INDIAN ENGLISH

INTRODUCTION:

This essays deals with Indian English (IE) and its features. This paper has been
divided into four parts. The first part deals with the historical development of IE. In the
second part, the sociolinguistic status and the use of the variety will be discussed. The third
part deals with the main distinctive features. In the fourth part, two linguistic features will be
discussed in detail.

The presence of English language in India dates back to the early 1600s when the
British came to India in search of trade after Queen Elizabeth I charted the East India
Company. Nevertheless, the trade was not the only reason for the spread of English in the
Indian subcontinent. In 1698 British missionaries were allowed to come to India to spread
Protestantism. Schools began to be established and by 1787 missionaries were in charge of
all educational activities. Macaulay’s Minute (1835) established English as the main
language for the higher education in India. Nowadays, English is considered as an
“associate official language”.

1. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF IE:

The introduction of the English language to India is linked with the British
Colonization of India. The British first came to India as traders in the early 1600s when
Queen Elizabeth I charted the East India Company. Gradually, the Company had taken
control of many territories across India. In 1784, the British Government started to take a
more active part in the governance of India. In 1857, the first war of Independence (or the
Sepoy Mutiny) took place in the Indian subcontinent. Nevertheless, Indians were defeated by
the British. In 1858, The East Indian Company was abolished and the Parliament took
control of all Indian states. The British rule of the Indian subcontinent is known as “the Raj”
and it lasted from 1858 until 1947 when India gained independence from Great Britain.
English began to play an important role in the education system after the Macaulay’s
Minute (1835) was passed. In 1857 three universities were set up by the government. The
importance of English language increased with the spread of universities. Many high-class
Indians studied in universities that adopted a British- style of education in the 1850´s. They
read books about independence and nationalism which helped to promulgate ideas of
liberty. The Indian National Congress was formed in 1885 in order to fight for a change in the
British policy. They stated that public education should be free for Indian children. The Indian

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Universities Act was passed in 1904 and Indians took control of education in 1921. India
gained independence from Great Britain in 1947.

Another reason for the spread of English was missionary activities. In 1698 British
missionaries came to India to spread Protestantism. In 1715 the first English school was
established in Madras. In the next decades, more schools were established and by 1787
missionaries were in charge of all educational activities. Moreover, private schools were
established by some British people. Indians were brought into contact with English language
in these schools. In 1835 English was used as the main language for the higher education
system in India.

2. SOCIOLINGUISTIC STATUS AND THE USE OF IE:

Once “India became a republic and the Constitution was adopted”, the choice of the
national language of India was an issue. (Sailaja, 2009: 111) Members of the Constituent
Asambly had to decide whether Hindi or English should be established as the official
language of India. The official status of English it was first defined in the Constitution of India
for fifteen years (1950). “It follows Hindi in this status.” (Sailaja, 2009: 4) In 1963, this status
was renewed trough the Official Languages Act for an indefinite period of time.

English is used in many areas such as : law, education, administration, mass media,
science and technology. English is the language used in the High Courts and the Supreme
Court. Most of the knowledge is available in English. Hence, English is used for
justice,medicine, etc.It is also important to mention that most of commercial establisments
have an English name. Educated classes use English as the first language for
communication.English is used for certain purposes such as : politics, medicine and
education.Nevertheless, the language used among friends and family is one´s own
language.

English also plays the role of a link language between people who speak different
mother tongues. English also functions as a link language which makes communication
between people with different mother tongues possible. English language also facilitates the
acquisition of knowledge. The use of English in India is increasing but this does not imply the
disappearance of other languages. English coexists with other local languages.

There are two kinds of attitudes towards English. As for the positive attitude, the use
of English leads to educational and economic progress and to social mobility. Regarding the

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negative attitude, English language is seen as an imposed language. The reason for this is
the British colonization of India. However, English is mostly viewed in a positive way.
(Štromajerová, 2013: 25)

3. THE MAIN DISTINCTIVE FEATURES:

The literature on Indian English has identified distinctive features on a number of

descriptive levels such as the phonology, morph-syntax, pragmatics and syntax. In the area
of phonology, research has investigated non-contrastive sounds, the choice of adding /j/ and
/w/ to some words and the simplification of consonant clusters.

Regarding non-contrastive sounds, in English [p] and [ph] are non-contrastive. That
is to say that the meaning of a word does not change if we interchange these two sounds. In
English there is a limited number of aspirated sounds which are the following: [ph, th, kh]. In
RP, these aspirated sounds can only appear in the initial position of stressed syllables. While
“[p] in pin is aspirated, [p] in spin is not aspirated”. (Sailaja, 2009: 23) Despite the fact that [p]
in pin is aspirated, if we would not aspirate /p/ in this word the meaning would not change
and would not become a different word.

In IE, aspirated sounds are non-contrastive but they are not entirely predictable as in
RP. In IE, sometimes sounds are aspirated when h is present in the spelling. “Thus, the word
ghost has an initial aspirated sound [gh].”( Sailaja, 2009: 23) However, in some occasions
spelling does not cause aspiration such as in /d/.Aspirated sounds are likely to appear when
a word has h in its spelling. For example, in SIEP “sometimes words with wh- are aspirated –
why /vhai/ or /whai/.” (Sailaja, 2009: 23)

In RP, [l] (clear l) and[ɫ] (dark l) are non-contrastive. It is important to say that in dark l
appears “when it is followed by a consonant or by a pause in words such as milk, bulb, feel”.
(Sailaja, 2009: 23) On the other hand, clear l is likely to appear in most contexts. In IE, dark l
is absent in the standard and the non-standard variety as well. Users of non-standard IE
might use the retroflex [ɭ] in words like colour, play. However, users of standard IE are not
likely to use the retroflex [ɭ]. Despite the fact that [l] and [ɭ] “are contrastive in Indian
(Dravidian) languages, they are not contrastive in IE.” (Sailaja, 2009: 23)

Sometimes speakers of Dravidian languages add /j/ and /w/ to some words. The
choice of adding /j/ and /w/ is optional. They could add /j/ “when a word begins with a front
vowel” such as in /idi/, ‘this’. In this case /idi/could be pronounced like this: /jidi/. It is

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essential to say that the meaning of the word does not change by adding /j/. Speakers of
Dravidian languages could do the same thing with /w/ when the first vowel of a word is a
back vowel such as in /okaʈi/ where it could be pronounced like this: /wokaʈi/. Many users of
Dravidian languages add /j/ and /w/ when they speak English. Thus, it is likely to hear words
like only being pronounced like this: /wonlɪ/. Users of SIE do not add /j/ and /w/ to any words.

As for the simplification of consonant clusters, many Indian speakers find it difficult to
pronounce them. It essential to say that consonant cluster refers to a group of consonants
that have no vowel between them. Hence, they tend to delete them. For example, they tend
to pronounce the word texts like this: /tεks/ or the word acts like this: /æks/. SIEP carries this
feature as well. Another way of dealing with consonant clusters is by inserting a vowel like
/ə/ or /i/ before the last consonant in words like castle, bottle, cycle, button, cotton. In other
words, owing to the lack of syllabic consonants In SIEP and non-standard varieties, a vowel
is inserted. It is also important to say that a syllabic consonant refers to a consonant that
does not need any vowels to form an entire syllable. Nevertheless, users of SIE do not find it
difficult to pronounce the word-final cluster ɭm is in words like film. Users of non non-
standard IE tend to pronounce the word film like this: /filəm/. In the Hindi-Punjabi areas,
people simplify consonants clusters by inserting a vowel before or within the consonant
cluster such as in the word school that could be pronounced like this: /isku:l/ or /səku:l/.
(Sailaja, 2009: 29)

Regarding morphosyntax, one of the main distinctive features is the topicalization.

This term refers to the placement of an item at the beginning of a sentence in order to
emphasise it. In IE, topicalization is used in order to emphasize time, place and other
information.

(1) “(a) In the park, the bombs were placed. (emphasis on a place)
(b) At four o’ clock, the movie begins. (emphasis on time)
(c) This book I will return tomorrow. “(emphasis on an object; this kind of sentence
is likely to be found in non-standard speech) (Sailaja, 2009: 54)

The last mentioned sentence does not follow the norms of a “normal sentence structure of
English that places the objects after the verb as in” the following sentence:

(2) I will return this book tomorrow. This kind of sentence is likely to be found in
standard and non-standard IE. (Sailaja, 2009: 54)

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Topicalization can also be found in complex or embedded structures such as the following:

(3) His friends know that her parents, he doesn’t like at all. ‘His friends know that he
doesn’t like her parents at all.’ (Sailaja, 2009: 54)

4. PHONOLOGICAL AND MORPHOSYNTACTIC FEATURES OF IE:

Phonological and morphosyntactic features of IE will be discussed in detail. It is

important to point out that “there is a standard variety of IE both in terms of phonology and
syntax”. (Sailaja, 2009: 17) Nevertheless, most of the Indian population use a regional
variety rather than a standard variety. This standard variety is associated with prestige and
people who use this variety tend to get jobs easier than individuals who use a different
variety. Standard IE variety is characterised by a British English standard accent known as
Received Pronunciation (RP). Consonant sounds can be discussed taking into consideration
“three criteria: place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing”. (Sailaja, 2009:19)
Speakers of Standard Indian English tend not to pronounce the [r] when there is a
consonant sound after the [r] or when the [r] it is found at the end of a word. Some examples
of these words are the following: dart, part, or driver. Despite the fact that the non-
constricted variant of (r) is associated with prestige in India, most of the speakers of regional
varieties of IE use the constricted variant of the (r). There is an exception where the [r] is
pronounced in Standard IE which is when we can find a word ending in the letter r followed
by a word which begins with a vowel sound. An example of this exception is the following:

(4) This flower is prettier than that tulip. It is important to notice that the [r] is not
pronounced in the word prettier.

The Standard IE distinguishes between /v/ and /w/ where /v/ is a fricative sound and /w/
is voiced labio-velar glide. The majority of Indian people are not able to differentiate between
these sounds. They tend to use / ʋ /, a labio-dental approximant, as a substitute for those
sounds.
Indians tend to substitute the English fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ for Indian dental plosives
/t/, /th/ and /d/. Indian people find it difficult to pronounce the English fricatives mentioned
before. Hence, they use a voiceless dental plosive instead of the English fricative /θ/ in
words like thin and theatre. In IE it is likely to hear aspiration of the plosive because there is
a large number of words in which the /θ/ sound is expected that are written with th. (Sailaja,
2009: 21) For this reason, Indians are likely to pronounce words that start with th using the
/th/ even if a native English speaker would use a /t/. An example of this is the word Thomas.

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It is also important to mention that in IE, the English fricative /ð/ is replaced by the voiced /t/
and /d/ in words such as these, those, thought. (Sailaja, 2009: 21)
Most of the Indians use retroflex sounds such as / ʈ / and / ɖ / when pronouncing
words such as today, tomorrow, terrific and demand. Retroflex sounds are produced by
curling the tongue back to the hard palate. Nevertheless, the SIEP (Standard Indian English
Pronunciation) promotes the use of the alveolar sounds: /t/ and /d/. (Sailaja, 2009: 21) While
the alveolar sounds /t/ and /d/ are more likely to occur in formal occasions, the retroflex
sounds / ʈ / and / ɖ / are more likely to be used in informal situation.

The consonants of SIEP are the following:

(1) “Plosives: p, b, t/ʈ, d/ɖ, t/ th, d, k, g

Fricatives: f, v, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h
Affricates: tʃ, d
Nasals: m, n, ŋ
Lateral: l
Approximants: ʋ, r
Semi-vowels: j, w” (Sailaja, 2009: 24)

Regarding vowels, it is important to say that they will be discussed taking into
consideration three main criteria: “the part of the tongue that is used in articulation (which is
described as front, central or back); the height to which it is raised (high or close, half-close,
half-open and low or open); and the degree of lip rounding.” (Sailaja, 2009: 24) Vowels can
be divided into two main classes: pure vowels and diphthongs. As for pure vowels, they can
be either long or short. A diphthong is formed by joining together two vowels.

As for short vowels in SIEP, they correspond with those in RP. However, there is one
exception: “the truly central vowel /ə/ and the lower central vowel /ʌ/ is sometimes
neutralised in SIEP or the two vowels are used as free variants”. (Sailaja, 2009: 24) That is
to say that these two vowels can be interchanged without modifying the meaning of a word.

The short vowels in IE are thus /i, ε, æ, ɒ, ʊ, ʌ, ə/. It is important to bear in mind that
the last two short vowels may be neutralised. Some examples of words where short vowels
appear are the following: “/i/, the first vowel in the words sit, bitter, skin; /ε/, red, better; / æ /,
cat, battle; /ɒ/, hot, cot; / υ/, put, pull; / ʌ /, butter, putty; /ə/, appear, allow.” In non-standard
varieties, the two sounds / ʌ / and /ə/ are neutralised (Sailaja, 2009: 25) Sometimes, users of
non-standard varieties substitute the vowel / ʌ / for /a/. In non-standard English

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pronunciation, /ɒ/ is usually substituted by /a/ as in the word hot which is pronounced like
this: /hat/. This feature belongs to south Indian Tamil, Kannada and Telugu speech.

RP has five long vowels. SIEP has seven long vowels which are the following: /i:, e:,
a:, ɒ:, o:, u:, ɜ:/. Some examples of words where long vowels appear are the following: “/i:/
appear in seat, beat; /a:/ appears in card, master; /u:/ is heard in boot, pool.” (Sailaja, 2009:
25) While SIEP uses long vowels such as /e:/ and /o:/, RP has diphthongs instead. In SIEP,
these diphthongs are infrequently articulated. We can hear /e:/ is in words like day, may,
play and /o:/ is in words like no, go, groan. These vowels are likely to be shortened to /e/ or
/o/ in word-final positions such as in today. The long vowel / ɜ:/ appears in words like bird,
curd, dearth. It occurs in SIEP which is non-rhotic. “When the accent is rhotic, the words are
articulated as /bard, kard, dart/or /bərd, kərd, dərt/.” (Sailaja, 2009: 25)

There are six diphthongs in SIEP which are the following: /ai, ɒi, aυ, iə, υə, eə/. .We
can find /iə/ in words like: here, peer, beer; /υə/ in words like: poor, tour, cure; /eə/ in words
like: fair, pair, hare; /ai/ in words like: night, right, gripe; /ɒi/ in words like boil, toy, coin; and
/aυ/ in words like cow, town, growl. We can find variation of these sounds in non-standard
IE. Some diphthongs are converted to long vowels as in the following examples: beer /bi:r/,
poor /pu:r/, tour /tu:r/, fair.
The vowels of IE are the following:

(2) “Short vowels: /i, ε, æ, ɒ, ʊ, ʌ, ə/.

Long vowels: /i:, e:, a:, ɒ:, o:, u:, ɜ:/
Diphthongs: /ai, ɒi, aυ, iə, υə, eə/” (Sailaja, 2009: 26)
Some of the reasons for the choice of the standard American structures are that Indian
people read many things that are written in AE and they also watch many American films.
Another reason is that many Indians have been educated and have worked in the United
States of America.
The syntax of IE tends to follow standard British English (BE) forms. However, there
are also speakers of Indian English who use standard American English (AE) forms.
Proficient speakers tend to use standard forms. Features that are identified as typically
Indian are associated with speakers who are less proficient in English. It is also essential to
point out that Indian English has developed its own features. Most of the features of syntax
of IE are British. However, there are also features that are American. For example, in the
following sentences Indian English speakers prefer to use who (British) instead of that
(American):

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(5) “(a) The people who came yesterday. . .
(b) The people that came yesterday. . .” (Sailaja, 2009: 41)

Sometimes both American and British syntactic constructions are likely to be heard. For
example, we find:

(6) “(a) We’ve just finished dinner. (British)

(b) We just finished dinner. (American)” (Sailaja, 2009: 41)

There is variation in syntax, especially in verb complement structures. That is to say

that “those elements that must obligatorily follow a verb in a sentence differ from variety to
variety.” (Sailaja, 2009: 43) Other compulsory elements after a verb are adjectives and
prepositional phrases. The tendency is to use some verbs that are normally transitive as if
they were intransitive. “A transitive verb is one that obligatorily takes a noun or a complex
noun after it in a sentence.”( Sailaja, 2009: 43)An intransitive verb does not need any
element after it compulsorily in a sentence. We can see variation in the use of the verb pelt.
In IE, the structure verb + noun phrase + at noun phrase (goal) is to be preferred to the
BE structure verb + noun phrase (goal) + with noun phrase.

(7) “IE: They are pelting cans at him

BE: They are pelting him with cans.” (Sailaja, 2009: 43)

There is variation in the structure of ditransitive verbs such as give and send. “A
ditransitive verb is one that has two objects after it in a sentence”. (Sailaja, 2009:43) In IE,
the structure verb +noun phrase (direct object) +null indirect object is to be preferred the
BE structure verb + noun phrase (indirect object) + noun phrase (direct object). In IE,
the same preference is seen for the ditransitive verb send.

(8) “BE: Karuna gave Maya a book.

IE: Karuna gave a book./ Karuna gave. ” (Sailaja, 2009: 43-44)

A for as the last sentence, the verb is still regarded as a ditransitive verb because the
complements of the verb can be omitted. Omitted complements can be understood from the
context or due to universal principles. (Sailaja, 2009: 44) Phrases following the verb can be
placed in other ways as well:

(9) “ Karuna gave a book to Maya.= verb + noun phrase (direct object) +to noun phrase

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 (indirect object)
(10) Karuna gave Maya. = verb + null indirect object +null direct object)
(11) Karuna gave Maya. = verb +noun phrase (indirect object) +null direct object) “
(Sailaja, 2009: 43-44)

In non-standard IE, the conversion of transitive verbs into intransitives is common. In

the following examples the noun is implied by the context.

(12) “Ok, I’ll take for transport. for Ok, I’ll take money for transport.
(13) I didn’t expect. for I didn’t expect this. ” (Sailaja, 2009: 45)

The word only in non-standard IE is used to emphasise something. The use of only in
non-standard IE will be illustrated in the following examples:

(14) “The teacher sent an email only to the students. (not something else)”
(Sailaja, 2009: 55)

In this sentence, the word only is placed after the element that is emphasised. “In standard
IE an equivalent sentence would be”:

(15) “The teacher sent only an email to the students.” (Sailaja, 2009: 55) Nevertheless,
this
use of the word only is absent in standard IE.

The placement of the word only after the element that is emphasised can lead to
sentences where the verb and its complement are separated by an adverb. This kind of
construction does not follow the norms of the standard varieties of English.

(16) “These women wear everyday expensive clothes only. (emphasis on expensive
clothes,
not contrasting with anything else)” However, this use of the word only is absent in
standard IE. (Adapted from Bhatt 2004: 1024)

The word only can also have a presentational function. In the following sentence, the
element that is being emphasised is the subject noun phrase thanks to the placement of the
word only after it and thanks to its own position:

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(17) “These women only said this.” (Sailaja, 2009: 55)

Another possible use of the word only is seen in the following sentence:

(18) “ The light bulb didn’t work only.” (Sailaja, 2009: 56)

In this case, only has the meaning of at all. In standard English, this sentence mean:

(19) “ The light bulb didn’t work at all.” (Sailaja, 2009: 56)

5. CONCLUSION:
Indian English is one of many varieties of English. IE is part of the Outer Circle of
English which refers to countries where English was spread trough imperial expansion of the
British. Trade and missionary activities are other of the reasons why English spread in India.
Nowadays, English is the associate official language of India in association with Hindi.
English in India serves as a lingua franca between people with different mother tongues.
English is used in many domains such as education, low and commerce, etc.
“There is a standard variety of IE both in terms of phonology and syntax”. (Sailaja,
2009: 17) However, most of the Indians use a regional variety rather than a standard
variety. Indian English is influenced by Indian local languages. Regarding phonology, the
Standard Indian English accent is very similar to the British English accent known as
Received Pronunciation. Non-standard Indian English tends to replace English sounds with
Indian sounds such as the retroflex sounds / ʈ / and / ɖ /or the labio-dental approximant / ʋ /.
As for the syntax, IE tends to follow standard British English (BE) forms. Nevertheless, there
are also users of Indian English who use standard American English (AE) forms. Indians use
topicalization in order to emphasise something.

References:
Bhatt, Rakesh M. 2004. Indian English: Syntax, in Bernd Kortmann, Kate Burridge, Rajend
Mesthrie, Edgar W. Schneider and Clive Upton (eds), The Handbook of Varieties of English:
vol. 2, Morphology and Syntax, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 1024.

Kortmann, Bernd and Edgar W. Schneider (eds.), 2004. A handbook of varieties of English.
Berlin: De Gruyter.

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Štromajerová, Adéla.2013. Future prospects of English in India (Doctoral dissertation,
Masaryk University, 2013). Retrieved from
http://is.muni.cz/th/380706/ff_b/?lang=en;id=239914

Sailaja, Pingali. 2009. Dialects of English: Indian English. Edinburg: Edinburgh University
Press.

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