We take a look at fundamental principles that operate when social and/or regional varieties of English are in contact with each other or with other languages. We take a historical look at English and explore various contact settings which have shaped its development, from contact with Old Norse, Latin and Norman French to the present day. We discuss patterns of bilingualism and multilingualism, that is when speakers use two or more languages in their everyday lives. As the product of migration and colonization, different kinds of English have emerged in different locations around the world. We learn how new dialects emerge as a product of new-dialect formation and how contact-derived varieties such as pidgins and creoles develop under conditions of language contact, with emphasis on different theories of origins. Finally, we discuss the so-called Global Englishes which have emerged as a product of second-language learning around the world.

This chapter surveys the historical background of the global spread of English and its linguistic consequences. Since World Englishes are mostly products of colonialism, it surveys the history of European colonization and colonization types, the growth and decline of the British Empire, and the role of the United States in the globalization of English. It discusses the tension between the internationalization and the localization of English, the range of variety types which have consequently grown in specific circumstances; and offers numbers of varieties and speakers involved, including a global map of countries in which English has some sort of a special internal status. It is shown that, surprisingly, the global growth of English gained even more momentum after the end of the colonial period. The constant leitmotif in all of this is the relationship between the language-external and the internal, the direct functional relationship between historical events and constellations, the communicative patterns caused by these, and, consequently, their effects upon the development of linguistic forms and varieties.