Anglicisation oranglicization is a form ofcultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by theculture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English or place adopts theEnglish language or culture; institutional, in which institutions are influenced by those ofEngland or theUnited Kingdom; orlinguistic, in which a non-English term or name is altered due to the cultural influence of the English language.^[1][2] It can also refer to the influence of Englishsoft power, which includes media, cuisine, popular culture, technology, business practices, laws and political systems.^[3]

Anglicisation first occurred in theBritish Isles, whenCelts under the sovereignty of theking of England underwent a process of anglicisation.^[4] TheCeltic language decline in England was mostly complete by 1000 AD, but continued inCornwall and other regions until the 18th century. InScotland, the decline ofScottish Gaelic began during the reign ofMalcolm III of Scotland to the point where by the mid-14th century theScots language was the dominant national language among theScottish people.^{[5][6]: 139} InWales, however, theWelsh language has continued to be spoken by a large part of the country's population due tolanguage revival measures aimed at countering historical anglicisation measures such as theWelsh not.^[1][4]

In the early parts of the 19th century, mostly due to increased immigration from the rest of the British Isles, the town ofSt Helier in theChannel 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 ofNorman French, and many did not even know English.^{[7]: 38–9 [8]: 268} English became seen in the Channel Islands as "the language of commercial success and moral and intellectual achievement".^[8]: 269 The growth of English and the decline of French brought about the adoption of more values and social structures fromVictorian era England.^[8] Eventually, this led to the Channel Islands's culture becoming mostly anglicised, which supplanted the traditional Norman-based culture of the Islands.^[8]: 270

From 1912, the educational system of the Channel Islands was delivered solely in English, following the norms of theEnglish educational system.^[7] Anglicisation was supported by theBritish 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. Theupper class in the Channel Islands supported anglicising the Islands, due to the social and economic benefits it would bring.Anglophiles such as John Le Couteur strove to introduceEnglish culture toJersey.^[8]: 268

Anglicisation was an essential element in the development of British society and of the development of a unified British polity.^[1] Within theBritish Isles, anglicisation can be defined as influence of English culture inScotland,Wales,Ireland, theIsle of Man and theChannel Islands. Until the 19th century, most significant period for anglicisation in those regions was theHigh Middle Ages. Between 1000 and 1300, the British Isles became increasingly anglicised. Firstly, the ruling classes of England, who were of Norman origin after theNorman Conquest of 1066, became anglicised as their separateNorman identity, different from the identity of the nativeAnglo-Saxons, became replaced with a singleEnglish national identity.^{[citation needed]}

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 theconquest of Wales by Edward I, which involved English andFlemish settlers being"planted" in various newly established settlements in Welsh territory. English settlers in Ireland mostly resided inthe Pale, a small area concentrated aroundDublin. 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 theStatutes of Kilkenny.^[4]

During theMiddle Ages, Wales was gradually conquered by the English. The institutional anglicisation of Wales was finalised with theLaws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542, which fully incorporated Wales into theKingdom of England. This not only institutionally anglicised Wales, but brought about the anglicisation of theWelsh culture and language. Motives for anglicising Wales included securingProtestant England against incursions from Catholic powers inContinental Europe and promoting the power of the WelshTudor dynasty in the rest of England.^[1]

Scholars have argued thatindustrialisation 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 andurbanisation 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.^[1]

TheElementary Education Act 1870 and theWelsh Intermediate Education Act 1889 introduced compulsory English-language education into theWelsh 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 urbansouth andnorth-east of Wales.^[1] 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.^[9]

Jewish refugees in Britain at the turn of the 20th century were encouraged to Anglicise themselves by playingBritish sports.^[11] Such assimilation was desired by both the immigrants and the local Anglo-Jewish elite, as it would preempt antisemitic and xenophobic prejudices.^[12]

Philosophically, England's political ideals and strength were inspirational for Prussia in the 19th century.^[13] British art has also had a significant influence on Germany.^[14]

The term Anglicisation started being used around the time that the question of Anglicising white populations outside of the British Isles first presented itself in the late 18th century, when theBritish Empire had to decide how to conciliate French Canadians to its rule.^[15] Anglicisation was also expected of immigrants, particularly at the time that the country envisioned itself as part of a global British imperial community, until thecultural mosaic model took root in the late 20th century.^[16]

The United States was the first major British colony to become independent. Early into theAmerican Revolution, the majority of the colonists still felt loyal to Britain and preferred reconciliation over independence.^[17] Close cultural relations eased the resumption of post-Revolution ties between the two nations and later aided their cooperation duringWorld War II, giving rise to what became known as theSpecial Relationship.^[18] Both nations' cultural legacies and rising global stature led them to consider themselves as successors in certain waysto the Roman Empire,^[19] andAmerican hegemony was able to peacefully succeed the British Empire'sdominance in part due to the widely shared heritage.^[20]

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

Cornish miners introduced some of their cuisine in the 19th century. Mexico's proximity to the United States has also furthered its uptake of the English language, particularly in the border regions.^[21]

In Kenya, Christian missionaries played a significant role in advancing British culture. Though initially the colonial education system allowed for a more localised pedagogy, in the aftermath of theMau Mau rebellion the curriculum was revised to feature a greater emphasis on British culture and positive involvement in the region.^[22]

Anglicisation came into greater effect after theAnglo-Boer War, when the British decided to inculcate Afrikaner children in the English language and culture, contesting prior Dutch societal influences.^[23]

This section is an excerpt fromBritish West Africa § Historical jurisdiction.[edit]

British West Africa was originally founded at the urging of the prominent abolitionistFowell Buxton, who felt that ending the Atlantic slave trade required some level of British control of the coastline.^[24] Development was solely based onmodernization, and autonomous educational systems were the first step to modernising indigenous culture. Cultures and interests of indigenous peoples were ignored. A new social order, as well as European influences within schools and libraries^[25] and local traditions, helped mould British West Africa's culture. The British West African colonial school curriculum helped play a role in this. Local elites developed, with new values and philosophies, who changed the overall cultural development.^[26]

Two centuries ofimperial British influence saw India become the subject of intense discussions around the merit ofWesternisation and modernisation on an ancient, unchanging culture. In the decades after India's 1947independence, Anglicisation actually became more apparent in some respects: more people had learned English, which now was more significant in its capacity as a world language, and cricket was greatly popularised. Universal adult suffrage and higher levels of college attendance were also achieved.^[34]

Malay was Singapore's lingua franca late into the colonial era until English started to predominate; after Singapore became independent from British rule, it decided to keep English as its main language to maximise economic efficiency.^[35] Various politicians associated with Singapore's founding postcolonial period have measuredly praised British influences that they claim laid the foundation for the city to become more successful.^[36][37]

During the late colonial era, British planners were preoccupied with combating growing anti-Western sentiments among Arabs; the instrumentalisation of theBritish Council was seen as the best way to create stronger cultural ties.^[38]

Australians had very significant ties to the United Kingdom until the mid-20th century, with racial and historical ties cited as reasons to keep the relationship strong. The breakup of the British Empire then reoriented Australia towards American influences.^[39]

Linguistic anglicisation is the practice of modifying foreign words, names, and phrases to make them easier to spell, pronounce or understand inEnglish.^[1][2] The term commonly refers to the respelling of foreign words, often to a more drastic degree than that implied in, for example,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 theDanish city København (Copenhagen), theRussian city of Moskva (Moscow), theSwedish city of Göteborg (Gothenburg), theDutch city of Den Haag (The Hague), theSpanish city of Sevilla (Seville), theEgyptian city of Al-Qāhira (Cairo), and theItalian city of Firenze (Florence). TheIndian city of Kolkata was once anglicised asCalcutta, until the city chose to change its official name back to Kolkata in 2001. Anglicisation of words and names from indigenous languages occurred across theEnglish-speaking world in former parts of theBritish Empire.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, likeAristotle for Aristoteles, andAdrian (or laterHadrian) for Hadrianus. During the time in which there were large influxes of immigrants fromEurope to theUnited States andUnited Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries, the names of many immigrants were never changed by immigration officials but only by personal choice.

Britishisms (terms unique to British English) have entered American English over the centuries and continuing to this day, despite the modern global predominance of American English.^[40] Globalisation and the increasing role of British journalists are cited as factors for this in the present day.^[41]

This section is an excerpt fromEnglishisation.[edit]

Englishisation refers to the introduction ofEnglish-language influences into other languages. English, as aworld language, has had a very significant impact on other languages, with many languages borrowing words or grammar from English or formingcalques based on English words.^[42] Englishisation is often paired with the introduction ofWestern culture into other cultures,^[43] and has resulted in a significant degree ofcode-mixing of English with other languages as well as the appearance of newvarieties of English.^[44][45] Other languages have also synthesised new literary genres through their contact with English,^[46] and various forms of "language play" have emerged through this interaction.^[47] Englishisation has also occurred in subtle ways because of the massive amount of English content that is translated into other languages.^[48]

English pastimes and ideas influenced early American sporting practices significantly.^[53] For example, Mark Dyreson has argued that American attempts to improve the world through sport took inspiration from British imperial models.^[54] The England-originated philosophy ofMuscular Christianity also played a role in shaping American attitudes towards sport and its global role by the turn of the 20th century.^[55]

Look upanglicise oranglicize in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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