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English and Kinyarwanda text in Kigali, Rwanda. Rwanda, a Commonwealth country, was not previously part of the British Empire.

Commonwealth English is the set of varieties of the English language used in current and former countries of the Commonwealth. It connotes a mostly similar set of word spellings, punctuation rules and grammatical conventions. The use of English was largely inherited through British colonisation, with limited exceptions. The language forms part of the association’s common culture and serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations.[1][2]

The term Commonwealth English is most often interchangeable with British English, but is also used to distinguish between British English and that in the rest of the Commonwealth.[3] Many regions have developed their own local varieties of the language. Its official status varies; in Bangladesh, it lacks any but is widely used, and likewise in Cyprus, it is not official but is used as the lingua franca.[4][5]

Written English in current and former countries of the Commonwealth generally favours British English spelling as opposed to that of American English,[6] with some exceptions, particularly in Canada.[7]

Native varieties

Multilingual stop sign in a First Nations reserve in Canada, featuring the Abenaki, French and English languages

Southern Hemisphere native varieties of English began to develop during the 18th century, with the colonisation of Australasia and South Africa. Australian English and New Zealand English are closely related to each other and share some similarities with South African English. Nonetheless, South African English has unique influences from indigenous African languages, and Dutch influences inherited alongside the evolution of Afrikaans, while New Zealand English has a lot of influences from the Māori language.[8][9]

Canadian English contains elements of British English and American English, as well as many Canadianisms and some French influences. It is the product of several waves of immigration and settlement, from Britain, Ireland, France, the United States, and around the world, over a period of more than two centuries.[10][11]

The mother tongue of Anglo-Indians is English, whilst most Indians speak it as a second language.

In many Commonwealth countries, there exists a relatively small native Anglophone minority amongst a larger population who speak English as a second language; Anglo-Indians speak English as their mother tongue, but it is not the first language of most Indians.[12][13]

Africa

See also: British diaspora in Africa and Commonwealth diaspora

In addition to South Africa, a number of Commonwealth countries in Africa have native varieties of English. A community of native English speakers exists in Zimbabwe; the country’s dialect bears features of British English, South African English and other Southern Hemisphere varieties of Commonwealth English.[14][15] Also in Southern Africa and with historical influence from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana have their own dialects,[16][17] with smaller native English-speaking populations.[18][19] The same is true of Kenya[20][21] and Uganda in East Africa.[22][23]

Caribbean

Sign in Belizean Creole, an English-based creole language
William Shakespeare memorial in Sydney, Australia. English is part of the common culture of the Commonwealth.

Caribbean English is drawn from British English and West African languages. It is influenced by constant contact with English-based Creoles. There is considerable influence from Hindustani and other South Asian languages in countries with language Indian populations, including Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana. Jamaican English and Barbadian English bear influences of Irish English.[24]

Non-native varieties

Second-language varieties of English in Africa and Asia have often undergone “indigenisation“; that is, each English-speaking community has developed (or is in the process of developing) its own standards of usage, often under the influence of local languages. These dialects are sometimes referred to as New Englishes;[25] most of them inherited non-rhoticity from Southern British English.[26][27][28]

Africa

See also: West African Pidgin English

In the Commonwealth countries of West Africa, there are national varieties of English in Nigeria,[29] Ghana,[30] Sierra Leone,[31] Cameroon[32] and the Gambia.[33][34]

In East Africa, national varieties of English are spoken in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania.[20][35][22][36] The modern development of English in Rwanda is closely associated with the post-1994 period. The return of Rwandans who had lived for extended periods in neighbouring countries, particularly Uganda, increased the presence of English in public and institutional life, and provided an important regional input for local English usage.[37][38] English subsequently expanded in domains such as education and administration.[37][39] Rwanda became a Commonwealth country in 2009.[40]

Prior to Togo‘s admission to the Commonwealth in 2022, foreign minister Robert Dussey said that he expected Commonwealth membership to provide opportunities for Togolese citizens to learn English.[41]

Asia

Hong Kong

Hong Kong ceased to be part of the Commonwealth by virtue of being a British territory in 1997. Nonetheless, the English language there still enjoys official status.[42]

Indian subcontinent

See also: Englishisation § South Asia

English was introduced to the subcontinent by the British Raj. India has the largest English-speaking population in the Commonwealth, although comparatively very few speakers of Indian English are first-language speakers.[43][44] The same is true of English spoken in other parts of South Asia, including Maldivian English,[45] Pakistani English,[46] Sri Lankan English,[47] Bangladeshi English[48] and Myanmar English; though Myanmar or Burma is not a Commonwealth country, English is the mother tongue of the Anglo-Burmese population.[49] South Asian English is fairly homogeneous across the subcontinent, though there are some differences based on various regional factors.[50]

Malay Archipelago

Southeast Asian English includes Singapore English, Malaysian English, and Brunei English as well as other varieties in non-Commonwealth countries (such as Indonesian English); it is not only the result of British colonisation but also American colonisation (as in the case of the Philippines) and globalisation. It has interacted with diverse local ecologies, shaping its form, function and status in the region.[51]

See also

References

  1. ^ “The Commonwealth”. New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  2. ^ “Joining the Commonwealth”. Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  3. ^ “Commonwealth English”. Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  4. ^ Ara, Rowshon (March 2020). “A Foreign Language or the Second Language: The Future of English in Bangladesh”. International Journal of Language Education. 4 (1): 81–95. ISSN 2548-8457.
  5. ^ Ammon, Ulrich; Dittmar, Norbert; Mattheier, Klaus J.; Trudgill, Peter, eds. (2006). “Greece and Cyprus”. Sociolinguistics: an international handbook of the science of language and society / Soziolinguistik: ein internationales Handbuch zur Wissenschaft von Sprache und Gesellschaft. Handbooks of linguistics and communication science / Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 1888. ISBN 9783110184181.
  6. ^ New Oxford Style Manual. Oxford University Press. 2016.
  7. ^ Boberg, Charles (2004) Standard Canadian English Archived 11 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine.” In Raymond Hickey. Standards of English: Codified Varieties Around the World. Cambridge University Press. p. 159.
  8. ^ Bayard, Donn (2000). “New Zealand English: Origins, Relationships, and Prospects” (PDF). Moderna Språk. 94 (1). Sweden: Linnaeus University: 8–14. doi:10.58221/mosp.v94i1.9625. ISSN 2000-3560. S2CID 254175799. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  9. ^ Wells, J. C., ed. (1982), “The southern hemisphere”, Accents of English: Beyond the British Isles, vol. 3, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 592–622, doi:10.1017/cbo9780511611766.006, ISBN 978-0-521-28541-4, retrieved 17 June 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  10. ^ Dollinger, Stefan (2008). “New-Dialect Formation in Canada”. Benjamins, ISBN 9789027231086. p. 25.
  11. ^ Boberg, Charles (2010). The English language in Canada: status, history and comparative analysis. Studies in English language. Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 55–105. ISBN 978-0-511-78981-6.
  12. ^ Andrews, Robyn (2013). Christmas in Calcutta: Anglo-Indian Stories and Essays. SAGE Publishing India. ISBN 978-81-321-1814-5.
  13. ^ “Introduction to Indian English”. Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 18 September 2024. Retrieved 8 March 2025.
  14. ^ Mlambo, Muzi (26 May 2009). “A survey of the language situation in Zimbabwe”. English Today. 25 (2): 18. doi:10.1017/S0266078409000145. ISSN 1474-0567.
  15. ^ Tom McArthur (ed.), Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-19-214183-X. pp. 116, 352.
  16. ^ Stell, Gerald (10 September 2021), Schröder, Anne (ed.), “English in Namibia: A socio-historical account”, Varieties of English Around the World, vol. G65, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 21–42, doi:10.1075/veaw.g65.02ste, ISBN 978-90-272-0919-1, retrieved 1 March 2025{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  17. ^ Alimi, Modupe (1 July 2011). “Botswana English: implications for English language teaching and assessment”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 32 (4): 309–324. doi:10.1080/01434632.2011.574700. ISSN 0143-4632.
  18. ^ “Namibian languages”. Namibia Biodiversity Database. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  19. ^ Bolton, Kingsley; Kachru, Braj B. (2006). World Englishes: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. Taylor & Francis. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-415-31508-1.
  20. ^ a b Buregeya, Alfred (2020), “Kenyan English”, The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English, retrieved 1 March 2025
  21. ^ McGreal, Chris (25 October 2006). “A lost world”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  22. ^ a b Ssempuuma, Jude (2020), “Ugandan English”, The Electronic World Atlas of Varieties of English, retrieved 8 March 2025
  23. ^ “Uganda: Return of the exiles”. Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2010.. The Independent, 26 August 2005
  24. ^ “Introduction to Caribbean English”. Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  25. ^ McArthur, Tom (2002). The Oxford guide to world English. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-19-866248-8.
  26. ^ Rathod, Rakesh (2019). Indian Writing in English: Pre to Post Independence. Nitya Publications. p. 89. ISBN 978-81-943432-7-1.
  27. ^ Demirezen, Mehmet (2012). “Which /r/ are you using as an English teacher? rhotic or non-rhotic?”. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 46. Elsevier: 2659–2663. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.05.542. hdl:11655/20596. ISSN 1877-0428. OCLC 931520939.
  28. ^ Brinton, Lauren and Leslie Arnovick. The English Language: A Linguistic History. Oxford University Press: Canada, 2006.
  29. ^ “Nigerian English”. Encarta. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 9 September 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  30. ^ Schneider, Edgar Werner; Kortmann, Bernd, eds. (2004). A handbook of varieties of English : a multimedia reference tool. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3110175320. OCLC 56880203.
  31. ^ Saidu Bangura, 2015 A Roadmap to Sierra Leone English: A Sociohistorical and Ecological Perspective, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, PhD thesis, p. 124, 222, 232-242.
  32. ^ Ngefac, Aloysius (11 March 2025). “Cameroon English”. In Bolton, Kingsley (ed.). The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes (eBook ed.). John Wiley & Sons. pp. 1–12. doi:10.1002/9781119518297.eowe00196. ISBN 9781119518297 – via Wiley Online Library. No access available via The Wikipedia Library.
  33. ^ Hans-Georg Wolf; Lothar Peter; Frank Polzenhagen (2008). Focus on English: Linguistic Structure, Language Variation and Discursive Use : Studies in Honour of Peter Lucko. Leipziger Universitätsverlag. pp. 135–. ISBN 978-3-86583-157-6.
  34. ^ “West African English”. Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 21 January 2025. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  35. ^ “Rwanda”. Bochum Gateway to World Englishes (WEGATE). Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  36. ^ Schmied, Josef (March 2025). “Tanzanian English” (PDF). Chemnitz University of Technology. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  37. ^ a b “Rwanda”. Bochum Gateway to World Englishes (WEGATE). Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  38. ^ Samuelson, Beth Lewis (2010). “Language policy, multilingual education, and power in Rwanda” (PDF). Language Policy. 9 (3): 191–215. doi:10.1007/s10993-010-9170-7. Retrieved 6 January 2026.
  39. ^ Spowage, Kate (2025). “Rwanda, English in”. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of World Englishes. Wiley. pp. 1–13. doi:10.1002/9781119518297.eowe00082. ISBN 978-1-119-51831-0.
  40. ^ Kron, Josh (28 November 2009). “Rwanda Joins British Commonwealth”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  41. ^ Lawson, Alice (24 June 2022). “Togo sees Commonwealth entry as pivot to English-speaking world”. Reuters. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  42. ^ Eoyang, Eugene Chen (2000). “From the Imperial to the Empirical: Teaching English in Hong Kong”. Profession: 62–74. JSTOR 25595704.
  43. ^ “India is the 2nd largest English-speaking nation”. The Times of India. 11 November 2005. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  44. ^ Rukmini S (24 November 2014). “Sanskrit and English: there’s no competition”. The Hindu.
  45. ^ Meierkord, Christiane (March 2018). “English in paradise: the Maldives: English is rapidly establishing itself as a second language in a society transforming from fishing to tourism and trade”. English Today. 34 (1): 2–11. doi:10.1017/S0266078417000475. ISSN 0266-0784.
  46. ^ “People of Pakistan”. Britannica. Retrieved 13 April 2023. With the exception of this educated elite, English is spoken fluently by only a small percentage of the population.
  47. ^ “Introduction to Sri Lankan English”. Oxford English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  48. ^ Naym Pieal, Jannatul (5 May 2023). “Tracing roots: The emergence and disappearance of Dhaka’s Anglo-Indians”. The Business Standard. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  49. ^ Burnett, Dean (2003). “A history of the Anglo-Burmese community”. International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies. 7 (1).
  50. ^ Schilk, Marco; Bernaisch, Tobias; Mukherjee, Joybrato (2012), Hundt, Marianne; Gut, Ulrike (eds.), “Mapping unity and diversity in South Asian English lexicogrammar: Verb-complementational preferences across varieties”, Varieties of English Around the World, vol. G43, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, p. 140, doi:10.1075/veaw.g43.06sch, ISBN 978-90-272-4903-6, retrieved 1 March 2025{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  51. ^ Moody, Andrew J. (21 March 2024), Moody, Andrew J. (ed.), “Introduction: English in Southeast Asia”, The Oxford Handbook of Southeast Asian Englishes, Oxford University Press, p. 0, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192855282.013.44, ISBN 978-0-19-285528-2, retrieved 1 March 2025{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  • McArthur, Tom (2002). The Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866248-3.
  • Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X.
  • Trudgill, Peter & Hannah, Jean (2002). International English: A Guide to the Varieties of Standard English; 4th ed. London: Arnold. ISBN 0-340-80834-9.