Indian English - Wikipedia

Indian English - Wikipedia
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Variety of English language
Not to be confused with
Hinglish
Benglish
Tanglish
Kanglish
Tenglish
Urdish
Manglish
, or
Nenglish
macaronic languages.
For pre-1947 Indian English, see
South Asian English
Indian English
Native to
India
Region
South Asia
Native speakers
250,000
L2
speakers: 83 million
L3
speakers: 46 million
128 million total speakers (2011)
Language family
Indo-European
Germanic
West Germanic
Ingvaeonic
Anglo-Frisian
Anglic
South Asian English
Indian English
Early forms
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Germanic
Proto-West Germanic
Proto-English
Old English
Middle English
Early Modern English
Writing system
Latin
English alphabet
Unified English Braille
Official status
Official language in
India
Language codes
ISO 639-1
en
ISO 639-2
eng
ISO 639-3
eng
Glottolog
indi1255
IETF
en-IN
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Unicode
characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see
Help:IPA
Speech example
An example of a female speaker (
Arundhati Roy
).
Problems playing this file? See
media help
Part of a series on the
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Indian English
IndE
IE
) or
"English (India)" (en-IN)
is a group of
dialects
of the
English language
spoken in the
Republic of India
and among the
Indian diaspora
and is native to India.
English is one of the two languages used by the
Government of India
for communication, and is enshrined in the
Constitution of India
English is also an
official language
in eight states and seven
union territories
of India, and the additional official language in five other
states
and one union territory.
India
has one of the world’s largest
English-speaking communities
Furthermore, English is the sole official language of the
Judiciary of India
, unless the state
governor
or legislature mandates the use of a regional language, or if the
President of India
has given approval for the use of regional languages in courts.
Before the dissolution of the
British Empire
on the
Indian subcontinent
, the term
Indian English
broadly referred to
South Asian English
, also known as
British Indian
Status
edit
After gaining
independence
from the
British Raj
in 1947, English remained an official language of the new
Dominion of India
and later the
Republic of India
. After the
partition of India
Pakistani English
and
Bangladeshi English
were considered separate from Indian English.
citation needed
In the 21st century, only a few hundred thousand Indians, or less than 0.1% of the total population, report English as their first language,
10
11
12
and around 30% of the
Indian population
can speak English to some extent.
13
According to the
2001 Census
, 12.18% of Indians knew English at that time. Of those, approximately 200,000 reported that it was their first language, 86 million reported that it was their second, and 39 million reported that it was their third.
14
According to the 2005
India Human Development Survey
15
of 41,554 surveyed, households reported that 72% of men (29,918) spoke no English, 28% of them (11,635) spoke at least some English, and 5% of them (2,077, roughly 17.9% of those who spoke at least some English) spoke fluent English. Among women, 83% (34,489) spoke no English, 17% (7,064) spoke at least some English, and 3% (1,246, roughly 17.6% of those who spoke at least some English) spoke English fluently.
16
According to statistics from the District Information System for Education (DISE) of the
National University of Educational Planning and Administration
under the
Ministry of Human Resource Development
Government of India
, enrollment in English-medium schools increased by 50% between 2008–09 and 2013–14. The number of English-medium school students in India increased from over 15 million in 2008–09 to 29 million by 2013–14.
17
According to the
2011 Census
, 129 million Indians (10.6%) spoke English. 259,678 (0.02%) Indians reported English as their first language.
It concluded that approximately 83 million Indians (6.8%) reported English as their second language, and 46 million (3.8%) reported it as their third language, making English the second-most spoken language in India.
India ranks 52 out of 111 countries in the 2022
EF English Proficiency Index
published by the
EF Education First
. The index gives the country a score of 496 indicating "moderate proficiency". India ranks 6th out of 24 Asian countries included in the index.
18
As a
multilingual
country, English is the
lingua franca
among different regions of India.
19
Writing for
The New York Times
, journalist
Manu Joseph
stated in 2011 that, due to the prominence and usage of the language and the desire for English-language education, "English is the
de facto
national language of India. It is a bitter truth."
20
In his book,
In Search of Indian English: History, Politics and Indigenisation
, Ranjan Kumar Auddy shows that the history of the rise of
Indian nationalism
and the history of the emergence of Indian English are deeply inter-related.
21
Purdue University
stated due to the prevalence of the language in business operations in India, it is "uncommon to find a business enterprise using non-English documents".
22
Court language
edit
Under the Indian Constitution, English is the language of
India's Supreme Court
and of all the
high courts of India
However, as allowed by the Constitution, Hindi is also used in courts in
Bihar
Madhya Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
, and
Rajasthan
by virtue of special presidential approval.
23
As of 2018
[update]
, the high courts of
Punjab
and
Haryana
were also awaiting presidential approval to use Hindi alongside English,
24
and the
Madras High Court
has been taking steps to use
Tamil
alongside English.
25
Names
edit
The first occurrence of the term
Indian English
dates from 1696,
26
though the term did not become common until the 19th century. In the colonial era, the most common terms in use were
Anglo-Indian English
, or simply
Anglo-Indian
, both dating from 1860. Other less common terms in use were
Indo-Anglian
(dating from 1897) and
Indo-English
(1912).
27
An item of Anglo-Indian English was known as an
Anglo-Indianism
from 1851.
27
In the modern era, a range of colloquial
portmanteau
words for Indian English have been used. The earliest of these is
Indlish
(recorded from 1962), and others include
Indiglish
(1974),
Indenglish
(1979),
Indglish
(1984),
Indish
(1984),
Inglish
(1985) and
Indianlish
(2007).
28
Sometimes, Indian English is also referred to as Macaulay's English after
Thomas Babington Macaulay
29
Features
edit
This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding missing information
December 2019
Indian English generally uses the
Indian numbering system
. Idiomatic forms derived from Indian literary languages and vernaculars have been absorbed into Indian English. Nevertheless, there remains general homogeneity in phonetics, vocabulary, and phraseology among various dialects of Indian English.
30
31
32
33
Formal written publications in English in India tend to use
lakh
crore
for
Indian currency
and Western numbering for foreign currencies like
dollars
and
pounds
34
although lakh and crore are also used to refer to other large numbers such as population sizes. These terms are not used by other English-speakers, who have to learn what they mean in order to read Indian English news articles.
citation needed
History
edit
See also:
Glossary of the British Raj
British India
edit
The English language established a foothold on the
Indian subcontinent
with the granting of the
East India Company
charter by
Queen Elizabeth I
in 1600 and the subsequent establishment of trading ports in coastal cities such as
Surat
Mumbai
(called Bombay before 1995),
Chennai
(called Madras before 1996), and
Kolkata
(called Calcutta before 2001).
English-language public instruction began in the subcontinent in the 1830s during the
rule of the British East India Company
. In 1835, English
replaced
Persian
as the official language of the East India Company.
Lord Macaulay
played a major role in introducing English and Western concepts into educational institutions in British-India. He supported the replacement of Persian by English as the official language, the use of English as the medium of instruction in all schools, and the training of English-speaking Indians as teachers.
35
Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, primary, middle, and high schools were opened in many districts of
British India
, with most high schools offering English language instruction in some subjects. In 1857, just before the end of East India Company rule, universities that were modeled on the
University of London
and used English as the medium of instruction were established in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. During the
British Raj
(1858 to 1947), English-language penetration increased throughout the subcontinent. This was driven in part by the gradually increasing hiring of Indians in the
civil services
. At the time of
Indian independence
in 1947, English was the only functional
lingua franca
in the region.
The
Oxford English Dictionary
stated that in this period, "English ceased to be a language used solely by foreigners in India, and became the dominant form of communication in Indian education, government, commerce, literature, and print media."
36
Republic of India
edit
After the independence and
Partition of British India
Modern Standard Hindi
was declared the first official language in the new Indian Republic, and attempts were made to declare Hindi the sole national language. Due to
protests from Tamil Nadu
and other non-Hindi-speaking states, it was decided to temporarily retain English for official purposes until at least 1965. By the end of this period, however, opposition from non-Hindi states was still too strong to have Hindi declared the sole language. With this in mind, the English Language Amendment Bill declared English to be an associate language "until such time as all non-Hindi States had agreed to its being dropped."
37
This has not yet occurred, and English is still widely used. For instance, it is the only reliable means of day-to-day communication between the central government and the non-Hindi states.
The view of the
English language
among many Indians has changed over time. It used to be associated primarily with colonialism; it is now primarily associated with economic progress, and English continues to be an official language of India.
38
Indian men who speak fluent English have been found to earn 34% higher hourly salaries than men who don't speak English.
39
While there is an assumption that English is readily available in India, studies show that its usage is actually restricted to the elite,
40
because of inadequate
education
to large parts of the Indian population. It has been suggested that Indian English, rather than British English, should be taught in schools, to allow for international cooperation while valuing local cultural features "due to a set of unique lexical, grammatical, phonological and discourse features that would allow it to act as both a lingua franca within the country and on the international stage".
41
The use of outdated teaching methods and the poor grasp of English exhibited by the authors of many guidebooks disadvantage students who rely on these books, giving India only a moderate proficiency in English.
42
In addition, many features of Indian English were imported into
Bhutan
due to the dominance of Indian-style education and teachers in the country after it withdrew from its isolation in the 1960s.
43
44
Hinglish and other hybrid languages
edit
Main articles:
Hinglish
Tenglish
, and
Tanglish
See also:
Englishisation § South Asia
The term
Hinglish
is a
portmanteau
of the languages
and
Hindi
. This typically refers to the
macaronic
hybrid use of
Hindustani
and English. It is often the growing preferred language of the urban and semi-urban educated Indian youth, as well as the Indian diaspora abroad.
45
The Hindi film industry, more popularly known as
Bollywood
, incorporates considerable amounts of Hinglish as well.
46
Many internet platforms and voice commands on Google also recognise Hinglish.
45
When
Hindi
Urdu
is viewed as a single language called
Hindustani
, the
portmanteaus
Hinglish and
Urdish
mean the same
code-mixed tongue
, where the former term is used predominantly in modern India and the latter term predominantly in
Pakistan
Other macaronic hybrids such as
Minglish
Marathi
and English),
Banglish
Bengali
and English),
Manglish
Malayalam
and English),
Kanglish
Kannada
and English),
Tenglish
Telugu
and English), and
Tanglish
or
Tamglish
Tamil
and English) exist in South India.
47
Phonology
edit
Vowels
edit
In general, Indian English has fewer peculiarities in its vowel sounds than the consonants, especially as spoken by native speakers of languages like Hindi, the vowel
phoneme
system having some similarities with that of English. Among the distinctive features of the vowel-sounds employed by some Indian English speakers:
Indian English vowel phonemes
Front
Central
Back
short
long
short
long
Close
iː
uː
Close-mid
eː
ɜː
oː
Open-mid
ɛː
ɔː
Open
ɑː
Indian English Vowels Qualities
48
Lexical set
Subset
Value
Notes
Checked vowels
TRAP
BATH
ɑː
DRESS
KIT
especially /
/ before /l/
49
LOT
CLOTH
FOOT
STRUT
50
Free vowels
PALM
FACE
eː
FLEECE
PRICE
GOAT
oː
CHOICE
GOOSE
MOUTH
THOUGHT
Vowels + historical /r/
START
)]
SQUARE
)]
NEAR
)]
NORTH
)~
)]
FORCE
)~
)~
)]
occasionally merged with
CURE
NURSE
)~
)~
)]
CURE
)~
)~
)]
occasionally merged with
FORCE
Reduced vowels
comm
lett
ER
)]
happ
North Indians, especially a minority of English students and teachers along with some people in various professions like telephone customer service agents, often speak with a
non-rhotic
accent. Examples of this include
flower
pronounced as
[flaʊ.ə]
never
as
[nevə]
water
as
[ʋɒtə]
, etc. Some South Indians, such as native Telugu speakers, speak with a rhotic accent, but the final
/ə/
becomes an
[a]
, and an
alveolar tap
[ɾ]
is used for /r/, resulting in
water
and
never
as
[wɒtaɾ]
or
[ʋɒʈaɾ]
and
[nevaɾ]
respectively.
Features characteristic of
North American English
, such as rhoticity and
r-coloured vowels
, have been gaining influence on Indian English in recent years as cultural and economic ties increase between India and the United States.
51
Many North Indians have an
intonation pattern
similar to
Hiberno-English
, which perhaps results from a similar pattern used while speaking Hindi.
citation needed
Splits and mergers
edit
Indian English speakers do not necessarily make a clear distinction between
and
ɔː
unlike
Received Pronunciation
(RP), i.e. they may have the
cot-caught merger
, with the target vowel ranging between either option.
Most Indians have the
trap–bath split
of Received Pronunciation, affecting words such as
class
staff
and
last
/klɑːs/
/stɑːf/
and
/lɑːst/
respectively). Though the trap-bath split is prevalent in Indian English, it varies greatly. Many younger Indians who read and listen to
American English
do not have this split.
citation needed
Similar to
Australian English
, variability is especially present when the split occurs before nasal clusters in words such as
dance
Francis
, and
answer
52
Most
citation needed
Indians do not have the
hoarse-horse merger
Consonants
edit
Labial
Dental
Alveolar
Retroflex
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Nasal
Plosive
Affricate
unaspirated
t̪
)⠀
d̪
t̺
]⠀[
d̺
tʃ
dʒ
⠀(
aspirated
bʱ
t̪ʰ
⠀(
d̪ʱ
ʈʰ
)⠀(
ɖʱ
tʃʰ
) (
dʒʱ
kʰ
)⠀(
ɡʱ
Fricative
⠀(
⠀(
)⠀(
⠀[
Lateral
Rhotic
⠀(
ɾʱ
)⠀[
]⠀(
ɽʱ
Approximant
⠀(
ʋʱ
The following are the standard variations in Indian English:
The voiceless
plosives
/p/,
/t/,
/k/
are always unaspirated in Indian English, (aspirated in cultivated form) whereas in RP, General American and most other English accents they are aspirated in word-initial or stressed syllables. Thus "pin" is pronounced
[pɪn]
in Indian English but
[pʰɪn]
in most other dialects. In native Indo-Aryan languages, a predominant language family in India, the distinction between aspirated and unaspirated plosives is phonemic, and the English stops are equated with the unaspirated rather than the aspirated phonemes of the local languages.
53
The same is true of the voiceless postalveolar affricate
/tʃ/
. The local unvoiced aspirated plosives are instead equated with English fricatives, namely
/f/
and
/θ/
The
alveolar
stops English
/d/
/t/
are often
retroflex
[ɖ]
[ʈ]
, especially in the north of India.
54
In Indian languages, there are two entirely distinct sets of coronal plosives: one
dental
and the other retroflex. Native speakers of Indian languages prefer to pronounce the English alveolar plosives sound as more retroflex than dental,
55
and the use of retroflex consonants is a common feature of Indian English.
56
57
In the
Devanagari
script of Hindi, all alveolar plosives of English are transcribed as their retroflex counterparts. One good reason for this is that unlike most other native Indian languages, Hindi does not have
true
retroflex plosives (Tiwari, [1955] 2001). The so-called retroflexes in Hindi are actually articulated as apical
post-alveolar
plosives, sometimes even with a tendency to come down to the alveolar region. So a Hindi speaker normally cannot distinguish the difference between their own apical post-alveolar plosives and English's alveolar plosives. Languages such as
Tamil
and
Malayalam
have
true
retroflex plosives, however, wherein the articulation is done with the tongue curved upwards and backwards at the
roof of the mouth
. This also causes (in parts of
Uttar Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
and
Bihar
) the
/s/
preceding alveolar
/t/
to allophonically change to
[ʃ]
⟨stop⟩
/stɒp/
/ʃʈap/
). Mostly in north India, some speakers allophonically further change the voiced retroflex plosives to voiced
retroflex flap
[ɽ]
, and the nasal
/n/
to a nasalised retroflex flap. Among
Malayalam
speakers, the realisation of English /t/ follows systematic rules. Word-initial /t/ is typically realised as retroflex
[ʈ]
, while in non-initial positions it may be either alveolar
[t]
or retroflex
[ʈ]
, depending on word structure. For example, better is pronounced
[bettɐr]
(alveolar), whereas butter is pronounced
[bɐʈʈɐr]
(retroflex). This is influenced by the fact that Malayalam already contrasts alveolar and retroflex plosives.
Most major native languages of India lack the dental fricatives
and
(spelled with
th
), although [ð] occurs variably as
intervocalic
allophones in
Gujarati
58
and
Tamil
. Usually, the
aspirated
voiceless dental plosive
[t̪ʰ]
is substituted for
/θ/
in the north (it would be unaspirated in the south) and the unaspirated
voiced dental plosive
[d̪]
, or possibly the aspirated version
[d̪ʱ]
, is substituted for
/ð/
59
For example, "thin" would be realised as
[t̪ʰɪn]
instead of
/θɪn/
for North Indian speakers, whereas it would be pronounced unaspirated in the south.
The English of
Delhi
often has
yod-dropping
after coronals, unlike RP.
52
The
rhotic consonant
/r/ is pronounced by most speakers as an
alveolar tap
[ɾ]
, but may also be pronounced as a retroflex flap
[ɽ]
or
alveolar trill
[r]
based on the influence by the native phonology, or an
alveolar approximant
[ɹ]
like in most varieties of English.
60
61
Indian English is variably rhotic; with pronunciations either being non-rhotic due to the traditional influence of RP, or generally rhotic due to the underlying
phonotactics
of the native
Indo-Aryan
and
Dravidian
languages.
62
59
In recent years, rhoticity has been increasing.
59
Generally,
American English
is seen as having a large influence on the English language in India recently.
51
Many Indians with rhotic accents prefer to pronounce words with
[aʊə]
as
[aː(r)]
, such as
⟨flower⟩
as
[flaː(r)]
and
⟨our⟩
as
[aː(r)]
, as opposed to
[flaʊ.ə]
and
[aʊ.ə]
in more non-rhotic varieties. Speakers with rhotic accents, especially some south Indians, may also pronounce word-final
/ər/
as
/ar/
, resulting in
water
and
never
as
/wɔːtar/
and
/nevar/
respectively.
Most Indian languages do not differentiate between
/v/
voiced labiodental fricative
) and
/w/
voiced labial–velar approximant
). Instead, many Indians use a frictionless
voiced labiodental approximant
[ʋ]
for words with either sound, possibly in free variation with
[v]
and/or
[w]
depending upon region. Thus,
wet
and
vet
are often homophones.
63
South Indians tend to curl the tongue (retroflex accentuation) less for
/l/
and
/n/
Sometimes, Indian speakers interchange
/s/
and
/z/
, especially when plurals are being formed, unlike speakers of other varieties of English, who use
[s]
for the pluralisation of words ending in a voiceless consonant,
[z]
for words ending in a voiced consonant or vowel, and
[ɨz]
for words ending in a sibilant.
In case of the postalveolar affricates
/tʃ/
/dʒ/
, native languages like Hindi have corresponding affricates articulated from the palatal region, rather than postalveolar, and they have more of a stop component than fricative; this is reflected in their English.
Syllabic
/l/
/m/
and
/n/
are usually replaced by the VC clusters
[əl]
[əm]
and
[ən]
(as in
button
/ˈbəʈən/
), or if a
high vowel
precedes, by
[il]
(as in
little
/ˈliʈil/
). Syllable nuclei in words with the spelling
er
re
(a
schwa
in RP and an r-coloured schwa in
GA
) are also replaced by VC clusters. e.g.,
metre
/ˈmiːtər/
/ˈmiːʈər/
citation needed
Indian English uses clear
[l]
in all instances like
Irish English
whereas other varieties use clear
[l]
in syllable-initial positions and
dark l
(velarised-L) in coda and syllabic positions.
Voiced postalveolar fricative [
] is largely nonexistent in most varieties.
64
The following are variations in Indian English due to
language contact
with Indian languages:
Most Indian languages (except
Assamese
Kashmiri
Marathi
Tamil
and
Urdu
; and conscious pronunciation by
Hindi
Punjabi
Dogri
, etc. speakers) lack the
voiced alveolar fricative
/z/
. A significant portion of Indians thus, even though their native languages do have its nearest equivalent: the unvoiced
/s/
, often use the voiced palatal affricate (or postalveolar)
/dʒ/
. This makes words such as
⟨zero⟩
and
⟨rosy⟩
sound as
[ˈdʒiːro]
and
[ˈroːdʒiː]
(the latter, especially in the North). This replacement is equally true for
Persian
and
Arabic
loanwords into Hindi. The probable reason is the confusion created by the use of the Devanagari grapheme
⟨ज⟩
(for
/dʒ/
) with the
Nuqta
to represent
/z/
(as
⟨ज़⟩
). A similar thing happens in other Indian languages like
Bengali
, with the letters for
/dʒ/
(except Indian varieties of
Nepali
and
Marathi
where
⟨ज⟩
represents /
dz
/) usually being used to represent
/z/
. This is common among people without formal English education. In
Telugu
(plus even in
Hindi
and
Punjabi
to some extent)
/z/
and
/dʒ/
are allophones in some cases, so the words such as
fridge
/fɹɪdʒ/
become
/friz/
In
Assamese
/tʃ/
and
/ʃ/
are pronounced as
/s/
; and
/dʒ/
and
/ʒ/
are pronounced as
/z/
. Retroflex and dental consonants are not present and only alveolar consonants are used unlike other Indian languages. Similar to
Bengali
and
Odia
/v/
is pronounced as
/bʱ/
and
/β/
in
Assamese
. For example; change is pronounced as
[sɛɪnz]
, vote is pronounced as
[bʱot]
and English is pronounced as
[iŋlis]
65
Again, in
Awadhi
Bhojpuri
Chhattisgarhi
Kannauji
and
Odia
, all instances of
/ʃ/
are spoken like
[s]
(and
[x]
in
Assamese
), a phenomenon that is also apparent in their English. Exactly the opposite is seen for many
Bengalis
65
Inability to pronounce certain (especially word-initial)
consonant clusters
by people of rural backgrounds (as with some
Spanish
Portuguese
and
Persian
speakers). This is usually dealt with by
epenthesis
. e.g.,
⟨school⟩
/isˈkuːl/
Many Indians with lower exposure to English also may pronounce
/f/
as an aspirated
voiceless bilabial plosive
[pʰ]
. Again in Hindi Devanagari the loaned
/f/
from
Persian
and
Arabic
is written by putting a dot beneath the grapheme for native
[pʰ]
⟨फ⟩
⟨फ़⟩
. This substitution is rarer than that for
[z]
, and in fact in many
Hindi
and
Punjabi
words
/f/
is used by native speakers instead of
/pʰ/
, or the two are used interchangeably.
Some speakers of Indian English, unless conscious; do not use the
voiced postalveolar fricative
/ʒ/
). Some Indians use
/z/
(especially by
Hindi
and
Punjabi
speakers) or
/dʒ/
(basically by most of the Indians, who do not even have
[z]
phoneme) instead, e.g.
⟨treasure⟩
/ˈtrɛzəːr/
54
and in some south Indian variants, with
/ʃ/
as in
⟨shore⟩
, e.g.
⟨treasure⟩
/ˈtrɛʃər/
citation needed
Spelling pronunciation
edit
A number of distinctive features of Indian English are due to "
the vagaries of English spelling
".
59
Most Indian languages, unlike English, have a nearly
phonetic spelling
, so the spelling of a word is a highly reliable guide to its modern pronunciation. Indians' tendency to pronounce English phonetically as well can cause divergence from British English. This phenomenon is known as
spelling pronunciation
In words where the digraph
⟨gh⟩
represents a
voiced velar plosive
/ɡ/
) in other accents, some Indian English speakers supply a murmured version
[ɡʱ]
, for example
⟨ghost⟩
[ɡʱoːst]
. No other accent of English admits this voiced aspiration.
54
Similarly, especially with Hindi speakers, the digraph
⟨wh⟩
may be aspirated as
[ʋʱ]
or
[wʱ]
, resulting in realisations such as
⟨which⟩
[ʋʱɪtʃ]
, found in no other English accent (although some Scottish accents come close).
66
This is somewhat similar to the traditional distinction between
⟨wh⟩
and
⟨w⟩
present in English, however, wherein the former is
/ʍ/
, whilst the latter is
/w/
In unstressed syllables, which speakers of American English would realise as a
schwa
, speakers of Indian English would use the spelling vowel, making
⟨sanity⟩
sound as
[ˈsæniti]
instead of
[ˈsænəti]
. This trait is also present in other South Asian dialects (
Pakistani
and
Sri Lankan English
), and common for many second-language European speakers of English.
The word "of" is usually pronounced with a
/f/
instead of a
/v/
as in most other accents.
59
Use of
[d]
instead of
[t]
for the "-ed" ending of the past tense after voiceless consonants, for example "developed" may be
[ˈdɛʋləpd]
instead of RP
/dɪˈvɛləpt/
54
Use of
[s]
instead of
[z]
for the
⟨-s⟩
ending of the plural after voiced consonants, for example
⟨dogs⟩
may be
[daɡs]
instead of
[dɒɡz]
59
Pronunciation of
⟨house⟩
as
[haʊz]
in both the noun and the verb, instead of
[haʊs]
as a noun and
[haʊz]
as a verb.
Silent letters may be pronounced. For example, 'salmon' is usually pronounced with a distinct
/l/
Supra-segmental features
edit
English is a
stress-timed language
. Both syllable stress and
word stress
(where only certain words in a sentence or phrase are stressed) are important features of Received Pronunciation. Indian native languages are actually
syllable-timed languages
, like French. Indian-English speakers usually speak with a syllabic rhythm.
67
Further, in some Indian languages, stress is associated with a low pitch,
68
whereas in most English dialects, stressed syllables are generally pronounced with a higher pitch. Thus, when some Indian speakers speak, they appear to put the stress accents at the wrong syllables, or accentuate all the syllables of a long English word. Certain Indian accents possess a "sing-song" quality, a feature seen in a few English dialects of Britain, such as
Scouse
and
Welsh English
69
Numbering system
edit
The
Indian numbering system
is preferred for digit grouping.
70
When written in words, or when spoken, numbers less than 100,000 are expressed just as they are in Standard English. Numbers including and beyond 100,000 are expressed in a subset of the Indian numbering system. Thus, the following scale is used:
In digits (International system)
In digits (Indian system)
In words (
short scales
In words (Indian system)
10
ten
100
one hundred
1,000
one thousand
10,000
ten thousand
100,000
1,00,000
one hundred thousand
one
lakh
(from
lākh
लाख
1,000,000
10,00,000
one million
ten
lakh
10,000,000
1,00,00,000
ten million
one
crore
(from
karoṛ
करोड़
100,000,000
10,00,00,000
one hundred million
ten
crore
1,000,000,000
1,00,00,00,000
one billion
one hundred
crore
one
arab
(from
arab
अरब
10,000,000,000
10,00,00,00,000
ten billion
one thousand
crore
ten
arab
100,000,000,000
1,00,00,00,00,000
one hundred billion
ten thousand
crore
one
kharab
(from
kharab
खरब
arab
and
kharab
are not commonly used today)
Larger numbers are generally expressed as multiples of the above (for example, one lakh crores for one
trillion
).
71
72
Vocabulary
edit
Further information:
Glossary of the British Raj
Indian English includes many political, sociological, and administrative terms, such as
dharna
hartal
eve-teasing
vote bank
swaraj
swadeshi
scheduled caste
scheduled tribe
, and
NRI
. It incorporates some
Anglo-Indian
words such as
tiffin
hill station
gymkhana
, along with slang.
73
74
Indian English, like some other
World Englishes
, is notable for its treatment of English
mass
and
count nouns
. Words that are treated as mass nouns in native forms of English, such as
evidence
equipment
, or
training
, are frequently treated as count nouns in Indian English.
75
Some examples of words and phrases unique to, or chiefly used in, standard written Indian English include:
ayye
aiye
interjection
) (South India): ew.
ayyo
aiyo
(interjection) (South India): oh no, yikes.
brinjal
(noun): An
eggplant
/aubergine
bus stand
(noun): A
bus station
(British English)
chain-snatching
(verb): To snatch a gold chain (or sometimes silver chain) from someone and run away, usually perpetrated by two or more criminals on a
motorbike
moped
scooter
e.g. "Women are avoiding wearing gold chains due to the concerning rise in number of
chain-snatching
cases in many parts of the city."
cinema
(noun): A
movie
or film
cinema hall
(noun): A
cinema
or
movie theatre
76
e.g. "
Cinema halls
in
Uttar Pradesh
will soon display the newly-unveiled logo for
Kumbh Mela
, right after
the national anthem
is played" (
The Times of India
, 3 January 2018)
77
communalism
: The creation of hatred between different religions and ethnicities which cause
communal violence
between them. The term is usually used to describe the hatred spread by religious leaders and politicians which cause
Hindu–Muslim riots
desi
: South Asian, Indian.
do the needful
: To do that which is necessary or required, with the respectful implication that the other party is trusted to understand what needs doing without being given detailed instructions.
e.g. "When asked if the
UP
government could reduce
Value Added Tax
(VAT) on petro-products to bring down prices, the
CM
said that the
state government
was aware of the situation and will
do the needful
." (2018
The Pioneer
78
English-knowing
adjective
): Of a person or group of people that uses or speaks English.
e.g. "The official and Service atmosphere ... set the tone for almost all
Indian middle-class
life, especially the
English-knowing
intelligentsia
." (
Toward Freedom
vii. 40,
J. Nehru
, 1941)
79
foreign-returned
(adjective): Of a person or group of people who has returned home after living abroad for a while
80
freeship
(noun): A studentship or
scholarship
81
e.g. "Two permanent
freeships
, each tenable for one year and one of which is for the second and the other for the third year class." (
The Medical Reporter
(Calcutta) 57/1, 1 February 1893)
e.g. "Private institutions can only develop if they are allowed to charge reasonable fees, while also providing need based
freeships
and scholarships for a certain percentage of students." (
The Economic Times
(Nexis), 12 October 2006)
82
hartal
(noun): A strike, protest.
hotel
(noun): A
restaurant
or
café
e.g. "A group of four friends had gone to have dinner at a roadside
hotel
." (
Statesman
(Calcutta), 10 February 1999 (Midweek section) 4/3)
83
is it so:
Oh really?
it will be
This is how much it is (quantifying something)
dubious
discuss
e.g. Q: "How much is this?" A: "It will be two hundred and seventy rupees."
kindly adjust
: Used to acknowledge and apologise for something that causes problems or difficulties and ask people to accept and adapt to the situation, or used to apologise for causing inconvenience.
e.g. "The store will be closed this afternoon due to staffing shortages.
Kindly adjust
."
e.g.: When asking someone to move along so you can sit down.
I would like to sit down, sir.
Kindly adjust
."
84
matrimonial
(noun):
Advertisements
in a
newspaper
for the purpose of finding a marriageable partner.
e.g. "When I have a job I'll have to begin a whole new search for my better half ... Back to the newspaper
matrimonials
on Sundays." (
Statesman
(Calcutta), 10 February 1999 (Midweek section) 4/3)
85
na
interjection
) (North India): "isn't it?"
e.g. "That place is quite far na?"
office boy:
Usually a person employed to do less important and menial jobs in a business office (such as a messenger, copier maintenance,
Chaiwala
, etc.). Often resides or spends their working time in a special service space in the office, behind the front desk or in the pantry.
out of station
: used for saying that someone is away.
86
This phrase has its origins in the posting of army officers to particular "stations" during the days of the
East India Company
pass
ing
out
(phrase): Graduate from school/college or complete a course at an institution.
87
e.g. "I passed out of college in 2007."
87
e.g. "I passed out of my school aged 17."
petrol pump / petrol bunk
(used in some parts of south India; noun): A
petrol station
(British English), gas station (American English)
prepone
(verb): To bring (something) forward to an earlier date or time.
88
e.g. "The meeting has been
preponed
due to a change in the schedule."
pressperson
(noun, frequently as a single word): A newspaper journalist, a reporter, a member of the press.
e.g. "The
Prime Minister
greeted the
presspersons
with a '
namaskar
' [customary Hindu greeting] and a broad smile." (
The Hindu
(Nexis), 20 June 2001)
89
ragging
(noun):
bullying
fagging
redressal
(noun): Redress
e.g. "There is an urgent need for setting up an independent authority for
redressal
of telecom consumer complaints." (
Statesman
(India) (Nexis), 2 April 1998)
e.g. "Where does he go for the
redressal
of his genuine grievances?" (
Sunday Times of India
, 15 September 2002 8/4)
90
revert
verb
): To report back with information.
e.g. "Please
revert
with the required documentation."
road junction/circle
(noun): a
crossroad
(British English),
intersection
(American English)
tiffin
: lunch, snack.
updation
: The act of updating.
upgradation
(noun): The enhancement or upgrading of status, value or level of something.
e.g. "Our Company lays great stress on technical training and knowledge
upgradation
." (
Business India
, 8 September 1986 153/1 (advert))
91
votebank
: A
bloc
of
voters
from a single
community
or a group of communities who always back a certain
candidate
or
political party
for bribes and/or employment favours given by the particular party.
Spelling
edit
Spelling practices in Indian English generally follow the
British style
, e.g., using
travelling
litre
practise
(as a verb),
anaesthesia
fulfil
catalogue
realise
and
colour
, rather than the American style.
92
Dictionaries
edit
The most famous dictionary of Indian English is
Yule
and
Brunell
's
Hobson-Jobson
, originally published in 1886 with an expanded edition edited by
William Crooke
in 1903, widely available in reprint since the 1960s.
Numerous other dictionaries ostensibly covering Indian English, though for the most part being merely collections of administratively-useful words from local languages, include (chronologically):
Rousseau
A Dictionary of Words used in the East Indies
(1804),
Wilkins
Glossary to the Fifth Report
(1813),
Stocqueler
The Oriental Interpreter and Treasury of East Indian Knowledge
(1844),
Elliot
A Supplement to the Glossary of Indian Terms: A–J
(1845),
Brown
The Zillah Dictionary in the Roman Character
(1852),
Carnegy
Kutcherry Technicalities
(1853) and its second edition
Kachahri Technicalities
(1877),
Wilson
Glossary of Judicial and Revenue Terms
(1855),
Giles
A Glossary of Reference, on Subjects connected with the Far East
(1878),
Whitworth
Anglo-Indian Dictionary
(1885),
Temple
A Glossary of Indian Terms relating to Religion, Customs, Government, Land
(1897), and
Crooke
Things India: Being Discursive Notes on Various Subjects connected with India
(1906).
The first dictionary of Indian English to be published after independence was Hawkins
Common Indian Words in English
(1984). Other efforts include (chronologically): Lewis
Sahibs, Nabobs and Boxwallahs
(1991), Muthiah
Words in Indian English
(1991), Sengupta's Indian English supplement to the
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
(1996) and
Hankin
Hanklyn-Janklin
(2003). Nihalani et al.
Indian and British English: A Handbook of Usage and Pronunciation
(2004) delineates how Indian English differs from British English for a large number of specific lexical items. The
Macmillan
publishing company also produced a range of synchronic general dictionaries for the Indian market, such as the
Macmillan Comprehensive Dictionary
(2006).
The most recent dictionary is Carls
A Dictionary of Indian English, with a Supplement on Word-formation Patterns
(2017).
needs update
See also
edit
India portal
Languages portal
Regional differences and dialects in Indian English
Indian English literature
Indian numbering system
Languages with official status in India
Indian States by most popular languages
Kanglish
Hinglish
Manglish
Malaysian English
Pakistani English
Paklish
Bangladeshi English
Banglish
Tanglish
Tenglish
Commonwealth English
English as a lingua franca
Regional accents of English
Footnotes
edit
References
edit
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Ball & Muller 2014
: The comments on retroflex consonants also apply to northern Indian languages such as Hindi,
Bengali
Gujarati
. and
Marathi
. Speakers of these languages tend to use their own retroflex consonants in place of English alveolar /t, d, n/. Although these languages do have non-retroflex stops, these are dental, and it seems that English alveolar stops are perceived as closer to the retroflex stops than to the dental ones.
Ball & Muller 2014
, p. 289b: This use of retroflex consonants is very characteristic of Indian English, and the retroflex resonance is very pervasive ...
Sailaja 2007
, p. 252: 1.4
Indian (Telugu) English
: All the adults who participated in this study spoke a Telugu variety of Indian English. Telugu pronunciation of English is heavily influenced by the spelling. Two identical letters in a word are articulated as geminates. The articulation is also mostly rhotic ... In place of the alveolar stops, retroflex sounds are used. Some speakers would also use a retroflex nasal in place of the alveolar nasal, and a retroflex lateral in place of the alveolar lateral.
Cardona & Suthar (2003)
, p. 665.
Wells 1982
, p. 629.
Spitzbardt, Harry (1976).
English in India
. p. 31
. Retrieved
2 September
2019
"Indian English Phonologics"
(PDF)
Phonologics
. Linda J. Ferrier-Reid, Robert MacAuslan and Joel MacAuslan. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 7 November 2019
. Retrieved
7 November
2019
Rathod, Rakesh (2019).
Indian Writing in English: Pre to Post Independence
. Nitya Publications. p. 89.
ISBN
978-81-943432-7-1
Wells 1982
, p. 627.
Gargesh, Ravinder (18 March 2008).
Indian English: phonology
(1st ed.). De Gruyter Mouton.
ISBN
3110196387
Mahanta, Shakuntala (2012).
"Assamese"
Journal of the International Phonetic Association
42
(2):
217–
224.
doi
10.1017/S0025100312000096
ISSN
0025-1003
JSTOR
26351864
Wells 1982
, p. 630.
Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language
. Cambridge University Press. 1995. p. 360.
{{
cite encyclopedia
}}
Missing or empty
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help
"Onset of Rising Pitch in Focused Words in Hindi: an Experimental Study"
. Archived from
the original
on 1 September 2006.
Varshney, R.L., "An Introductory Textbook of Linguistics and Phonetics", 15th Ed. (2005), Student Store, Bareilly.
Bellos, Alex (5 April 2010).
Alex's Adventures in Numberland: Dispatches from the Wonderful World of Mathematics
A&C Black
. p.
114
ISBN
9781408811146
Indian English has different words for high numbers than British or America English.[...]Note that above a thousand, Indians introduce a comma after every two digits,[...]
"Investors lose Rs 4.4 lakh crore in four days"
Business Standard
. 27 November 2010. Archived from
the original
on 16 March 2012
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2013
"Corporate chiefs getting crores in salaries: 100 and counting!"
The Smart Investor
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Global English Slang: Methodologies and Perspectives
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Lambert, James (2018). "Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles".
World Englishes
37(2): 248–260.
doi
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Leuckert, Sven; Lange, Claudia; Bernaisch, Tobias; Yurchenko, Asya (21 December 2023).
Indian Englishes in the Twenty-First Century: Unity and Diversity in Lexicon and Morphosyntax
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-1-009-32379-6
Archived
from the original on 4 March 2024
. Retrieved
4 March
2023
"cinema hall Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary"
. Dictionary.cambridge.org.
Archived
from the original on 8 March 2021
. Retrieved
24 May
2018
"UP cinema halls to show Kumbh logo before screening movies"
Hindustan Times
. 22 April 2016
. Retrieved
24 May
2018
permanent dead link
"Yogi Accuses Opposition of Ranking Up Inflation"
The Pioneer
. 27 May 2018
. Retrieved
28 May
2018
"English-knowing (adj). Compound,
C2
Oxford English Dictionary
(3rd ed.). December 2008.
"Foreign-returned (adj)"
Cambridge Dictionary
"freeship"
Oxford English Dictionary
(Online ed.). Oxford University Press.
(Subscription or
participating institution membership
required.)
"freeship, 4."
Oxford English Dictionary
(3rd ed.). March 2008.
"hotel (noun) 3."
Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
Archived
from the original on 22 March 2022.
"Kindly adjust (adj)"
Oxford Learners Dictionary
"matrimonial (noun) B. 3b."
Oxford English Dictionary
(3rd ed.). March 2001.
"Out of station"
Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners
"You studied so hard you passed out?"
Times of India Blog
. 13 September 2019
. Retrieved
19 August
2022
"prepone"
Cambridge English Dictionary
Archived
from the original on 11 November 2020
. Retrieved
13 November
2019
"press (noun), Compound"
Oxford English Dictionary
(3rd ed.). March 2007.
"redressal (noun)"
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(3rd ed.). September 2009.
"upgradation (noun)"
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. 1993.
Sailaja 2009
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Bibliography
edit
Auddy, Ranjan Kumar (2020).
In Search of Indian English: History, Politics and Indigenisation
. Routledge.
ISBN
978-0-367-35271-4
Ball, Martin J.; Muller, Nicole (2014).
Phonetics for Communication Disorders
. Routledge. pp. 289–.
ISBN
978-1-317-77795-3
Cardona, George
Suthar, Babu
(2003),
"Gujarati"
, in Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh (eds.),
The Indo-Aryan Languages
, Routledge,
ISBN
978-0-415-77294-5
Sailaja, Pingali (2007).
"Writing Systems and Phonological Awareness"
. In Bayer, Josef; Bhattacharya, Tanmoy; Babu, M. T. Hany (eds.).
Linguistic Theory and South Asian Languages: Essays in honour of K. A. Jayaseelan
. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp.
249–
267.
ISBN
978-90-272-9245-2
Sailaja, Pingali (2009).
Indian English
. Series: Dialects of English. Edinburgh University Press.
ISBN
978-0-7486-2595-6
Wells, J. C. (1982).
Accents of English
. Vol. 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-28541-0
Further reading
edit
Henry Yule
Arthur Coke Burnell
(1886).
HOBSON-JOBSON: Being a glossary of Anglo-Indian colloquial words and phrases
. John Murray, London.
Crystal, David (1990).
The English Language
. London & New York: Penguin. p. 10.
Whitworth, George Clifford (1885).
An Anglo-Indian dictionary: a glossary of Indian terms used in English, and of such English or other non-Indian terms as have obtained special meanings in India
. K. Paul, Trench.
Rayan, Albert P. (24 September 2017).
"What ails English language teaching?"
The Hindu
. Retrieved
9 May
2018
Johnson (27 August 2016).
"Rue the rules"
The Economist
. Retrieved
9 May
2018
Joseph, Manu (16 February 2011).
"India Faces a Linguistic Truth: English Spoken Here"
The New York Times
. Retrieved
9 May
2018
Aula, Sahith (6 November 2014).
"The Problem With The English Language In India"
Forbes
. Retrieved
9 May
2018
Indian English, English To Bengali (2019),
Spoken English Learning
Balasubramanian, Chandrika (2009).
Register Variation in Indian English
. John Benjamins Publishing.
ISBN
978-90-272-2311-1
Baumgardner, Robert Jackson, ed. (1996).
South Asian English: Structure, Use, and Users
. University of Illinois Press.
ISBN
978-0-252-06493-7
Braj B. Kachru (1983).
The Indianisation of English: the English language in India
. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
0-19-561353-8
Gargesh, Ravinder (17 February 2009).
"South Asian Englishes"
. In Braj Kachru; et al. (eds.).
The Handbook of World Englishes
. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 90–.
ISBN
978-1-4051-8831-9
Hickey, Raymond (2004).
"South Asian English"
Legacies of Colonial English: Studies in Transported Dialects
. Cambridge University Press. pp. 536–.
ISBN
978-0-521-83020-1
Lambert, James (2012),
"Beyond Hobson-Jobson: Towards a new lexicography for Indian English"
English World-Wide
33
(3):
292–
320,
doi
10.1075/eww.33.3.03lam
Lambert, James (2018),
"Setting the record straight: An in-depth examination of
Hobson-Jobson
International Journal of Lexicography
31
(4):
485–
506,
doi
10.1093/ijl/ecy010
Lange, Claudia (2012).
The Syntax of Spoken Indian English
. John Benjamins Publishing.
ISBN
978-90-272-4905-0
Mehrotra, Raja Ram (1998).
Indian English: Texts and Interpretation
. John Benjamins Publishing.
ISBN
90-272-4716-1
Schilk, Marco (2011).
Structural Nativization in Indian English Lexicogrammar
. John Benjamins Publishing.
ISBN
978-90-272-0351-9
Sedlatschek, Andreas (2009).
Contemporary Indian English: Variation and Change
. Series: Varieties of English Around the World.
ISBN
978-90-272-4898-5
Khan, Sharmin.
"Guide for Multilingual Student Writing World Englishes in U.S. Classrooms: Working with Indian English Speakers"
(PDF)
San Jose State University
External links
edit
"English in India"
. Archived from the original on 31 May 2013
. Retrieved
23 January
2009
Indian general spoken Problems in English
Archived
16 February 2020 at the
Wayback Machine
Indian Pronunciation Problems in English
, ESLAN.
'Hover & Hear' pronunciations in a Standard Indian English accent
, and compare side by side with other English accents from around the World.
"Linguistic and Social Characteristics of Indian English" by Jason Baldridge
: An analysis of Indian language published by the "Language In India" magazine.
On the future of Indian English
, by
Gurcharan Das
An exploration into linguistic majority-minority relations in India
, by B. Mallikarjun.
108 varieties of Indian English
, Dharma Kumar,
India Seminar
, 2001 (Volume 500).
India Human Development Survey-II 2011–2012
Indian Novels in English: Texts, Contexts and Language Hardcover – 2018 by Jaydeep Sarangi (Author)
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