Indian English (IE), as the name suggests, is a group of dialects of English spoken by the people of India. India is home to the world’s largest English-speaking community. Being a geographically huge and culturally diverse country, India is home to various communities speaking different languages and English has become the lingua franca of the country.
English language was introduced to India by the British colonizers, and English spoken in India is British English. However, linguists have concluded that over the years India has developed its own unique dialects of English. In this write-up, let us introduce you to Indian English and its distinctive features.
What is Indian English?
Indian English is the term given to the variant of English language spoken in the Republic of India. This is based on British English but is highly influenced by American English as well. Furthermore, it has also the influences of local languages and dialects of India.
India has 22 official languages recognized by its constitution and English is one among them.
Today, English is an official language in seven states and seven union territories of India and an additional official language in seven more states and one more union territory.
English is the sole official language of the Indian judiciary. The major medium of education in India too is the English language. The bulk of higher education in India happens in English only. Though English is the first language for a very small percentage of people in India, it is the second language for the majority of the population.
Distinctive Features of Indian English
Any variety of a language differs from others mostly based on its vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. Let’s see some of the features of Indian English that make it different from British and American English.
Vocabulary
When you closely monitor the vocabulary of Indian English, you’ll find 5 major categories of words that make Indian English unique:
- Borrowed words from Indian languages – These are the words from Indian languages that have been accepted in English. Some of these have a pan-India presence while some may remain confined in a particular region only. For example,
- biryani – a spiced dish made with rice and lots of other ingredients
- namkeen – a salty or savory snack
- kurta – a long tunic-type dress worn by men and women
- neem – a tree valued for its medicinal values
- tulsi – a species of basil
- karma – a sum of a person’s intentional actions
- bhajan – a devotional song
- Novel words created in India – These are the words that have been constructed through affixation and compounding in India but are not used in other varieties of English spoken around the world. For example,
- kitty party – a social lunch or dinner arranged through contribution by the attendees (typically done by women)
- speed breaker – a speed bump
- wheatish – the light brown skin tone typical to India and Southeast Asia
- Hybrid construction – These are the words created by adding English suffixes or prefixes to Hindi or other Indian language words.
- ashramite – occupants of an ashram (adding –ite to a city, school, or organization is a very common style to talk about the people belonging to that city, school, organization, etc.)
- gully cricket – cricket played on streets (gully is a Hindi term for lane or street and cricket is an English term)
- chakka jam – a blockade for civil protest (chakka is the Hindi term for tyre and jam is an English term)
- Loan translations of Idioms – These are idioms or sayings in Hindi or other regional languages that are directly translated into English and that have been accepted as valid usage. For example,
- Chewing someone’s brain – irritating someone
- Sitting on someone’s head – pestering someone
- Different meaning – There are certain words or expressions of English with certain meanings associated with it in India but not in other parts of the world. For example,
- shift – In India, it is typically used in the sense of moving office or home; this is not the case in other parts of the world
- non-veg – used for non-vegetarian food in India
Accent and Pronunciation
The accent in which English is spoken in India varies hugely from British as well as American English. In fact, English accent differs all over India. This is basically because India has different regional languages and every regional language has its impact on how English is pronounced by the speaker.
A Tamil speaker speaks English differently from a Marathi or Hindi speaker. A Hindi speaker from Bihar speaks English differently than a Hindi speaker from Delhi or Madhya Pradesh.
In a nutshell, different languages spoken in India have different impacts on the pronunciation and intonations of English making it sound different.
Other Distinctive Features
- While it is not a standard practice in standard British or American English, duplication of words to put emphasis is acceptable in Indian English. E.g. little little problems, big big issues, etc.
- Unlike other varieties of English, while addressing someone it is customary in India to keep the name first and salutation later. E.g. Sarita Ma’am, Ramesh Uncle rather than Sir Nicholas, Aunt Jenna.
- In order to ask a yes/no question typically intonation is changed rather than the formation of the sentence. E.g. “You will make the presentation?” rather than “Will you make the presentation?”
- Tag words like ‘isn’t it?’, ‘na?’, ‘no?’ are also unique to Indian English. For example, “You are going na?”, “This is beautiful, isn’t it?”