47. British dialects in MnE.

In the course of the 15th century the London literary lan¬guage gradually spread all over the country, superseding local di¬alects. Spoken English in various parts of Britain gradually appro¬aches the literary norm, and differences between the norm and popu¬lar speech tend to become obliterated. This process has been carefully studied by the eminent British scholar Henry Cecyl Wyld. According to his classification, written documents of the 15th cen¬tury can be classified into three types: (1) those written in the London literary language, (2) those written in a more or less pure local dialect, (3) those written basically in the London literary lan¬guage but bearing some traces of local dialects.

The formation of a national language was greatly fostered by two events of the late 15th century. The most significant event of the period was the Wars of the Roses (1455—1485), which marked the decay of feudalism and the birth of a new social order. The political result of this prolonged struggle was the rise of an absolute monarchy. This meant a high degree of political centralization and thus contributed to centralization in language as well, that is, to a predominance of the national language over local dialects.

Another great event was the introduction of printing. In the town of Bruges, in Flanders, the Englishman William Caxton (1422—1491) became acquainted with this art. He published the first English printed book, The Recuyeil of the Histo¬ries of Troy, in Bruges. Returning to England, he founded the first English printing office in London in 1476, and in 1477 appeared the first book to be printed in England, namely, The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers. The spread of printed books was bound to foster the normalization of spelling and also of grammatical forms.

Existence of a language norm becomes evident in the 16th century. The literary language is apprehended as a model which must be followed, wherever this or that user of English may happen to live. On the entire territory of Southern and Midland dialects in all written documents, including private letters, only literary English is used. All other dialects, except the Scottish, were reduced to the state of merely oral languages.

At the very time the English national language was forming, a similar process was developing in Scotland. Scotland was at the time an independent kingdom including Celtic and Germanic elements. Their national language Scots arose in the 14 th century based on the Northern dialect. In the 17th century it became subordinate to London norm.

In the 17th century English penetrated into America. In Ireland the struggle against English lasted till the 19 th century. In the course of the last centuries English spread over various parts of the globe.

American English is the form of English used by people in the United States and, as a lingua franca or second language, by people in many parts of the world. American English does not include Canadian English; although Canadian pronunciation and vocabulary is very similar to that of the United States, Canadian spelling often takes the Commonwealth form.

Commonwealth English is the form of English used across the United Kingdom and most of its former colonies in the British Empire, most notably in much of Africa (including South Africa and Egypt), the Indian subcontinent (Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh), Malta, Australia and New Zealand, and portions of Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand), as well as Hong Kong.

The forms of English spoken in Canada exhibit features of both British and American dialects; while spelling is closer to British English, pronunciation and vocabulary are much closer to American English. Many words and phrases thought of as "Americanisms" are also used by Canadians.

(American English, British English, Commonwealth English, Australian English, Canadian English, New Zealand English, Hiberno-English, Scottish English, Caribbean English, South African English, Jamaican English, Liberian English, Hong Kong English, Indian English, Malaysian English, Philippine English, Singapore English.)

English dialects:

British Isles - English English, Highland English, Mid Ulster English, Scottish English, Welsh English, Manx English, Irish English

United States - AAVE (Ebonics), American English, California English, Hawaiian English, Southern American English, Spanglish, Chicano English

Canada - Canadian English, Newfoundland English, Quebec English

Oceania - Australian English, New Zealand English

Asia - Hong Kong English, Indian English, Malaysian English, Philippine English, Singaporean English, Sri Lankan English