By 1583 approximately how many people spoke English, leading to new varieties?

By 1583 approximately how many people spoke English, leading to new varieties?

• A. 1583
• B. 1800
• C. 1066
• D. 410 AD

Answer: (A)

Populations of speakers drive language variety. When English had grown to a sizeable and spread-out community, regional and social differences could solidify into distinct varieties. By 1583 the English-speaking population was about 1.6 million people, a scale that supports the emergence of new varieties across regions. The figure written as 1583 captures that order of magnitude, making it the best match for this idea. The other numbers don’t fit the concept of how many people were speaking English at that time (they refer to different years or much earlier periods).

Populations of speakers drive language variety. When English had grown to a sizeable and spread-out community, regional and social differences could solidify into distinct varieties. By 1583 the English-speaking population was about 1.6 million people, a scale that supports the emergence of new varieties across regions. The figure written as 1583 captures that order of magnitude, making it the best match for this idea. The other numbers don’t fit the concept of how many people were speaking English at that time (they refer to different years or much earlier periods).