The Introduction to Indian English

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The Introduction toIndian English

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Introduction of the influence by British and
American

• British English
• The form of English that Indians are taught in
  schools is essentially British English,
  especially Scottish English, which influenced
  Indian dialects with rhoticity (The history of
  liquid phonemes in the English language describes
  the history of the phonemes /r/ and /l/.) and
  trilled r.

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• American English, due to the burgeoning?????
  influence of American pop culture on the rest of
  the world, has begun challenging traditional
  British English as the premier brand of English
  spoken in the Indian subcontinent, though this is
  largely limited to the youth in the last decade
  or two.

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• In a survey, it was found that "the majority of
  the informants (70) felt that RP (Received
  Pronunciation BBC English Standard English in
  Britain) would serve as the best model for Indian
  English, 10 thought General American English
  (ed. standard American English) would be better,
  and 17 preferred the Indian variety of English."
  Plenty of Indians with Received Pronunciation
  accent still have rhoticity.

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Phonology of Indian English

• In spite of the great stress on good English in
  higher circles, the layman's spoken variety,
  Indian English, is widespread and well-known for
  its many eccentricities.

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• The most ubiquitous????? instance of modified
  sounds is the morphing of alveolar English 'd',
  't' and 'r' sounds to more retroflex variants.
  South Indians tend to curl the tongue more for
  'l' and 'n' sounds, while Bengalis (from both
  India and Bangladesh) and Biharis often
  substitute 'j' for 'z' (as in 'jero' instead of
  'zero'). Subcontinentals, especially those from
  the Sindh (of both India and Pakistan), have the
  habit of changing 'w' sounds to 'v' (as in 'ven'
  instead of 'when') and vice versa ("I will pay
  with Weeza" for "...Visa")

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The speech accent archive

• The examples of Indian English, Bengalis (from
  both India and Bangladesh, often substitute 'j'
  for 'z' as in 'jero' instead of 'zero') and the
  Sindh (of both India and Pakistan, have the habit
  of changing 'w' sounds to 'v as in 'ven' instead
  of 'when' and vice versa, "I will pay with Weeza"
  for "...Visa").
• http//accent.gmu.edu/browse_maps/asia.php

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Grammar in Indian English

• 1.Tag questions The use of isnt it? and no?
• exYoure going, isnt it??You are going,
  arent you?
• exHes here,no?(naoften replacesno
  another influence of Hindi)
• 2.Yes and no agreeting to the form of a question,
  not just its content.
• ExAYou didnt come on the bus?
• BYes, I didnt.

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• 3.Using but or only as intensifier
• ExI was just joking but.It was she only who
  cooked this rice.
• 4.Use of the plural ladies for a single lady or a
  woman of respect
• exThere was a ladies at the phone.

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• 5.Use of off it and on it instead of switch it
  off and switch it on.
• 6.Use of current went and current came
• The power went out and The power came back
• 7.Use of the word gift as a verb
• exYou are gifting me a new cell phone?

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• 8.Use of I can able to cook instead of I can
  cook.
• 9.Use of the Latin word cum, meaning with
• ex Welcome to the gymnasium cum swing pool
  building.

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• 10.Use of baazi or baaji or girl for the same
  purpose
• Ex business-bazzi or cheating-girl
• 11.Use of since instead of for in conjunction
  with periods of time
• exI have been working since four years?I have
  been working for four years.
• or I have been working since four yaears ago.

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Syntax

• 1.Use of only and itself to emphasize time and
  place
• exI was in Toledo only.
• Can we meet tomorrow itself?
• 2.Keep is uesd for putexkeep the ball back

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• 3.The word order of question is often unique in
  Indian English
• exWhat you would like to eat?
• Who you will come with?
• Where are you coming from? instead of
  Where have you come from?

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Lexicon

• Some lexicon arise through the use of old and new
  morphological features.
• Others come from acronyms and abbreviations.
• Many terms from Indian languages are utilized
  and new usages for English words or expressions
  are created.

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• MCP ?Male Chauvinist Pig
• FOC ?Free Of Charge
• ILU ?I Love You (ee-lu)
• Princi ?principle
• Gen.Sec or G.Sec.? General Secretary
• Soc.Sec ? Social Secretary
• Lab Ass ? Laboratory Assistant

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• Interesting about Indian English The
  abbreviations is that they are pronounced the way
  they are spelled after they have been shortened.
• Vowels which have been dropped by north American
  and British English speakers are typically
  articulated by Indians. e.g typically?
  ti-pick-ah-lee

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Hindi-Influenced Terms and Expressions in Indian
English

• "Your good name please?" "What is your name?",
  carryover from Hindi expression.
• deadly intense, "That movie was deadly,yaar
  what an action scene!",
• hi-fi stylish, "Your shoes are hi-fi.
• Sexy excellent or extremely cool. "That's a sexy
  car, man!"

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• "Hello, What do you want?" used by some when
  answering a phone call, not perceived as impolite
  by most Indians
• "What a nonsense/silly you are!" or "Don't be
  doing such nonsense anymore." occasional -
  idiomatic use of nonsense/silly as nouns

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• "pindrop silence" such a silence should be
  maintained that even a pindrop can be heard.
• back" replacing "ago" "I met him five years
  back" rather than "I met him five years ago.
• "freak out" to have fun eg"let's go to the
  party and freak out."

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• Use of T-K in place of O.K "Would you like to
  come to the movie?" -- "T-K, ("theek hai)
• "Hotel" ?"restaurant" (as well as specifically
  "big hotel") in India "I ate in the hotel
• Use of the verb "sit" in place of "live., e.g.
  "Where are you sitting?" for "Where do you live?"
  

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• The verb "repair" in southern India is used as a
  noun for a broken object as in, "The TV became
  repair."
• The word "stay" used for "live" or reside at"
  "Where are you staying?" meaning not "Where are
  you temporarily lodging" but "Where is your
  residence?

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• Use of "color" to imply "colorful" oftentimes
  doubled in usage as in the previous item. "Those
  are color-color flowers".
• Today morning
• Yesterday night

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Morphology

• 1. Compound formation
• e.g, chalk-piece, key-bunch, time-pass gtgt
  nonexciting
• 2. Pluralize English mass nouns
• e.g, litters, furnitures
• Words are not pluralized
• e.g, one of my relative
• 3. Shorten many words to create commonly used
  terms
• e.g, enthusiasm gtgt enthu ( could be adj.)
• 4. Bring Indian words into English
• e.g, roti ( pl. bread) gtgt rotis (English)

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• Add English suffixes to Indian terms
• e.g, muska gtgt muskafy
• Add English prefixes to Indian terms
• e.g, postpone gtgt prepone

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Words unique to or originating in Indian English

• Indians frequently take words from Indian
  languages into English. While the currency of
  such words usually remains restricted to Indians,
  there are many which have been regularly entered
  into the Oxford English Dictionary as their
  popularity extended into world wide mainstream
  English.
• e.g, jungle, bungalow, bandana
• Words unique to in Indian English
• e.g, funda gtgt short for fundamental
• opticals gtgt eyeglasses
• would-be gtgt fiance/fiancee

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Resource

• http//accent.gmu.edu/browse_maps/asia.php
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English
• http//www.languageinindia.com/junjul2002/baldridg
  eindianenglish.html