UNIT 2 :INDIANISATION OF ENGLISH

Structure
2 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 English in India: Its History, Status and Functions
2.2.1 A historical overview
2.2.2 Uses and functions of English

2.3 Indianisation of English - I

2.3.1 . Structural pressure of Indian Languages on English
2.3.2. The Teaching-learning situation
2.3.3. Socio-cultural contexts of use of English

2.4 Indianisation of English - I1

2.4.1 Sound-system of lndian English: Vowels and Consonants
2.4.2 Lexis of lndian English
2.4.3 Syntactic and stylistic features of lndian English

2.5 Let Us Sum Up

2.6 Key Words
2.7 Some Useful Books
3.8 Answers

2.0 OBJECTIVES

.
This unit is designed to help you to
Understa~idthe uses, roles and functions of English in
India:

e get an insight into the ways in which English has been

affected by India11languages;

see how and in what ways the lndian context determines

the leanling and use of English;

e get an idea of what is now known as "Indian English".

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Unit 1 has already introduced you to the notion of language variation and varieties o f
English, both native and non-native. We have also outlined how English functions as a
second language rather thau a foreign language in some parts of the world including India.
A large number of people learn English in India and use it for a variety of functions and
purposes, and English constantly co-exists and interacts with Indian languages in Indian '
socio-cultural contexts. This fact, coupled with the processes of transfer and interference,
has had the interesting and inevitable consequence that the fonns and structures of English
have bee11 affected by Indian languages and a new variety of English (known now as
"l~idianEnglish") has come into being. In this unit we shall recapitulate first the roles and
fut~ctionsof English in India aud, second, the way the sounds, lexis and syntax of English
Have beell influenced by Indian languages. Indian languages too have been affected by
English, but that is a phenomenon we shall not go into as it is beyond the scope of this unit.
 2.2 ENGLISH IN INDIA - ITS HISTORY, STATUS AND
FUNCTIONS
~ --

2.2.1 A Historical Overview

In order to understand the present status and functions of English, it is necessary to go back
in time and take a quick look at the history of English in India. This has already been
discussed in Course 1, but it is necessary to recapitulate it here. Beginning with the
establishment in India of the East India Company, the British came to India as traders in the
second half of the eighteenth century, and stayed on as rulers for nearly two centuries.
During this period the British gradually introduced the English language and western
education in order to create a class of Indians who could serve the imperial rulers as
officials or functionaries, as well as, function as a co~n~nunicative link between the rulers
and the masses.The earliest attempts to introduce English in India were made by the
missionalies who came pri~narilyfor the purpose of religious and moral preaching rather
than for spreading English. Though the laudable goal with which the missionaries came to
this sub- continent was "the introduction of useful knowledge, and of religious and moral
improvement", these efforts can be seen as the first exposure that people in India (and
South Asia in general) had to the Euglish people and their language. The missionary effort
culminated in the setting up of Christian institutions in different parts of the Indian
sub-continent.
The second phase of the presence and spread of English in India is identified with two
names, Raja R a ~ n ~ n o h aRoy
n and T.B. Macaulay. Raja Ra~n~nohan Roy led a group of
111dia11sin de~nandingEnglish educatio~ifor Indians. This group was convinced that English
would be more useful for Indians than Indian languages for academic, socio-economic,
scientific and i~lternatio~ial purposes. The efforts of this group considerably strengthened the
hands of Lord Macaulay whose famous Minute was passed in 1835. The clearly stated aim
of the Minute was to form "a class who may be interpreters between us and.the millions we
govern -- a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in
, morals and in intellect."(SelectiomfromEducational Records. 1781-1839: 116). The official
approval of the Minute began a process that was to produce an ever-increasing number of
English-knowing bilingual Indians. As English developed stronger roots in the educatiohal
system in India, the whole sub-continent witnessed more a ~ l dmore I~idiansbeing taken in '
by the lure of English, native lndian languages suffering a great setback in the process. By
, the end of the nineteenth century five u~liversitieshad been set up (Madras, Calcutta,
Bombay, Allahabad and Lahorti). With the spread of English and increase in the number of
English-knowing Indians, this language came to be established as the official and academic
language of India. It also acquired great prestige and replaced Persian and the Indian
languages from several areas of education, administration, trade and business.
The twentieth century witnessed further strengthening of the roots of English in India as an
influe~~tial English press grew. As Kachru states "after World War I, there was a significant
increase in educational institutions, and schools and colleges spread to the interior of India.
This ~~aturally helped in spreading bili~lgualis~n in India further among the middle and lower
classes of Indian society" (Kachru, 1983:23). The period since then has seen tremendous
increase in English-knowing Indialls and, even after the British fonnally left India in 1947,
English has continued to gain ground and has beconle more and illore finnly entrenched in
the Indian soil. As a nlatter of fact, since independence, several committees and
c o ~ n ~ n i s s i ohave,
~ l s on different occasions, stressed the need to learn English. The
govennnent, on its own part, has co~lsistentlylent support to English and encouraged the
teaching and learning of English. Government policies have also given official recognition
to English as associate official lauguage. The situation, as it obtains today, is that English is
recognised "officially as the Associate National Official Language, and as inter-regional
link-language; educationally it is recognised as an essential component of education and as
the preferred medium of learning, with specialised education in science a ~ l dtechnology
available through the medium of English only; socially it is recognised and upheld as a
mark of education, culture and prestige." (Gupta and Kapoor, 1991:19). A stage his now
been reached where English is coilsidered an integral part of the socio-cultural, educatio~lal
and ad~ninistratived o ~ n a i ~of l s Indian life. This spread of English has bee11accompallied by
a ge~leralperception that English is the language of opportunity, social advancement,
prestige and power.
English nod its Varieties
2.2.2 Uses and Functions of English
p e spread of English outlined above has been accompanied by its increased functionality
and use in different domains and spheres of Indian life. What began in the early days as a
foreign language learnt and used by a handful of Indians, has now become a wide-spread
and powerful presence in India. We shall now take a brief look at some of the domains of
life and see how English has come,to occupy an important place in these domains.

a) Education :Even a casual glance at the way our education system is organised and
structured will show that English plays a crucial, central role in education. Whether a
child goes to an English medium school or a n Indian language medium school, s h e has
to learn English for a period ranging from six to twelve years. The Three Language
Formula despite its uneven implementation in different parts of India, ensures that no
student can pass out of school and go on to vocational o r higher education without
having learnt English as a subject. The English medium schools not only impart
training in English from class I, but also teach all subjects through the medium of
'
English. At the level of higher education, the functioilal load of English gradually
increases with English being the preferred medium of instruction and examination.
Specialised education in pure and applied sciences, technology, medicine, law,
business management, etc. is available only through the medium of English. What this
means in effect is that education, especially higher and technical education, means
knowing English, using English and being proficient in English.
b) Business and administration :Business and administration which are the "receiving
systems" that provide gainful employment to educated young men and women, insist
on formal training and proficiency in English. Most of the competitive examinations
require the candidates to pass a compulsory or qualifying paper in English; big and
middle-level busiiless establishinents require aspiring candidates to be fluent in spoken
English and proficient in written English; multinational companies insist on
qualificatioils which can only be acquired by those who are proficieilt in English. This
ineans that, as far as employment opportunities are coacenled, most white-collar jobs
in the government and industry (both production industry and services industry) are
available to those who know English. So if one wants to become an official in the
'government of India, a manager in some industry, an officer in the armed forces, a
doctor o r surgeon, an air-hostess o r a sales executive, one has to be proficient in
English. This, in turn, puts greater pressure on the education system to teach English to
more and more pupils.

c) T h e judiciary : The way our judiciary is structured, it is possible to use local Indian
languages at the lowest level of panchayats and local courts. However, the moment we
move on to ihe high court and supreme court, we find that English has to be used by
the lawyers and the judges.In the high courts and the supreme court all litigations are in
English, all briefs are in English, representation and argumelits are in English and the
judgements are in English. To this one must add the fact that most law books and
journals are available in English.
d) Media and publishing :The media in India, both print media and electronic media,
gives pride of place to English. Music programmes, interviews, talks, discussions,
news bulletins are regularly telecast or broadcast in English. The English press, with a
large number of dailies and periodicals caters to the needs of the people for news,
information and entertainment. The publishing world devotes considerable resources to
the production of books in English -- books on a variety of subjects, both specialised
subjects, as well as, subjects of general day-to-day interest. As a matter of fact, one
gets the impression that among the educated English-knowing Indians, there is a
marked preference for printed material in English.
e) Inter-regional communication :The fact that India is a multilingual country with a
large number of mutually unintelligible, prestigious and developed languages, tends to
encourage people to use English in inter-regional communicative contexts. This is true
not only of government and business where all inter-regional communication is in
English, but also of personal interactions wherein people fmm different regions prefer
to use English since they perceive it as a common link language shared by educated
persons all over India. In typical official and informal personal interactions, people
froin Bellgal and Tamil Nadu, from Mizoram and Punjab, fmm Kaniataka and Bihar,
etc. tend to make use of English. This is done not because of ailiinosity o r hostility
 towards any language or region but simply because English has come to be viewed as
the common linguistic bond between linguistically diverse people.
f) Intra-regional communication :The use of English in education, administration,
business, media and in inter-regional contexts, as well as, the fact that English has
come to be associated with "educatedness", sophistication, culture and prestige,
encourages people to use English even in situations where a mmmon Indian language
is available. One Hindi speaker uses English with another Hindi speaker in several
formal and informal situations, for talking about a variety of topics; one Bangla
speaker writes a personal letter to another Bangla speaker in English; children who
share a common Indian language, often use English with one another as well as with
their parents; neighbours who share a common Indian language, often use English with
each other. For approaching or negotiating with officials, businessmen, traders and
others we often use English, not because we belong to different linguistic backgrounds,
but because of other social and psychological reasons.
To round off this part of the, unit, we.call say that English has become such a pervasive
presence in the social matrix of India, that an increasing number of educated,
English-knowing Indians use it in almost all domains of life, in all kinds of situations and
for any number of topics. Sometimes they feel constrained to use it because of linguistic
bamers or demands of a particular situation. On otber occasio~lsthey use it as a matter of
personal choice. All in all, what it means is that in the presentday context in India the use
and functions of English are on the increase, and that English has become an integral part of
English-knowing Indians' socio-cultural reality.

Check Your Progress 1

1. What were the reasons that prompted Indians to make demands for English education?

2. Briefly discuss the role of English in education in India.

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3. In what way is English in lndia a language of prestige and power?

4. Did the perpetuation of English in India do any damnage to India11bnguages and

culture?
Engiisb and its Vuietics

2.3 INDIANISATION OF ENGLISH I -

The foregoing section outlines one dimension of the Indianisation of English i.e. the coming
of English to India, its spread and consolidation in India and the acceptance, use and
functionality of English in India. All these stages of the amval, spread, consolidation and
widespread use are, however, only one part of the story. The other dimension of the
Indianisation of English refers to 'what' has happened to the English language as a
consequence. When a language is learnt and used by a large number of people in non-native
contexts (as is the case with English in India) it is inevitable that certain very obvious and
other not too obvious changes take place in the structure of that language. These changes in
the form and structure of the language occur primarily because of three factors:
1 The structural impact of the other (indigenous) languages present in the g k e n context;
2 The learning-teaching situations that obtain in that context, and
3 The sociocultural context in which the language is used in the new setting.

2.3.1 Structural Pressure of Indian Languages on English

In the previous unit we have already pointed out that when English is learnt and used by
non-native communities of speakers, their own native language or first language (L1) often
leaves traces on the English (L2) that they acquire. In the Indian context too this
phenomenon of interference and transfer leaves its traces on the structure of English -- on
the sounds, vocabulary and syntax of English. In the Indian context, the picture is not at all
simple because the Indian learners and users of English hail from different regions and have
different mother-tongues. When we talk about the Indianisation of English, we first have to
recognise the fact that this Indianization takes place in different parts of India where
/
different languages are spoken and used. A Bengali's English cames influences of Bangla,
a Tamilian's English has several features of Tamil and a Panjabi's English has several
features of Panjabi. So much so that at one level it is possible to talk about Banglaisation or
Tamilisation or Panjabisation of English. These influences (interference or transfer) operate
at all levels on the structure of English but are most noticeable at the level of sounds. This is
the level at which most of us are able to recognise Bengali English, Tamil English, Panjabi
English and so on. The different Indian languages, also have a considerable impact on the
grammar and lexicon (vocabulary) of English and one can find certain typically Bangla or
, Tamil or Panjabi grammatical features that have crept into English. However, it is not
within the scope of this unit to go into features of interference and transfer from different
Indian languages. What is more important is the fact that as Indians belonging to different '
linguistic backgrounds move up on the educational ladder, and as they interact more and
more with other Indians belonging to different linguistic backgrounds, they tend to drop
certain regional features which mark their English, and move towards a form of English
which is acceptable as standard, educated Indian English. We shall go into the whole issue
of Standard Indian English in the next unit. At this point, suffice it to say, that a sort of
double denativisation of English takes place. First an English is learn1 which is denativised
in the sense that it is not really British or American or any other native English, but a
regionally marked Indian English. Then certain regional features are consciously dropped in
order to move closer to some fonn of educated, pan-Indian English that is understood, used
and accepted universally. We shall give below just one example to illustrate our point. Let
us take the English word "mother". In Standard British English it would be pronounced as
lm~bd:!. A Bangla speaker would perhaps first learn it as /ma$ ar/ wherein the first vowel
is changed due to the influence of the Bangla vowel-system. Later on, through training and
interaction with other educated Indians, s h e might change it to '/ma4 arl. The third form
wPdld represent educated Indian English or Indianised English. What happens i**most
cases, however, is that Indian users of English tend to move towards a pan-lndAanEnglish in
terms of grammar but continue to retain, to a greater or lesser degree, the phonetic features
of their respective mother tongues or dominant regional Indian languages.

2.3.2 The Teaching-learning Situation

What is perhaps equally important to remember while discussing the Indiailisation of
English is that the inillioils of Indians who lean1 and use English d o so in the typical Indian
school system or classroom situation. The teachers who teach English are Indians (Bengalis,
 l o d i t i o o of English
Tamilians, Panjabis, Kashmiris, etc.) just as the students are. In addition, the other subject
teachers are also Indians (Bengalis, Tamilians, Panjabis, Kashmiris, etc.). The students are
thus exposed to models (teachers) who themselves use some form of Indian English. The
learners find themselves in a situation where most of the exposure they get is to Indian
English (except in cases where they have to read o r consult books or articles written by
native British o r American writers o r when they get exposure to native British or American
speakers of English on the T.V. o r the radio). The other students use Indian English, their
parents at home use Indian English, people in the market place or government offices use
Indian English. The Indian learners of English get rare, if any, exposure to models of native
standard English. As a matter of fact, even the written texts (most of them, in any case) are.
by Indian authors. All this has the inevitable effect that the learners have access to and
opportunity for learning Indian forms of English.
I
23.3 Socio-cultural Contexts of Use of English
f What is true o f the learning and the teaching situation, is equally true of the various contexts
in which English is used in India. The Indian users of English have to live, interact and
1
communicate in the Indian socio-cultural settings. They have to co~nmunicatewith other
Indian users of English, and they have to deal with aspects of Indian reality. Thus a trader
has to sell "sarees, shirtings and suitings", a garment manufacturer has to market
"exquisite Lucknavi kurta-pajama suits", a caterer has to set up "shamianas" and
"multi-coloured pandals" and provide "vegetarian, non-vegetarian, mughlai and tandoori
cuisine"; a journalist has to report on what transpires in the "Lok Sabha" or about
"dharnas, walk-outs, bandhs" and "atrocities on Dalits"; an art critic has to discuss
"vigorous jugalbandi" and "thekas" and "thumris" or "styles of gayaki" and
"gharanas" or renderings of the "mahabharata in Odissi". The Indian police has
"hawaldars and thanedars" who maintain "panchnamas" and "sipahis" who have to
report for duty at the "chowki" or "thana"; the rich English-speaking businessman goes
on "Vaishno Devi yatra" or offers "prasadam", throws lavish parties on the occasion of
the "mundan sanskar" of his grandson or advertises for a "very fair, homely convented
girl, expert in household affairs" for his "foreign-returned, tall, handsome son earning six
figures annually". The politicians have to re~ni~iisce about the teachings of "bapu" or
invoke the principles of "panchsheel" or exhort the masses to vote for their party through
"rathyatras" or "padyatras". These are only a few instances of English Language being
used to talk about, describe and cope with the I~idianreality. Little children refer to the man
I from the neighbourhood a s "Sharma uncle" and his wife as "Sumi auntie" o r report on the
antics of a visiting "cousin-sister". Asurgeon has to be addressed as "Doctor Saheb", a
professor a s "Professor Saheb" and a superior in office as "saab" or "Saheb". The point
is that the Indian reality, Indian subjects and Indian contexts and norms of behaviour
reshape and reform English in India. It is this reshaping and reforming of English that leads
lo what we call.the Indianisation of English. As pointed out earlier, it manifests itself at all
levels of the structure of English -- sounds, words, word-combinations and grammatical
' constructions. In the section that follows we shall give examples of each of these. To end
this section w e give below a quote from Raja Rao who, in his inimitable style, is talking
1 about the lndianisation of English.
...One has to convey in a language that is not one's own the spirit that is one's own.
One has to convey various shades and omissions of a certain thought-movemeot that
looks maltreated in an alien language. I use the word "alien", yet English is not
really an alien language to us. It is the language of our intellectual make-up ... but not
of our elnotiorla1 make-up. We are instinctively bilingual, many of us writing in our
own language and in English. We cannot write like the English. We should not ....
Our method o f expression therefore, has to be a dialect which will some day prove to
be as distinctive and colourful a s the Irish o r the American. Time alone will justify
it ... the tempo of Indian life must be infused into our English expression, even as the
tempo of American or Irish life has gone into theirs.

Check Your Progress - 2

1 What are the factors that lead to the process of Indianization of English?
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2 Observe the children in your class. Give 10 instances of the structural features of their
language that influence their English. These features could be phonetic, syntactic or
lexical.

Open a newspaper or a magazine and pick out 10 examples of the Indianisation of

English due to socio-cultural factors.

2.4 INDIANISATION OF ENGLISH - I1

So far we-have tried to outline for you the history of English in India, the uses and functions
of English in India and the factbrs that lead to the Indianisation of English. In this section
we shall give a brief account of the ways in which the forms and structures of English have
changed and how the resultant variety is a distinctively Tndianised variety of English. By
now it must have become quite clear that two kinds of pressures are at work in this process
of Indianisation: first the structural pressure of Indian languages which are L1 for the Indian
users of English, and second, the typical Indian socio-cultural contexts and behavioural
norms that lead to forms that appear different, deviant or even odd when one compares
them to native standard varieties of English.

2.4.1 Sound System of "Indian English": Vowels and Consonants

As stated earlier, the most easily noticeable features of a language variety are phonetic
features. As a result of the fact that English in India is used by speakers of a large number of
Indian languages, the sound-patterns of Indian English are markedly different from those of
native varieties of English. Phonetic features can be considered under two heads: (a)
features of stress-placement (b) sounds of English i.e. consonants and vowels.
As you go through this part of the unit, you will come acmss certain technical terms. Please
refer to Block 4 of this course to understand these terms.
Stress Pattern

Indianisation of English has led to the emergence of a variety that is easily recognisable due
to its stress-patterns which are distinct from the stress-patterns of native varieties of
English. The reason given for this phenomenon is that most of the Indian languages are
syllable-timed, whereas English is a stress-timed language, with a rather complex system of
primary stress, secondary stress and absence of stress. Native varieties of English also have
a system of distinguishing grammatical categories to which words belong (e.g. nouns and
verbs) through different stress placement. Moreover, vowels in unstressed syllables are
reduced or weakened. In Indianised English, however, what we find is
 i) a general tendency not to distinguish between primary auld secondary stress;
ii) an even stress-pattern for words with analogous syllable-structures, irrespective of the
grammatical category to which they belong e.g. ~ ~ o u nadjectives,
s, verbs;
iii) a tendency to place stress on the suffix itself;
iv) non-reduction or full realisation of vowels in unstressed syllables or syllables with a
weak stress.

v) a tendency to break up gra~nmaticalunits within sentences arbitrarily, leadiilg to the

i placemelit of stress on words other than those that should carry "sense-stress".

)
I
We give below a few examples to illustrate the points given above. NE stands for native
standard English and IE for Indianised English. We shall use these abbreviations throughout
this section.
I The word "conduct" for instance, is used both as noun and verb in English. In NE the Sirs1
syllable is stressed when it is used a s noun [ ' k m d ~ k t ]while the second syllable is stressed
when it is a verb thus giving us [kan'dfikt]. You will also notice that in the second instance,
I the vowel in the firjt syllable is reduced from [I] to [a 1. In IE, the general tendency is lo
pronounce the word without any shift of stress, as well as the consequent reduction of the
vowel. Consider another example "gentleman" where the primary stress is on "gentle"
and the secondary or weak stress on "man". Thus in NE we get /'d3~ntlmard with a
reduction of vowel in "man". In IE, on the other hand we get /d3entl'md
Finally, the sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables which is marked by a rising
-falling rhythm in NE, is generally absent in IE, giving it what has been called a
"monotone" or "sing-song' ' quality.
Sounds of "Indian English": Vowels and Consonants
Regional features apart, "Indian English" shows quite a few divergences from standard
native varieties. It is well-known that even highly educated Indian users of English often
have regional peculiarities in their pronunciation e.g. many Bengalis or Oriyas fail to
maintain the disti~ictiotibetween Is/ and /sW in such words as 'sip' and 'ship', the Bengalis
tending to pronounce both as "ship" or even "sheep". However, there are certain
pan-Indian features which characterise Indian English. We give below a list of the vowels
and consonants of IE.
I Vowels (Pure)
I /i:/ as in "teak"
I /i/ as in "tick"
I
/e/ as in "take"
, /E/ as in "trek"
,.i /&I as in "tack"
/a/ as in "task"
/Q/ as in "talk"
lo:/ as in "told"
/U / as in "took"
/u:/ as in "tool"
/a 1as in "tuck"
Vowel glides (diphthongs)
/ai/asin "sky"
/au/ a s in "cow"
/si/as in "boil''
English and its Varieties
/ea/ as in "hair"
/ia/ as in "here"
/ua/ as in "cruel"
As compared to standard British English pronuncation (RP), the following features
characterise "Indian English" :Whereas RP has 12pure vowels and 9 diphthongs glides,
IE has 11 pure'vowels and 6 glides. Whereas RP has M and [3j as two distinct sounds, IE
uses only ''a"with its own way of distinguishing such words as "caught" and "cot" by
vowel length or such words as "shot" and "short" by the presence or absence of "r".
Further, IE has pure vowels 'e' '0' in place of RP diphthongs "ei", "au" in such words as
"day" and "go". Finally weak forms of vowels are not used in unstressed syllables in IE.
The consonants of LE may be represented as follows:
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palato Alv. Palatal Velar

(t,d) d d3
Affricates
Fricatives
Nasals m n n
Lateral L

Again comparing the cowonant system of 'IE'with that of RP,the following remarks are in
order. In 'IE'

i) The voiceless stops /p/ /t/ and /k/ are not aspirated in stressed initial position;
ii) /t/ and /d/ (which are retroflex in articulation) are generally used in place of the RP
alveolar /t/ and /dl;
iii) RP sounds / 81 and 131 represented in the written form by the letters "th", are generally
realised as /t,hl
and /$4.
iv) (r) is often fully realised in medial and final position e.g. in such words as sharp, short,
car and bar.

v) no distinction is generally maintained between [vJ and [w], the latter being used almost
invariably.
vi) consonant clusters like 'sp', 'st' and 'sk', occuring at the beginning of words, are often
preceded by the vowel (I), so that one gets such a forms as lIskul/ for 'school'or
separated by an epenthetic vowel as in /SaKul/.

2.4.2 Lexis of Indian English

While phonetic features are the most easily noticeable characteristics of Indianised English
(as, in fact, they are of all native and non-native varieties), lexis which includes words,
word-formations and word-combinations, is not less a distinguishing feature of 'IE'. We
shall discuss lexis of IE under two broad categories (a) preference for certain kinds of words
in LE, and @) presence of words of Indian origin in English. We shall also add a note on the
use of certain words to denote meanings other than those associated with them in NE
varieties.
Preferred words (lexical items) in 'IE': While discussing these we have to remember that
most Indians learn their English in formal, classroom settings. This has, in effect, given 'IE'
a formal and bookish quality which several scholars have noticed. Moreover, Indian
leaniers also have ~nostlybeen exposed to fonnal discourse on different subjects as well as
to classics of English literature written in earlier times. This perhaps accounts for a marked
presence of words and phrases in 'IE', which may appear outdated, obsolete or archaic to
many. Fonnal learning, depel~denceon books and lack of emphasis on spoken English has
 also tended to make 'IE' formal rather than spontaneous, colloquial and conversational. In
addition, there is also the fact that English is used in India more in formal administrative,
commercial, judicial and educational contexts, whereas the more informal interactions are
taken care of by some India11lauguage (Ll) or by a mixture of IE and L1. It is not surprising
therefore to find scholars listing the following features of IE:

a) Latinity: preference for such words as "demise" over "death", "bosom" over
"chest" "extend" over "give", etc.

b) Polite diction: a marked feature of IE is a preponderance of polite forms. This is partly

due to the politelless code that operates in Indian society, and partly due to the fact that
English, as mentioned earlier, is used mostly in formal contexts such as administration
and law, which places a premium ow polite forms. As a result one gets such forms as
"Respected Sir", "Thanking you", and an abunda~iceof words and phrases for
expressing respect, politeness and gratitude.
I

c) Excessive use of cliches and phrases: 'IE' is marked by the presence gf phrases such
as "Himalayan blunder", "nation-building", "change of heart", "teeming millions",
etc. as well as, such cliches as "at your earliest convenience", "receipt gratefully
L
acknowledged" , "do the needful", "better imagined than described", "leave
severely alone", "each and every", etc.

d) Certain nominal groups of NE such as "bunch of keys", "address of welcome",

"rnember of the family", etc'. are changed in 'IE'to "key bunch", "welcome
address" and "family member". Another common example of sacb IE usage is "box
of matches" being realised as "match-box".
I

Words of Indian origin in 'IE' : Right from the time when the English first came to India,
a large number of words from Indian languages gradually found their way into the English
language. Even in the early days of the British Raj, the native English speakers found it
useful to employ certain I~ldianwords in dealing with Indians in matters pertaining to law,
administration and agriculture, etc. Words such as "rajah" "rani", "pankhawalla",
"diwan", "cot", "sepoy", "taluka" are legacies of that period. As the contact between
English and India11lauguages conti~~ued, ~iioreand Inore India11words found their way into
English. 'IE' today has a large body of lexical items from different Indian languages. We
can only give a few examples here: "almirah", "bandh", "satyagrah", "tiffin", "hartal",
I
"Harijan", "dak", "panchayat", "mullah", "khud' ', "chaprassi", etc. The phenomenon

i is so salient that we have dictionaries of Indian words in English (for reference see list of
books at the end of this unit).
Quite a few lexical items of 111dia1lEnglish find place in 'IE' through their co-occurrence
with certain English words.In several nominal compounds, we have an Indian word
occurring as the first or seco~idrne~nberalong with an English word. Co~lsiderfor example,
the following:

I
I
steel+almirah, taxi+wala, doctor+sahib, etc.
The inciderlce of words from Indian lauguages in IE is on the increase. At present the
I tendency is to feel free to use ally word from Indian languages in 'IE' discourse. These
I words need not necessarily have to deal with administration, law, commerce, or sports.
They could very well refer to dance and music, food and cuisine, dress and fashion, or any
other topic. Users of English, iu fact, feel that it makes their English more colourful; gives it
an Indian flavour and, at the same time, enables them to talk about 111dianreality more
effectively. Creative writers, art critics, journalists and those associated with the electro~lic
~ilediaare IIOW increasingly using Indian words in 'IE'.
At this point we would like to make.a inentio~lof certain wages in 'IE' where the lexical
items do not exactly mean the same thing as they do in NE varieities. An interesting
example is the word "uncle" which is used only as a kinship term in NE, both as term of
address as well as tenn of reference. I11 'IE', on the other hand, though "uncle" is used as a
term of reference while sigm~llingkinship, as a term of address it is almost invariably used
as a non-kinship, polite ter~ii.Thus we have children addressing eiders (neighbours,
shopkeepers, friends of the fanlily, busdrivers as "uncle". The same is true of the word
"aunt" which in IE becomes "auntie": The following examples illustrate the point:
Eqglisb and its Varieties Sharmatuncle, Ram+uncle, uncle+ji
Veena+auntie, Vennatauntie, auntietji, etc.
Where terms of address are to be used in situations where actual kinship is involved, IE
users tend to use the terms that their Ll has. Several other of this type of usage
can be cited, not only from the domain of kinship, but from several other areas.

2.43 Syntactic and Stylistic Features of Indian English

'IE' has sylltactic features that distinguish it from NE varieites. In this unit we shall not go
into the question whether these features are "mistakes", "deviations" or "differences".
Our collcenl here, primarily, is to list certain feature which are said to characterise IE.
The Indian lai~guages,as a rule, do not have a system of articles parallel to that of English.
The three English articles: 'a', 'an' and 'the' perfom functions which in Indian languages
are ~ e r f o m e dby the numeral "one" or the demonstrative "that" or pronoun "he". As a
consequence, a marked feature of IE is a rather unpredictable use of the articles. Typical
manifestations of the unpredictability are in the use of no article where NE typically uses
'the'. The other, less frequent manifestation is the use of the definite articIe where has
"110 article" and the use of 'a' where 'an' is to be used as per NE usage.

Certain other syntactic features, as listed by Kachru (1983) are as follows:

a) The reflexive verbs (e.g. enjoy, exert) are sometimes not followed by the reflexive
prolloun. Thus instead of "he enjoyed himself ', '' exerted myself" we have simply
'(he enjoyed" and "I exerted".
b) In constructions such as verbtparticle (e.g. dispose of), the particle is often added even
to verbs that do not normally take the particle (e.g. comprises of, eat off).
c) Use of constructions like "I am doing" and ''1 was doing" for "I do" and "I did".
d) Use of simple past tense (I did) for the perfective (I
have done).
e) Use of present continuous (I am doing) for repetitive or durative (I have been doing).
f) "When I will come" and "If I will come" instead of "Whe~lI come" and "If I
come".
g) "For doing" instead of "to do" expressing purpose or object (e.g. award punishment
to improve his character).
There are several stylistic -featuresthat have become the distillgushing characteristic of
IE. We briefly list some of these below:
i) T a g questions: IE ge~~erally
uses only one fonn of tag question "isn't it" whereas in
NE one finds different manifestations of the tag question depending on the form of the
verb in the main sentence.
ii) Contracted forms: IE generally does not have as many contracted forms, especially
such forms as didn't, shan't, aren't, mightn't, etc.
iii) Complex and Compound sentences: IE is marked by a general preference for
complex and compound sentences where one would find simple sentences in NE
varieties. The use of several coordinate and subordinate clauses often makes the
sentences rather lengthy and difficult to process for meaning.
iv). Passive constructions: Another feature of IE is an excessive use of passive
constructions. This is perhaps a legacy of the earlier days when civil servants used to
write reports/summaries for their officers. It has also been suggested that it is due to the
typical Indian attitude of detachment.
v) Indirect expressions: 'IE' users gelletally prefer to use indirect and roundabout
expressio~lsrather thau direct or specific ones, especially wheu asking for a favour. It
hasjbeen suggested that this is due to the cultural differences between Indians and
native speakers of English in Britain or the USA. Indians generally do not like to ask
for favours in direct terms, whereas "in English speaking countries ...most polite is
usually most specific".
vi) Expressions of politeness: 'IE' users, as remarked earlier also, show a marked
preference for overt markers of politeness. Words and phrases, such as "kind
attention", "kind notice", "respectfully submit", "with due respect", "have the
honour to ...." are frequently found in 'IE'.
Several other features, lexical, syntactic and stylistic, may be listed. It is not within the
scope of this unit to give an exhaustive description of Indianised English. We hope,
however, that we have been able to provide a useful description of the process of
Indianisation as well as its effects on the form of IE.
Check Your P r o p s 3
1 List five phonetic features which you think are characteristic of the English spoken in
m
your region.
....................................................................
....................................................................

2 In the light of the description of IE given in this unit do you think IE is a "badly learnt
variety" or only a different variety of English?

3 Collect some specimens of written IE and list some of the features that you think are
Indian.

2.5 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, we give you an insight into the process of Indianization of English. In its
sojourn of three hundred years in India, English has interacted with the Indian languages,
influencing them and being influenced by them in turn. This mutual influence has been at
the level of sounds, words, grammar and style. Moreover, the unique sociocultural setup of
India has also transformed English, making it closer to the Indian soil.
An awareness of this process of Indianizltion of English will perhaps help revise your
attitudes towards the so-called 'errors' that your students may make.
English m d its Varieties

2.6 KEY WORDS

variation differences in pronunciation, grammar, or word
choice within a language
native variety of English countries where English is spoken as the mother
tongue
non-native varieties of English varieties of English used in countries where
English is a second language, such as Singapore
English, Nigerian English, Indian English.
transfer the carrying over of learned behaviour from one
situation to another
interference the effect of one language on the learning of
another
domain an area of human activity in which one particular
speech variety is generally used. A domain can
be considered as a p u p of related speech
situations.
ilttra-regional communication communication within the same region
inter-regional communication communication between different states
Indianization of English adaptations a language may undergo when it is
used in a different cultural and social situations.
English in India, for example, is said to have
undergone a process of Indianization because
changes have occurred in aspects of its
phonology, vocabulary, grammar, etc., s o that it
is now recognised as a distinct variety of
English--Indian English.
pan-Indian English concerning the entire country
phonetic pertaining to sounds
syntactic pertaining to grammar
lexical pertaining to words
syllable-timed rhythm a speech rhythm in which all syllables are said to
recur a t regular intervals, as in most Indian
languages
stress-timed rhythm a speech rhythm in which stressed syllables are
said to recur at equal intervals of time. English
follows a stress-timed rhythm.
an expression which has been used s o much that
it is no longer original or effective
nominal group a term for a linguistic unit which has some, but
not all the characteristics of a noun.

2.7 SOME USEFUL BOOKS

1. Agnihotri, R.K.and A.L. Khanna, (ed) Second Language Acquisition,, Social and
Linguistic Aspects of English in India. New Delhi, Sage publications, 1994
2. Kachru, Braj B, The Indianisation ofEnglish. Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1993.
3. Gupta, R.S. and Kapil Kapoor, (ed.) English in India: Issues and problems. Delhi,
Academic Foundation, 1991
4. Yule and Burnell, Hobson-Jobsort.. London, William C r o o k I903
5. Whitworth, George C., An Anglo Indian Dictionary London, Kegan Paul: 1885
6. Hawkins R.E., Common Itrdinn Words in Eizglistl. Delhi, Oxford University Press,
1984.
2.8 ANSWERS I
Check Your Progress 1
1. See 2.2.1 for the answer.
2. See 2.2.2 (a) for the answer.
3. Pick out points from the entire section 2.2.
4. See 2.2.1 as well as give your own points.
Check Your Progress 2
1. See 2.3 for the answer.
Check Your Progress 3
2. It is a different variety of English. We give you some points which you could include
in writing your answer.
i) used in an Indian sociocultural context
ii) has to interact with other Indian languages
iii) has different functions than in native contexts -- motv restrictive ILiiclioi~
iv) learning - teaching situation is different.