The Introduction to Indian English

1. The Introduction toIndian English 胡庭旖 90111260 劉怡君 90111206 袁婉馨 90123016 李毓群 89112086

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

3. American English, due to the burgeoning急速發展的 influence of American pop culture on the rest of the world, has begun challenging traditional British English as the premierbrand of English spoken in the Indian subcontinent, though this is largely limited to the youth in the last decade or two.

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

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

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

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

8. Grammar inIndian English 1.Tag questions: The use of isn’t it? and no? ex:”You’re going, isn’t it?”→”You are going, aren’t you?” ex:”He’s here,no?”(‘na”often replaces’no’: another influence of Hindi) 2.Yesandno agreeting to the form of a question, not just its content. Ex:A:You didn’t come on the bus? B:Yes, I didn’t.

9. 3.Using but or onlyas intensifier: Ex:”I was just joking but.”“It was she only who cooked this rice.” 4.Use of the plural ladiesfor a single lady or a woman of respect: ex:”There was a ladies at the phone.”

10. 5.Use of off it and on it instead of” switch it off” and “switch it on.” 6.Use of current went and current came “The power went out “and “The power came back” 7.Use of the word giftas a verb: ex:”You are gifting me a new cell phone?”

11. 8.Use of “ I can able to cook” instead of I can cook. 9.Use of the Latin wordcum, meaning with: ex: “Welcome to the gymnasium cum swing pool building.”

12. 10.Use of baazi orbaaji orgirlfor the same purpose: Ex: ”business-bazzi” or “cheating-girl” 11.Use of since instead of for in conjunction with periods of time: ex:”I have been working since four years”→”I have been working for four years.” or “I have been working since four yaears ago.”

13. Syntax 1.Use ofonly anditselfto emphasize time and place: ex:”I was in Toledo only.” “Can we meet tomorrow itself?” 2.Keep is uesd forput:ex:”keep the ball back”

14. 3.The word order of question is often unique in Indian English: ex:”What you would like to eat?” “Who you will come with?” “Where are you coming from?” instead of ”Where have you come from?”

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

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

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

18. Hindi-Influenced Terms and Expressions in Indian English • "Yourgoodname please?": "What is your name?", carryover from Hindi expression. • deadly: intense, "That movie was deadly,yaar; what an action scene!", • hi-fi: stylish, "Your shoes are hi-fi. • Sexy: excellent or extremely cool. "That's a sexy car, man!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

25. Add English suffixes to Indian terms: e.g, muska >> muskafy Add English prefixes to Indian terms: e.g, postpone >>prepone

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

27. Resource • http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_maps/asia.php • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English http://www.languageinindia.com/junjul2002/baldridgeindianenglish.html