how many languages make up the english language?

Answer 1

The base is the Germanic language of Old English, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European; the oldest and most basic words are old English. There is a strong French and Latin influence. Greek contributes vocabulary for fields such as rhetoric and the sciences. Arabic, Spanish, and German words have found their way into the language. English is very freewheeling, and speakers will liberally borrow from whatever source suits their purpose. Most if not all of the major languages, and many of the minor languages, are represented in English vocabulary.

Answer 2

What languages form English? Many. Too many. English, although based on Germanic and Romance languages mostly, is the most living, breathing language in the world today. By living, I mean most changing and growing. We add more words each year, and we are approaching our 1,000,000th word soon. An interesting point to make is that some of the words we have were simply "made up".

An example of this is "quiz" (although it may appear to come from the Latin "Quis quid" it does not). It was invented by an englishman, who wrote it on the walls of every building in his city until people simply started using it, and it got worldwide acceptability over time. However, the greatest master of making up words for English goes to Shakespeare.

Answer 3

Depending on what you mean...

Present day English is one and only. It has several main varieties: British, American and Australian. And of course a lot of accents and dialects within each country.

As for where it came from:

The first WRITTEN language to appear on British islands was Celtic. Traces of that language are almost gone by now, except for a few geographic names.

For a long time the islands were under Roman rule, hence heavy Latin base of English (and similarity with other European languages).

Anglo-Saxons (from Germanic tribes) conquered British islands, due to its influence nowadays English is included into Germanic group of languages.

There was also conquest (and therefore linguistic influence) by Scandinavian Vikings.

French was the next major influence onto English language.

And since Middle Ages and never ending, English like any other non-dead language, evolves, changes, gets influenced, influences other languages and so on.

Answer 4

One, English

Answer 5

By definition, English is one language.

Are you trying to ask a question about the history of English or the number of dialects?

Answer 6

interesting question. let me count how many I know of.

Latin (i.e., semper fideus)
French (i.e., commence firing)
Greek (i.e., philosophy)

i'm sure there a couple more, but I can only think of 3 right
now.

Answer 7

one but many different dialects...