127-396: Paolo Gentiloni Silveri ( Italian pronunciation: [ˈpaːolo dʒentiˈloːni] ; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who was European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024. He had previously served as prime minister of Italy from December 2016 to June 2018. After a lengthy career in local politics, Gentiloni
254-700: A Montessori institute , where he became a friend of Agnese Moro, the daughter of Aldo Moro , a Christian democratic leader and Prime Minister . During the early 1970s he attended the Classical Lyceum Torquato Tasso in Rome; he graduated in political sciences at the Sapienza University of Rome . Gentiloni was a professional journalist before entering politics. In 1989 he married Emanuela Mauro, an architect ; they have no children. Gentiloni speaks fluent English , French and German . During
381-456: A market dominance where a subject exceeded 45% of advertising sales and abolished the "integrated communication system" (SIC) introduced by the Gasparri Law. The law also lowered the maximum advertising threshold for TV from 18% to 16%, to encourage redistribution, and provided for the transfer to digital of one network each for RAI and Mediaset by 2009, thus freeing up frequencies and imposing
508-546: A mixed language or a creole —a theory called the Middle English creole hypothesis . Although the great influence of these languages on the vocabulary and grammar of Modern English is widely acknowledged, most specialists in language contact do not consider English to be a true mixed language. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares innovations with other Germanic languages including Dutch , German , and Swedish . These shared innovations show that
635-635: A 2012 official Eurobarometer poll (conducted when the UK was still a member of the EU), 38 percent of the EU respondents outside the countries where English is an official language said they could speak English well enough to have a conversation in that language. The next most commonly mentioned foreign language, French (which is the most widely known foreign language in the UK and Ireland), could be used in conversation by 12 percent of respondents. A working knowledge of English has become
762-467: A candidate. Renzi had reportedly wanted to replace Mogherini with another woman, to preserve gender parity in his 16-member cabinet. Moreover, Gentiloni was not known as a specialist in international diplomacy. As foreign minister, Gentiloni tried to trace an intermediate path for Italy in the scenario of multiple crises that surrounds it, from the wars in Libya and Syria to tensions with Russia. Gentiloni showed
889-704: A confidence vote in the Senate, with 169 votes for and 99 against. On 29 December, deputy ministers of the PD, NCD, the Italian Socialist Party , and Solidary Democracy , were appointed. After the split of Article One from the PD, that party was presented by one deputy minister in the government. On 19 July 2017, Gentiloni became Minister of Regional Affairs ad interim after the resignation of Enrico Costa , member of Popular Alternative , who often criticized Gentiloni's views and ideas, especially regarding immigration and
1016-500: A development strategy proposed by the Chinese government that focuses on connectivity and cooperation between Eurasian countries. Gentiloni stated that "Italy can be a key protagonist in this great operation: it is a great opportunity for us and my presence here means how much we consider it important." On 16 and 17 May, Paolo Gentiloni went to Sochi , where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin . The two leaders stressed their hope for
1143-651: A distinct language from Modern English and is virtually impossible for 21st-century unstudied English-speakers to understand. Its grammar was similar to that of modern German: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs had many more inflectional endings and forms , and word order was much freer than in Modern English. Modern English has case forms in pronouns ( he , him , his ) and has a few verb inflections ( speak , speaks , speaking , spoke , spoken ), but Old English had case endings in nouns as well, and verbs had more person and number endings. Its closest relative
1270-484: A foreign language, make up the "expanding circle". The distinctions between English as a first language, as a second language, and as a foreign language are often debatable and may change in particular countries over time. For example, in the Netherlands and some other countries of Europe, knowledge of English as a second language is nearly universal, with over 80 percent of the population able to use it, and thus English
1397-583: A loosening of international sanctions against Russia and for a re-opening of a dialogue between Russia and NATO . They also signed six economic deals between the Italian Eni and the Russian Rosneft . European Commissioner for Economy The European Commissioner for Economy is a member of the European Commission . The current Economy Commissioner is Paolo Gentiloni . From 2014 to 2019
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#17330852585981524-520: A more standard version of English. They have many more speakers of English who acquire English as they grow up through day-to-day use and listening to broadcasting, especially if they attend schools where English is the medium of instruction. Varieties of English learned by non-native speakers born to English-speaking parents may be influenced, especially in their grammar, by the other languages spoken by those learners. Most of those varieties of English include words little used by native speakers of English in
1651-618: A new government. On 12 December, Gentiloni was officially sworn in as the new head of the government. Gentiloni led a coalition government supported by the Democratic Party (PD) and the Christian democratic Popular Area , composed of the New Centre-Right (NCD) and the Centrists for Italy . This was the same majority that had supported Renzi's government for almost three years. Meanwhile,
1778-688: A number of other Anglic languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian dialect and Yola language of Ireland. Like Icelandic and Faroese , the development of English in the British Isles isolated it from the continental Germanic languages and influences, and it has since diverged considerably. English is not mutually intelligible with any continental Germanic language, as it differs in vocabulary , syntax , and phonology . However, some of these, such as Dutch or Frisian, do show strong affinities with English, especially with its earlier stages. Unlike Icelandic and Faroese, which were isolated,
1905-541: A prominent member of the centre-left was over. However, Gentiloni was elected again to the Chamber of Deputies in the 2013 general election , as part of the centre-left coalition Italy. Common Good led by Pier Luigi Bersani , Secretary of the PD. In 2013, after Bersani's resignation as Secretary, Gentiloni supported the Mayor of Florence , Matteo Renzi , in the Democratic Party leadership election . On 31 October 2014 Gentiloni
2032-679: A requirement in a number of occupations and professions such as medicine and computing. English has become so important in scientific publishing that more than 80 percent of all scientific journal articles indexed by Chemical Abstracts in 1998 were written in English, as were 90 percent of all articles in natural science publications by 1996 and 82 percent of articles in humanities publications by 1995. International communities such as international business people may use English as an auxiliary language , with an emphasis on vocabulary suitable for their domain of interest. This has led some scholars to develop
2159-407: A rich inflectional morphology and relatively free word order to a mostly analytic pattern with little inflection and a fairly fixed subject–verb–object word order . Modern English relies more on auxiliary verbs and word order for the expression of complex tenses , aspects and moods , as well as passive constructions , interrogatives , and some negation . The earliest form of English
2286-744: A significant minority speaks English. The countries with the most native English speakers are, in descending order, the United States (at least 231 million), the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (19 million), Australia (at least 17 million), South Africa (4.8 million), Ireland (4.2 million), and New Zealand (3.7 million). In these countries, children of native speakers learn English from their parents, and local people who speak other languages and new immigrants learn English to communicate in their neighbourhoods and workplaces. The inner-circle countries provide
2413-662: A strong closeness to his US counterpart John Kerry and kept open a channel of dialogue with the Russian Sergei Lavrov . On 13 February 2015, during an interview on Sky TG24 , Gentiloni stated that "if needed, Italy will be ready to fight in Libya against the Islamic State , because the Italian government can not accept the idea that there is an active terrorist threat only a few hours from Italy by boat." The following day Gentiloni
2540-448: A term; intractable deadlocks have instead usually been resolved by the candidate countries withdrawing in favour of a third member state. On 7 December 2016, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation, following the rejection of his proposals to overhaul the Senate in the 2016 Italian constitutional referendum . On 11 December, Gentiloni was asked by President Mattarella to form
2667-724: A two-year term on the United Nations Security Council after the United Nations General Assembly was deadlocked on whether to choose Italy or the Netherlands following five rounds of voting for the last remaining 2017–18 seat. Such arrangements were relatively common in deadlocked elections starting in the late 1950s until 1966, when the Security Council was enlarged. This however would be the first time in over five decades that two members agreed to split
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#17330852585982794-447: A verb ending ( present plural): From the 8th to the 11th centuries, Old English gradually transformed through language contact with Old Norse in some regions. The waves of Norse (Viking) colonisation of northern parts of the British Isles in the 8th and 9th centuries put Old English into intense contact with Old Norse , a North Germanic language. Norse influence was strongest in the north-eastern varieties of Old English spoken in
2921-552: Is Old Frisian , but even some centuries after the Anglo-Saxon migration, Old English retained considerable mutual intelligibility with other Germanic varieties. Even in the 9th and 10th centuries, amidst the Danelaw and other Viking invasions, there is historical evidence that Old Norse and Old English retained considerable mutual intelligibility, although probably the northern dialects of Old English were more similar to Old Norse than
3048-459: Is also undergoing change under the influence of American English, fuelled by the strong presence of American English in the media and the prestige associated with the United States as a world power. As of 2016 , 400 million people spoke English as their first language , and 1.1 billion spoke it as a secondary language. English is the largest language by number of speakers . English
3175-603: Is also widely used in media and literature, and the number of English language books published annually in India is the third largest in the world after the US and UK. However, English is rarely spoken as a first language, numbering only around a couple hundred-thousand people, and less than 5% of the population speak fluent English in India. David Crystal claimed in 2004 that, combining native and non-native speakers, India now has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in
3302-407: Is an official language of countries populated by few descendants of native speakers of English. It has also become by far the most important language of international communication when people who share no native language meet anywhere in the world. The Indian linguist Braj Kachru distinguished countries where English is spoken with a three circles model . In his model, Kachru based his model on
3429-528: Is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon ( c. 450–1150 ). Old English developed from a set of West Germanic dialects, often grouped as Anglo-Frisian or North Sea Germanic , and originally spoken along the coasts of Frisia , Lower Saxony and southern Jutland by Germanic peoples known to the historical record as the Angles , Saxons , and Jutes . From the 5th century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain as
3556-549: Is related to the Italian politician Vincenzo Ottorino Gentiloni , chamberlain of Pope Pius X , who was the leader of the conservative Catholic Electoral Union and a key ally of the long-time prime minister Giovanni Giolitti . If the Kingdom of Italy still existed, Gentiloni would have the titles of Nobile of Filottrano , Nobile of Cingoli , and Nobile of Macerata . Gentiloni was born in Rome in 1954, during his childhood he attended
3683-424: Is routinely used to communicate with foreigners and often in higher education. In these countries, although English is not used for government business, its widespread use puts them at the boundary between the "outer circle" and "expanding circle". English is unusual among world languages in how many of its users are not native speakers but speakers of English as a second or foreign language. Many users of English in
3810-517: Is spoken by communities on every continent and on islands in all the major oceans. The countries where English is spoken can be grouped into different categories according to how English is used in each country. The "inner circle" countries with many native speakers of English share an international standard of written English and jointly influence speech norms for English around the world. English does not belong to just one country, and it does not belong solely to descendants of English settlers. English
3937-777: Is the third person pronoun group beginning with th- ( they, them, their ) which replaced the Anglo-Saxon pronouns with h- ( hie, him, hera ). Other core Norse loanwords include "give", "get", "sky", "skirt", "egg", and "cake", typically displacing a native Anglo-Saxon equivalent. Old Norse in this era retained considerable mutual intelligibility with some dialects of Old English, particularly northern ones. Englischmen þeyz hy hadde fram þe bygynnyng þre manner speche, Souþeron, Northeron, and Myddel speche in þe myddel of þe lond, ... Noþeles by comyxstion and mellyng, furst wiþ Danes, and afterward wiþ Normans, in menye þe contray longage ys asperyed, and som vseþ strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harryng, and garryng grisbytting. Although, from
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4064-465: The jus soli . On 24 March 2018, following the elections of the presidents of the two houses of the Italian Parliament , Roberto Fico (M5S) and Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati ( FI ), Gentiloni resigned his post to President Mattarella; however, he remained in office until 1 June, when Giuseppe Conte was sworn in as the new Prime Minister at the head of a populist coalition composed by
4191-943: The Anglic languages in the British Isles , and into the Frisian languages and Low German /Low Saxon on the continent. The Frisian languages, which together with the Anglic languages form the Anglo-Frisian languages , are the closest living relatives of English. Low German/Low Saxon is also closely related, and sometimes English, the Frisian languages, and Low German are grouped together as the North Sea Germanic languages, though this grouping remains debated. Old English evolved into Middle English , which in turn evolved into Modern English. Particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into
4318-587: The Anglo-Norman language . Because Norman was spoken primarily by the elites and nobles, while the lower classes continued speaking English, the main influence of Norman was the introduction of a wide range of loanwords related to politics, legislation and prestigious social domains. Middle English also greatly simplified the inflectional system, probably in order to reconcile Old Norse and Old English, which were inflectionally different but morphologically similar. The distinction between nominative and accusative cases
4445-594: The Anglo-Saxons . Late Old English borrowed some grammar and core vocabulary from Old Norse , a North Germanic language . Then, Middle English borrowed vocabulary extensively from French dialects , which are the source of approximately 28% of Modern English words , and from Latin , which is the source of an additional 28% . As such, though most of its total vocabulary comes from Romance languages , Modern English's grammar, phonology, and most commonly used words in everyday use keep it genealogically classified under
4572-679: The Arab countries of the Persian Gulf , and notably overseeing a normalisation of Italian relations with India after years of tensions . Gentiloni resigned as Prime Minister following the 2018 election . In September 2019, he was nominated by the Conte Government to become Italy's new European Commissioner , and was given the key portfolio of overseeing the European Union Economy . A descendant of Count Gentiloni Silveri, Paolo Gentiloni
4699-479: The Augustinian canon Orrm , which highlights the blending of both Old English and Anglo-Norman elements in English for the first time. In Wycliff'e Bible of the 1380s, the verse Matthew 8:20 was written: Foxis han dennes, and briddis of heuene han nestis . Here the plural suffix -n on the verb have is still retained, but none of the case endings on the nouns are present. By the 12th century Middle English
4826-536: The Chamber of Deputies . This electoral law was similar to the one which was applied in Italy from 1993 to 2005. The Rosatellum used an additional member system , which act as a mixed system, with 37% of seats allocated using a first past the post electoral system , 61% using a proportional method, with one round of voting and 2% elected in the overseas constituencies . The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies did not differ in
4953-537: The Danelaw area around York, which was the centre of Norse colonisation; today these features are still particularly present in Scots and Northern English . The centre of Norsified English was in the Midlands around Lindsey . After 920 CE, when Lindsey was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon polity, English spread extensively throughout the region. An element of Norse influence that continues in all English varieties today
5080-656: The Economic and Financial Affairs portfolio . The post is responsible for the EU's customs union and taxation policy. The European Union has had a customs union since the creation of the European Economic Community and that union extends to Turkey, Andorra and San Marino. Since 2010 it gained responsibility for audit (budgetary discharge, internal audit , counter fraud): in particular the Internal Audit Service and
5207-526: The European Anti-fraud Office . English language English is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , whose speakers, called Anglophones , originated in early medieval England on the island of Great Britain . The namesake of the language is the Angles , one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to Britain . It is the most spoken language in
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5334-532: The European Free Trade Association , Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) set English as their organisation's sole working language even though most members are not countries with a majority of native English speakers. While the European Union (EU) allows member states to designate any of the national languages as an official language of
5461-610: The Islamic terrorism . As Prime Minister, he hosted the 43rd G7 summit in Taormina , Sicily. This summit was the first one for him and also for U.S. President Donald Trump , Prime Minister May, and President Macron. It was the first time since 1987 that the G7 summit in Italy was not hosted by Silvio Berlusconi . While in office, Gentiloni built up a series of close relations with the Arab countries of
5588-516: The Italian television system, with the defeat of the Gasparri Law , the previous reform proposed by the centre-right lawmaker Maurizio Gasparri . The reform provided, between other things, the reduction of advertising. However, in 2007, the government suffered a crisis and lost its majority, so the reform had never been approved. The "Gentiloni Reform" bill of 12 October 2006, established the existence of
5715-621: The Middle East . Gentiloni set up good relations with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , UK Prime Minister Theresa May , German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron . In April 2017, he was invited to the White House by President Trump, where the two leaders discussed the serious crisis caused by the civil wars in Libya and Syria , the tensions with Vladimir Putin 's Russia and their key partnership against
5842-504: The NGOs that are involved in rescuing asylum seekers in the Mediterranean. Among other things, the code forbids NGO vessels from entering Libyan territorial waters. Minniti and Gentiloni warned those NGOs who did not sign the pact that they have set themselves "outside of the organised system for rescue at sea". Some NGOs refused to sign the new code of conduct; Médecins Sans Frontières was
5969-509: The Persian Gulf , based especially on commercial agreements regarding oil and offshore producing concessions. Gentiloni visited the Arab peninsula three times thought his premiership. On 1 May 2017, he went to Kuwait , where he had bilateral meetings with the Emir Sabah al-Ahmad and the crown prince Nawaf Al-Ahmad ; later the premier visited the Italian soldiers stationed in Kuwait as part of
6096-641: The United Nations at the end of World War II , English had become pre-eminent and is now the main worldwide language of diplomacy and international relations. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations. Many other worldwide international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee , specify English as a working language or official language of the organisation. Many regional international organisations such as
6223-577: The conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, but it developed further in the period from 1150 to 1500. With the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the now-Norsified Old English language was subject to another wave of intense contact, this time with Old French , in particular Old Norman French , influencing it as a superstrate. The Norman French spoken by the elite in England eventually developed into
6350-511: The palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic (see Phonological history of Old English § Palatalization ). The earliest varieties of an English language, collectively known as Old English or "Anglo-Saxon", evolved from a group of North Sea Germanic dialects brought to Britain in the 5th century. Old English dialects were later influenced by Old Norse -speaking Viking invaders and settlers , starting in
6477-558: The "outer circle" countries are countries such as the Philippines , Jamaica , India , Pakistan , Singapore , Malaysia and Nigeria with a much smaller proportion of native speakers of English but much use of English as a second language for education, government, or domestic business, and its routine use for school instruction and official interactions with the government. Those countries have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creole to
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#17330852585986604-607: The 1970s, Paolo Gentiloni was a member of the Student Movement ( Movimento Studentesco ), a far-left youth organization led by Mario Capanna ; when Capanna founded the Proletarian Democracy party, Gentiloni did not follow him, and joined the Workers' Movement for Socialism ( Movimento Lavoratori per il Socialismo ; MLS), a far-left Maoist group, of which he became the regional secretary for Lazio . In 1981 Gentiloni followed
6731-596: The 8th and 9th centuries. Middle English began in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest of England, when a considerable amount of Old French vocabulary was incorporated into English over some three centuries. Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the start of the Great Vowel Shift and the Renaissance trend of borrowing further Latin and Greek words and roots, concurrent with
6858-595: The Angles. English may have a small amount of substrate influence from Common Brittonic, and a number of possible Brittonicisms in English have been proposed, but whether most of these supposed Brittonicisms are actually a direct result of Brittonic substrate influence is disputed. Old English was divided into four dialects: the Anglian dialects ( Mercian and Northumbrian ) and the Saxon dialects ( Kentish and West Saxon ). Through
6985-406: The British Empire in the 1950s and 1960s, former colonies often did not reject English but rather continued to use it as independent countries setting their own language policies. For example, the view of the English language among many Indians has gone from associating it with colonialism to associating it with economic progress, and English continues to be an official language of India. English
7112-434: The Early Modern period includes the works of William Shakespeare and the translation of the Bible commissioned by King James I . Even after the vowel shift the language still sounded different from Modern English: for example, the consonant clusters /kn ɡn sw/ in knight , gnat , and sword were still pronounced. Many of the grammatical features that a modern reader of Shakespeare might find quaint or archaic represent
7239-409: The English Language , which introduced standard spellings of words and usage norms. In 1828, Noah Webster published the American Dictionary of the English language to try to establish a norm for speaking and writing American English that was independent of the British standard. Within Britain, non-standard or lower class dialect features were increasingly stigmatised, leading to the quick spread of
7366-429: The English-speaking inner circle countries outside Britain helped level dialect distinctions and produce koineised forms of English in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The majority of immigrants to the United States without British ancestry rapidly adopted English after arrival. Now the majority of the United States population are monolingual English speakers. English has ceased to be an "English language" in
7493-418: The Gentiloni announced the peacekeeping mission which consists in the sending of 450 soldiers in Niger , to help the local forces in the fight against migrants' traffickers and Islamic terrorism . The deal was reached along with French President Emmanuel Macron , who stated that French troops, which were already in the area, will cooperate with Italian ones. After the rejection of the constitutional reform,
7620-410: The Germanic branch. It exists on a dialect continuum with Scots and is then most closely related to the Low Saxon and Frisian languages . English is an Indo-European language and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . Old English originated from a Germanic tribal and linguistic continuum along the Frisian North Sea coast, whose languages gradually evolved into
7747-496: The Islamic State claimed responsibility. On the same day Gentiloni stated that "Italy will not be intimidated" and would continue the fight against terrorism. In December 2015, Gentiloni hosted a peace conference in Rome with the representatives from both governments of Libya involved in the civil war , but also from the United Nations , the United States and Russia . As Foreign Minister, Gentiloni had to confront various abductions of Italian citizens. In January 2015, he negotiated
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#17330852585987874-417: The M5S and the League . On 19 May 2017, the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of Prime Minister Gentiloni and Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin , approved a decree law containing urgent vaccine prevention measures that reintroduced the mandatory vaccination, bringing the number of mandatory vaccines from 4 to 12 and not allowing those who have not been vaccinated to attend school. On 14 December 2017,
8001-433: The MLS into the Proletarian Unity Party ( Partito di Unità Proletaria ; PdUP), remaining a member until its dissolution three years later. Gentiloni slowly abandoned far-left ideals, sharing more moderate views and becoming particularly involved in green politics and ecologism . During those years he became a close friend of Chicco Testa who helped Gentiloni to become director of La Nuova Ecologia ("The New Ecology"),
8128-402: The Mediterranean. During his premiership, Gentiloni and his Interior Minister, Marco Minniti , promoted stricter policies regarding immigration and public security , to reduce the number of immigrants toward Italy and to counteract the populist propaganda promoted by the far-right Northern League . In July 2017 the government promoted the so-called "Minniti Code", which must be subscribed by
8255-438: The Parliament had to change the electoral law proposed by Renzi's government; in fact the so-called Italicum regulates only the election of the Chamber of Deputies, and not the one of the Senate, which, if the reform passed, would be indirectly elected by citizens. The PD proposed a new electoral law called Mattarellum bis , better known as Rosatellum , from the name of his main proponent Ettore Rosato, Democratic leader in
8382-424: The Parliament officially approved a law concerning the advance healthcare directive , better known as "living will", a legal document in which a person specifies what actions should be taken for their health if they are no longer able to make decisions for themselves because of illness or incapacity. With this law, living will has become legal in Italy . The law also provided the refusal of end-of-life cares. The bill
8509-502: The Roman economy and administration collapsed . By the 7th century, this Germanic language of the Anglo-Saxons became dominant in Britain , replacing the languages of Roman Britain (43–409): Common Brittonic , a Celtic language , and British Latin , brought to Britain by the Roman occupation. At this time, these dialects generally resisted influence from the then-local Brittonic and Latin languages. England and English (originally Ænglaland and Ænglisc ) are both named after
8636-442: The Union, in practice English is the main working language of EU organisations. Although in most countries English is not an official language, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language . In the countries of the EU, English is the most widely spoken foreign language in nineteen of the twenty-five member states where it is not an official language (that is, the countries other than Ireland and Malta ). In
8763-422: The anti- ISIL coalition. On 31 October 2017, the Prime Minister met in Riyadh , King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman . Gentiloni, later visited Qatar , where he met with the Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and visited the National Library of Qatar with Emir's consort, Moza bint Nasser . Gentiloni visited the United Arab Emirates twice; the first one in November 2017 and
8890-407: The base from which English spreads to other countries in the world. Estimates of the numbers of second language and foreign-language English speakers vary greatly from 470 million to more than 1 billion, depending on how proficiency is defined. Linguist David Crystal estimates that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1. In Kachru's three-circles model,
9017-401: The basis for the required controlled natural languages Seaspeak and Airspeak, used as international languages of seafaring and aviation. English used to have parity with French and German in scientific research, but now it dominates that field. It achieved parity with French as a language of diplomacy at the Treaty of Versailles negotiations in 1919. By the time of the foundation of
9144-404: The beginning, Englishmen had three manners of speaking, southern, northern and midlands speech in the middle of the country, ... Nevertheless, through intermingling and mixing, first with Danes and then with Normans, amongst many the country language has arisen, and some use strange stammering, chattering, snarling, and grating gnashing. Middle English is often arbitrarily defined as beginning with
9271-500: The board of directors would have changed. However, the reform will not be approved. He was one of the 45 members of the national founding committee of the Democratic Party in 2007, formed by the union of the social democrats Democrats of the Left and the Christian leftist The Daisy. Gentiloni was re-elected in the 2008 general election , which saw the victory of the conservative coalition led by Silvio Berlusconi . In this legislature, he
9398-399: The centre-left candidate to the premiership in the 2001 general election . However Rutelli was soundly defeated by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi with 35.1% of votes against 49.6%. In the 2001 general election, Gentiloni was elected as a Member of Parliament and started his national political career. In 2002 he was a founding member of the Christian leftist The Daisy party, being
9525-525: The centrist Liberal Popular Alliance (ALA), led by Denis Verdini , did not support the new cabinet because no member of the ALA was appointed as a minister. On 13 December, Gentiloni's cabinet won a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies , with 368 votes for and 105 against, while the deputies of the Five Star Movement (M5S) and Lega Nord left the chamber. On the following day, the government also won
9652-697: The consensus of educated English speakers around the world, without any oversight by any government or international organisation. American listeners readily understand most British broadcasting, and British listeners readily understand most American broadcasting. Most English speakers around the world can understand radio programmes, television programmes, and films from many parts of the English-speaking world. Both standard and non-standard varieties of English can include both formal or informal styles, distinguished by word choice and syntax and use both technical and non-technical registers. The settlement history of
9779-525: The country in another referendum, after the December 2016 constitutional one . In March 2018, the unemployment rate was around 11%, lower than the previous years, and the percentage of unemployed young people was the lowest since 2011, at 31.7%. This data were seeing by many as the proof of a robust economic recovery started in 2013, after the financial crisis that affected Italy in 2011. A major problem faced by Gentiloni upon becoming Prime Minister in 2016
9906-511: The de facto lingua franca of diplomacy, science , technology, international trade, logistics, tourism, aviation, entertainment, and the Internet . English accounts for at least 70% of total speakers of the Germanic language branch, and as of 2021 , Ethnologue estimated that there were over 1.5 billion speakers worldwide. Old English emerged from a group of West Germanic dialects spoken by
10033-476: The development of English was influenced by a long series of invasions of the British Isles by other peoples and languages, particularly Old Norse and French dialects . These left a profound mark of their own on the language, so that English shows some similarities in vocabulary and grammar with many languages outside its linguistic clades —but it is not mutually intelligible with any of those languages either. Some scholars have argued that English can be considered
10160-515: The distinct characteristics of Early Modern English. In the 1611 King James Version of the Bible, written in Early Modern English, Matthew 8:20 says, "The Foxes haue holes and the birds of the ayre haue nests." This exemplifies the loss of case and its effects on sentence structure (replacement with subject–verb–object word order, and the use of of instead of the non-possessive genitive), and
10287-401: The early period of Old English were written using a runic script . By the 6th century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms . It included the runic letters wynn ⟨ ƿ ⟩ and thorn ⟨ þ ⟩ , and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ ð ⟩ , and ash ⟨ æ ⟩ . Old English is essentially
10414-539: The educational reforms of King Alfred in the 9th century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex , the West Saxon dialect became the standard written variety . The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Cædmon's Hymn , is written in Northumbrian. Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from
10541-466: The election, which saw a strong victory by Rutelli against Gianfranco Fini , leader of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement , Gentiloni was appointed Great Jubilee and Tourism Councillor in the Rome City Council. Rutelli was reelected in 1997, with 985,000 popular votes, the highest share in the history of the city. Gentiloni held his office until January 2001, when Rutelli resigned to become
10668-408: The expanding circle use it to communicate with other people from the expanding circle, so that interaction with native speakers of English plays no part in their decision to use the language. Non-native varieties of English are widely used for international communication, and speakers of one such variety often encounter features of other varieties. Very often today a conversation in English anywhere in
10795-419: The first charity to officially announce its 'no' to the code, saying that there were no conditions under which to sign. Facing growing public discontent and scrutiny by the Italian, Libyan, and EU authorities, MSF had to suspend its activities in the Mediterranean sea. The German NGO, Sea Watch, said that the code was "largely illegal" and "will not save lives but will have the opposite effect". In December 2017,
10922-710: The growing economic and cultural influence of the United States and its status as a superpower following the Second World War has, along with worldwide broadcasting in English by the BBC and other broadcasters, caused the language to spread across the planet much faster. In the 21st century, English is more widely spoken and written than any language has ever been. As Modern English developed, explicit norms for standard usage were published, and spread through official media such as public education and state-sponsored publications. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his A Dictionary of
11049-479: The history of English was Early Modern English (1500–1700). Early Modern English was characterised by the Great Vowel Shift (1350–1700), inflectional simplification, and linguistic standardisation. The Great Vowel Shift affected the stressed long vowels of Middle English. It was a chain shift , meaning that each shift triggered a subsequent shift in the vowel system. Mid and open vowels were raised , and close vowels were broken into diphthongs . For example,
11176-407: The history of how English spread in different countries, how users acquire English, and the range of uses English has in each country. The three circles change membership over time. Countries with large communities of native speakers of English (the inner circle) include Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, where the majority speaks English, and South Africa, where
11303-449: The implementation of the advance healthcare directive and the passage of a new electoral law . He also introduced stricter rules on immigration and social security, in an attempt to counteract the European migration crisis . In foreign policy , Gentiloni built on his time as Foreign Minister by projecting a strong Europeanist stance, whilst at the same time building close relations with
11430-403: The inner-circle countries, and they may show grammatical and phonological differences from inner-circle varieties as well. The standard English of the inner-circle countries is often taken as a norm for use of English in the outer-circle countries. In the three-circles model, countries such as Poland, China, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Indonesia, Egypt, and other countries where English is taught as
11557-524: The introduction of loanwords from French ( ayre ) and word replacements ( bird originally meaning "nestling" had replaced OE fugol ). By the late 18th century, the British Empire had spread English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art, and formal education all contributed to English becoming the first truly global language. English also facilitated worldwide international communication. English
11684-467: The introduction of the printing press to London. This era notably culminated in the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare . The printing press greatly standardised English spelling, which has remained largely unchanged since then, despite a wide variety of later sound shifts in English dialects. Modern English has spread around the world since the 17th century as a consequence of
11811-431: The languages have descended from a single common ancestor called Proto-Germanic . Some shared features of Germanic languages include the division of verbs into strong and weak classes, the use of modal verbs , and the sound changes affecting Proto-Indo-European consonants, known as Grimm's and Verner's laws . English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as
11938-407: The law, on 12 October the electoral law was approved by the Chamber of Deputies with 375 votes in favor and 215 against. Paolo Gentiloni strongly supports European integration and a multi-speed Europe . During his premiership, Gentiloni faced several challenging foreign policy situations, such as the European debt crisis , the civil war in Libya , the insurgency of the Islamic State (IS) in
12065-517: The obligation to sell ( Europa 7 affair). However, the bill will not be approved. In May 2007 a second reform text was launched that concerns only the RAI (Senate Act no. 1588/2007). Among the main aspects, the property should have passed from the Ministry of Economy to a Foundation; there would also have been a separation between TV financed by the fee and TV financed by advertising, and the rules for appointing
12192-477: The official languages in 59 sovereign states (such as India , Ireland , and Canada ). In some other countries, it is the sole or dominant language for historical reasons without being explicitly defined by law (such as in the United States and United Kingdom ). It is a co-official language of the United Nations , the European Union , and many other international and regional organisations. It has also become
12319-479: The official newspaper of Legambiente . As director of this ecologist newspaper he met the young leader of Federation of the Greens , Francesco Rutelli and became, along with Roberto Giachetti , Michele Anzaldi and Filippo Sensi, a member of the so-called "Rutelli boys", a group formed by Rutelli's closest advisors and supporters. In 1993 he became Rutelli's spokesman during his campaign to become Mayor of Rome ; after
12446-731: The party's communications spokesman for five years. From 2005 until 2006, he was Chairman of the Broadcasting Services Watchdog Committee; the committee oversees the activity of state broadcaster RAI , which is publicly funded. He was reelected in the 2006 election as a member of The Olive Tree , the political coalition led by the Bolognese economist Romano Prodi . After the centre-left's victory, Gentiloni served as Minister for Communications in Prodi's second government from 2006 until 2008. As minister Gentiloni planned to reform
12573-516: The post was named Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs . Until 2014 the post was named Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud and was previously divided prior to 2010, with audit being under control of the Commissioner for Administrative Affairs. The post was abolished in 2014, when the Juncker Commission merged the post with that of
12700-426: The prestige varieties among the middle classes. In modern English, the loss of grammatical case is almost complete (it is now only found in pronouns, such as he and him , she and her , who and whom ), and SVO word order is mostly fixed. Some changes, such as the use of do-support , have become universalised. (Earlier English did not use the word "do" as a general auxiliary as Modern English does; at first it
12827-522: The prevention of excessive treatment or therapeutic obstinacy. In March 2017 the government abolished the use of labour vouchers , bonds of the redeemable transaction type which are worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods, commonly one-off labour services. The government decided to promote this law after a referendum that was called by Italy's main trade union CGIL . Gentiloni stated that he decided to abolish them, because he did not want to split
12954-657: The reign of Henry V . Around 1430, the Court of Chancery in Westminster began using English in its official documents , and a new standard form of Middle English, known as Chancery Standard , developed from the dialects of London and the East Midlands . In 1476, William Caxton introduced the printing press to England and began publishing the first printed books in London, expanding the influence of this form of English. Literature from
13081-480: The release of Vanessa Marzullo and Greta Ramelli, two Italian students and activists who had been held hostage by Syrian terrorists for 168 days. Another high-profile case was the murder of Giulio Regeni , an Italian Cambridge University graduate student killed in Cairo following his abduction on 25 January 2016; He was a Ph.D. student researching Egypt's independent trade unions. Regeni's mutilated and half-naked corpse
13208-634: The second one in March 2018, when he met in Abu Dhabi the crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan . During his visit he participated in the signing ceremony of a commercial agreement between Eni and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company . In May 2017, he had an official trip to China to meet President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang , to discuss about the One Belt One Road Initiative ,
13335-464: The sense of belonging only to people who are ethnically English . Use of English is growing country-by-country internally and for international communication. Most people learn English for practical rather than ideological reasons. Many speakers of English in Africa have become part of an "Afro-Saxon" language community that unites Africans from different countries. As decolonisation proceeded throughout
13462-474: The southern dialects. Theoretically, as late as the 900s AD, a commoner from certain (northern) parts of England could hold a conversation with a commoner from certain parts of Scandinavia. Research continues into the details of the myriad tribes in peoples in England and Scandinavia and the mutual contacts between them. The translation of Matthew 8:20 from 1000 shows examples of case endings ( nominative plural, accusative plural, genitive singular) and
13589-455: The study of English as an auxiliary language. The trademarked Globish uses a relatively small subset of English vocabulary (about 1500 words, designed to represent the highest use in international business English) in combination with the standard English grammar. Other examples include Simple English . The increased use of the English language globally has had an effect on other languages, leading to some English words being assimilated into
13716-412: The vocabularies of other languages. This influence of English has led to concerns about language death , and to claims of linguistic imperialism , and has provoked resistance to the spread of English; however the number of speakers continues to increase because many people around the world think that English provides them with opportunities for better employment and improved lives. Though some mention
13843-504: The wake of a failed constitutional referendum , the Democratic Party held discussions on his replacement. Eventually, Gentiloni won support from his colleagues, and President Sergio Mattarella appointed him Prime Minister on 12 December 2016. Despite being considered a caretaker Prime Minister upon his appointment, during his time in office Gentiloni successfully delivered major reforms that had been delayed for many years, including
13970-417: The way they allocated the proportional seats, both using the D'Hondt method of allocating seats. The new electoral law was supported by PD and his government ally Popular Alternative , but also by the opposition parties Forza Italia and Lega Nord . Despite many protests from the Five Star Movement and Article One , which accused Renzi and Gentiloni to have used the confidence vote in order to approve
14097-473: The word bite was originally pronounced as the word beet is today, and the second vowel in the word about was pronounced as the word boot is today. The Great Vowel Shift explains many irregularities in spelling since English retains many spellings from Middle English, and it also explains why English vowel letters have very different pronunciations from the same letters in other languages. English began to rise in prestige, relative to Norman French, during
14224-785: The world may include no native speakers of English at all, even while including speakers from several different countries. This is particularly true of the shared vocabulary of mathematics and the sciences. English is a pluricentric language , which means that no one national authority sets the standard for use of the language. Spoken English, including English used in broadcasting, generally follows national pronunciation standards that are established by custom rather than by regulation. International broadcasters are usually identifiable as coming from one country rather than another through their accents , but newsreader scripts are also composed largely in international standard written English . The norms of standard written English are maintained purely by
14351-539: The world, but the number of English speakers in India is uncertain, with most scholars concluding that the United States still has more speakers of English than India. Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca , is also regarded as the first world language . English is the world's most widely used language in newspaper publishing, book publishing, international telecommunications, scientific publishing, international trade, mass entertainment, and diplomacy. English is, by international treaty,
14478-474: The world, primarily due to the global influences of the former British Empire (succeeded by the Commonwealth of Nations ) and the United States . English is the third-most spoken native language , after Standard Chinese and Spanish ; it is also the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. English is either the official language or one of
14605-438: The worldwide influence of the British Empire and the United States. Through all types of printed and electronic media in these countries, English has become the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts such as science, navigation , and law. Its modern grammar is the result of a gradual change from a dependent-marking pattern typical of Indo-European with
14732-471: Was a member of the Committee regarding Transport and Telecommunications. On 6 April 2013 he ran in the primary election to select the center-left candidate for Mayor of Rome , placing third, with 14% of votes, after Ignazio Marino (51%), who became Mayor, and the journalist David Sassoli , who gained 28%. After the defeat in the primary election, many political commentators believed that Gentiloni's career as
14859-405: Was adopted in parts of North America, parts of Africa, Oceania, and many other regions. When they obtained political independence, some of the newly independent states that had multiple indigenous languages opted to continue using English as the official language to avoid the political and other difficulties inherent in promoting any one indigenous language above the others. In the 20th century
14986-568: Was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi; Gentiloni succeeded Federica Mogherini , who became High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy . He took office two months before Italy's rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union ended in December 2014. At the time of his appointment, Gentiloni had not been mentioned in political circles as
15113-475: Was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 2001. He served in the Cabinet under Romano Prodi as Minister of Communications from 2006 to 2008. In 2007, he was one of the senior founding members of the Democratic Party , and went on to become party president from 2019 to 2020. Gentiloni later served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2016 in the Cabinet of Matteo Renzi . Following Renzi's resignation in
15240-457: Was found in a ditch alongside the Cairo-Alexandria highway on the outskirts of Cairo on 3 February 2016. His recovered body showed signs of extreme torture like contusions and abrasions , extensive bruising from kicks, punches, and assault with a stick, more than two dozen bone fractures, a brain hemorrhage and a broken cervical vertebra, which ultimately caused death. The Egyptian police
15367-511: Was fully developed, integrating both Norse and French features; it continued to be spoken until the transition to early Modern English around 1500. Middle English literature includes Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales , and Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur . In the Middle English period, the use of regional dialects in writing proliferated, and dialect traits were even used for effect by authors such as Chaucer. The next period in
15494-415: Was harshly opposed by many Christian democratic and social conservative politicians of Forza Italia , Lega Nord , Brothers of Italy and even PD's ally Popular Alternative , while it was supported by PD, Five Star Movement , Article One and Italian Left . The Catholic Church , led by Pope Francis , did not put up major objections to the living will law, saying that a balance needed to be struck with
15621-500: Was lost except in personal pronouns, the instrumental case was dropped, and the use of the genitive case was limited to indicating possession . The inflectional system regularised many irregular inflectional forms, and gradually simplified the system of agreement, making word order less flexible. The transition from Old to Middle English can be placed during the writing of the Ormulum . The oldest Middle English texts that were written by
15748-533: Was only used in question constructions, and even then was not obligatory. Now, do-support with the verb have is becoming increasingly standardised.) The use of progressive forms in -ing , appears to be spreading to new constructions, and forms such as had been being built are becoming more common. Regularisation of irregular forms also slowly continues (e.g. dreamed instead of dreamt ), and analytical alternatives to inflectional forms are becoming more common (e.g. more polite instead of politer ). British English
15875-649: Was strongly suspected of involvement in his murder in Europe, although Egypt's media and government deny this, alleging secret undercover agents belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt carried out the crime in order to embarrass the Egyptian government and destabilize relations between Italy and Egypt. In the 2016 United Nations Security Council election , Gentiloni and his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders agreed on splitting
16002-542: Was the high levels of illegal immigration to Italy. On 2 February 2017, Gentiloni reached a deal in Rome with Libyan Chairman of the Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj on halting migration. Libya agreed to try to stop migrants from setting out to cross the Mediterranean Sea . On 9 February, Gentiloni signed a similar deal with President of Tunisia Beji Caid Essebsi , to prevent the migration across
16129-504: Was threatened by ISIL, which accused him of being a crusader , minister of an enemy country. In March 2015 Gentiloni visited Mexico and Cuba and met Cuban President Raúl Castro , ensuring the Italian support for the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States . On 11 July 2015, a car bomb exploded outside the Italian consulate in the Egyptian capital Cairo , resulting in at least one death and four people injured;
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