English Does Not Belong to the English

choi

English Becomes Esperanto; The institutions of the European Union will still speak (a kind of) English if Britain leaves. Economist, Apr 23, 2016.
http://www.economist.com/news/bo ... -english-if-britain

Note:
(a)
(i) Esperanto (n; from Dr Esperanto, pseudonym of LL Zamenhof †1917 Polish oculist, its inventor): "an artificial international language based as far as possible on words common to the chief European languages"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Esperanto
(ii) Esperanto
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

(b) "BRITAIN has never been a typical European Union (EU) member. It is the only country vetoed for membership (by France), and twice, at that. It joined only in 1973, almost two decades after the original six members established the European Economic Community. It is more free-trading, free-marketeering and Atlanticist than the continent. And it is the only country to hold a referendum on leaving, in 1975, not to mention a second one, due in June."
(i) European Economic Community
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Community
(EEC; formed on Jan 1, 1958; 6 founding members: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany; in 1961 (first attempts at enlargement) Denmark, Ireland, Norway and the UK applied to join but France president Charles de Gaulle vetoed UK membership in 1963 and 1957 (so applications of all four countries were suspended -- Norway withdrew its application and has never joined, while the other 3 joined on Jan 1, 1973; EEC was succeeded on Jan 1, 1993 by European Community (EC) with single market)
(ii) free marketeer (n; First Known Use 1954): "a proponent of a free-market economy"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free+marketeer
(iii) Atlanticism (n; First Known Use 1950): "a policy of military cooperation between European powers and the United States"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Atlanticist
(iv) UK joined EEC in 1773 under Conservative prime minister Edward Heath. Harold Wilson (Labor prime minister 1964-1970 and 1974-1976) had in 1967 lodged the UK's second application to join EEC only to be vetoed by France a second time. Unhappy with Heath's 1973 terms to enter EEC, Wilson in 1974 renegotiated new terms with other EEC members, and then in 1975 held a referendum in UK for approval of EEC membership under the new terms. The result was "67% in favour on a 65% turnout."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un ... mbership_referendum,_1975

(c) In EU institutions, "English has displaced French as the most common language between two Eurocrats or parliamentarians who do not share a native tongue."

Eurocrat (n; First Known Use 1961): "a staff member of the administrative commission of the European Union"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Eurocrat
(d) Talking about language preference in EU institutions: "English is very much first among equals, despite the fact that English voters may favour leaving the EU. (Voters in the other three nations of the United Kingdom are more likely to prefer staying in.)"

countries of the United Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countries_of_the_United_Kingdom

(e) "Malta (where it [English] is co-official on an island of 450,000)"
(i) Malta
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta
(Official languages Maltese, English; inhabitants Maltese; Independence from UK in 1964)
(ii) history of Malta from Middle Ages on (prior to that, of course, were Roman and Byzantine rules):
Arab (870-1194);
(Norman) Kingdom of Sicily (1194-1530);
Knights Hospitaller (1530–1798);
(Napoleon) French (1798–1800);
British (1800–1964).
(iii) Maltese language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_language
(a unique branch of Arabic; with about half of the vocabulary from standard Italian and Sicilian)

(f) "A sort of Euro-English, influenced by foreign languages, is already in use. Many Europeans use 'control' to mean 'monitor' because contrôler has that meaning in French. The same goes for 'assist,' meaning to attend (assister in French, asistir in Spanish)."
(i) The English verb control's etymology:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.co ... can_english/control
("Late Middle English (as a verb in the sense 'check or verify accounts,' especially by referring to a duplicate register)")
(ii) French English dictionary:
* assister (v; borrowing from Latin assistō [whose meanings were somewhat different]):
"(transitive) to assist, to aid
(intransitive, followed by à) to attend, to be present"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/assister

The English verb "assist" is a direct descendant of "assister."

(g) "Jeremy Gardner, an official at the European Court of Auditors"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Auditors
(h) "some of the tricky bits of English, such as the future perfect progressive ('We will have been working') that aren’t strictly necessary"

The Perfect Progressive Tenses. VOA Learning English, Jan 21, 2016 (under the heading "Everyday Grammar")
http://learningenglish.voanews.c ... rammar/3141901.html
(an example: It will have been snowing for three days by the time it stops)