English in the Commonwealth of Nations

The use of the English language in most member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was inherited from British colonisation. English is spoken as a first or second language in most of the Commonwealth. In a few countries, such as Cyprus and Malaysia, it does not have official status, but is widely used as a lingua franca. Mozambique is an exception – although English is widely spoken there, it is a former Portuguese colony which joined the Commonwealth in 1996.

Many regions, notably Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the Caribbean, have developed their own native varieties of the language.

Written English as used in the Commonwealth generally favours British spelling as opposed to American spelling, with one notable exception being Canada, where there is also a strong influence from neighbouring American English (North American English).

The report of the Inter-Governmental Group on Criteria for Commonwealth Membership states that English is a symbol of Commonwealth heritage and unity.

Southern Hemisphere native varieties of English began to develop during the 18th century, with the colonisation of Australasia and South Africa. Australian English and New Zealand English are closely related to each other, and share some similarities with South African English. The vocabularies of these dialects draw from both British and American English as well as numerous native peculiarities.

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