23rd April , 2018
English Language Day
The day was
established by UNESCO in 2010 to celebrate the English Language and Multi-
Lingualism. April 23rd the date when tradition says that Shakespeare
was born (1564) and also died (1616), the father of English drama whose plays
had, is being and will be acted.
English Language day aims to
entertain and inform people about the history, culture and achievements
associated with the language. This year ELD celebrates “English as the Global
Language” –a language of three tribes 1,500 years ago is the language of nearly
2 Billion people. It has three times more non – native speakers than native
speakers. No other language comes close to matching that, and it is that that
makes English Global.
It is the modern Lingua Franca the language used by the Russians, the
Germans to talk to the Spanish, the Chinese to talk to the Brazilians. English
is found on every continent. It has major speech communities in over 79
countries. It is the language of the internet – language of air traffic
control, of international travel, and of international business. It is the
language of science.
English comes in a huge variety
forms across time from Old English through Middle English to Modern English and
through space from Australian through Jamaican and Indian to Zimbabiean. It
exist in a thousand dialect, slangs and street forms. It exist in two major
written forms ; American and British. As a Global language, it needs a large
vocabulary and therefore vocabulary of English language is huge. The Oxford
English Dictionary has 600,000 head words. An educated person has 50,000. The
International Scientific Vocabulary has 200,000 words. English has borrowed
words from 350 Languages mainly from French and Latin and at the outset, it has
given words to many languages.
Uniqueness of this language is that
this is the one language that all have common which involves us all. Hence it
is Global, Universal, World window, Lingua Franca etc.
Let us dedicate this
day to William Shakespeare and the beautiful English Language
a.
English
is the official language of 67 countries and has major speech communities in
over 79 countries.
b.
There are
26 letters in the English alphabets
c.
The study
of sounds in English is Phonetics and it has 44 sounds 24 consonant sounds and
20 vowel sounds.
d.
The first
English Dictionary was compiled by Sammuel Johnson in 1604.
e.
Shakespeare
invented lot of English words eg Ode, Mimic, Changed ‘flutterfly’ to
‘butterfly’.
f.
The top 3
written words in English are ‘the’, ‘of’ and ‘and’.
g.
The
oldest words tens of thousands of years ago are ‘I’, ‘We’, ‘Two’, ‘Three’.
h.
Modern
English started in 14th Century.
i.
‘E’ is
the most common letter used in English Language, more English word begin with
‘S’.
j.
The first
English Language Day was celebrated in 2010 by U.N.
k.
English
comes in third after Mandarin and Spanish.
l.
The
world’s most influential language – not of people, countries connects 360 million
– Chinese, Spanish and English.
Beautiful
words in English
1. Bumblebee – a large social bee which flies with
loud noise - Onomatopia
2. Heaven abode of God , heavenly
3. Although
4. Wonder
5. Most beautiful word is Curiosity
Beautiful Poetic Lines
1. Men may come and men may go but I go on forever
2. A thing of beauty is joy forever
3. Gaily oh Gaily we carry her along like a pearl
on a string
4. If winter comes can spring be far behind
5. Nature to me all in all
6. Beauty is truth, truth beauty
7. In to that heaven of freedom my father, let my
country awake
8. A baby as soft as a bud.
9. All humans are created equal by God
10. Death is a blessing
11. Was it a vision or a waking dream
Fled is that music; do I awake or asleep
12. To be or not to be
13. I am not what I am
14. To be a serpent under an innocent flower
15. Fair is foul, foul is fair
16. How much do you love me
17. It’s twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives
and him that takes
18. Rome cried, Ceaser wept
- Dr. Annie Sunil
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