Changes

The King James Bible established a framework of knowledge of the English language, and it began to develop rapidly afterward.  English is unique in its ability to develop new words, at a rate of about 1000 new words per year.<ref>See [[Essay:Best New Conservative Words]].</ref>  English easily incorporates and adapts words from other languages, such as "detente" (French for a lessening in tensions between nations) and "tsunami" (Japanese for a massive tidal wave).

The King James Bible established a framework of knowledge of the English language, and it began to develop rapidly afterward.  English is unique in its ability to develop new words, at a rate of about 1000 new words per year.<ref>See [[Essay:Best New Conservative Words]].</ref>  English easily incorporates and adapts words from other languages, such as "detente" (French for a lessening in tensions between nations) and "tsunami" (Japanese for a massive tidal wave).

English has the smallest alphabet of major languages, including its lack of accented, hybrid, and pictograph characters. It helps that English is phonetic, as ancient Greek and Latin were (though English developed from German, not from Greek or Latin).

English has one of the smallest alphabet of major languages using the Roman alphabet, including its lack of accented (letters bearing a diacritic mark such as the "e" in "noël"), hybrid (such as the digraph ligature æ), and pictograph characters. Hebrew has 22 characters, so is an example of a smaller alphabet.

 

It helps that English is somewhat phonetic, as ancient Greek and Latin were (though English developed from German, not from Greek or Latin).

English features easy interchangeability of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, without much variance in form for pronouns and verbs. That promotes easy communication through brief, cryptic messages, the style preferred by electronic media.  English enjoys a powerful pipe-like quality, such that one phrase can be cut and pasted to another phrase with ease.  Computer-based cutting and pasting text works more efficiently in English than in many other languages, such as those using pictorial characters. This gives English an advantage in the internet medium, and about 80% of the internet uses English. English is now the second most widely spoken language in the world, with only Chinese dialects spoken by more people. English is overwhelmingly the second language of choice for non-English-speaking people.<ref>See Barbara Wallraff, “What Global Language?” 286 Atlantic Monthly No. 5, at 52 (Nov. 2000) (noting, inter alia, that “English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN” and is also “the official language of the European Central Bank”).</ref>

English features easy interchangeability of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, without much variance in form for pronouns and verbs. That promotes easy communication through brief, cryptic messages, the style preferred by electronic media.  English enjoys a powerful pipe-like quality, such that one phrase can be cut and pasted to another phrase with ease.  Computer-based cutting and pasting text works more efficiently in English than in many other languages, such as those using pictorial characters. This gives English an advantage in the internet medium, and about 80% of the internet uses English. English is now the second most widely spoken language in the world, with only Chinese dialects spoken by more people. English is overwhelmingly the second language of choice for non-English-speaking people.<ref>See Barbara Wallraff, “What Global Language?” 286 Atlantic Monthly No. 5, at 52 (Nov. 2000) (noting, inter alia, that “English is the working language of the Asian trade group ASEAN” and is also “the official language of the European Central Bank”).</ref>