ABSTRACT
We are very used to talking about our language as if it were a single, clearly defined entity: the English Language. Looked at in one way, this is only sensible, particularly when we think of the written language. English is a language which has its own literature, its own grammar books, and its own dictionaries. It is also a language which is quite clearly not French, not German, not Chinese – or any other language. To talk about the English language does actually mean something.
