The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

This chapter shows how the English language in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries reflected in the expansion of its vocabulary and in modifications of its structure the momentous events of the period: the growth of science, the incorporation of technology into everyday life, two world wars, and the spread of varieties of English around the world—to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West and East Africa, South Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Caribbean, and Canada. Recent changes have been prompted by growing awareness of gender issues. These changes have been described by large-scale projects, including the Oxford English Dictionary and the many detailed studies of Global Englishes.