People and Language
The United Kingdom had a population of more than 61 million as of 2010，of whom about 52 million（about 85％）live in England，especially around London and the Thames estuary region.The rest are distributed in Scotland（over 5 million），Wales（around 3 million）and Northern Ireland（close to 1.7 million）.
The majority of this population are descendants of the Anglo⁃Saxons，a term referring to the groups of Germanic people from northern Europe who came to England between the 5th and the 7th centuries：the Angles，Saxons，and the Jutes.These people are often tall and with blond hair and blue eyes.The Anglo⁃Saxons settled in England and drove the native Celtic peoples into the mountainous areas in Wales and Scotland.The Angles gave their people’s name to their new home，calling it“Angleland”.This name later evolved into today’s“England”.
Today，most people in Wales and Scotland are decentants of the Celtic peoples who were among the earliest known inhabitants of Great Britain.The Irish people were also Celtic in origin.Besides the Anglo⁃Saxons and Celts，the British population includes a considerable number of Italians，Greeks，Australians，and New Zealanders who have settled in the country as permanent residents.
Britain is home to a significant number of immigrants from Africa and Asia.Most of them are from former colonies of the British Empire such as India，Pakistan，Bangladesh，the Caribbean Islands，and various countries in Africa.These immigrants tend to live in relatively compact communities in major urban areas in England such as London，Manchester，Leicester，West Yorkshire and Birmingham.Pakistani immigrants，for instance，are mostly found in West Yorkshire and Manchester，while about 80％ of African immigrants live in the Greater London area.Like almost everywhere else in the world，there are also Chinese living in Britain，most of whom are from Hong Kong.
These immigrants have made the United Kingdom one of the most culturally diverse countries in Europe，which is especially true of its urban areas.In London，for instance，it is estimated that about 160 languages and dialects are spoken，including the languages that are spoken by international students.
The official language of the United Kingdom is English.The word English comes from the old word“Anglisc，”meaning the language of the Angles，one of the groups of Germanic peoples who settled in England between the 5th and 7th centuries.However，today’s English is very different from the English of the 7th century.
The development of the English language can be divided into three periods：Old English，Middle English and Modern English.Old English refers to the language used in England until the Norman Conquest in 1066.During that period，the English language was a branch of the West Germanic language family.Like other West Germanic languages，it was inflected，meaning that its verbs had strong and weak forms，and its nouns and adjectives had cases and genders.Word order was of limited important in determining the meanings of sentences.During this period，a number of words from Latin（the official language of the Catholic Church in Rome）came into the vocabulary as the English people were converted to Christianity.Some Danish words also came into the English vocabulary because of the Danish（Viking）invasions of England in the 9th century.
The language used during the period from 1066 to the end of the 15th century is known as Middle English.This period saw great linguistic changes，beginning when the Norman invaders imposed their French language in place of English as the official language in England.Under early Norman rule，English was mainly used in spoken form by lower⁃class Anglo⁃Saxons who rarely spoke directly with the Norman nobility.As a result，one interesting phenomenon was that farm animals began to have different names from their meat;animals were raised and butchered by the common people who spoke English and so kept their English names，while the meat took on French names when it was served to the French⁃speaking nobility.Examples of this include pig and pork（from the French word porc），sheep and mutton（mouton），and cattle and beef（boeuf）.In addition，large numbers of French words came into the English vocabulary when the nobility began to speak English，especially words related to elite concerns such as government，the church and fashion.The forms of nouns and adjectives became simpler during this period，and word order became more important in understanding the meaning of a sentence.In the 14th century，England fought the Hundred Years’War against France and the English king and the nobility lost their land holdings in France;this led them to finally regard England as their true home，and English again became the official language of the country as a result.
The English language has always had a large number of dialects.In the 20th century，however，the class dialect used by the more educated parts of society became formally known as Received Standard English.Based on the form of the language used at elite educational institutions such as Eton，Oxford and Cambridge，Received Standard English became widespread because it was adopted by public media such as the British Broadcasting Corporation（BBC）.This led it to become the most widely⁃used form of the language today.Nonetheless，regional dialects continue to exist.