Professor David Crystal says that the 1_____________ patterns of English results in a 2________________ of Englishes, a process which is getting more 3__________.
In the same way that once 4___________ there was British English and American English, then there came Australian English and South African English, and then Indian English and then 5_________ English. Now, it's 6____________ the level of other varieties which are the new Englishes of the world. The thing is that when a country 7__________ English it adapts it to 8___________ own circumstances. With a language you need to be able to talk about everything. And you also need to think of everything that 9____________ an identity - all the plants and animals that you have, the food and drink, the 10___________, the legends, the history of your culture, the politics of it, the 11____________, the music, etc. This is why each variety is different from others as English has been 12___________ by well over seventy countries in the world as an important 13___________ of their local communication. But they have developed their own local 14_________ of English.
600 years ago the language we are now 15_________________was spoken by four million people.
Nowadays, on the other hand, you need to 16________________ between first language speakers, who are about 400 million and foreign language speakers, of whom there are about five times 17____________, that is about 18___________ people, in other words, a third of the world's population. We need to point out that for 19_____________ native speaker, there are now four or five non-native speakers, therefore the 20___________________ of the language has 21___________ with interesting consequences.
KEY
1 migratory
migratory /ˈmaɪɡrətri/ /maɪˈɡreɪtəri/ connected with, or having the habit of, regular migration
migratory flights/ birds.
2 whole range
3 intense
4 upon a time
5 Caribbean
6 down to
7 adopts
8 suit its
suit: /suːt/ to be convenient or useful for somebody. E.g. suit somebody/something Choose a computer to suit your particular needs. If we met at 2, would that suit you? If you want to go by bus, that suits me fine. He can be very helpful, but only when it suits him. It suits somebody to do something It suits me to start work at a later time.
9 makes up
make up something
to combine together to form something larger. E.g. Women make up 40 per
cent of the workforce. This book is made up of twelve separate short
stories.
10 myths
11 folk tales
12 taken up
take something up: to accept something that is offered or available. E.g. to take up a challenge. She took up his offer of a drink.
13 medium /ˈmiːdiəm/ (pl media /ˈmiːdiə/)
14 brand
brand: a particular type or kind of something. E.g. an unorthodox brand of humour. I don't think Bertha would appreciate your particular brand of sympathy.
15 conversing in
converse: /kənˈvɜːs/ to have a conversation with somebody. E.g. She conversed with the Romanians in French. The two men were conversing on music and opera.
16 distinguish
17 as many
18. two billion
19 every one
20 centre of gravity
21 shifted
shift: to move, or move something, from one position or place to another. E.g. Lydia shifted uncomfortably in her chair. The action of the novel shifts from Paris to London.
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