ABSTRACT
Just how this mooted first language may have looked is unknown, but the multiplicity and diversity of languages spoken in today’s world indicate one of the unchanging principles of human language – change: out of one many have developed. One of these many languages is English, itself a grouping of often very different varieties spoken all over the world by both native and non-native speakers. Just how many speakers is a widely debated question, as is the question of what a native and what a non-native speaker is (see the discussion in 7.4.2 and 13.4). It is the aim of this book to explore how English came into being and developed the enormous amount of diversity which the label English covers.
