View source for Anglicisation

{{Short description|Form of cultural assimilation}}
{{Distinguish|Anglicism}}
{{For|linguistic anglicisation|Anglicisation (linguistics)}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Wiktionary|anglicise|anglicize}}

[[File:Big_Ben_-_geograph.org.uk_-_4891071.jpg | thumb | right | Big Ben, a cultural symbol of Britain ]]
'''Anglicisation''' or '''Anglicization''' is a form of [[cultural assimilation]] whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the [[culture of England]]. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English or place adopts the [[English language]] or culture; institutional, in which institutions are influenced by those of [[England]] or the [[United Kingdom]]; or [[Anglicisation (linguistics)|linguistic]], in which a non-English term or name is altered due to the cultural influence of the English language.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Coupland |first1=Nikolas |last2=Thomas |first2=Alan Richard |chapter=2. The Anglicisation of Wales |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPwYt3gVbu4C&dq=Anglicisation&pg=PA19 |title=English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change |publisher=Multilingual Matters |date=1990 |isbn=978-1-85359-031-3 |oclc=44961554}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Bridge, Carl, and Fedorowich, Kent. ''The British World: Diaspora, Culture, and Identity'', 2003, p. 89. "Beyond gaps in our information about who or what was affected by anglicisation is the matter of understanding the process more fully in terms of agency, periodisation, and extent and limitations."</ref> It can also refer to the influence of English [[soft power]], which includes media, cuisine, popular culture, technology, business practices, laws and political systems.<ref name="Breen, pp. 467-499">{{cite journal |last=Breen |first=T.H. |title=An Empire of Goods: The Anglicization of Colonial America, 1690–1776 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/abs/an-empire-of-goods-the-anglicization-of-colonial-america-16901776/0F37F013A68599667122B478D0CF1147 |journal=Journal of British Studies |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=467–499 |date=October 1986 |access-date=13 July 2021 |s2cid=144798714 |doi=10.1086/385874}}</ref>

Anglicisation first occurred in the [[British Isles]], when [[Celts]] under the sovereignty of the [[List of English monarchs|king of England]] underwent a process of anglicisation.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Davies |first=R.R. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/940657419 |title=First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles 1093–1343 (Ford lectures; 1998) |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=The Anglicization of the British Isles |oclc=940657419}}</ref> The [[Celtic language decline in England]] was mostly complete by 1000 AD, but continued in [[Cornwall]] and other regions until the 18th century. In [[Scotland]], the decline of [[Scottish Gaelic]] began during the reign of [[Malcolm III of Scotland]] to the point where by the mid-14th century the [[Scots language]] was the dominant national language among the [[Scottish people]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Withers |first=Charles W.J. |title=Gaelic in Scotland, 1698-1981: the geographical history of a language |date=1984 |publisher=J. Donald |isbn=0-85976-097-9 |location=Edinburgh |oclc=12078924}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Embleton |first1=Sheila M. |last2=Withers |first2=Charles W.J. |date=September 1985 |title=Gaelic in Scotland 1698-1981: The Geographical History of a Language |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/414416 |journal=Language |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=718 |doi=10.2307/414416 |jstor=414416 |issn=0097-8507}}</ref>{{Rp|page=139}} In [[Wales]], however, the [[Welsh language]] has continued to be spoken by a large part of the country's population due to [[language revival]] measures aimed at countering historical anglicisation measures such as the [[Welsh not]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

==History and examples==

===Channel Islands===
{{Further|History of Jersey#Anglicisation}}

In the early parts of the 19th century, mostly due to increased immigration from the rest of the British Isles, the town of [[St Helier]] in the [[Channel Islands]] became a predominantly English-speaking place, though bilingualism was still common. This created a divided linguistic geography, as the people of the countryside continued to use forms of [[Norman language|Norman French]], and many did not even know English.<ref name=":12">{{cite book |last=Le Feuvre |first=David |title=Jersey: Not Quite British: The Rural History of a Singular People |publisher=Seaflower Books |year=1994 |isbn=0-948578-57-2 |location=Jersey |language=en |oclc=29846615}}</ref>{{Rp|page=38–9}}<ref name=":23">{{Cite thesis |title=The rural community in nineteenth century Jersey |url=https://pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1410448~S15 |publisher=typescript |date=1991 |place=S.l. |first=John D. |last=Kelleher}}</ref>{{rp|268}} English became seen in the Channel Islands as "the language of commercial success and moral and intellectual achievement".<ref name=":23"/>{{rp|269}} The growth of English and the decline of French brought about the adoption of more values and social structures from [[Victorian era]] England.<ref name=":23"/> Eventually, this led to the Channel Islands's culture becoming mostly anglicised, which supplanted the traditional Norman-based culture of the Islands.<ref name=":23"/>{{rp|270}}

From 1912, the educational system of the Channel Islands was delivered solely in English, following the norms of the [[Education in England|English educational system]].<ref name=":12" /> Anglicisation was supported by the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]], and it was suggested that anglicisation would not only encourage loyalty and congeniality between the Channel Islands and Britain, but also provide economic prosperity and improved "general happiness". During the 19th century, there was concern over the practise of sending young Channel Islanders to France for education, as they might have brought back French culture and viewpoints back to the Islands. The [[upper class]] in the Channel Islands supported anglicising the Islands, due to the social and economic benefits it would bring. [[Anglophile]]s such as John Le Couteur strove to introduce [[Culture of England|English culture]] to [[Jersey]].<ref name=":23"/>{{rp|268}}

===British Isles===

Anglicisation was an essential element in the development of British society and of the development of a unified British polity.<ref name=":0" /> Within the [[British Isles]], anglicisation can be defined as influence of English culture in [[Scotland]], [[Wales]], [[Ireland]], the [[Isle of Man]] and the [[Channel Islands]]. Until the 19th century, most significant period for anglicisation in those regions was the [[High Middle Ages]]. Between 1000 and 1300, the British Isles became increasingly anglicised. Firstly, the ruling classes of England, who were of Norman origin after the [[Norman Conquest]] of 1066, became anglicised as their separate [[Normans|Norman]] identity, different from the identity of the native [[Anglo-Saxons]], became replaced with a single [[English national identity]].{{fact|date=August 2024}}

Secondly, English communities in Wales and Ireland emphasised their English identities, which became established through the settlement of various parts of Wales and Ireland between the 11th and 17th centuries under the guidance of successive English kings. In Wales, this primarily occurred during the [[conquest of Wales by Edward I]], which involved English and [[Flemish people|Flemish]] settlers being [[Plantation (settlement or colony)|"planted"]] in various newly established settlements in Welsh territory. English settlers in Ireland mostly resided in [[the Pale]], a small area concentrated around [[Dublin]]. However, much of the land the English settled was not intensively used or densely populated. The culture of settling English populations in Wales and Ireland remained heavy influenced by that of England. These communities were also socially and culturally segregated from the native Irish and Welsh, a distinction which was reinforced by government legislation such as the [[Statutes of Kilkenny]].<ref name=":1" />

====Wales====

During the [[Middle Ages]], Wales was gradually conquered by the English. The institutional anglicisation of Wales was finalised with the [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542]], which fully incorporated Wales into the [[Kingdom of England]]. This not only institutionally anglicised Wales, but brought about the anglicisation of the [[Welsh culture]] and language. Motives for anglicising Wales included securing [[Protestantism|Protestant]] England against incursions from Catholic powers in [[Continental Europe]] and promoting the power of the Welsh [[House of Tudor|Tudor dynasty]] in the rest of England.<ref name=":0" />

Scholars have argued that [[industrialisation]] prevented Wales from being anglicised to the extent of Ireland and Scotland, as the majority of the Welsh people did not move abroad in search of employment during the early modern era, and thus did not have to learn to speak English. Furthermore, migration patterns created a cultural division of labour, with national migrants tending to work in coalfields or remain in rural villages, while non-national migrants were attracted to coastal towns and cities. This preserved monocultural Welsh communities, ensuring the continued prominence of the Welsh language and customs within them. However, other scholars argue that industrialisation and [[Urbanization|urbanisation]] led to economic decline in rural Wales, and given that the country's large towns and cities were anglicised, this led to an overall anglicisation of the nation.<ref name=":0" />

The [[Elementary Education Act 1870]] and the [[Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889]] introduced compulsory English-language education into the [[Education in Wales|Welsh educational system]]. English "was perceived as the language of progress, equality, prosperity, mass entertainment and pleasure". This and other administrative reforms resulted in the institutional and cultural dominance of English and marginalisation of Welsh, especially in the more urban [[South Wales|south]] and [[North East Wales|north-east]] of Wales.<ref name=":0" /> In 2022, the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities warned that the emigration of Anglophones to Welsh-speaking villages and towns was putting the Welsh language at risk.<ref>{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Steven |date=8 November 2022 |title=Second homes and Brexit pushing Welsh language to 'tipping point' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/08/second-homes-and-brexit-pushing-welsh-language-to-tipping-point |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102201925/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/08/second-homes-and-brexit-pushing-welsh-language-to-tipping-point |archive-date=2 January 2023 |access-date=19 December 2022 |website=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

====United States====

During the 19th and 20th centuries, there was a nationwide effort in the [[United States]] to anglicise all [[Immigration to the United States|immigrants to the US]]. This was carried out through methods including (but not limited to) mandating the teaching of [[American English]] and having all immigrants change their first names to English-sounding names. This movement was known as [[Americanization (immigration)|Americanization]] and is considered a subset of Anglicization due to English being the dominant language in the United States.

==Linguistic anglicisation==
{{Main|Anglicisation (linguistics)}}

Linguistic anglicisation is the practice of modifying foreign words, names, and phrases to make them easier to spell, pronounce or understand in [[English language|English]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="ReferenceB"/> The term commonly refers to the respelling of foreign words, often to a more drastic degree than that implied in, for example, [[Romanization|romanisation]].

Non-English words may be anglicised by changing their form and/or pronunciation to something more familiar to English speakers. Some foreign place names are commonly anglicised in English. Examples include the [[Denmark|Danish]] city København ([[Copenhagen]]), the [[Russia]]n city of Moskva ([[Moscow]]), the [[Sweden|Swedish]] city of Göteborg ([[Gothenburg]]), the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] city of Den Haag ([[The Hague]]), the [[Spain|Spanish]] city of Sevilla ([[Seville]]), the [[Egypt]]ian city of Al-Qāhira ([[Cairo]]), and the [[Italy|Italian]] city of Firenze ([[Florence]]). The [[India|Indian]] city of Kolkata used to be anglicised as [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], until the city chose to change its official name back to Kolkata in 2001. Anglicisation of words and names from indigenous languages occurred across the [[English-speaking world]] in former parts of the [[British Empire]]. [[Toponymy|Toponyms]] in particular have been affected by this process.

In the past, the names of people from other language areas were anglicised to a higher extent than today. This was the general rule for names of Latin or (classical) Greek origin. Today, the anglicised name forms are often retained for the more well-known persons, like [[Aristotle]] for Aristoteles, and [[Adrian IV|Adrian]] (or later [[Hadrian]]) for Hadrianus. During the time in which there were large influxes of immigrants from [[Europe]] to the [[United States]] and [[United Kingdom]] during the 19th and 20th centuries, the names of many immigrants were never changed by immigration officials but only by personal choice.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Cultural assimilation}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:English language]]
[[Category:Scots language]]
[[Category:Types of words]]
[[Category:Word coinage]]
[[Category:Transliteration]]
[[Category:Cultural assimilation]]