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			{{Infobox Language
	{{otheruses3\|penny arcade}}
			\|name=English - The writers of P-Arcade may want to learn what this is.
	{{Infobox Webcomic\| <!-- Part of ] -->
			\|familycolor=Indo-European
	\| title = Penny Arcade
			\|pronunciation=/ˈɪŋglɪʃ/
	\| image = ]
			\|states= ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and other countries<br>(used as international language)
	\| caption =
			\|speakers=First language: about 380 million<br>Second language: 150 million–1 billion
	\| author = ]<br />]
			\|rank=#3 or #4 as a native language (near-tie with ]);<br>#2 in overall speakers
	\| url = http://www.penny-arcade.com
			\|fam2=]
	\| status = Monday, Wednesday, Friday
			\|fam3=]
	\| began = ] ]
			\|fam4=]
	\| ended =
			\|fam5=]
	\| genre = ], ]
			\|script=]
	\| ratings =
			\|nation=''De jure, exclusive'': ], several ] countries <br>''De jure, non-exclusive'': ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] <br>''De facto, exclusive'': ], ] <br>''De facto, non-exclusive'': ], ]
	}}
			\|iso1=en\|iso2=eng\|iso3=eng\|map=]<center><small>Countries of the world where English<br />is an official or ''de facto'' official language.</center></small>}}
	'''''Penny Arcade''''' is a ] written by ] and illustrated by ]. It is among the most popular webcomics currently online, hosting both a children's ] and a ] each year. It debuted on ], ], and new ]s are posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

			The writers of P-Arcade may want to learn what this is.
	The strip regularly features the two authors' cartoon alter egos, Tycho Brahe and Johnathan Gabriel ("Gabe"), who represent Holkins and Krahulik respectively. Holkins and Krahulik have admitted before that the characters were not originally meant to represent them, thus they are abstract representations and not caricatures. The decision to have the characters represent the authors was made very shortly after the series began, and the fact that they didn't at all resemble them had never been considered an issue. The two characters spend much of their time playing and commenting on computer and video games, forming the basis of the humor in the strip. Another theme, albeit less common, is the use of conflicts between the two in real life. The strip also sometimes refers to other Internet subcultures, and sometimes features in-jokes that are explained by the news posts accompanying each comic, usually written by Holkins.

			'''English''' is a ] heavily influenced, in comparison with other Germanic languages, by ] and ]. It is the dominant language in the ] as well as many former territories of the ] (both outside and inside the current ]) such as the ], ], ], ], the ], and others, particularly those in the ]. It is also an important or official language in many countries formerly under British or American rule, such as ], ], ], and the ].
	Both Krahulik and Holkins make a living from ''Penny Arcade'', placing them in a very small group of web comic artists devoted to their creations full-time. Donations were once accepted, but the site now operates on ] and ] revenue alone. According to Holkins, the website handles more than two million pageviews daily (excluding forum traffic). On ] ], the website was given in celebration of their seventh year running and to match the designs of the and websites. It is currently one of the largest ] implementations on the web.

			English is currently one of the most widely spoken and written languages worldwide, with some ]. Only ] and ] have more native speakers while ] has a similar number. English is also the most widely spoken of the ]. English is the dominant language in many parts of the world thanks in part to the ], but much of its current status as a ] is due to the military, economic, political and cultural dominance of the ], especially since ].
	==Attributes of the comic strip==
	] ] the ] article. This comic was drawn soon after Tycho was accused of being a "pseudo-intellectual on ]."{{fact}}]]

			Through the global influence of native English speakers in ], ], ], ], and the ] in recent decades, English is now the most widely learned ] in the world. It is often used as an ] of communication, and is now a common intermediary language.
	As a (primarily) topical video gaming news comic, there is little ] or general ] in ''Penny Arcade'' strips. Any story sustained for longer than a single strip is referred to as "dreaded continuity", something of a ] in the newsposts. A character who dies a horrible, violent ] in one strip will come back in the next, perfectly whole, though occasionally these deaths have an effect on later comics. For example, often, when Gabe kills Tycho or vice versa, the killer takes a certain Pac-Man watch off the dead character, but only if he currently has the watch. ] and ] are common in ''Penny Arcade'' and the strip is not known for its realism: ]s, a talking ] player, a living juicer that has sex with fruit, and ], among others, are known to drop in often and for petty reasons. Other such occurrences are implied, if not shown, such as mentioning ] from '']'' living in the building next door .

			Because a working knowledge of English is required in many fields and occupations, education ministries around the world mandate the teaching of English to at least a basic level (see ]) .
	Some of the strips are drawn from the perspective of fictional characters within a game or movie. Occasionally, Gabe and Tycho are featured as they would be as characters or players in the game themselves, often having some sarcastic remark to make about some feature or ] in the game.

			==History==
	''Penny Arcade'' is well-known for Krahulik's signature drawing and "inking" style, which uses bold lines and vivid facial expressions. Krahulik has said that his biggest influence was ].<ref>{{cite web \| author = Krahulik, Mike \| year = July 28, 2004 \| title = San Diego Comic-con \| work = Penny Arcade commentary \| url = http://www.penny-arcade.com/2004/07/28 \| accessdate = 2006-04-28}}</ref>
			{{main\|History of the English language}}
			English is an ] brought to ] in the ] by ] from various parts of northwest Germany (], ]) as well as Denmark (]). The original ] was subsequently influenced by two successive waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of languages in the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who colonised parts of Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries. The second wave was of the ] in the eleventh century, who spoke ] (an ] closely related to ]).

			While modern scholarship considers most of the story to be legendary and politically motivated, the '']'' reported that around the year ], ], King of the ], invited the ] to help him against the ]. In return, the Angles were granted lands in the south-east and far north of ]. Further aid was sought, and in response came ], Angles, and ]. The ''Chronicle'' talks of a subsequent influx of settlers who eventually established ].
	Jerry Holkins' news posts which accompany each strip often detail the background and context for the strip.

			These Germanic invaders dominated the original ] inhabitants, whose languages survived largely in ], ], ], and ]. The dialects spoken by the invaders formed what would be called ], which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now north-west Germany and the Netherlands. Later, it was strongly influenced by the closely related ] language ], spoken by the ]s who settled mainly in the north-east and the east coast down to London (see ], ]).
	==Recurring characters==
	===Major characters===
	]
	; Johnathan Gabriel
	: ]'s comic alter ego is energetic and free-spirited, but has a propensity to become extremely angry. He has a Pac-Man ] on his right ] , as well as a tattoo in honor of the demise of ] on his back . He has a fascination with ], a secret love of ]s and is a dedicated fan of ] and Star Wars. He practices line dancing with the Kansas City Hotsteppers . He has an odd affinity for a cardboard tube which he had fantasies of wielding as a wandering samurai, often in ancient Japan (see Cardboard Tube Samurai below). He was for a short time addicted to Tribes but soon grew out of it. He also has an obsession with his own genitalia and possible latent ] tendencies .

			For the 300 years following the ] in ], the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only ]. A large number of Norman words were assimilated into Old English. The Norman influence reinforced the continual evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as ].
	: Krahulik eventually named his son "Gabriel", in honor of the character .

			During the ], Middle English was transformed by the ], the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration, and the standardising effect of printing. ] can be traced back to around the time of ].
	; Tycho Brahe
	: ]' comic alter ego (named after the ] ]) is bitter and sarcastic. Almost invariably clad in a blue-striped shirt, Tycho enjoys books, ], unnecessarily large words and deflating Gabe's ego. According to Tycho, ''"Some people play tennis, I erode the human soul."'' He is a rabid fan of ]. He also often plays ] (the website's banner illustrates him holding a ]). Though extremely intelligent, he has on several occasions made reference to his scarring childhood in which his mother physically abused him and blamed him for his father's leaving due to his body "swelling with evil" (in fact, puberty). Tycho also has a drinking problem.

			==Classification and related languages==
	===Minor characters===
			The English language belongs to the western sub-branch of the ] of the ] family of languages.

			The question as to which is the nearest living relative of English is a matter of discussion. Apart from English-lexified ]s such as ] and ], ], spoken mostly in ] and parts of ], is the Germanic variety most closely associated with English. Like English, Scots is a direct descendant of Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon. The closest relative to English may be considered to be either Scots or ], spoken in ] and ]. Some consider Scots to be a dialect of English and some consider Frisian to be a dialect of Dutch. Both are recognised by the governments of their respective states as regional languages (Scots by the United Kingdom<ref>http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CM=1&DF=&CL=ENG&VL=1</ref> and by the Republic of Ireland<ref>http://www.british-irishcouncil.org/work/report060704.pdf</ref>; Frisian by Germany and the Netherlands<ref>http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CM=1&DF=&CL=ENG&VL=1</ref>) Other less closely related living languages include ], ], ], ] and ].
	; Annarchy
	: Tycho's 11-year-old niece, shares her uncle's love for hardcore gaming and, remarkably, his extensive vocabulary. Claims to have played '']'' on the ], in the original Japanese. Sneaks into ] 2005 in Tycho's baggage . Ann won a ] held to determine a new story arc, beating out such fan favorites as Cardboard Tube Samurai, Div, Fruit Fucker 2000 and Twisp and Catsby. The story arc's plotline consists of Ann wishing to attend the "1000 Man LAN", but her parents will not allow her to attend because she is forbidden from dating boys . Enlisting the help of her uncle Tycho, she breaks free and is able to attend. Due to her pony & rainbow ], she is mocked by other attendees, but becomes enamoured when one, going by the handle Galahad, comes to her defense. She later beats him in the final round of a tournament, and, much to her uncle's chagrin, she kisses the boy. Uncle Tycho once allowed her near Gabe (not a particularly wise choice), who in turn gave the young one advice about World of Warcraft. Recently she went shopping with uncle Tycho, for a Valentines Day gift for Galahad. Tycho suggests custom embroidery, and presented Ann with a shirt that reads "Stay the fuck away from my niece!" Ann suggests he's trying to sabotage their relationship, and Tycho tells her to dismiss it.

			Many ] words are also intelligible to an English speaker (pronunciations are not always identical, of course) because English absorbed a tremendous amount of vocabulary from French, via the ] after the ] and directly from French in further centuries; as a result, a substantial share of English vocabulary is quite close to the French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings etc.), as well as occasional differences in meaning.
	; Brenna
	: Tycho's wife, with red hair and glasses. Unlike Kara, she doesn't really understand her husband's obsession with computer games and consoles. Tycho accidentally killed her demonstrating a move from ], which he then used as an excuse to sue France in the storyline "Ripped from Today's Headlines". It was nearly a year before she returned, spotlighting Tycho's bizarre sexual preferences.

			==Geographic distribution==
	; Cardboard Tube Samurai
			:''See also: ]''
	: An alter ego of Gabe, who uses a ] tube as if he were a ] wielding a ]. Not surprisingly many readers have themselves wielded the tube of the samurai, making him a popular character. Story boards have been developed based on him in the style of samurai films of the past. Video game developer ] paid homage to Cardboard Tube Samurai by implementing a code in their game '']'' which replaces character Kain's sword with a cardboard tube. This was likely a response to Penny Arcade's fond references to the Legacy of Kain series in the past. The Tube is also referenced in ]/] ] with a Tube-Wielding protagonist. The link here is more explicit as the cheat code used to acquire the tube is IOIPENNY, with accompanying text referencing "The Wandering Age".

			]
	; Charles
			English is the third or fourth most widely spoken as first language in the world today, after ], ], and probably ] (see the ]). A total of 600-700 million people use the various dialects of English regularly. About 377 million people use one of the versions of English as their mother tongue, and a similar number of people use them as their second or foreign language. English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities. The current status of the English language at the start of the new millennium compares with that of ] in the past. English is also the most widely used language for young ] who travel across continents, regardless of whether it is their mother tongue or a secondary language.
	: A somewhat fanatical ] user (formerly known as Chuck) who underwent a drastic makeover around the same time as the ] release. He is very vocal with his contempt for Gabe and Tycho's lack of appreciation for Apple products, and regularly tells the two to "shut pie holes". In addition to telling people to shut their pie holes, pies are often worked into strips with him (he baked a pie, and in another, Gabe was eating a pie). He also prefers to greet Gabe and Tycho with the colorful phrase, "Hey, fuck you". Gabe once painted a big red ] on his door to annoy him, with considerable success. Other shenanigans with Charles included a phone conversation with Gabe while Tycho was dead of ]; Charles ended the conversation with the quip "I'm really excited that you might die" and hung up. However, he still remains something of a friend to the pair, once trying to get them into an Apple store by mussing up their hair to make them hip (he failed, and Tycho and Gabe ended up standing out in the rain with other friends not hip enough to enter the Apple store). He was also seen working in an Apple store when Gabe and Tycho came in to buy an ] for their friend, who was being deployed to Iraq. Recently Charles helped Gabe learn to work his first mac; when Gabe asked what cologne he was wearing, he replied "Macintosh".

			English is the primary language in ], ], ] (]), the ], ] (]), ], ], the ], the ], ] (]), the ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], ], ] (]), ], ], ] (]), ] (]), ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], the ] (various forms of ]), the ] and the ] (various forms of ])
	; Christian Boggs
	:A real-life individual who, at the Child's Play dinner and auction, donated $20,000 to ] for the privilege of appearing in a Penny Arcade comic strip. According to Tycho, "as a young man, a grievous injury gave our benefactor the 'opportunity' to see just how the care at a children's hospital can change a person's life," which was the impetus behind his donation. In the strip in which Christian is featured, Tycho and Gabe tell Boggs they need him to buy them each a ] to inspire them to write a strip about him.

			English is also an important ] of ] (]), and in several other former ] and current ] of the United Kingdom and the United States, for example ] and ].
	; Div
	: A drunken talking ] player with a hostile, surly attitude and a penchant for consuming large quantities of alcohol. He is also known to have rough sex with Gabe's PS2.

			In Asia, former British colonies like ] and ] use English as their official language, and is taught in all private and public schools as a mandatory subject. There is a considerable number of native English speakers in urban areas in both countries. In ], English is ] with ], and is widely used in business activities. It is taught from ] and ], and is the medium of instruction for a few ], many ] and all ]. Substantial numbers of students acquire ] level. It is so widely used that it is inadequate to say that it is merely a second or ], though there is still a huge percentage of people in Hong Kong with poor or no command of English at all.
	; Frank
	: A ] veteran turned store manager at ]; although he has been referred to as working at ] in different strips, based on the manager of the NorthTown Mall Software Etc. in ], during 1998. Frank, who is somewhat mentally unstable, often intimidates customers and deflects their complaints or questions with surreal stories about patrolling in the jungles of ]. He also once crucified customers in front of his shop.

			The majority of English native speakers (67 to 70 per cent) live in the United States (Crystal, 1997). Although the ] has no official languages, English has been given official status by 27 of the 50 state governments, most of which have declared English their sole official language. ], ], and ] have also designated ], ], and ], respectively, as official languages in conjunction with English.
	; Fruit Fucker 2000
	: A small, robotic ] with an ] of extracting juice.

			In many other countries, where English is not a major first language, it is an official language; these countries include ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], the ], ], ], the ], ], the ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ].
	; Hector
	: A subservient, old ] ] that first appeared on the second part of the story arc . After countless hours of playing ], Tycho proposes he might be a good golfer, so he grabs Gabe to try his skill out on a real golf course. Hector's livelihood depends on ] from golf players and he is forced to carry out Gabe's outrageous demands. Unfortunately for Hector, Tycho embraces the golfing lifestyle as well and is too intoxicated to intervene on Hector's behalf. In the later strip "Our Latest Comic Strip", Gabe threatens to lock Hector in a box for allowing a raindrop to touch his arm while playing golf during a violent storm .

			English is the most widely learned and used foreign language in the world, and as such, some linguists believe that it is no longer the exclusive cultural emblem of 'native English speakers', but rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures world-wide as it grows in use. Others believe that there are limits to how far English can go in suiting everyone for communication purposes. English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the ] (by 89% of schoolchildren), followed by French (32%), German (18%), and Spanish (8%). It is also the most studied in ], ], ] and ]. English is also compulsory for most ] students in ] and ]. See ].
	; "]"
	: The Lord and Saviour of the ] faith. In the context of the strip, also a big fan of ] and ]s. He enjoys shooting people in online games when they are talking, and "throwing up ]" when he wins. Also known for his legendary skill in Mario Kart: Double Dash - for his ability to "bring those blue sparks". He has visited Tycho and Gabe for years and is on a personal level with them, such that he has gone Christmas shopping with Gabe for Tycho. Once warned Judas against being a dick for team killing. In the strip, Jesus has also momentarily returned to Earth - not for the ], but out of excitement over the prospect of ].

			===English as a global language===
	; Jim
			:''See also: ] and ]''
	: Gabe and Tycho's long-lost ] who loved RPGs and (supposedly) was a ] to the ''Penny Arcade'' duo. Everyone thought he moved out of the ], but he simply was lost in the cable jungle behind the ] when he went to install the ]. He appeared in 2 of 3 strips named after him, the "Jim Saga". His skeleton is seen wearing a red ] with a 12 sided die, a ], used in table-top ] such as Dungeons & Dragons. Similar to that is sold on the site's store, except it's red instead of black, 20 sided instead of 12 and has the die on the middle without text. Appropriately, before he died, Jim's final die throw came out with the losing face "1".

			Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "]". While English is not an official language in many countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a ] around the world. It is also, by international treaty, the official language for aircraft/airport and maritime communication, as well as being one of the official languages of both the ] and the ], and of most international athletic organizations, including the ].
	; Kara
	: Gabe's wife. She has reddish-brown hair and is usually seen wearing a purple t-shirt adorned with a grinning wombat's head. She became a gamer under her husband's influence, though this is rarely mentioned in the strip itself and is instead only referred to in the newsposts written by Krahulik. Kara as a character is directly based on Mike Krahulik's actual wife of the same name, to whom he proposed in a ''Penny Arcade'' strip in ]. She was most recently featured in a where Gabe buys an HD-DVD.

			===Dialects and regional ]===
	; Mr. Period
			{{main\|List of dialects of the English language}}
	: Your helpful guide to the English language. Often appears with his compatriots Capital Letter, Question Mark, Exclamation Point, and their 'pet' Comma. His strips have him and his companions starting off quite happy and child-friendly, yet throughout it, it gets progessively darker.
			{{English dialects}}

			The expansiveness of the British and the Americans has spread English throughout the globe. Because of its global spread, it has bred a host of ] and English-based ]s and ]s.
	; Mr. Tails
	: A violent, ]-wearing ]. He is usually seen biting various characters. He also once donated blood to Tycho.

			The major varieties of English in most cases contain several subvarieties, such as ] slang within ], ], and the English spoken by Anglo-Québecers within ], and ] ("]") within ]. English is considered a ], with no variety being clearly considered the only standard.
	; Randy Pinkwood
	: A television news anchor whose broadcasts usually contain humorously blunt references to his alleged sexual prowess. According to Jerry Holkins in the book ''Attack of the Bacon Robots'', Randy is often used when they want to touch on multiple topics within the same strip.

			The ] developed largely separately from the same origins, but following the ] usage converged and whether it is a language in its own right or an English dialect better described as ] is disputed. Pronunciation, grammar and lexis differ, sometimes substantially.
	; Safety Monkey
	: A kindhearted, nice friend of Tycho and Gabe who is usually picked on. Gabe has described him as being the friend the others bring down for amusement, including telling him the group will be at a certain location and then never showing up.

			Because of English's wide use as a second language, English speakers can have many different ]s, which may identify the speaker's native dialect or language. For more distinctive characteristics of regional accents, see ]. For more distinctive characteristics of regional dialects, see ].
	; The Merch
	: A cute cartoon character whose premise is that only copious purchasing of his merchandise by boys and girls can revive him (and only temporarily) from a wizard's curse. Failure to do so turns The Merch into the bloody Fleshreaper which "goes house to house, collecting torsos." The Merch satirizes entertainment that demands constant commerce (such as '']'' and '']'', among many others). Tycho's niece, Annarchy, always wears a Merch t-shirt. Other '''PA''' characters are shown wearing both the Merch and Fleshreaper t-shirts, of which only the Merch is available at the store as a t-shirt. The Merch often is connected to a comment that kids should buy merchandise even if it requires stealing from their parents (compare to ]' televised ] stunt of asking children to mail him the "funny green pieces of paper" from their parents' wallets and purses). Most recently, from ] to ] ], The Merch was featured in a six part story-arc called "An Unbelievably Merch Christmas". In it, a Merch-turned-Fleshreaper is out of control because children haven't bought enough Merch merchandise. A shotgun-wielding ] saves the day by telling the children what to do (purchase more merchandise) and by doing battle with the Fleshreaper, buying enough time for children to carry out his advice. Santa loses his left arm in battle, but the kids do buy enough Merch goods in time, reverting the Fleshreaper to his Merch form and presumably saving the ] once more. As the arc closes, The Merch imparts keen insight, commenting to a badly wounded Santa with its perpetual broad grin, "Santa? I fucked your dad," to which Santa can only comment, "I know, Merch. I know." They walk off into the sunset as The Merch cheerfully adds, "I fucked him all night long."

			Just as English itself has borrowed words from many different languages over its history, English ]s now appear in a great many languages around the world, indicative of the technological and cultural influence wielded by English speakers. Several pidgins and creole languages have formed on an English base - ] was originally one such example. There are a number of words in English coined to describe forms of particular non-English languages that contain a very high proportion of English words - ], for example, is used to describe ] with a very high English content (spoken mostly in the border bilingual regions of Québec).
	; Thomas Kemper (the cat)
	: A cat with advanced computer skills, possibly ] certified. Thomas is named after the ] brand of soft drinks. Though he has had no dialogue whatsoever, Div has appeared to interact with him as if he was fully lingually responsive, although it is unclear if Div was just drunk out of his mind. May own an industrial laser, once used to open the packaging on an Xbox controller, much to the chagrin of the space devil who designed it.

			===Constructed varieties of English===
	; Twisp and Catsby
			*] is simplified for easy international use. It is used by some aircraft manufacturers and other international businesses to write manuals and communicate. Some English schools in the Far East teach it as an initial practical subset of English.
	: An ] ] and an ] who are featured only in ]d strips. Contrary to what one might infer from the names, Catsby is the imp character and Twisp is the cat; Tycho said of this curious inversion at a lecture at ], "Well, we never really asserted who each one was... like everything else is so ridiculous where they live that it seemed perfectly legitimate at the time.". Everything about these characters and their strips is even more bizarre than "regular" ''Penny Arcade'' continuity with ]s and Twisp speaking only in single word sentences. The duo were created out of Gabe and Tycho's mystification that they were seemingly unable to create something that their readership would dislike, and also as a direct shot at ]'s quote that the movie '']'' was "not for the critics". (The first appearance of this strange pair was also labelled as "not for critics".) Although Twisp and Catsby effectively mocked Smith's quote, the pair ironically became two of the most popular characters. Prints of their panels have since sold for over a thousand dollars .
			*] is a simplified version of English used by the ]. It uses a vocabulary of 1500 words.
			*] is an attempt to improve collectively upon the English language.
			*] and the related ] and ], all based on restricted vocabularies, were designed by ] in the ] to aid international co-operation and communication in specific areas. There is also a ] for use in the ].
			*] is a new variant of the English language created to become the common language in Europe, spoken in the ] and ].
			*] — a variety of systems have been developed to represent the English language with hand signals, designed primarily for use in deaf education. These should not be confused with true sign languages such as ] and ] used in anglophone countries, which are independent and not based on English.

			==Phonology==
	; Wombat
			{{main\|English phonology}}
	: A ]'s head design that makes various appearances in the comic strip, and is featured as the site's ], making it something of an un-official ]. Penny Arcade newcomers often mistake the wombat for a bear, or as a reference to the "scary bears" found in Radiohead's merchandise. The Wombat first appeared on a green ] Tycho was holding on January 22, 1999, in the strip "Saving Private ION" before settling in as the identifying icon on Kara's clothing, imitating the iconographic association between Gabe and Pac-Man. In June, 2005 Penny Arcade began selling a lavender t-shirt featuring the wombat logo, which matches the one worn by Kara in the comic strip. Between August, 1999 and December, 2005 there has only been a single comic strip sighting of the wombat disassociated from Kara. The wombat is also indirectly referenced by the phrase "Necrowombicon" (a spin-off of the '']'' in ] ]) when Tycho attempts to "uninstall" the Mortyr demo and as the name of a fictitious gaming convention.

			===Vowels===
	;Guy, the Adversary
			{\|border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4" class="wikitable"
	:A nerdy-looking man working retail for some unspecified store that sold ] early and ran afoul of Tycho. Tycho loudly berates Guy for attempting to add-on other consumer products to the sale (and thereof get a higher ]), to which Guy retaliates by refusing to sell Tycho the hand-held game console, hence becoming Tyco's ]. In desperation, Tyco enlist Gabe to go into the store and buy it for him. Unfortunately, Guy saw through the ] with the help of a call from his wife on his "invisible phone", amazing Gabe beyond belief who then goes to the pet store to teach a pet ] how to say ]. Tycho then angrily misquotes ] ] famous remark "you go to war with the Army you got, not the Army you want."
			!] !! Description !! word
			\|-
			! colspan="3" style="text-align:left; background:#dedede"\| ]s
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|i/iː}} \|\| ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|ea}}d
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ɪ}} \|\| ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|i}}d
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ɛ}} \|\| ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|e}}d
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|æ}} \|\| ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|a}}d
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ɒ}} \|\| ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|o}}d {{footnote\|1}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ɔ}} \|\| ] \|\| p{{bold dark red\|aw}}ed {{footnote\|2}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ɑ/ɑː}} \|\| ] \|\| br{{bold dark red\|a}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ʊ}} \|\| ] \|\| g{{bold dark red\|oo}}d
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|u/uː}} \|\| ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|oo}}ed
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ʌ/ɐ}} \|\| ], ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|u}}d
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ɝ/ɜː}} \|\| ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|ir}}d {{footnote\|3}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ə}} \|\| ] \|\| Ros{{bold dark red\|a}}'s {{footnote\|4}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ɨ}} \|\| ] \|\| ros{{bold dark red\|e}}s {{footnote\|5}}
			\|-
			! colspan="3" style="text-align:left; background:#dedede"\| ]
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|e(ɪ)/eɪ}} \|\| ] <br> ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|ay}}ed {{footnote\|6}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|o(ʊ)/əʊ}} \|\| ] <br> ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|o}}de {{footnote\|6}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|aɪ}} \|\| ] <br> ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|uy}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|aʊ}} \|\| ] <br> ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|ough}}
			\|-
			\| {{IPA\|ɔɪ}} \|\| ] <br> ] \|\| b{{bold dark red\|oy}}
			\|}
			'''Notes:'''

			It is the vowels that differ most from region to region.
	==Podcast==
	Krahulik and Holkins began to record and release audio content on March 20, 2006. The ]s specifically capture the creative process that goes into the creation of a Penny Arcade comic, usually starting with a perusal of recent gaming news, with conversational tangents and digressions to follow. As well as being an interesting, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Penny Arcade, Krahulik and Holkins humorously discuss possible subjects for the comic.

			Where symbols appear in pairs, the first corresponds to the sounds used in North American English, the second corresponds to English spoken elsewhere.
	The format of the show is mostly "fly-on-the-wall" style, in that the hosts rarely acknowledge the existence of the microphone. There is no theme music, intro, or outro. The podcasts are of varying lengths, beginning abruptly and ending with the idea for the current comic.
			#North American English lacks this sound; words with this sound are pronounced with {{IPA\|/ɑ/}} or {{IPA\|/ɔ/}}. According to The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (1998), this sound is present in Standard Canadian English.
			#Many dialects of North American English do not have this vowel. See ].
			#The North American variation of this sound is a ].
			#Many speakers of North American English do not distinguish between these two unstressed vowels. For them, ''roses'' and ''Rosa's'' are pronounced the same, and the symbol usually used is ] {{IPA\|/ə/}}.
			#This sound is often transcribed with {{IPA\|/i/}} or with {{IPA\|/ɪ/}}.
			#The diphthongs {{IPA\|/eɪ/}} and {{IPA\|/oʊ/}} are monophthongal for many American speakers
			#The letter ''U'' can represent either /u/ or the ] vowel /ju/.

			===Consonants===
	Although the shows were initially published weekly, Holkins has stated in a that lately they have found difficulties when trying to produce the podcasts on a regular basis. Although the duo plans to keep recording podcasts, they admit they will do so very occasionally.
			This is the English Consonantal System using symbols from the ] (IPA).
			{\|class="wikitable"
			!
			!]
			!]
			!]
			!]
			!]
			!]
			!]
			!]
			\|-
			\|''']'''
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|p  b}}
			\|
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;" \|{{IPA\|t  d}}
			\|
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|k  g}}
			\|
			\|-
			\|''']'''
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|m}}
			\|
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;" \|{{IPA\|n}}
			\|
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|ŋ}} {{footnote\|1}}
			\|
			\|-
			\|''']'''
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;" \|{{IPA\|ɾ}} {{footnote\|2}}
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|''']'''
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|f  v}}
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|θ  ð}} {{footnote\|3}}
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|s  z}}
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|ʃ  ʒ}} {{footnote\|4}}
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|x}} {{footnote\|5}}
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|h}}
			\|-
			\|''']'''
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;" \|{{IPA\|tʃ  dʒ}} {{footnote\|4}}
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|''']'''
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;" \|{{IPA\|ɹ}} {{footnote\|4}}
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|j}}
			\|
			\|
			\|-
			\|''']'''
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\| style="text-align:center;" \|{{IPA\|l, ɫ}}
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|
			\|}

			{\|class="wikitable"
	==Other works==
			!
	] Presents]]Under the banner of 'Penny Arcade Presents', Krahulik and Holkins are sometimes commissioned to create promotional artwork/comic strips for new video games, with their signature artistic style and humor. They are usually credited simply as 'Penny Arcade' rather than by their actual names. Some of these works have been included with the distribution of the game, and others have appeared on pre-launch official websites, such as:
			!]
	* '']'' - A somewhat toned-down look at a discussion between paratroopers.
			\|-
	* '']'' - An amusing example of the different technologies in the game.
			\|''']'''
	* '']'' -
			\| style="text-align:center;"\|{{IPA\|ʍ  w}}{{footnote\|6}}
	*'']'' - A recap of the previous story and teaser for Myst V.
			\|}
	* '']'' - A comic strip based on the background story of the game, placed on the game's site in the downloads section. ,,,
			#The ] {{IPA\|}} is a non-phonemic allophone of /n/ in some northerly British accents, appearing only before /g/. In all other dialects it is a separate phoneme, although it only occurs in ]s.
	* '']'' - An illustration of a mission in the game.
			#The ] {{IPA\|}} is an allophone of /t/ and /d/ in unstressed syllables in ] and increasingly in ]. This is the sound of "tt" or "dd" in the words ''latter'' and ''ladder'', which are homophones in North American English. This is the same sound represented by single "r" in some varieties of ].
	* '']'' - A comic strip depicting a mission in the game's new multiplayer mode, from both spies and mercenaries points of view.
			#In some dialects, such as ], the interdentals /θ/ and /ð/ are usually merged with /f/ and /v/, and in others, like ], /ð/ is merged with /d/. In some Irish varieties, /θ/ and /ð/ become the corresponding dental plosives, which then contrast with the usual alveolar plosives.
	* '']'' - A humorous training manual for new operatives, ostensibly a classified document.
			#The sounds {{IPA\|/ʃ/, /ʒ/, and /ɹ/}} are labialised in some dialects. Labialisation is never contrastive in initial position and therefore is sometimes not transcribed.
	* '']'' - Various humorous illustrations in the official strategy guide.
			#The ] /x/ is used only by Scottish or Welsh speakers of English for Scots/Gaelic words such as ''loch'' {{IPA\|/lɒx/}} or by some speakers for loanwords from German and Hebrew like ''Bach'' {{IPA\|/bax/}} or ''Chanukah'' /xanuka/, or in some dialects such as Scouse (]) where the ] is used instead of /k/ in words such as ''docker'' {{IPA\|/dɒkxə/}}. Most native speakers have a great deal of trouble pronouncing it correctly when learning a foreign language. Most speakers use the sounds and instead.
	* '']'' - Three strips featured in the official strategy guide, including a look at the downsides of turn-based combat.
			#Voiceless w {{IPA\|}} is found in Scottish and Irish English, as well as in some varieties of American, New Zealand, and English English. In all other dialects it is merged with /w/.
	A partial, official list can be found

			====Voicing and aspiration====
	On ] ] Krahulik announced that ''Penny Arcade'', in partnership with ], would be producing a ] based on the ''Penny Arcade'' franchise <ref> {{cite press release\| publisher=Sabertooth Games \| date = August 8, 2005 \| title = Penny Arcade Press Release \| url=http://www.sabertoothgames.com/stg/pa_press_release.asp \| accessdate = 2006-04-25}}</ref> The resulting ''Penny Arcade'' "battle box" was released in ] as part of the ].
			] and ] of ]s in English depend on dialect and context, but a few general rules can be given:
			* ] ]s and ]s (/{{IPA\|p}}/, /{{IPA\|t}}/, /{{IPA\|k}}/, and /{{IPA\|tʃ}}/) are aspirated when they are word-initial or begin a stressed syllable—compare ''pin'' {{IPA\|}} and ''spin'' {{IPA\|}}, ''crap'' {{IPA\|}} and ''scrap'' {{IPA\|}}.
			** In some dialects, aspiration extends to unstressed syllables as well.
			** In other dialects, such as ], most or all voiceless stops may remain unaspirated.
			* Word-initial voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects.
			* Word-terminal voiceless plosives may be unreleased or accompanied by a glottal stop in some dialects (e.g. many varieties of ])—examples: ''tap'' , ''sack'' .
			* Word-terminal voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects (e.g. some varieties of ])—examples: ''sad'' , ''bag'' . In other dialects they are fully voiced in final position, but only partially voiced in initial position.

			===See also===
	There are also a few spinoffs from the main comic that have gained independent existences. The most recent example is "]" (ELOTH:TES), a parody of the written-by-committee fantasy fiction used as back-story for a wide variety of games: originally a one-off gag in the Penny Arcade comic, in late 2005 this was expanded into a complete fantasy universe, documented on a hoax "fan-wiki" . ELOTH:TES first appeared in the webcomic of ] ], and has subsequently been featured in the comics of ] ] and ] ]. Several elements of the ELotH:tES universe will also be featured on the cover of their second comics collection, Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings.
			]

			===Supra-segmental features===
	On ], ] Krahulik a new advertising campaign for the ]. According to Krahulik, the ESRB "wanted a campaign that would communicate to gamers why the ESRB is important even if they don't think it directly affects them." Among the reasons he listed for Penny-Arcade's accepting the job was that he and Holkins are both fathers and are concerned about the games their children might play. He also stated his belief that the alternative to the ESRB would be governmental regulation of the video games industry. (The ESRB is a voluntary self-regulatory organization made up of video game publishers and developers.) The ad campaign will feature one character drawn by Krahulik to represent each of the ESRB ratings.
			====Tone groups====
			English is an ]. This means that the ] of the ] is used ], for example, to convey ] and ], or to change a ] into a ].

			In English, intonation patterns are on groups of words, which are called ]s, tone units, intonation groups or sense groups. Tone groups are said on a single breath and, as a consequence, are of limited length, more often being on average five words long or lasting roughly two seconds. The structure of tone groups can have a crucial impact on the meaning of what is said. For example:
	==''Penny Arcade'' events==
			:-{{IPA\|/duː juː niːd ˈɛnɪˌθɪŋ/}} ''Do you need anything?''
			:-{{IPA\|<nowiki>/aɪ dəʊnt \| nəʊ/</nowiki>}} ''I don't, no''
			:-{{IPA\|/aɪ dəʊnt nəʊ/}} ''I don't know'' (contracted to, for example, -{{IPA\|/aɪ dəʊnəʊ/}} ''I dunno'' in fast or colloquial speech which deemphasises the pause between don't and know even further)

			====Characteristics of intonation (stress accent)====
	===Child's Play===
			English is a ''stress-timed language'', i.e., certain syllables in each multi-syllablic word get a relative prominence/loudness during pronunciation while the others do not. The former kind of syllables are said to be ''accentuated/stressed'' and the latter are ''unaccentuated/unstressed''. All good dictionaries of English mark the accentuated syllable(s) by either placing an apostrophe-like ( {{IPA\|ˈ}} ) sign either before (as in ], ] ]) or after (as in ]) the syllable where the stress accent falls. In general, for a two-syllable word in English, it can be broadly said that if it is a noun or an adjective, the first syllable is accentuated; but if it is a verb, the second syllable is accentuated.
	]
	On ] ] the authors of ''Penny Arcade'' announced their plans for a children's ], ], which aimed to organize large scale donations, particularly in video games, for their local Seattle Children's Hospital. In their first year they raised over $250,000 in cash, toys, and games and expanded their operations in ] to partner with additional hospitals in ], ], ] and ]. During the holiday 2004 season they raised around $310,000 for the hospitals. The creators of the comic appeared on the ] television show '']'' talking about the comic and the charity.
	As of ] ], Child's Play 2005 has raised over $605,000 in toy and monetary donations.

			Hence in a sentence, each tone group can be subdivided into syllables, which can either be stressed (strong) or unstressed (weak). The stressed syllable is called the nuclear syllable. For example:
	===''Penny Arcade'' Expo===
			:''That \| was \| the \| <u>'''best'''</u> \| thing \| you \| could \| have \| '''done'''!''
			Here, all syllables are unstressed, except the syllables/words "best" and "done", which are stressed. "Best" is stressed harder and, therefore, is the nuclear syllable.

			The nuclear syllable carries the main point the speaker wishes to make. For example:
	====PAX 2004====
			:'''''John''' hadn't stolen that money''. (... Someone else had.)
	On ] ] the authors of ''Penny Arcade'' announced , the ''Penny Arcade'' Expo. PAX 2004 was a two-day event held in ] from ] to ] ], which they hoped would turn into an annual event. Several exhibitors, including ] and ], showcased videos and playable demos of their upcoming games at PAX 2004. Microsoft allowed attendees to experience a multiplayer level of '']'' months before it hit stores in addition to a number of other Xbox games, while Ubisoft showed '']'', '']'' and two other titles. Included amongst the events of the first PAX were live musical performances by bands including ], Q&A panels featuring ''Penny Arcade'' editors Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins as well as others in the ], and the Omegathon, a contest where twenty contestants played a series of games for a chance at winning an excessively large video game collection worth in excess of $25,000. The contestants competed in a tabletop dice game, '']'' (]), '']'' (]), '']'', '']'' (PC) and the original home version of '']''. Sean Celaya defeated Kevin Potter in the final round to take home the ultimate prize becoming the PAX 2004 Omegathon champion. In an interesting turn of fate, precisely ] people pre-registered, to which Holkins mused, "though I ordinarily shun leet-speak that number clearly implies the blessing of gaming deities." All told, about 3,300 people attended the event.
			:''John '''hadn't''' stolen that money''. (... You said he had.)
			:''John hadn't '''stolen''' that money''. (... He was given the money.)
			:''John hadn't stolen '''that''' money''. (... He had stolen some other money.)
			:''John hadn't stolen that '''money'''''. (... He stole something else.)

			Also
	====PAX 2005====
			:'''''I''' didn't tell her that.'' (... Someone else told her.)
	PAX 2005 took place from ] to ] ] at the ] in Bellevue, Washington, where the first PAX was held. PAX 2005, unlike its predecessor, occupied the entire center, effectively doubling the usable floor space. Sponsors included ], ], Microsoft, Ubisoft and ], among others. Musical guests included the rock groups The Minibosses and The Neskimos, self-professed "professional hardcore gangster rapper" ], pianists ] and Connie Lin, nerdcore hiphopper ], and rap/funk group ], who performed live in two separate concerts in a massive theater. Many favourite events from PAX 2004 such as Pitch Your Game Idea, Red vs Blue, a screening of the 1989 film ']', and Penny Arcade Q&A made encore appearances. New events included Play Against The Pros, and industry panels on online gaming, the videogame marketing process, and on controversy in the industry. Omegathon II was an even more elaborate affair than its predecessor. Krahulik said on ] ] on that, " we will deliver an even bigger prize to the winner of the Omegathon." On ] ] , it was revealed that prize would be the complete NES video game library, being valued at least $10,099.99. The prize was locked in a large cage in the exhibition room and also included two ]-themed ] gaming PCs, one of which would go to the winner and the other to the runner-up. Contestants competed in the tabletop game '']'', ''Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'', '']'', '']'', '']'', and the ] game '']''. In a thrilling four-round match, Luke "Coreside" Armstrong defeated Will "LeRoy" Garroutte by a single point to win the best-of-three series 2-1-1 and take home the grand prize. In total, more than 9,000 gamers attended PAX 2005, almost triple the previous year's attendance.
			:''I '''didn't''' tell her that.'' (... You said I did.)
			:''I didn't '''tell''' her that.'' (... I didn't say it; I could have written it, etc.)
			:''I didn't tell '''her''' that.'' (... I told someone else.)
			:''I didn't tell her '''that'''.'' (... I told her something else.)

			The nuclear syllable is spoken louder than all the others and has a characteristic '''change of pitch'''. The changes of pitch most commonly encountered in English are the '''rising pitch''' and the '''falling pitch''', although the '''fall-rising pitch''' and/or the '''rise-falling pitch''' are sometimes used. For example:
	Recently, in response to Hurricane Katrina, Penny Arcade auctioned off the original pencil sketch of the PAX 2005 program cover on eBay with 100% of the profit to be given to the American Red Cross. It was sold to Christian Boggs for the final price of $8700.
			:''When do you want to be paid?''
			:''Nów?'' (Rising pitch. In this case, it denotes a question: can I be paid now?)
			:''Nòw'' (Falling pitch. In this case, it denotes a statement: I choose to be paid now.)

	==~~==PAX 2006==~~==		==Grammar==
			{{main\|English grammar}}
	PAX 2006 will be held from ] to ] ]. The Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue will again be used as the venue, although some events, such as tabletop gaming, will held in the ballrooms of one or more of the hotels. PAX 06 already has several sponsors on board, including ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ].

			English grammar displays minimal ] compared with most other ]. For example, Modern English, unlike Modern ] or ] and the ], lacks ] and ]. ] marking has almost disappeared from the language and mainly survives in ]s. The patterning of ] (eg. ''speak/spoke/spoken'') versus ] verbs inherited from Germanic has declined in importance and the remnants of inflection (such as ] marking) have become more regular.
	===Other events===
	On ] ], Krahulik and Holkins gave a special lecture at ]. A transcript of the talk has been made available .

			At the same time as inflection has declined in importance in English, the language has developed a greater reliance on features such as ]s and ] to convey grammatical information. ]s are used to mark constructions such as questions, negatives, the ] and progressive ]s.
	==Legal troubles==
	===American Greetings===

			==Vocabulary==
	]After a strip titled "Tart as a Double Entendre" mocking the works of ] was published on ] ], ] sent a ] letter to Penny Arcade, claiming infringement on their intellectual property, ]. They chose not to enter into a legal fight over whether or not the strip was a protected form of parody, and complied with the cease-and-desist by replacing it with an image directing their audience to send a letter to a lawyer for American Greetings . Afterwards, a comic declaring that American Greetings are ] was released without legal repercussion .
			Almost without exception, Germanic words (which include all the basics such as ]s and ]s) are shorter and more informal than the ]ate words of English. Latinate words are regarded by many as more elegant or educated. However, the excessive use of Latinate words is considered by some to be either pretentious (as in the stereotypical policeman's talk of "apprehending the suspect") or an attempt to ] an issue. (as in a military document which says "neutralise" when it means "kill"). ]'s ] "]" gives a thorough treatment of this feature of English.

			An English speaker is often able to choose between Germanic and Latinate ]s: "come" or "arrive"; "sight" or "vision"; "freedom" or "liberty." Often there is a choice between a Germanic word (oversee), a Latin word (supervise), and a French word derived from the same Latin word (survey). The richness of the language arises from the variety of different meanings and nuances such synonyms have from each other, enabling the a speaker to express fine variations or shades of thought. Familiarity with the ] of groups of synonyms can give English speakers greater control over their ]. See: ].
	===Jack Thompson===
	On ], ] Krahulik and Holkins donated $10,000 to charity in the name of ] <ref>{{cite web \| author = Score, Avery \| year = October 17, 2005 \| title = Penny Arcade donates in Thompson's stead \| work = GameSpot \| url = http://www.gamespot.com/news/6135940.html \|accessdate = 2006-04-25}}</ref>. The money was promised to be donated to charity by Thompson if a video game was created meeting certain criteria <ref>{{cite web \| year = October 14, 2005 \| title = Jack Thompson is blasted by pro-family group \| work = GamesIndustry.biz \| url = http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12259 \|accessdate = 2006-04-25}}</ref>, but after a vaguely similar (in spirit) ] to the game '']'' was pointed out to already exist, Thompson called his challenge satire and refused to donate the money <ref>{{cite web \| author = Gibson, Ellie \| year = October 18, 2005 \| title = Thompson refuses to keep 10k promise \| work = GamesIndustry.biz \| url = http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12333 \|accessdate = 2006-04-25}}</ref>, despite the fact that he had explicitly stated that the offer was genuine in a follow-up interview. Krahulik and Holkins donated the money in his place, with a check containing the memo: "For Jack Thompson, Because Jack Thompson Won't".

			An exception to this and a peculiarity arguably unique to English is that the nouns for meats are commonly different from, and unrelated to, those for the animals from which they are produced, the animal commonly having a Germanic name and the meat having a French derived noun. Examples include: ] and ]; ] and ]; or ]/] and ]. This is assumed to be a result of the aftermath of the Norman invasion, where a French speaking elite were the consumers of the meat, produced by English speaking lower classes.
	Thompson proceeded to phone Krahulik , as related by Holkins in the corresponding .

			In everyday speech, the majority of words will normally be Germanic. If a speaker wishes to make a forceful point in an argument in a very blunt way, Germanic words will usually be chosen. A majority of Latinate words (or at least a majority of content words) will normally be used in more formal speech and writing, such as a ]room or an ] article.
	On ], ] it was reported that Jack Thompson had faxed a letter to Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske claiming that ''Penny Arcade'' "employs certain personnel who have decided to commence and orchestrate criminal harassment of me by various means" <ref>{{cite web \| author = Sinclair, Brendan and Curt Brendan \| year = October 18, 2005 \| title = Thompson attacks Penny Arcade; seeks arrests \| work = GameSpot \| url = http://www.gamespot.com/news/6135979.html \|accessdate = 2006-04-25}}</ref>. Holkins defended the site by saying that the harassment Thompson referred to was simply "the natural result of a public figure making statements that people disagree with, and letting him know their thoughts on the matter via his publicly available contact information".

			English is noted for the vast size of its active vocabulary and its fluidity. English easily accepts technical terms into common usage and imports new words and phrases which often come into common usage. Examples of this phenomenon include: ], ] and ] (technical terms), as well as ], ], ] and ] (imported words/phrases, from French, German, modern Latin, and Spanish, respectively). In addition, ] often provides new meanings for old words and phrases. In fact, this fluidity is so pronounced that a distinction often needs to be made between formal forms of English and contemporary usage. See also: ].
	On ] ] Thompson claimed to have sent a letter to ], U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, in an attempt to get the FBI involved. Thompson re-iterated his claims of "extortion" and accused Penny Arcade of using "their Internet site and various other means to encourage and solicit criminal harassment". Penny Arcade denied the charge of "]", noting that they paid the $10,000 to charity, and are asking nothing in return.

			===Number of words in English===
	So far, Thompson has not clarified what he considers "extortion", but he claimed the harassment of him is a direct result of Mike Krahulik's posts, which listed links to ]. Thompson accused Penny Arcade of soliciting complaints to the Bar against him, even though Krahulik actually posted the opposite, asking fans to cease sending letters to the Bar, as the Bar acknowledged that it is aware of Thompson's actions, thanks to previous letters <ref>{{cite web \| author = Sinclair, Brendan \| year = October 21, 2005 \| title = Thompson goes federal with Penny Arcade feud \| work = GameSpot \| url = http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136318.html \|accessdate = 2006-04-25}}</ref>.
			As the ''General Explanations'' at the beginning of the Oxford English Dictionary state:

			:The Vocabulary of a widely diffused and highly cultivated living language is not a fixed quantity circumscribed by definite limits ... there is absolutely no defining line in any direction: the circle of the English language has a well-defined centre but no discernible circumference.
	The Seattle PD eventually acknowledged receiving a complaint from Thompson, but have commented that they believe the issue to be a civil, rather than criminal, matter. They noted that this was from initial impressions of the letter they received, and their criminal investigations bureau is reviewing the letter to make sure that there were not any criminal matters that they missed <ref>{{cite web \| author = Sinclair, Brendan \| year = October 27, 2005 \| title = Seattle police pass on Penny Arcade flap \| work = GameSpot \| url = http://www.gamespot.com/news/6136737.html \|accessdate = 2006-04-25}}</ref>.

			The vocabulary of English is undoubtedly vast, but assigning a specific number to its size is more a matter of definition than of calculation. Unlike other languages, there is no ] to define officially accepted words. ]s are coined regularly in medicine, science and technology and other fields, and new ] is constantly developed. Some of these new words enter wide usage; others remain restricted to small circles. Foreign words used in immigrant communities often make their way into wider English usage. Archaic, dialectal, and regional words might be considered as "English" or not.
	On the same day, ], creator of the webcomic '']'' and a longtime friend of Krahulik and Holkins, used the image of the letter Thompson sent to the Seattle PD to create a parody letter in which Jack attempts to enlist the aid of the ] by claiming Gabe and Tycho to be villains of some description.

			The ] (2nd edition) includes over 500,000 ]s, following a rather inclusive policy:
	==Collected editions==
	]
	* ''Year One: A Penny Arcade Retrospective'' (Limited Edition) — ISBN 1931195072
	* ''Year One: A Penny Arcade Retrospective'' (Soft Cover) — ISBN 1931195110
	* ''Year One: A Penny Arcade Retrospective'' (Hard Cover) — ISBN 1931195129
	* ''Penny Arcade: Volume 1 Attack of the Bacon Robots'' — ISBN 1593074441
	* ''Penny Arcade: Volume 2 Epic Legends Of The Magic Sword Kings'' — ISBN 1593075413
	* ''Penny Arcade: Volume 3 The Warsun Prophecies'' - ISBN 1593076355

			:It embraces not only the standard language of literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang (Supplement to the OED, 1933).
	==References==

	<references/>
			The difficulty of defining the number of words is compounded by the emergence of new versions of English, such as ].

			===Word origins===
			]
			{{main\|Lists of English words of international origin}}

			One of the consequences of the French influence is that the vocabulary of English is, to a certain extent, divided between those words which are ] (mostly ]) and those which are "Latinate" (]-derived, either directly from Norman French or other Romance languages).

			A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old ''Shorter Oxford Dictionary'' (3rd ed.) was published in ''Ordered Profusion'' by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973) which estimated the origin of English words as follows:
			* ], including Old French and early Anglo-French: ]
			* ], including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
			* Other ]s (including ], ], and ]): 25%
			* ]: 5.32%
			* No etymology given: 4.03%
			* Derived from proper names: 3.28%
			* All other languages contributed less than 1%

			] made the oft-quoted observation: "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and riffle their pockets for new vocabulary."


			====French origins====
			{{main\|List of French phrases used by English speakers}}
			There are many ], such as ''competition'', ''art'', ''table'', ''publicity'', ''police'', ''role'', ''routine'', ''machine'', ''force'', and many others which have been and are being anglicized; they are now pronounced according to ] rules of ], rather than ]. Approximately 40% of English vocabulary is of French or ] origin, most derived from, or transmitted via, the ] spoken by the ]es in ] for several hundred years after the ].

			==Writing system==
			{{main\|English alphabet}}

			English is written using the ]. The spelling system or ] of English is historical, not ]. The spelling of words often diverges considerably from how they are spoken, and English spelling is often considered to be one of the most difficult to learn of any language that uses an alphabet. See ].

			===Basic sound-letter correspondence===
			Only the consonant letters are pronounced in a relatively regular way:
			{\| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"
			! IPA \|\| align="left" \| Alphabetic representation \|\| Dialect-specific
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| p \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| b \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| t, th ''(rarely) thyme, Thames'' \|\| th ''thing'' ''(], ])''
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| d \|\| th ''that'' ''(], ])''
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| c ''(+ a, o, u, consonants)'', k, ck, ch, qu ''(rarely) conquer'', kh ''(in foreign words)'' \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| g, gh, gu ''(+ a, e, i)'', gue ''(final position)'' \|\|
			<!-- removed gg because doubled consonants are almost always pronounced just like single ones: hammer, dagger, abyss, berry, etc. -->
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| m \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| n \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| n ''(before g or k)'', ng \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| f, ph, gh ''(final, infrequent) laugh, rough'' \|\| th ''thing'' ''(many forms of ])''
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| v \|\| th ''with'' ''(], ])''
			\|-
			\| ] \|\|rowspan=2\| th : there is no obvious way to identify which is which from the spelling.\|\|
			\|-
			\| ]
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| s, c ''(+ e, i, y)'', sc ''(+ e, i, y)'' \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| z, s ''(finally or occasionally medially)'', ss ''(rarely) possess, dessert'', word-initial x ''xylophone'' \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| sh, sch, ti ''portion'', ci ''suspicion''; si/ssi ''tension'', ''mission''; ch ''(esp. in words of French origin)''; rarely s ''sugar'' \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| si ''division'', zh ''(in foreign words)'', z ''azure'', su ''pleasure'', g ''(in words of French origin)(+e, i, y) genre \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| kh, ch, h ''(in foreign words)'' \|\| occasionally ch ''loch'' ''(], ])''
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| h ''(syllable-initially, otherwise silent)'' \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| ch, tch \|\| occasionally tu ''future'', ''culture''; t ''(+ u, ue, eu)'' ''tune, Tuesday, Teutonic'' ''(most dialects - see ])''
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| j, g ''(+ e, i, y)'', dg ''(+ e, i, consonant) badge, judg(e)ment'' \|\| d ''(+ u, ue, ew)'' ''dune, due, dew'' ''(most dialects - another example of yod coalescence)''
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| r, wr (initial) ''wrangle'' \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| y ''(initially or surrounded by vowels)'' \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| l \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| w \|\|
			\|-
			\| ] \|\| wh \|\| Scottish and Irish English, as well as some varieties of American, New Zealand, and English English
			\|}

			===Written accents===
			<!-- If this grows, it may be better off on its own page ] -->

			English includes some words which can be written with accent marks. These words have mostly been imported from other languages, usually French. But it is increasingly rare for writers of English to actually use the accent marks for common words, even in very formal writing. The strongest tendency to retain the accent is in words that are atypical of English morphology and therefore still perceived as slightly foreign. For example, ''café'' and ''animé'' both have a pronounced final ''e'', which would be "silent" by the normal English pronunciation rules.

			Some examples: ångström, animé, appliqué, attaché, blasé, bric-à-brac, café, cliché, crème, crêpe, façade, fiancé(e), flambé, naïve, né(e), papier-mâché, passé, piñata, protégé, raison d'être, résumé, risqué, über-, vis-à-vis, voilà. For a more complete list, see ].

			Some words such as ''rôle'' and ''hôtel'' were first seen with accents when they were borrowed into English, but now the accent is almost never used. The words were considered very French borrowings when first used in English, even accused by some of being foreign phrases used where English alternatives would suffice, but today their French origin is largely forgotten. The accent on "élite" has disappeared from most publications today, though ] magazine still uses it. For some words such as "soupçon" however, the only spelling found in English dictionaries (the ] and others) uses the diacritic.

			]s, with appropriate accents, are generally applied to foreign terms that are uncommonly used in or have not been assimilated into English: for example, ''], ], ], ], ], ] (]), ].''

			It was formerly common in English to use a ] to indicate a syllable break; for example, coöperate, daïs, reëlect. One publication that still uses a diaeresis for this function is the '']'' magazine. However, this is increasingly rare in modern English. Nowadays the diaeresis is normally left out (cooperate), or a hyphen is used (co-operate). It is, however, still common in loanwords such as naïve and noël.

			Written accents are also used occasionally in ] and scripts for ]tic performances to indicate that a certain normally unstressed syllable in a word should be stressed for dramatic effect, or to keep with the meter of the poetry. This use is frequently seen in archaic and pseudoarchaic writings with the "-ed" suffix, to indicate that the "e" should be fully pronounced, as with ''cursèd''.

			In certain older texts (typically ]), the use of ] is common in words such as archæology, œsophagus, and encyclopædia. Such words have ] or ] origin. Nowadays, the ligatures have been generally replaced in Commonwealth English by the separated letters "ae" and "oe" ("archaeology", "oesophagus") and in ] by "ae" and "e" ("archaeology", "esophagus"), however, the spellings "oeconomy" and "oecology" are now generally replaced by "economy" and "ecology" outside the U.S as well.

			For further information on how one can type diacritics and ligatures, see ], ].

			==Formal written English==
			{{main\|Formal written English}}
			A version of the language which is almost universally agreed upon by educated English speakers around the world is called ]. It takes virtually the same form whether it is written in ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] or ]. In spoken English, by contrast, there is a vast number of differences between ], ], and varieties of ], colloquial and regional expressions. In spite of this, local variations in the formal written version of the language are quite limited.

			Learners of English are in danger of being misled by native speakers who refer to ], ], ] or other varieties of ]. While it is true that many regional differences between the forms of spoken English can be documented, the learner can easily fall into the trap of believing that these are different languages. They are instead mostly regional variations of the spoken language and such variations occur within these countries as well as between them.

			The differences in formal writing that occur in the various parts of the English-speaking world are so slight that many dozens of pages of formal English can be read without the reader coming across any clues as to the origin of the writer, far less any difficulties of comprehension.

			A popular American ] about errors in English, written by a professor at a west coast U.S. university guiding his students towards preferred constructions of written English, contains almost nothing among its hundreds of entries with which a counterpart thousands of miles away in Sydney or London would disagree. Certainly, disputes about pronunciation and colloquial expressions used in speech abound. But in the written language these are relatively few.

			==Basic and simplified versions==
			To make English easier to read, there are some simplified versions of the language. One basic version is named '']'', a ] with a small number of words created by ] and described in his book ''Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar'' (1930). The language is based on a simplified version of ]. Ogden said that it would take seven years to learn English, seven months for ], and seven weeks for Basic English, comparable with ]. Thus Basic English is used by companies who need to make complex books for international use, and by language schools that need to give people some knowledge of English in a short time.

			Ogden did not put any words into Basic English that could be said with a few other words, and he worked to make the words work for speakers of any other language. He put his set of words through a large number of tests and adjustments. He also made the grammar simpler, but tried to keep the grammar normal for English users.

			The concept gained its greatest publicity just after the ] as a tool for world peace. Although it was not built into a program, similar simplifications were devised for various international uses.

			Another version, ], exists, which is a ] originally developed for ] industry maintenance manuals. It offers a carefully limited and standardized subset of English. Simplified English has a lexicon of approved words and those words can only be used in certain ways. For example, the word ''close'' can be used in the phrase "Close the door" but not "do not go close to the landing gear".

	==See also==		==See also==
			* ]
	{{wikiquotepar\|Penny Arcade}}
	*]		* ]
	*]		* ]
			* ]
	*]
			* ]

			===Dialects===
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			===Pronunciation===
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			===Social, cultural or political===
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			===Grammar===
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			===Usage===
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]
			* ]

			==References==
			<references />

	==External links==		==External links==
	*		*
	*		*

	* An open Wiki project describing a parody fantasy universe, created by Tycho.
			===Dictionaries===
	*
			{{Wiktionarylang\|code=en}}
	* allows users to build their own Penny Arcade strips by replacing the text with your own words.
			* – Collection of many free English dictionaries
	*
			* ]
	*

	*
			==Further reading==
	*
			*Baugh AC and Cable T. ''A history of the English language'' (5th ed), Routledge, 2002 (ISBN 0415280990)
	* A ''Penny Arcade''-run '']'' guild comprised of PA fans, mortal enemies of Panda Attack, Djork, and Face on Fire, '']''-run webcomic-run guilds.
			*] ''The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language, Arcade Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1559707100
	*
			*] (1997). ''English as a Global Language'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521530326.
	* An exploration of the timeline of Penny Arcade and the evolution of the Tycho and Gabe characters.
			*Crystal, David, ''The Stories of English'', Allen Lane, 2004 (ISBN 0-713-99752-4)
	*: The Penny Arcade wiki that anyone can edit.
			*Crystal, D. ''The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language'' (2nd ed), Cambridge University Press, 2003 (ISBN 0521530334)
	*
			*Halliday, MAK. ''An introduction to functional grammar'' (2nd ed), London, Edward Arnold, 1994 (ISBN 0340557826)
			*McArthur, T (ed). ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'', Oxford University Press, 1992 (ISBN 019214183X)
			*Robinson, Orrin, "Old English and Its Closest Relatives", Stanford Univ Press, 1992 (ISBN 0-8047-2221-8)

			{{Official UN languages}}

			{{Germanic languages}}

			{{Official EU languages}}

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Revision as of 14:17, 22 June 2006

English - The writers of P-Arcade may want to learn what this is.
Pronunciation	/ˈɪŋglɪʃ/
Native to	Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, South Africa, United States and other countries (used as international language)
Native speakers	First language: about 380 million Second language: 150 million–1 billion
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo-Frisian Anglic English - The writers of P-Arcade may want to learn what this is.
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	De jure, exclusive: Liberia, several Commonwealth countries De jure, non-exclusive: Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, South Africa, India, Philippines, Singapore, European Union De facto, exclusive: Australia, United States De facto, non-exclusive: New Zealand, United Kingdom
Language codes
ISO 639-1	`en`
ISO 639-2	`eng`
ISO 639-3	`eng`
Countries of the world where English is an official or de facto official language.

The writers of P-Arcade may want to learn what this is.

English is a West Germanic language heavily influenced, in comparison with other Germanic languages, by French and Latin. It is the dominant language in the United Kingdom as well as many former territories of the British Empire (both outside and inside the current Commonwealth of Nations) such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, and others, particularly those in the Anglophone Caribbean. It is also an important or official language in many countries formerly under British or American rule, such as India, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Philippines.

English is currently one of the most widely spoken and written languages worldwide, with some 380 million native speakers. Only Chinese and Hindi have more native speakers while Spanish has a similar number. English is also the most widely spoken of the Germanic languages. English is the dominant language in many parts of the world thanks in part to the British Empire, but much of its current status as a lingua franca is due to the military, economic, political and cultural dominance of the United States, especially since World War Two.

Through the global influence of native English speakers in cinema, music, broadcasting, science, and the Internet in recent decades, English is now the most widely learned second language in the world. It is often used as an international language of communication, and is now a common intermediary language.

Because a working knowledge of English is required in many fields and occupations, education ministries around the world mandate the teaching of English to at least a basic level (see English as an additional language) .

History

Main article: History of the English language

English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to Britain in the 5th century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany (Saxons, Angles) as well as Denmark (Jutes). The original Old English language was subsequently influenced by two successive waves of invasion. The first was by speakers of languages in the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who colonised parts of Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries. The second wave was of the Normans in the eleventh century, who spoke Norman (an oïl language closely related to French).

While modern scholarship considers most of the story to be legendary and politically motivated, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reported that around the year 449, Vortigern, King of the British Isles, invited the Angles to help him against the Picts. In return, the Angles were granted lands in the south-east and far north of England. Further aid was sought, and in response came Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. The Chronicle talks of a subsequent influx of settlers who eventually established seven kingdoms.

These Germanic invaders dominated the original Celtic-speaking inhabitants, whose languages survived largely in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland. The dialects spoken by the invaders formed what would be called Old English, which resembled some coastal dialects in what are now north-west Germany and the Netherlands. Later, it was strongly influenced by the closely related North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the north-east and the east coast down to London (see Danelaw, Jórvík).

For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only Anglo-Norman. A large number of Norman words were assimilated into Old English. The Norman influence reinforced the continual evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English.

During the 15th century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel Shift, the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration, and the standardising effect of printing. Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare.

Classification and related languages

The English language belongs to the western sub-branch of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family of languages.

The question as to which is the nearest living relative of English is a matter of discussion. Apart from English-lexified creole languages such as Tok Pisin and Bislama, Scots (Lallans), spoken mostly in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland, is the Germanic variety most closely associated with English. Like English, Scots is a direct descendant of Old English, also known as Anglo-Saxon. The closest relative to English may be considered to be either Scots or Frisian, spoken in the Netherlands and Germany. Some consider Scots to be a dialect of English and some consider Frisian to be a dialect of Dutch. Both are recognised by the governments of their respective states as regional languages (Scots by the United Kingdom and by the Republic of Ireland; Frisian by Germany and the Netherlands) Other less closely related living languages include German, Low German, Dutch, Scandinavian languages and Afrikaans.

Many French words are also intelligible to an English speaker (pronunciations are not always identical, of course) because English absorbed a tremendous amount of vocabulary from French, via the Norman language after the Norman conquest and directly from French in further centuries; as a result, a substantial share of English vocabulary is quite close to the French, with some minor spelling differences (word endings, use of old French spellings etc.), as well as occasional differences in meaning.

Geographic distribution

See also: List of countries by English speaking population

Distribution of native English speakers by country (Crystal 1997)

English is the third or fourth most widely spoken as first language in the world today, after Mandarin, Hindi, and probably Spanish (see the ranking). A total of 600-700 million people use the various dialects of English regularly. About 377 million people use one of the versions of English as their mother tongue, and a similar number of people use them as their second or foreign language. English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world. In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities. The current status of the English language at the start of the new millennium compares with that of Latin in the past. English is also the most widely used language for young backpackers who travel across continents, regardless of whether it is their mother tongue or a secondary language.

English is the primary language in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia (Australian English), the Bahamas, Barbados (Caribbean English), Bermuda, Belize, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, Canada (Canadian English), the Cayman Islands, Dominica, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Guyana, Isle of Man, Jamaica (Jamaican English), Jersey, Montserrat, New Zealand (New Zealand English), Ireland (Hiberno-English), Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom (various forms of British English), the U.S. Virgin Islands and the United States (various forms of American English)

English is also an important minority language of South Africa (South African English), and in several other former colonies and current dependent territories of the United Kingdom and the United States, for example Singapore and Mauritius.

In Asia, former British colonies like Singapore and Malaysia use English as their official language, and is taught in all private and public schools as a mandatory subject. There is a considerable number of native English speakers in urban areas in both countries. In Hong Kong, English is co-official with Chinese, and is widely used in business activities. It is taught from infant school and kindergarten, and is the medium of instruction for a few primary schools, many secondary schools and all universities. Substantial numbers of students acquire native-speaker level. It is so widely used that it is inadequate to say that it is merely a second or foreign language, though there is still a huge percentage of people in Hong Kong with poor or no command of English at all.

The majority of English native speakers (67 to 70 per cent) live in the United States (Crystal, 1997). Although the U.S. federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 27 of the 50 state governments, most of which have declared English their sole official language. Hawaii, Louisiana, and New Mexico have also designated Hawaiian, French, and Spanish, respectively, as official languages in conjunction with English.

In many other countries, where English is not a major first language, it is an official language; these countries include Cameroon, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, Ghana, Gambia, India, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

English is the most widely learned and used foreign language in the world, and as such, some linguists believe that it is no longer the exclusive cultural emblem of 'native English speakers', but rather a language that is absorbing aspects of cultures world-wide as it grows in use. Others believe that there are limits to how far English can go in suiting everyone for communication purposes. English is the language most often studied as a foreign language in the European Union (by 89% of schoolchildren), followed by French (32%), German (18%), and Spanish (8%). It is also the most studied in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. English is also compulsory for most secondary school students in China and Taiwan. See English as an additional language.

English as a global language

See also: English on the Internet and global language

Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "global language". While English is not an official language in many countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a second language around the world. It is also, by international treaty, the official language for aircraft/airport and maritime communication, as well as being one of the official languages of both the European Union and the United Nations, and of most international athletic organizations, including the Olympic Committee.

Dialects and regional varieties

Main article: List of dialects of the English language

Dialects and accents of Modern English by continent

Europe

Great
Britain

England

North	Cheshire Cumbria Barrow Lancashire Liverpool Manchester Northumbria Pitmatic Sunderland Tyneside Teesside Yorkshire
Midlands	East Midlands West Midlands Birmingham Black Country Stoke-on-Trent
South	East Anglia London & Thames Estuary Cockney Multicultural Received Pronunciation West Country Cornwall Dorset

Americas

Midland New England Boston East Maine West New York City accent North Inland North North-Central Philadelphia Baltimore South Appalachia High Tider New Orleans Older Texas West California Pacific Northwest Western Pennsylvania
Social and ethno-cultural	African-American vernacular American Indian Cajun Chicano General American Miami Latino New York Latino Pennsylvania Dutch

Caribbean

Oceania

Australia	variation accent Aboriginal South Torres Strait West
Fiji New Zealand accent Palau Solomon Islands

Africa

Asia

East Asia	Hong Kong
South Asia	Bangladesh India regional and occupational Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
Southeast Asia	Brunei Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore

The expansiveness of the British and the Americans has spread English throughout the globe. Because of its global spread, it has bred a host of English dialects and English-based creole languages and pidgins.

The major varieties of English in most cases contain several subvarieties, such as Cockney slang within British English, Newfoundland English, and the English spoken by Anglo-Québecers within Canadian English, and African American Vernacular English ("Ebonics") within American English. English is considered a pluricentric language, with no variety being clearly considered the only standard.

The Scots language developed largely separately from the same origins, but following the Acts of Union 1707 usage converged and whether it is a language in its own right or an English dialect better described as Scottish English is disputed. Pronunciation, grammar and lexis differ, sometimes substantially.

Because of English's wide use as a second language, English speakers can have many different accents, which may identify the speaker's native dialect or language. For more distinctive characteristics of regional accents, see Regional accents of English speakers. For more distinctive characteristics of regional dialects, see List of dialects of the English language.

Just as English itself has borrowed words from many different languages over its history, English loanwords now appear in a great many languages around the world, indicative of the technological and cultural influence wielded by English speakers. Several pidgins and creole languages have formed on an English base - Tok Pisin was originally one such example. There are a number of words in English coined to describe forms of particular non-English languages that contain a very high proportion of English words - Franglais, for example, is used to describe French with a very high English content (spoken mostly in the border bilingual regions of Québec).

Constructed varieties of English

Basic English is simplified for easy international use. It is used by some aircraft manufacturers and other international businesses to write manuals and communicate. Some English schools in the Far East teach it as an initial practical subset of English.
Special English is a simplified version of English used by the Voice of America. It uses a vocabulary of 1500 words.
English reform is an attempt to improve collectively upon the English language.
Seaspeak and the related Airspeak and Policespeak, all based on restricted vocabularies, were designed by Edward Johnson in the 1980s to aid international co-operation and communication in specific areas. There is also a tunnelspeak for use in the Channel Tunnel.
English as a lingua franca for Europe is a new variant of the English language created to become the common language in Europe, spoken in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.
Manually Coded English — a variety of systems have been developed to represent the English language with hand signals, designed primarily for use in deaf education. These should not be confused with true sign languages such as British Sign Language and American Sign Language used in anglophone countries, which are independent and not based on English.

Phonology

Main article: English phonology

Vowels

IPA	Description	word
monophthongs
i/iː	Close front unrounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark redd
ɪ	Near-close near-front unrounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark redd
ɛ	Open-mid front unrounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark redd
æ	Near-open front unrounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark redd
ɒ	Open back rounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark redd http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CM=1&DF=&CL=ENG&VL=1 http://www.british-irishcouncil.org/work/report060704.pdf http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/Commun/ListeDeclarations.asp?NT=148&CM=1&DF=&CL=ENG&VL=1
ɔ	Open-mid back rounded vowel	pTemplate:Bold dark reded
ɑ/ɑː	Open back unrounded vowel	brTemplate:Bold dark red
ʊ	Near-close near-back rounded vowel	gTemplate:Bold dark redd
u/uː	Close back rounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark reded
ʌ/ɐ	Open-mid back unrounded vowel, Near-open central vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark redd
ɝ/ɜː	Open-mid central unrounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark redd
ə	Schwa	RosTemplate:Bold dark red's
ɨ	Close central unrounded vowel	rosTemplate:Bold dark reds
diphthongs
e(ɪ)/eɪ	Close-mid front unrounded vowel Close front unrounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark reded
o(ʊ)/əʊ	Close-mid back rounded vowel Near-close near-back rounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark redde
aɪ	Open front unrounded vowel Near-close near-front unrounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark red
aʊ	Open front unrounded vowel Near-close near-back rounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark red
ɔɪ	Open-mid back rounded vowel Close front unrounded vowel	bTemplate:Bold dark red

Notes:

It is the vowels that differ most from region to region.

Where symbols appear in pairs, the first corresponds to the sounds used in North American English, the second corresponds to English spoken elsewhere.

North American English lacks this sound; words with this sound are pronounced with /ɑ/ or /ɔ/. According to The Canadian Oxford Dictionary (1998), this sound is present in Standard Canadian English.
Many dialects of North American English do not have this vowel. See Cot-caught merger.
The North American variation of this sound is a rhotic vowel.
Many speakers of North American English do not distinguish between these two unstressed vowels. For them, roses and Rosa's are pronounced the same, and the symbol usually used is schwa /ə/.
This sound is often transcribed with /i/ or with /ɪ/.
The diphthongs /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ are monophthongal for many American speakers
The letter U can represent either /u/ or the iotated vowel /ju/.

Consonants

This is the English Consonantal System using symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

	bilabial	labio- dental	dental	alveolar	post- alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
plosive	p b			t d			k g
nasal	m			n			ŋ
flap				ɾ
fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ		x	h
affricate					tʃ dʒ
approximant				ɹ		j
lateral approximant				l, ɫ

	labial-velar
approximant	ʍ w

The velar nasal is a non-phonemic allophone of /n/ in some northerly British accents, appearing only before /g/. In all other dialects it is a separate phoneme, although it only occurs in syllable codas.
The alveolar flap is an allophone of /t/ and /d/ in unstressed syllables in North American English and increasingly in Australian English. This is the sound of "tt" or "dd" in the words latter and ladder, which are homophones in North American English. This is the same sound represented by single "r" in some varieties of Spanish.
In some dialects, such as Cockney, the interdentals /θ/ and /ð/ are usually merged with /f/ and /v/, and in others, like African American Vernacular English, /ð/ is merged with /d/. In some Irish varieties, /θ/ and /ð/ become the corresponding dental plosives, which then contrast with the usual alveolar plosives.
The sounds /ʃ/, /ʒ/, and /ɹ/ are labialised in some dialects. Labialisation is never contrastive in initial position and therefore is sometimes not transcribed.
The voiceless velar fricative /x/ is used only by Scottish or Welsh speakers of English for Scots/Gaelic words such as loch /lɒx/ or by some speakers for loanwords from German and Hebrew like Bach /bax/ or Chanukah /xanuka/, or in some dialects such as Scouse (Liverpool) where the affricate is used instead of /k/ in words such as docker /dɒkxə/. Most native speakers have a great deal of trouble pronouncing it correctly when learning a foreign language. Most speakers use the sounds and instead.
Voiceless w is found in Scottish and Irish English, as well as in some varieties of American, New Zealand, and English English. In all other dialects it is merged with /w/.

Voicing and aspiration

Voicing and aspiration of stop consonants in English depend on dialect and context, but a few general rules can be given:

Voiceless plosives and affricates (/p/, /t/, /k/, and /tʃ/) are aspirated when they are word-initial or begin a stressed syllable—compare pin and spin , crap and scrap .
- In some dialects, aspiration extends to unstressed syllables as well.
- In other dialects, such as Indian English, most or all voiceless stops may remain unaspirated.
Word-initial voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects.
Word-terminal voiceless plosives may be unreleased or accompanied by a glottal stop in some dialects (e.g. many varieties of American English)—examples: tap , sack .
Word-terminal voiced plosives may be devoiced in some dialects (e.g. some varieties of American English)—examples: sad , bag . In other dialects they are fully voiced in final position, but only partially voiced in initial position.

Supra-segmental features

Tone groups

English is an intonation language. This means that the pitch of the voice is used syntactically, for example, to convey surprise and irony, or to change a statement into a question.

In English, intonation patterns are on groups of words, which are called tone groups, tone units, intonation groups or sense groups. Tone groups are said on a single breath and, as a consequence, are of limited length, more often being on average five words long or lasting roughly two seconds. The structure of tone groups can have a crucial impact on the meaning of what is said. For example:

-/duː juː niːd ˈɛnɪˌθɪŋ/ Do you need anything?

-/aɪ dəʊnt | nəʊ/ I don't, no

-/aɪ dəʊnt nəʊ/ I don't know (contracted to, for example, -/aɪ dəʊnəʊ/ I dunno in fast or colloquial speech which deemphasises the pause between don't and know even further)

Characteristics of intonation (stress accent)

English is a stress-timed language, i.e., certain syllables in each multi-syllablic word get a relative prominence/loudness during pronunciation while the others do not. The former kind of syllables are said to be accentuated/stressed and the latter are unaccentuated/unstressed. All good dictionaries of English mark the accentuated syllable(s) by either placing an apostrophe-like ( ˈ ) sign either before (as in IPA, Oxford dictionary) or after (as in Webster's dictionary) the syllable where the stress accent falls. In general, for a two-syllable word in English, it can be broadly said that if it is a noun or an adjective, the first syllable is accentuated; but if it is a verb, the second syllable is accentuated.

Hence in a sentence, each tone group can be subdivided into syllables, which can either be stressed (strong) or unstressed (weak). The stressed syllable is called the nuclear syllable. For example:

Here, all syllables are unstressed, except the syllables/words "best" and "done", which are stressed. "Best" is stressed harder and, therefore, is the nuclear syllable.

The nuclear syllable carries the main point the speaker wishes to make. For example:

John hadn't stolen that money. (... Someone else had.)

John hadn't stolen that money. (... You said he had.)

John hadn't stolen that money. (... He was given the money.)

John hadn't stolen that money. (... He had stolen some other money.)

John hadn't stolen that money. (... He stole something else.)

Also

I didn't tell her that. (... Someone else told her.)

I didn't tell her that. (... You said I did.)

I didn't tell her that. (... I didn't say it; I could have written it, etc.)

I didn't tell her that. (... I told someone else.)

I didn't tell her that. (... I told her something else.)

The nuclear syllable is spoken louder than all the others and has a characteristic change of pitch. The changes of pitch most commonly encountered in English are the rising pitch and the falling pitch, although the fall-rising pitch and/or the rise-falling pitch are sometimes used. For example:

When do you want to be paid?

Nów? (Rising pitch. In this case, it denotes a question: can I be paid now?)

Nòw (Falling pitch. In this case, it denotes a statement: I choose to be paid now.)

Grammar

Main article: English grammar

English grammar displays minimal inflection compared with most other Indo-European languages. For example, Modern English, unlike Modern German or Dutch and the Romance languages, lacks grammatical gender and adjectival agreement. Case marking has almost disappeared from the language and mainly survives in pronouns. The patterning of strong (eg. speak/spoke/spoken) versus weak verbs inherited from Germanic has declined in importance and the remnants of inflection (such as plural marking) have become more regular.

At the same time as inflection has declined in importance in English, the language has developed a greater reliance on features such as modal verbs and word order to convey grammatical information. Auxiliary verbs are used to mark constructions such as questions, negatives, the passive voice and progressive tenses.

Vocabulary

Almost without exception, Germanic words (which include all the basics such as pronouns and conjunctions) are shorter and more informal than the Latinate words of English. Latinate words are regarded by many as more elegant or educated. However, the excessive use of Latinate words is considered by some to be either pretentious (as in the stereotypical policeman's talk of "apprehending the suspect") or an attempt to obfuscate an issue. (as in a military document which says "neutralise" when it means "kill"). George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language" gives a thorough treatment of this feature of English.

An English speaker is often able to choose between Germanic and Latinate synonyms: "come" or "arrive"; "sight" or "vision"; "freedom" or "liberty." Often there is a choice between a Germanic word (oversee), a Latin word (supervise), and a French word derived from the same Latin word (survey). The richness of the language arises from the variety of different meanings and nuances such synonyms have from each other, enabling the a speaker to express fine variations or shades of thought. Familiarity with the etymology of groups of synonyms can give English speakers greater control over their linguistic register. See: List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents.

An exception to this and a peculiarity arguably unique to English is that the nouns for meats are commonly different from, and unrelated to, those for the animals from which they are produced, the animal commonly having a Germanic name and the meat having a French derived noun. Examples include: deer and venison; cow and beef; or swine/pig and pork. This is assumed to be a result of the aftermath of the Norman invasion, where a French speaking elite were the consumers of the meat, produced by English speaking lower classes.

In everyday speech, the majority of words will normally be Germanic. If a speaker wishes to make a forceful point in an argument in a very blunt way, Germanic words will usually be chosen. A majority of Latinate words (or at least a majority of content words) will normally be used in more formal speech and writing, such as a courtroom or an encyclopedia article.

English is noted for the vast size of its active vocabulary and its fluidity. English easily accepts technical terms into common usage and imports new words and phrases which often come into common usage. Examples of this phenomenon include: cookie, internet and URL (technical terms), as well as genre, über, lingua franca and amigo (imported words/phrases, from French, German, modern Latin, and Spanish, respectively). In addition, slang often provides new meanings for old words and phrases. In fact, this fluidity is so pronounced that a distinction often needs to be made between formal forms of English and contemporary usage. See also: sociolinguistics.

Number of words in English

As the General Explanations at the beginning of the Oxford English Dictionary state:

The Vocabulary of a widely diffused and highly cultivated living language is not a fixed quantity circumscribed by definite limits ... there is absolutely no defining line in any direction: the circle of the English language has a well-defined centre but no discernible circumference.

The vocabulary of English is undoubtedly vast, but assigning a specific number to its size is more a matter of definition than of calculation. Unlike other languages, there is no Academy to define officially accepted words. Neologisms are coined regularly in medicine, science and technology and other fields, and new slang is constantly developed. Some of these new words enter wide usage; others remain restricted to small circles. Foreign words used in immigrant communities often make their way into wider English usage. Archaic, dialectal, and regional words might be considered as "English" or not.

The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) includes over 500,000 headwords, following a rather inclusive policy:

It embraces not only the standard language of literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang (Supplement to the OED, 1933).

The difficulty of defining the number of words is compounded by the emergence of new versions of English, such as Asian English.

Word origins

File:Influencegraph.PNG

Influences in English

Main article: Lists of English words of international origin

One of the consequences of the French influence is that the vocabulary of English is, to a certain extent, divided between those words which are Germanic (mostly Old English) and those which are "Latinate" (Latin-derived, either directly from Norman French or other Romance languages).

A computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd ed.) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff (1973) which estimated the origin of English words as follows:

French, including Old French and early Anglo-French: 28.3%
Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%
Other Germanic languages (including Old English, Old Norse, and Dutch): 25%
Greek: 5.32%
No etymology given: 4.03%
Derived from proper names: 3.28%
All other languages contributed less than 1%

James D. Nicoll made the oft-quoted observation: "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and riffle their pockets for new vocabulary."

French origins

Main article: List of French phrases used by English speakers

There are many words of French origin in English, such as competition, art, table, publicity, police, role, routine, machine, force, and many others which have been and are being anglicized; they are now pronounced according to English rules of orthography, rather than French. Approximately 40% of English vocabulary is of French or Oïl language origin, most derived from, or transmitted via, the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest.

Writing system

Main article: English alphabet

English is written using the Latin alphabet. The spelling system or orthography of English is historical, not phonological. The spelling of words often diverges considerably from how they are spoken, and English spelling is often considered to be one of the most difficult to learn of any language that uses an alphabet. See English orthography.

Basic sound-letter correspondence

Only the consonant letters are pronounced in a relatively regular way:

IPA	Alphabetic representation	Dialect-specific
p	p
b	b
t	t, th (rarely) thyme, Thames	th thing (African-American, New York)
d	d	th that (African-American, New York)
k	c (+ a, o, u, consonants), k, ck, ch, qu (rarely) conquer, kh (in foreign words)
g	g, gh, gu (+ a, e, i), gue (final position)
m	m
n	n
ŋ	n (before g or k), ng
f	f, ph, gh (final, infrequent) laugh, rough	th thing (many forms of English used in England)
v	v	th with (Cockney, Estuary English)
θ	th : there is no obvious way to identify which is which from the spelling.
ð
s	s, c (+ e, i, y), sc (+ e, i, y)
z	z, s (finally or occasionally medially), ss (rarely) possess, dessert, word-initial x xylophone
]	sh, sch, ti portion, ci suspicion; si/ssi tension, mission; ch (esp. in words of French origin); rarely s sugar
]	si division, zh (in foreign words), z azure, su pleasure, g (in words of French origin)(+e, i, y) genre
x	kh, ch, h (in foreign words)	occasionally ch loch (Scottish English, Welsh English)
h	h (syllable-initially, otherwise silent)
]	ch, tch	occasionally tu future, culture; t (+ u, ue, eu) tune, Tuesday, Teutonic (most dialects - see yod coalescence)
]	j, g (+ e, i, y), dg (+ e, i, consonant) badge, judg(e)ment	d (+ u, ue, ew) dune, due, dew (most dialects - another example of yod coalescence)
]	r, wr (initial) wrangle
j	y (initially or surrounded by vowels)
l	l
]	w
]	wh	Scottish and Irish English, as well as some varieties of American, New Zealand, and English English

Written accents

English includes some words which can be written with accent marks. These words have mostly been imported from other languages, usually French. But it is increasingly rare for writers of English to actually use the accent marks for common words, even in very formal writing. The strongest tendency to retain the accent is in words that are atypical of English morphology and therefore still perceived as slightly foreign. For example, café and animé both have a pronounced final e, which would be "silent" by the normal English pronunciation rules.

Some examples: ångström, animé, appliqué, attaché, blasé, bric-à-brac, café, cliché, crème, crêpe, façade, fiancé(e), flambé, naïve, né(e), papier-mâché, passé, piñata, protégé, raison d'être, résumé, risqué, über-, vis-à-vis, voilà. For a more complete list, see List of English words with diacritics.

Some words such as rôle and hôtel were first seen with accents when they were borrowed into English, but now the accent is almost never used. The words were considered very French borrowings when first used in English, even accused by some of being foreign phrases used where English alternatives would suffice, but today their French origin is largely forgotten. The accent on "élite" has disappeared from most publications today, though Time magazine still uses it. For some words such as "soupçon" however, the only spelling found in English dictionaries (the OED and others) uses the diacritic.

Italics, with appropriate accents, are generally applied to foreign terms that are uncommonly used in or have not been assimilated into English: for example, adiós, coup d'état, crème brûlée, pièce de résistance, raison d'être, über (übermensch), vis-à-vis.

It was formerly common in English to use a diaeresis to indicate a syllable break; for example, coöperate, daïs, reëlect. One publication that still uses a diaeresis for this function is the New Yorker magazine. However, this is increasingly rare in modern English. Nowadays the diaeresis is normally left out (cooperate), or a hyphen is used (co-operate). It is, however, still common in loanwords such as naïve and noël.

Written accents are also used occasionally in poetry and scripts for dramatic performances to indicate that a certain normally unstressed syllable in a word should be stressed for dramatic effect, or to keep with the meter of the poetry. This use is frequently seen in archaic and pseudoarchaic writings with the "-ed" suffix, to indicate that the "e" should be fully pronounced, as with cursèd.

In certain older texts (typically British), the use of ligatures is common in words such as archæology, œsophagus, and encyclopædia. Such words have Latin or Greek origin. Nowadays, the ligatures have been generally replaced in Commonwealth English by the separated letters "ae" and "oe" ("archaeology", "oesophagus") and in American English by "ae" and "e" ("archaeology", "esophagus"), however, the spellings "oeconomy" and "oecology" are now generally replaced by "economy" and "ecology" outside the U.S as well.

For further information on how one can type diacritics and ligatures, see British and American keyboards, keyboard layouts.

Formal written English

Main article: Formal written English

A version of the language which is almost universally agreed upon by educated English speakers around the world is called Formal written English. It takes virtually the same form whether it is written in Seattle, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Los Angeles, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Harare, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney or Auckland. In spoken English, by contrast, there is a vast number of differences between dialects, accents, and varieties of slang, colloquial and regional expressions. In spite of this, local variations in the formal written version of the language are quite limited.

Learners of English are in danger of being misled by native speakers who refer to American English, Australian English, British English or other varieties of English. While it is true that many regional differences between the forms of spoken English can be documented, the learner can easily fall into the trap of believing that these are different languages. They are instead mostly regional variations of the spoken language and such variations occur within these countries as well as between them.

The differences in formal writing that occur in the various parts of the English-speaking world are so slight that many dozens of pages of formal English can be read without the reader coming across any clues as to the origin of the writer, far less any difficulties of comprehension.

A popular American website about errors in English, written by a professor at a west coast U.S. university guiding his students towards preferred constructions of written English, contains almost nothing among its hundreds of entries with which a counterpart thousands of miles away in Sydney or London would disagree. Certainly, disputes about pronunciation and colloquial expressions used in speech abound. But in the written language these are relatively few.

Basic and simplified versions

To make English easier to read, there are some simplified versions of the language. One basic version is named Basic English, a constructed language with a small number of words created by Charles Kay Ogden and described in his book Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar (1930). The language is based on a simplified version of English. Ogden said that it would take seven years to learn English, seven months for Esperanto, and seven weeks for Basic English, comparable with Ido. Thus Basic English is used by companies who need to make complex books for international use, and by language schools that need to give people some knowledge of English in a short time.

Ogden did not put any words into Basic English that could be said with a few other words, and he worked to make the words work for speakers of any other language. He put his set of words through a large number of tests and adjustments. He also made the grammar simpler, but tried to keep the grammar normal for English users.

The concept gained its greatest publicity just after the Second World War as a tool for world peace. Although it was not built into a program, similar simplifications were devised for various international uses.

Another version, Simplified English, exists, which is a controlled language originally developed for aerospace industry maintenance manuals. It offers a carefully limited and standardized subset of English. Simplified English has a lexicon of approved words and those words can only be used in certain ways. For example, the word close can be used in the phrase "Close the door" but not "do not go close to the landing gear".

References

External links

Dictionaries

All free English dictionaries – Collection of many free English dictionaries
Dictionary of American Regional English

Revision as of 14:17, 22 June 2006

History

Classification and related languages

Geographic distribution

English as a global language

Dialects and regional varieties

Constructed varieties of English

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Voicing and aspiration

See also

Supra-segmental features

Tone groups

Characteristics of intonation (stress accent)

Grammar

Vocabulary

Number of words in English

Word origins

French origins

Writing system

Basic sound-letter correspondence

Written accents

Formal written English

Basic and simplified versions

See also

Dialects

Pronunciation

Social, cultural or political

Grammar

Usage

References

External links

Dictionaries

Further reading