English and EnglishCommunity

There is nodenying that English is a useful language.The people who speak English todaymake up the largest speech community in the world with the exception of

speakers of Chinese.Originally they were small tribes of people from northern Europewho settled in England.Their languages became more and more similar to eachother.

Finally,the languagehad enough uni-formity to be used by all speakers in England.The people wereunited into a speech community through their shared language.

2. A speechcommunity is similar to other kinds of communities.The people who make up thecommunity share a common language .Often they live side by side,as they do in

a neighborhood, avillage,or a city.More often they form a whole country.Nationalboundaries,however,are not always the same as the boundaries of a speechcommunity.A

speech community isany group of people who speak the same language no matter where they happen tolive.

3. We may say thatanyone who speaks English belongs to the English speech community.Forconvenience,we may classify the speakers into two groups:one in which the

speakers use Englishas their native language,the other in which the speakers learn English as asecond language for the purpose of education,commerce,and so on.

4. English serves asan alternative language in several areas of public activity for many nations ofthe world which employ it as an international second language .English has

been adopted as thelanguage of air traffic,commerce,as well as international diplomacy.Moreover,English is the language of the majority of published materials in theworld

so that educationhas come to rely heavily on an understanding of English.

5. Learning a secondlanguage extends one's vision and expands the mind.The history and litera- tureof a second language record the real and fictional lives of people and

their culture;aknowl- edge of them adds to our ability to understand and to feel as they feel.Learning English as a sec- ond language provides another means of

communicationthrough which the window of the entire English speech community becomes a partof our heritage.Paragraph 5______

A.The Wide Use ofEnglish

B. HistoricalAccount of English and Its Community

C. The Advantages ofLearning a Second Language

D. The Compositionof the English Community

E. The Threat ThatEnglish Poses to Other Languages