Changes

==Spelling==

==Spelling==

English spelling, technically phonetic based on the Roman alphabet, has changed considerably over time.  Because England had vast differences in pronunciations and [[dialects]], and because there was no standardized agreement of how to represent each sound nor which Roman letters corresponded to which sound, spelling was quite variable.  Standard spellings did not come about until the late seventeenth century.  In or around 1828 in the United States, the lexicographer [[Noah Webster]] argued for simplifying some spelling which were no longer phonetic, such as the -our in words such as "colour".  Most, though not all, of his proposed changes were adopted, such that US English spelling differs from UK English in some hundreds of instances.  UK English spelling is the standard in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and most of the Commonwealth of Nations including Canada and Australia; US English spelling is the standard in the [[United States]] and its territories.

English spelling, technically phonetic based on the Roman alphabet, has changed considerably over time.  Because England had vast differences in pronunciations and [[dialects]], and because there was no standardized agreement of how to represent each sound nor which Roman letters corresponded to which sound, spelling was quite variable.  Standard spellings did not come about until the late seventeenth century.  In or around 1828 in the United States, the lexicographer [[Noah Webster]] argued for simplifying some spellings which were no longer phonetic, such as the -our in words such as "colour".  Most, though not all, of his proposed changes were adopted, such that US English spelling differs from UK English in some hundreds of instances.  UK English spelling is the standard in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and most of the Commonwealth of Nations including Canada and Australia; US English spelling is the standard in the [[United States]] and its territories.

The term "English" may also be used to refer to a person from the United Kingdom born in the country of England, or to describe something from England or with characteristics particular to that place.

The term "English" may also be used to refer to a person from the United Kingdom born in the country of England, or to describe something from England or with characteristics particular to that place.