used, and likewise in [[Languages of Cyprus|Cyprus]], it is not official but is used as the {{Lang|la|[[lingua franca]]}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ara |first=Rowshon |date=March 2020 |title=A Foreign Language or the Second Language: The Future of English in Bangladesh |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1249887 |journal=International Journal of Language Education |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=81–95 |issn=2548-8457}}</ref><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>

Written English in current and former Commonwealth countries generally favours British English spelling as opposed to that of [[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>

== Native varieties ==
[[File:Abenaki stop sign odanak.jpg|thumb|Multilingual stop sign in a [[Indian reserve|First Nations reserve]] in [[Canada]], featuring the [[Abenaki language|Abenaki]], [[French language|French]] and English languages]][[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]]. Nonetheless, South African English has unique influences from indigenous African languages, and [[Dutch language|Dutch]] influences inherited alongside the evolution of [[Afrikaans]], while New Zealand English has a lot of influences from the [[Māori language|Māori]] language.<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|url-access=subscription }}</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.<ref name="Dollinger 2008">Dollinger, Stefan (2008). "New-Dialect Formation in Canada". Benjamins, {{ISBN|9789027231086}}. p. 25.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Boberg |first=Charles |title=The English language in Canada: status, history and comparative analysis |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-511-78981-6 |series=Studies in English language |location=Cambridge New York |pages=55-105}}</ref>
[[File:Mother and daughter in India 1920.jpg|thumb|The mother tongue of [[Anglo-Indian people|Anglo-Indians]] is English, whilst most Indians speak it as a second language.]]
In many Commonwealth countries, there exists a relatively small native Anglophone minority amongst a larger population who speak English as a second language; [[Anglo-Indian people|Anglo-Indians]] speak English as their mother tongue, but it is not the first language of most Indians.<ref name="Andrews2013">{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Robyn |title=Christmas in Calcutta: Anglo-Indian Stories and Essays |date=2013 |publisher=SAGE Publishing India |isbn=978-81-321-1814-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction to Indian English |url=https://www.oed.com/discover/introduction-to-indian-english/?tl=true |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240918001422/https://www.oed.com/discover/introduction-to-indian-english/?tl=true |archive-date=2024-09-18 |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=Oxford English Dictionary |language=en}}</ref>

=== Africa ===
{{See also|British diaspora in Africa|Commonwealth diaspora}}
In addition to South Africa, a number of Commonwealth countries in Africa have native varieties of English. A community of native English speakers exists in [[Zimbabwean English|Zimbabwe]]; the country's dialect bears features of British English, South African English and other Southern Hemisphere varieties of Commonwealth English.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mlambo |first=Muzi |date=26 May 2009 |title=A survey of the language situation in Zimbabwe |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/english-today/article/abs/survey-of-the-language-situation-in-zimbabwe/35D49686A4A0091ADED552C6A604AD02 |journal=English Today |language=en |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=18 |doi=10.1017/S0266078409000145 |issn=1474-0567|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>Tom McArthur (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to the English Language''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. {{ISBN|0-19-214183-X}}. pp. 116, 352.</ref> Also in [[Southern Africa]] and with historical influence from South Africa, [[Namlish|Namibia]] and [[Botswana]] have their own dialects,<ref>{{Citation |last=Stell |first=Gerald |title=English in Namibia: A socio-historical account |date=2021-09-10 |work=Varieties of English Around the World |volume=G65 |pages=21–42 |editor-last=Schröder |editor-first=Anne |url=https://benjamins.com/catalog/veaw.g65.02ste |access-date=2025-03-01 |place=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |language=en |doi=10.1075/veaw.g65.02ste |isbn=978-90-272-0919-1|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alimi |first=Modupe |date=2011-07-01 |title=Botswana English: implications for English language teaching and assessment |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01434632.2011.574700 |journal=Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=309–324 |doi=10.1080/01434632.2011.574700 |issn=0143-4632|url-access=subscription }}</ref> with smaller native English-speaking populations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Namibian languages |url=https://biodiversity.org.na/NamLanguages.php |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241204023759/https://www.biodiversity.org.na/NamLanguages.php |archive-date=2024-12-04 |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=Namibia Biodiversity Database}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bolton |first1=Kingsley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z3mydCcllYYC&dq=whites+in+botswana+british+portuguese+ancestry&pg=PA196 |title=World Englishes: Critical Concepts in Linguistics |last2=Kachru |first2=Braj B. |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-31508-1 |pages=196 |language=en}}</ref> The same is true of [[Kenyan English|Kenya]] and [[Ugandan English|Uganda]] in [[East Africa]].<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Buregeya |first=Alfred |title=Kenyan English |date=2020 |work=The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English |url=https://ewave-atlas.org/languages/46 |access-date=2025-03-01}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Ssempuuma |first=Jude |title=Ugandan English |date=2020 |work=The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English |url=https://ewave-atlas.org/languages/47 |access-date=2025-03-08}}</ref>

=== Caribbean ===
[[File:No Politics nor Religion in Bar sign, Placencia Belize 2021.jpg|thumb|Sign in [[Belizean Creole]], an English-based creole language]]
[[File:Mackennal (1926) Shakespeare Memorial.jpg|thumb|[[William Shakespeare]] memorial in [[Sydney]], [[Australia]]. English is part of the common culture of the Commonwealth.]]
[[Caribbean English]] is drawn from British English and West African languages. It is influenced by constant contact with English-based [[Creole language|Creoles]]. There is considerable influence from [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] and other South Asian languages in countries with language Indian populations, including [[Trinidad and Tobago]], and [[Guyana]]. [[Jamaican English]] and [[Bajan English|Barbadian English]] bear influences of [[Hiberno-English|Irish English]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction to Caribbean English |url=https://www.oed.com/discover/introduction-to-caribbean-english/?tl=true#caribbean-english-caribbean-creoles |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240915180916/https://www.oed.com/discover/introduction-to-caribbean-english/?tl=true |archive-date=2024-09-15 |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=Oxford English Dictionary |language=en}}</ref>

== 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 ===
{{See also|West African Pidgin English}}
Several dialects of [[List of English dialects|West African English]] exist, with considerable regional variation, though there is a set of common tendencies of pronunciation. [[Nigerian English|Nigerian]] and [[Ghanaian English]] are the varieties with the largest number of speakers; English also holds official or national status in [[Sierra Leonean English|Sierra Leone]], [[Cameroonian English|Cameroon]]’s Anglophone provinces, [[Gambian English|the Gambia]], and [[Saint Helena]], a British territory. It also holds official status in [[Liberian English|Liberia]], which is not a Commonwealth country but rather has a history connected to the [[United States|United States of America]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=West African English |url=https://www.oed.com/information/understanding-entries/pronunciation/world-englishes/west-african-english/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250121033901/https://www.oed.com/information/understanding-entries/pronunciation/world-englishes/west-african-english/ |archive-date=2025-01-21 |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=Oxford English Dictionary |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/liberia |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=Office of the Historian}}</ref>

National varieties of English are also spoken in Kenya, Uganda, and [[Tanzanian English|Tanzania]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Schmied |first=Josef |date=March 2025 |title=Tanzanian English |url=https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/english/sections/ling/download/000_Schmied120816.pdf |access-date=28 March 2025 |publisher=Chemnitz University of Technology}}</ref>

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, 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 official status.<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 to [[the subcontinent]] by the [[British Raj]]. [[India]] has the largest English-speaking population in the Commonwealth, although comparatively very few speakers of [[Indian English]] are first-language speakers.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-11-11 |title=India is the 2nd largest English-speaking nation |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/education/news/india-is-the-2nd-largest-english-speaking-nation/articleshow/1292536.cms |access-date=2025-03-01 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Rukmini S |date=24 November 2014 |title=Sanskrit and English: there's no competition |url=https://www.thehindu.com/data/sanskrit-and-english-theres-no-competition/article6630269.ece |newspaper=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> The same is true of English spoken in other parts of [[South Asia]], including [[Pakistani English]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=People of Pakistan |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Pakistan/People |access-date=2023-04-13 |website=Britannica |language=en |quote=With the exception of this educated elite, English is spoken fluently by only a small percentage of the population.}}</ref> [[Sri Lankan English]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction to Sri Lankan English |url=https://www.oed.com/discover/introduction-to-sri-lankan-english/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240915180917/https://www.oed.com/discover/introduction-to-sri-lankan-english/ |archive-date=2024-09-15 |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=Oxford English Dictionary |language=en}}</ref> [[Bangladeshi English]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Naym Pieal |first=Jannatul |date=2023-05-05 |title=Tracing roots: The emergence and disappearance of Dhaka's Anglo-Indians |url=https://www.tbsnews.net/features/panorama/tracing-roots-emergence-and-disappearance-dhakas-anglo-indians-626526 |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=The Business Standard |language=en}}</ref> and [[Myanmar English]]; though Myanmar is not a Commonwealth country, English is the mother tongue of the [[Anglo-Burmese people|Anglo-Burmese]] population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burnett |first=Dean |year=2003 |title=A history of the Anglo-Burmese community |url=https://www.international-journal-of-anglo-indian-studies.org/index.php/IJAIS/article/download/173/163 |journal=International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies |volume=7 |issue=1}}</ref> [[South Asian English]] is fairly homogeneous across the subcontinent, though there are some differences based on various regional factors.<ref>{{Citation |last=Schilk |first=Marco |title=Mapping unity and diversity in South Asian English lexicogrammar: Verb-complementational preferences across varieties |date=2012 |work=Varieties of English Around the World |volume=G43 |pages=140 |editor-last=Hundt |editor-first=Marianne |url=https://benjamins.com/catalog/veaw.g43.06sch |access-date=2025-03-01 |place=Amsterdam |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |language=en |doi=10.1075/veaw.g43.06sch |isbn=978-90-272-4903-6 |last2=Bernaisch |first2=Tobias |last3=Mukherjee |first3=Joybrato |editor2-last=Gut |editor2-first=Ulrike|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==== Malay Archipelago ====
[[Southeast Asian English]] includes [[Singapore English]], [[Malaysian English]], and [[Brunei English]] as well as other varieties in non-Commonwealth countries; it is not only the result of British colonisation but also American colonisation (as in the case of [[Philippine English|the Philippines]]) and globalisation. It has interacted with diverse local ecologies, shaping its form, function and status in the region.<ref>{{Citation |last=Moody |first=Andrew J. |title=Introduction: English in Southeast Asia |date=2024-03-21 |work=The Oxford Handbook of Southeast Asian Englishes |pages=0 |editor-last=Moody |editor-first=Andrew J. |url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/56213/chapter-abstract/443867970?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2025-03-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192855282.013.44 |isbn=978-0-19-285528-2|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[British English]]
* [[English-speaking world]]
* [[American English]]
* [[EF English Proficiency Index]]

'''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]]