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Template:English language Indian English (IndE,[1] 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.[2] English is one of the two languages used by the Government of India for communication, and is enshrined in the Constitution of India.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5]
Before the dissolution of the British Empire on the Indian subcontinent, the term Indian English broadly referred to Indian English spoken in the Indian subcontinent, also known as British Indian English.
Status
After gaining independence from the British Raj in 1947, English remained an official language of India. After the partition of India, Pakistani English and Bangladeshi English were considered separate from Indian English.
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,[6][7][8][9] and around 30% of the Indian population can speak English to some extent.[10]
According to the 2001 Census, 12.18% of Indians knew English at that time. Of those, approximately 2,00,000 reported that it was their first language, 8.6 crore reported that it was their second, and 3.9 crore reported that it was their third.[11]
According to the 2005 India Human Development Survey,[12] 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.[13] 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 1.5 crore in 2008–09 to 2.9 crore by 2013–14.[14]
According to the 2011 Census, 12.9 crore Indians (10.6%) spoke English. 2,59,678 (0.02%) Indians reported English as their first language.[15] It concluded that approximately 8.3 crore Indians (6.8%) reported English as their second language, and 4.6 crore (3.8%) reported it as their third language, making English the second-most spoken language in India.[16]
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.[17]
As a multilingual country, English is the lingua franca among different regions of India.[18] 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."[19] 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.[20] 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".[21]
Court language
Under the Indian Constitution, English is the language of India's Supreme Court and of all the high courts of India.[5] 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.[22] Template:As of, the high courts of Punjab and Haryana were also awaiting presidential approval to use Hindi alongside English,[23] and the Madras High Court has been taking steps to use Tamil alongside English.[24]
Names
The first occurrence of the term Indian English dates from 1696,[25] 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).[26] An item of Anglo-Indian English was known as an Anglo-Indianism from 1851.[26]
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).[27] Sometimes, Indian English is also referred to as Macaulay's English after Thomas Babington Macaulay.[28]
Features
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.[29][30][31][32]
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,[33] 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.Template:Citation needed
History
British India
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.[34] 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."[35]
Republic of India
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."[36] 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.[37] Indian men who speak fluent English have been found to earn 34% higher hourly salaries than men who don't speak English.[38]
While there is an assumption that English is readily available in India, studies show that its usage is actually restricted to the elite,[39] 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".[40] 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.[41]
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.[42][43]
Hinglish and other hybrid languages
Template:Main Template:See also The term Hinglish is a portmanteau of the languages English 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.[44] The Hindi film industry, more popularly known as Bollywood, incorporates considerable amounts of Hinglish as well.[45] Many internet platforms and voice commands on Google also recognise Hinglish.[44] 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.[46]
Phonology
Vowels
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:
- 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 Template:IPA, never as Template:IPA, water as Template:IPA, etc. Some South Indians, such as native Telugu speakers, speak with a rhotic accent, but the final Template:IPA becomes an Template:IPA, and an alveolar tap Template:IPA is used for /r/, resulting in water and never as Template:IPA or Template:IPA and Template:IPA 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.[48]
- Many North Indians have an intonation pattern similar to Hiberno-English, which perhaps results from a similar pattern used while speaking Hindi.Template:Citation needed
Splits and mergers
- Indian English speakers do not necessarily make a clear distinction between Template:IPAc-en and Template:IPAc-en 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 (Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA 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.Template: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.[49]
- MostTemplate:Citation needed Indians do not have the hoarse-horse merger.
Consonants
The following are the standard variations in Indian English:
- The voiceless plosives Template:IPA 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 Template:IPA in Indian English but Template:IPA 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.Template:Sfn The same is true of the voiceless postalveolar affricate Template:IPA. The local unvoiced aspirated plosives are instead equated with English fricatives, namely Template:IPA and Template:IPA.
- The alveolar stops English Template:IPA, Template:IPA are often retroflex Template:IPA, Template:IPA, especially in the north of India.Template:Sfn 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,Template:Sfn and the use of retroflex consonants is a common feature of Indian English.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 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 Template:IPA preceding alveolar Template:IPA to allophonically change to Template:IPA (Template:Angbr, Template:IPA → Template:IPA). Mostly in north India, some speakers allophonically further change the voiced retroflex plosives to voiced retroflex flap Template:IPA, and the nasal Template:IPA to a nasalised retroflex flap. Among Malayalam speakers, the realisation of English /t/ follows systematic rules. Word-initial /t/ is typically realised as retroflex Template:IPA, while in non-initial positions it may be either alveolar Template:IPA or retroflex Template:IPA, depending on word structure. For example, better is pronounced Template:IPA (alveolar), whereas butter is pronounced Template:IPA (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 Template:IPAc-en and Template:IPAc-en (spelled with th), although [ð] occurs variably as intervocalic allophones in GujaratiTemplate:Sfnp and Tamil. Usually, the aspirated voiceless dental plosive Template:IPA is substituted for Template:IPA in the north (it would be unaspirated in the south) and the unaspirated voiced dental plosive Template:IPA, or possibly the aspirated version Template:IPA, is substituted for Template:IPA.Template:Sfn For example, "thin" would be realised as Template:IPA instead of Template:IPA 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.[49]
- The rhotic consonant /r/ is pronounced by most speakers as an alveolar tap Template:IPA, but may also be pronounced as a retroflex flap Template:IPA or alveolar trill Template:IPA based on the influence by the native phonology, or an alveolar approximant Template:IPA like in most varieties of English.[50][51]
- 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.[52]Template:Sfn
- In recent years, rhoticity has been increasing.Template:Sfn Generally, American English is seen as having a large influence on the English language in India recently.[48]
- Many Indians with rhotic accents prefer to pronounce words with Template:IPA as Template:IPA, such as Template:Angbr as Template:IPA and Template:Angbr as Template:IPA, as opposed to Template:IPA and Template:IPA in more non-rhotic varieties. Speakers with rhotic accents, especially some south Indians, may also pronounce word-final Template:IPA as Template:IPA, resulting in water and never as Template:IPA and Template:IPA respectively.
- Most Indian languages do not differentiate between Template:IPA (voiced labiodental fricative) and Template:IPA (voiced labial–velar approximant). Instead, many Indians use a frictionless voiced labiodental approximant Template:IPA for words with either sound, possibly in free variation with Template:IPA and/or Template:IPA depending upon region. Thus, wet and vet are often homophones.Template:Sfn
- South Indians tend to curl the tongue (retroflex accentuation) less for Template:IPA and Template:IPA.
- Sometimes, Indian speakers interchange Template:IPA and Template:IPA, especially when plurals are being formed, unlike speakers of other varieties of English, who use Template:IPA for the pluralisation of words ending in a voiceless consonant, Template:IPA for words ending in a voiced consonant or vowel, and Template:IPA for words ending in a sibilant.
- In case of the postalveolar affricates Template:IPA Template:IPA, 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 Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA are usually replaced by the VC clusters Template:IPA, Template:IPA and Template:IPA (as in button Template:IPA), or if a high vowel precedes, by Template:IPA (as in little Template:IPA). 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, Template:IPA → Template:IPA.Template:Citation needed
- Indian English uses clear Template:IPA in all instances like Irish English whereas other varieties use clear Template:IPA in syllable-initial positions and dark l Template:IPAblink (velarised-L) in coda and syllabic positions.
- Voiced postalveolar fricative [[[:Template:IPA link]]] is largely nonexistent in most varieties.[53]
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 Template:IPA. A significant portion of Indians thus, even though their native languages do have its nearest equivalent: the unvoiced Template:IPA, often use the voiced palatal affricate (or postalveolar) Template:IPA. This makes words such as Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr sound as Template:IPA and Template:IPA (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 Template:Angbr (for Template:IPA) with the Nuqta to represent Template:IPA (as Template:Angbr). A similar thing happens in other Indian languages like Bengali, with the letters for Template:IPA (except Indian varieties of Nepali and Marathi where Template:Angbr represents /Template:IPA link/) usually being used to represent Template:IPA. This is common among people without formal English education. In Telugu (plus even in Hindi and Punjabi to some extent) Template:IPA and Template:IPA are allophones in some cases, so the words such as fridge Template:IPA become Template:IPA.
- In Assamese, Template:IPA and Template:IPA are pronounced as Template:IPA; and Template:IPA and Template:IPA are pronounced as Template:IPA. Retroflex and dental consonants are not present and only alveolar consonants are used unlike other Indian languages. Similar to Bengali and Odia, Template:IPA is pronounced as Template:IPA and Template:IPA in Assamese. For example; change is pronounced as Template:IPA, vote is pronounced as Template:IPA and English is pronounced as Template:IPA.[54]
- Again, in Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Chhattisgarhi, Kannauji and Odia, all instances of Template:IPA are spoken like Template:IPA (and Template:IPA in Assamese), a phenomenon that is also apparent in their English. Exactly the opposite is seen for many Bengalis.[54]
- 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., Template:Angbr Template:IPA.
- Many Indians with lower exposure to English also may pronounce Template:IPA as an aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive Template:IPA. Again in Hindi Devanagari the loaned Template:IPA from Persian and Arabic is written by putting a dot beneath the grapheme for native Template:IPA Template:Angbr: Template:Angbr. This substitution is rarer than that for Template:IPA, and in fact in many Hindi and Punjabi words Template:IPA is used by native speakers instead of Template:IPA, or the two are used interchangeably.
- Some speakers of Indian English, unless conscious; do not use the voiced postalveolar fricative (Template:IPA). Some Indians use Template:IPA (especially by Hindi and Punjabi speakers) or Template:IPA (basically by most of the Indians, who do not even have Template:IPA phoneme) instead, e.g. Template:Angbr Template:IPA,Template:Sfn and in some south Indian variants, with Template:IPA as in Template:Angbr, e.g. Template:Angbr Template:IPA.Template:Citation needed
Spelling pronunciation
A number of distinctive features of Indian English are due to "the vagaries of English spelling".Template:Sfn 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 Template:Angbr represents a voiced velar plosive (Template:IPA) in other accents, some Indian English speakers supply a murmured version Template:IPA, for example Template:Angbr Template:IPA. No other accent of English admits this voiced aspiration.Template:Sfn
- Similarly, especially with Hindi speakers, the digraph Template:Angbr may be aspirated as Template:IPA or Template:IPA, resulting in realisations such as Template:Angbr Template:IPA, found in no other English accent (although some Scottish accents come close).Template:Sfn This is somewhat similar to the traditional distinction between Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr present in English, however, wherein the former is Template:IPA, whilst the latter is Template:IPA.
- In unstressed syllables, which speakers of American English would realise as a schwa, speakers of Indian English would use the spelling vowel, making Template:Angbr sound as Template:IPA instead of Template:IPA. 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 Template:IPA instead of a Template:IPA as in most other accents.Template:Sfn
- Use of Template:IPA instead of Template:IPA for the "-ed" ending of the past tense after voiceless consonants, for example "developed" may be Template:IPA instead of RP Template:IPA.Template:Sfn
- Use of Template:IPA instead of Template:IPA for the Template:Angbr ending of the plural after voiced consonants, for example Template:Angbr may be Template:IPA instead of Template:IPA.Template:Sfn
- Pronunciation of Template:Angbr as Template:IPA in both the noun and the verb, instead of Template:IPA as a noun and Template:IPA as a verb.
- Silent letters may be pronounced. For example, 'salmon' is usually pronounced with a distinct Template:IPA.
Supra-segmental features
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.[55] Further, in some Indian languages, stress is associated with a low pitch,[56] 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.[57]
Numbering system
The Indian numbering system is preferred for digit grouping.[58] 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 Template:Transliteration Template:Lang) |
| 1,000,000 | 10,00,000 | one million | ten lakh |
| 10,000,000 | 1,00,00,000 | ten million | one crore (from Template:Transliteration Template:Lang) |
| 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 Template:Transliteration Template:Lang) |
| 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 Template:Transliteration Template:Lang) |
Larger numbers are generally expressed as multiples of the above (for example, one lakh crores for one trillion).[59][60]
Vocabulary
Template:Further 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.[61][62]
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.[63]
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[64]
- 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)[65]
- 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)[66]
- 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)[67]
- foreign-returned (adjective): Of a person or group of people who has returned home after living abroad for a while[68]
- freeship (noun): A studentship or scholarship.[69]
- 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)[70]
- 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)[71]
- is it so: Oh really?
- it will be: Template:Dubious span.
- 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."[72]
- 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)[73]
- 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.[74] 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.[75]
- e.g. "I passed out of college in 2007."[75]
- 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.[76]
- 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)[77]
- 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)[78]
- 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))[79]
- 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.
SpellingTemplate:Anchor
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.Template:Sfn
Dictionaries
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).Template:Update inline
See also
- 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
- Pakistani English/Paklish
- Bangladeshi English/Banglish
- Tanglish
- Tenglish
- Commonwealth English
- English as a lingua franca
- Regional accents of English
Footnotes
References
- ↑ Indian English: syntax. De Gruyter(2020-12-31).
- ↑ Case Studies - Asian English. British Library. University of Leeds. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ↑ The Constitution of India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India(1 December 2007)
- ↑ Indian English - A National Model. Journal of English as an International Language({Template:Date).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Court language is English, says Supreme Court. The Economic Times(7 December 2015). Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ↑ Census of India's Indian Census Template:Webarchive, Issue 25, 2003, pp. 8–10, (Feature: Languages of West Bengal in Census and Surveys, Bilingualism and Trilingualism).
- ↑ "Family-wise Grouping of the 122 Scheduled and Non-scheduled Languages". Template:Webarchive – 2001 Census of India
- ↑ Tropf, Herbert S. (2005). Template:Usurped. Siemens AG, Munich.
- ↑ For the distinction between "English Speakers" and "English Users", see TESOL-India (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), "India is World's Second Largest English-Speaking Country". Template:Webarchive. The article explains the difference between the 350 million number mentioned in a previous version of this Bharatpedia article and the current number: Template:Blockquote
- ↑ The Problem With The English Language In India, Flows, Capital. Forbes. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
- ↑ Sanskrit and English: there's no competition. The Hindu(24 November 2014). Retrieved 9 April 2021.
- ↑ EF English Proficiency Index – A comprehensive ranking of countries by English skills. www.ef.com. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
- ↑ Human development in india{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2010). ISBN 978-0-19-806512-8
- ↑ Number of children studying in English doubles in 5 years. The Times of India(28 September 2015).
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedcensusindia.gov.in - ↑ EF English Proficiency Index – India. www.ef.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
- ↑ English as a Lingua Franca in a Multilingual India. National Research University Higher School of Economics Journal of Language & Education({Template:Date).
- ↑ India Faces a Linguistic Truth: English Spoken Here(2011-02-17). Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- ↑ Speeches Political. Routledge India(2019).
- ↑ Writing for an Indian Business Audience. Purdue University. Retrieved 2025-06-13.
- ↑ Use of Hindi Language in Courts. Business Standard India(28 April 2016). Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ↑ Haryana to approach guv for promoting use of Hindi in HC. The Times of India. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ↑ Government taking efforts to make Tamil official language in HC. The Hindu(20 March 2020).
- ↑ Ovington, J. (1696). A Voyage to Suratt, in the Year 1689, p. 326.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Lambert, James (2012). "Beyond Hobson-Jobson: Towards a new lexicography for Indian English", English World-Wide 33(3): 294.
- ↑ Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of 'lishes': The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 26. Template:Doi
- ↑ Through The Ages 8{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Vishv Books Private Ltd.. ISBN 978-93-5065-251-0
- ↑ Mukesh Ranjan Verma and Krishna Autar Agrawal: Reflections on Indian English literature (2002), page 163: "Some of the words in American English have spelling pronunciation and also pronunciation spelling. These are also characteristic features of Indian English as well. The novels of Mulk Raj Anand, in particular, are full of examples of ..."
- ↑ Pingali Sailaja: Indian English (2009), page 116: "So what was Cauvery is now Kaveri. Some residual spellings left by the British do exist such as the use of ee for /i:/ as in Mukherjee. Also, some place names such as Cuddapah and Punjab"
- ↑ Edward Carney: Survey of English Spelling (2012), page 56: "Not all distributional differences, however, have important consequences for spelling. For instance, the ... Naturally enough, Indian English is heavily influenced by the native language of the area in which it is spoken."
- ↑ Indian English Literature (2002), page 300: "The use of Indian words with English spellings: e.g. 'Mundus,' 'raksha'; 'Ed Cherukka,' 'Chacko Saar Vannu'"
- ↑ The most distinctive counting system in English? Indian cardinal numbers. Oxford English Dictionary(2012-08-16). Retrieved 2020-05-24. - Shapiro is/was an OED employee. The article states: "The opinions and other information contained in the OED blog posts and comments do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Oxford University Press."
- ↑ MacKenzie, John (January 2013). "A family empire", BBC History Magazine.
- ↑ Indian English in the OED September 2017 update. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University. Retrieved 2025-12-18.
- ↑ The Official Languages Act, 1963 | Department of Official Language | Ministry of Home Affairs | GoI. rajbhasha.gov.in. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Redefining Colonial Legacies: India and the English Language, Timalsina, Tarun. Harvard Political Review(2021-03-18). Retrieved 2025-02-19.
- ↑ The rise of Hinglish: How the media created a new lingua franca for India's elites, Daniyal, Shoaib. Scroll.in(18 June 2017). Retrieved 14 September 2017.
- ↑ Indian English -- A National Model. Journal of English as an International Language({Template:Date).
- ↑ Constructs of Indian English in language 'guidebooks'. World Englishes({Template:Date).
- ↑ To Eat 'Snacks Or Snakes?' Discover The Idiosyncrasies Of Bhutanese English. dailybhutan.com. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- ↑ The idiosyncrasies of Bhutanese English – Kuensel Online. kuenselonline.com. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Hinglish gets the most laughs, say Mumbai's standup comics. The Times of India. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ↑ Decoding the Bollywood poster - National Science and Media Museum blog. blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk(28 February 2013). Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ↑ Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of 'lishes': The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 1-32. Template:Doi
- ↑ Variation and change in the short vowels of Delhi English. Language Variation and Change({Template:Date).
- ↑ 48.0 48.1 The Readers' Editor writes: Why is American English becoming part of everyday usage in India?, Reddy, C. Rammanohar. Scroll.in(6 August 2017). Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ↑ 49.0 49.1 The Vowels of Delhi English, Domange, Raphaël(2023).
- ↑ English in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1976)
- ↑ Indian English Phonologics. Phonologics. Linda J. Ferrier-Reid, Robert MacAuslan and Joel MacAuslan. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- ↑ Indian Writing in English: Pre to Post Independence{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Nitya Publications(2019). ISBN 978-81-943432-7-1
- ↑ Indian English: phonology{{#if:Gargesh|, Gargesh}. De Gruyter Mouton(18 March 2008). ISBN 3110196387
- ↑ 54.0 54.1 Assamese. Journal of the International Phonetic Association({Template:Date).
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Onset of Rising Pitch in Focused Words in Hindi: an Experimental Study.
- ↑ Varshney, R.L., "An Introductory Textbook of Linguistics and Phonetics", 15th Ed. (2005), Student Store, Bareilly.
- ↑ Alex's Adventures in Numberland: Dispatches from the Wonderful World of Mathematics{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. A&C Black(2010-04-05). ISBN 9781408811146
- ↑ Investors lose Rs 4.4 lakh crore in four days. Business Standard(27 November 2010). Retrieved 7 November 2013.
- ↑ Corporate chiefs getting crores in salaries: 100 and counting!. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
- ↑ James Lambert (2014). Indian "English slang". In Julie Coleman (ed.) Global English Slang: Methodologies and Perspectives (pp. 126–134). London: Routledge.
- ↑ Lambert, James (2018). "Anglo-Indian slang in dictionaries on historical principles". World Englishes 37(2): 248–260. Template:Doi
- ↑ Indian Englishes in the Twenty-First Century: Unity and Diversity in Lexicon and Morphosyntax{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Cambridge University Press(21 December 2023). ISBN 978-1-009-32379-6
- ↑ cinema hall Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
- ↑ UP cinema halls to show Kumbh logo before screening movies(22 April 2016). Retrieved 24 May 2018.Template:Dead link
- ↑ Yogi Accuses Opposition of Ranking Up Inflation. The Pioneer(27 May 2018). Retrieved 28 May 2018.
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite OED
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ 75.0 75.1 You studied so hard you passed out?. Times of India Blog(2019-09-13). Retrieved 2022-08-19.
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
Bibliography
- In Search of Indian English: History, Politics and Indigenisation{{#if:Auddy|, Auddy}. Routledge(2020). ISBN 978-0-367-35271-4
- Phonetics for Communication Disorders{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2014). ISBN 978-1-317-77795-3
- [{{{url}}} The Indo-Aryan Languages]. Routledge.
- Linguistic Theory and South Asian Languages: Essays in honour of K. A. Jayaseelan{{#if:Sailaja|, Sailaja}. John Benjamins Publishing Company(2007). ISBN 978-90-272-9245-2
- Indian English{{#if:Sailaja|, Sailaja}. Edinburgh University Press(2009). ISBN 978-0-7486-2595-6
- Accents of English{{#if:Wells|, Wells}. Cambridge University Press(1982). ISBN 0-521-28541-0
Further reading
- HOBSON-JOBSON: Being a glossary of Anglo-Indian colloquial words and phrases{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. John Murray, London(1886)
- The English Language{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Penguin(1990)
- 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{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. K. Paul, Trench(1885)
- What ails English language teaching?. The Hindu(24 September 2017). Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- Rue the rules. The Economist(27 August 2016). Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- India Faces a Linguistic Truth: English Spoken Here. The New York Times(16 February 2011). Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- The Problem With The English Language In India. Forbes(6 November 2014). Retrieved 9 May 2018.
- Spoken English Learning.
- Register Variation in Indian English{{#if:Balasubramanian|, Balasubramanian}. John Benjamins Publishing(2009). ISBN 978-90-272-2311-1
- South Asian English: Structure, Use, and Users{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. University of Illinois Press(1996). ISBN 978-0-252-06493-7
- The Indianisation of English: the English language in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(1983). ISBN 0-19-561353-8
- The Handbook of World Englishes{{#if:Gargesh|, Gargesh}. John Wiley & Sons(17 February 2009). ISBN 978-1-4051-8831-9
- Legacies of Colonial English: Studies in Transported Dialects{{#if:Hickey|, Hickey}. Cambridge University Press(2004). ISBN 978-0-521-83020-1
- Beyond Hobson-Jobson: Towards a new lexicography for Indian English.
- Setting the record straight: An in-depth examination of Hobson-Jobson.
- The Syntax of Spoken Indian English{{#if:Lange|, Lange}. John Benjamins Publishing(2012). ISBN 978-90-272-4905-0
- Indian English: Texts and Interpretation{{#if:Mehrotra|, Mehrotra}. John Benjamins Publishing(1998). ISBN 90-272-4716-1
- Structural Nativization in Indian English Lexicogrammar{{#if:Schilk|, Schilk}. John Benjamins Publishing(2011). ISBN 978-90-272-0351-9
- Contemporary Indian English: Variation and Change{{#if:Sedlatschek|, Sedlatschek}(2009). ISBN 978-90-272-4898-5
- Guide for Multilingual Student Writing World Englishes in U.S. Classrooms: Working with Indian English Speakers, Khan, Sharmin. San Jose State University.
External links
- English in India. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
- Indian general spoken Problems in English Template:Webarchive.
- 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)