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21-446: For more details, see Template:Special draft pending . David Martins (born 16 September 1930) is a Guyanese cricketer . He played in one first-class match for British Guiana in 1953/54. This biographical article related to cricket in Guyana is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Guyanese people The people of Guyana , or Guyanese , come from

42-595: A ratio of three to one. Besides the major varieties of English — American , British , Canadian , Australian , Irish , New Zealand English —and their sub-varieties, countries such as South Africa , India , Nigeria , the Philippines , Singapore , Jamaica , and Trinidad and Tobago also have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from English-based creole languages to Standard English . Other countries and territories, such as Ghana , also use English as their primary official language even though it

63-458: A stratified society of subservient workers and limit competition for the highest social class. Many segments of society are divided by race, such as religion, politics, even industries. Guyana's culture reflects its European history as it was colonized by both the Dutch and French before becoming a British colony. Guyana (known as British Guiana under British colonial rule), gained its independence from

84-555: A wide array of backgrounds and cultures including aboriginal natives , African and Indian origins, as well as a minority of Chinese and European descendant peoples. Demographics as of 2012 are Indo-Guyanese 39.8%, Afro-Guyanese 30.1%, mixed race (mostly Dougla ) 19.9%, Amerindian 10.5%, other 1.5% (including Chinese and Europeans, such as the Portuguese ). As a result, Guyanese do not equate their nationality with race and ethnicity, but with citizenship. Although citizens make up

105-471: Is a culturally Caribbean country even though it is not an island nation located in the Caribbean Sea. The national anthem of Guyana, Dear Land of Guyana, of Rivers and Plains , refers to Guyana as the "Land of six peoples" which was historically considered to be made up of African , Indian , Chinese , Portuguese , British, and Amerindian people. Even though referred to collectively as Amerindians,

126-580: Is also the primary native language and English is the primary language of government and education, such as Ireland , Gibraltar , and the Commonwealth Caribbean . While English is also spoken by a majority of people as a second language in a handful of countries such as Denmark , the Netherlands , Norway and Sweden , these countries are not considered part of the English-speaking world as

147-712: Is not the native language of most of the people. English holds official status in numerous countries within the Commonwealth of Nations . English is the primary natively spoken language in several countries and territories. Five of the largest of these are sometimes described as the " core Anglosphere "; they are the United Kingdom , the United States , Australia , Canada , and New Zealand . The term "Anglosphere" can sometimes be extended to include other countries and territories where English or an English Creole language

168-518: Is so widely spoken, it has often been called a " world language ", the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language . It is, by international treaty, the official language for aeronautical and maritime communications. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations and many other international organizations, including

189-1124: Is studied most often in the European Union , and the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages among Europeans is 67% in favour of English, ahead of 17% for German and 16% for French (as of 2012 ). In some of the non–English-speaking EU countries, the following percentages of adults claimed to be able to converse in English in 2012: 90% in the Netherlands; 89% in Malta; 86% in Sweden and Denmark; 73% in Cyprus, Croatia, and Austria; 70% in Finland; and over 50% in Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Germany. In 2012, excluding native speakers, 38% of Europeans consider that they can speak English. Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around

210-841: The International Olympic Committee . It is also one of two co-official languages for astronauts (besides the Russian language) serving on board the International Space Station . The English language has a particular significance in the Commonwealth of Nations, which developed from the British Empire. English is the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations. The English language as used in the Commonwealth has sometimes been referred to as Commonwealth English , most often interchangeably with British English . English

231-560: The indigenous peoples in Guyana are made up of several distinct tribes or nations. Warao , Arawak , Caribs , and Wapishana are all represented in Guyana. Europeans arrived in the Guianas in the search for gold in the New World , eventually settling in and colonizing Guyana and the Americas. Starting with the Dutch, then English, the cultural presence of Europe has been a significant force in

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252-773: The United Kingdom in 1966 and subsequently became a republic in 1970. As a result of Guyana's 170-year history as a British colony, it is a part of the Anglophone world and part of the Anglophone Caribbean – a subregion of the Caribbean consisting of independent, English-speaking nations that were once British colonies (also known as the Commonwealth Caribbean). Even as the only English-speaking country in South America,

273-502: The country even though the population was always in the minority. French and Spanish also have a presence in the region. The climate of Guyana was deemed suitable for growing sugar cane, sparking a demand for labour unmet by the Europeans themselves or the local Amerindians, so slaves from Africa were brought into the country. The high mortality and low birthrate of plantation slavery was supplemented by bringing in more enslaved people until

294-466: The early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language by number of speakers , the third largest language by number of native speakers and the most widespread language geographically. The countries in which English is the native language of most people are sometimes termed the Anglosphere . Speakers of English are called Anglophones . Early Medieval England

315-529: The language is still viewed primarily as a foreign tongue and does not serve an important cultural role in society. English is an official language ( de facto or de jure ) of the following countries and territories. Although not official, English is also an important language in some former colonies and protectorates of the British Empire where it is used as an administrative language , namely Brunei , Malaysia , and Sri Lanka . Because English

336-539: The majority of Guyanese, there is a substantial number of Guyanese expatriates, dual citizens and descendants living worldwide, chiefly elsewhere in the Anglosphere. Located on the northern coast of South America, Guyana is part of the main land Caribbean which is part of the historical British West Indies . It is culturally similar to Suriname and nearby island nations of the Caribbean such as Trinidad and Tobago , and

357-433: The majority of people in Guyana speak Guyanese Creole informally. Standard English, i.e. British English spelling and pronunciation, is used for all business and education and is typically consistently spoken by members of the upper and upper-middle class. Anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In

378-496: The most total English speakers, with 306 million and 129 million, respectively. These are followed by Pakistan (104 million), the United Kingdom (68 million), and Nigeria (60 million). As of 2022, there were about 400 million native speakers of English. Including people who speak English as a second language , estimates of the total number of Anglophones vary from 1.5 billion to 2 billion. David Crystal calculated in 2003 that non-native speakers outnumbered native speakers by

399-402: The slave trade was abolished in 1838. Indentured labour contracts were made for Portuguese and Chinese people, but the largest numbers came from India. The diversity of the country is a point of pride as well as a challenge; conflicts along racial lines have been a source of significant social tension. Racism in Guyana has roots in the control of labour, so that plantation owners could maintain

420-462: The world; English is the most commonly used language in the sciences, with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries. In publishing, English literature predominates considerably, with 28% of all books published in the world [Leclerc 2011] and 30% of web content in 2011 (down from 50% in 2000). The increasing use of

441-534: Was the birthplace of the English language; the modern form of the language has been spread around the world since the 17th century, first by the worldwide influence of England and later the United Kingdom, and then by that of the United States . Through all types of printed and electronic media of these countries, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional fields, such as science , navigation and law . The United States and India have

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