Who owns the English Language?

Question

Who owns the English Language, is it the Americans or the British, who's language is it? such as French is France's and Italian is Italy's, what about English, is it America's or British?

Answer 1

Do yourself a favour and don't look for a solid answer on this one. If everyone besides the English (from Scots to South Africans to Indians and Americans) speaks something other than English, what on earth do they speak?

The English language, as all languages, is also in a constant state of flux. If you want to go back in history you could practically argue that the English language is "owned" by the romans (from Latin) and by the Anglo-Saxons.

The whole question is a bit suspect because it carries the connotation that one can say that one kind of English is more proper than another. But even within England there are variations, so who would you say speaks THE definitive English--the Queen?  

Answer 2

No one can actually own a language, but the name would imply the English own the English language.

Answer 3

British

Answer 4

brits.

they just conquered the america so we acquired their language

Answer 5

No one owns a language. France does not own French, Italy does not own Italian. If the only qualification you need for English is to have a majority speaking it then Canada, Britain, Australia, and the United States all "own" English.

Answer 6

i would say the british .. im guessin all *mother* countries own the language.. just like i would say spain owns the spanish or castellano language...

Answer 7

The clue's in the name. I don't think anyone could ever say they 'owned' a language, but people were speaking English in England before most people even knew America existed.