the spread of English

[une etoile]

First was the colonial expansion of Britain which resulted in settlements of English speakers in many parts of the world
This has provided a diasporic(?) base for the language which is probably a key factor in the adaption of language as a lingua franca

could somebody explain me the sentence in an easier way that i can understand it?

thanks[/b]

[A.wilhelm.scream]

dict.leo.org says:

diasporic = 2 a : the breaking up and scattering of a people : MIGRATION  b : people settled far from their ancestral homelands  c : the place where these people live

well and i guess the second important part about the sentence is 'lingua franca' ("Verkehrssprache" in german).

maybe that explanation helps: http://dict.leo.org/cgi-bin/dict/urlexp/20030915111936

i guess the rest of the sentence is not too hard to understand.

[une etoile]

thanks.