AAS 330 Features of Indian English

7/30/2019 AAS 330 Features of Indian English

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Bollywood Movie Posters



Hindi Expressions Mixed in IE

• achchaa = goodarrai = heybahut = a lotbus = that's itek = one (as a number)ghotu = one who reads a lothajar (hazar) = a ton (more than a lot)ho gaya = done; finishedkoi bat nahi = no problemkya hall hai = how are youlakh(s) = one-hundred thousandlekhin = butmasala = risqué; spicy; hot (like a film)muthlab = meaning

paka = pureteek hai = okay (lit: it is right)yaar = buddy; pal

• http://www.languageinindia.com/junjul2002/baldridgeindianenglish.html



Phonetic Features

• Vowels

• Diphthongs

•

Consonants• Stress

• Intonation



Phonological Features

• Absence of Vowel Reduction

• Speling Pronunciation



Lexical Features• Rubber - Pencil eraser

• Flat - 'Apartment house'• shirt pant - 'Shirt and Trousers'

• Eve teasing - 'Verbal sexual harassment of women'

• Where are you put up? means 'Where are you currentlystaying'?.

• Where do you stay? is the same as 'Where do you live?' or'Where's your house?'. This is also used in Scottish, SouthAfrican English.

• to shift - to move (e.g. to shift from one apartment toanother).

• Wheatish (complexion) - light, creamy brown, or having alight brown complexion.[12]

• "Out of station": "out of town". This phrase has its originsin the posting of army officers to particular 'stations' duringthe days of the East India Company.

• "acting pricey ": playing "hard to get", being snobbish.

• " pass out " is meant to graduate, as in "I passed out of theuniversity in 1995".

• "on the anvil " is used often in the Indian press to mean

something is about to appear or happen. For example, aheadline might read "New roads on the anvil".

• "Road-side Romeo" is used to refer to men waiting near thestreet entrances to colleges and universities, or to thosecruising the city streets usually - but not only - onmotorbikes, in search of women to impress and inveigleinto romantic affairs.

• "tight slap" to mean "hard slap". Girl to a "Road-sideRomeo": 'Clear off, or else I'll give you a tight slap.'

• Timepass - 'Doing something for leisure but with no

intention or target/satisfaction', procrastination, pastime.

• Timewaste - Something that is a waste of time;procrastination. Presumably not even useful for leisure.

• Dearness Allowance - Payment given to employees tocompensate for the effects of inflation.[13]

• Pindrop silence - Extreme silence (quiet enough to hear apin drop).

• chargesheet: n. formal charges filed in a court; v. to filecharges against someone in court

• redressal: n. redress, remedy, reparation

• "Hill Station" - mountain resort.

• "Railway Station" - Train station.

• "stepney" refers to a spare tyre. The word is a genericizedtrademark originating from the Stepney Spare MotorWheel, itself named after Stepney Street, in Llanelli,Wales.[14] In South Indian states such as Karnataka, Kerala,Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh, "stepney" is also used torefer to a mistress (spare wife).

• "specs" means spectacles or glasses (as in colloquial UKEnglish).

• Coolers - Sunglasses

• "cent per cent" - "100 per cent" as in "He got cent per centin maths".

• "loose motion" - diarrhea

• "expire" - To die, especially in reference to one's familymember.

• " prepone" - To bring something forward in time. Asopposed to postpone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shirt_pant&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_teasing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stepney_Spare_Motor_Wheel&action=edit&redlink=1






http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanelli


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales






http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasses











http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_teasing

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shirt_pant&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat



• Words of South Asian origin: roti (unleavened

bread), finger chips (French fries)

• I may be a devout believer of the Purdah

(segregation) system but….(Religion)

• “Jewelers observe hartal (strike”)… (law and

order)



• In English language newspapers all over

S.Asia, one finds the following words from

Hindi, Urdu, and Bengali: Panchayat: local

governing bodies in villages (Indian English)

Gobar : cow dung (Indian English), krishibank :

farmer’s bank (Bangladesh), shariat : Muslim

court of law (Pakistan)



A. 1. Identifying people and objects:

• big-house Subbaiah

• corner-house Murthy

•

front-house Akkamma• the-that-house people

• eight-pillared house Nanjundaiah



Sources of Data

• Field notes (KKS and SNS)

• Creative Writing:

– Raja Rao, 1942. Kanthapura. Oxford University Press.

• Publications:

– Sridhar, Kamal. 1989. English in Indian Bilingualism.

Delhi: Manohar

– Kachru, Braj B. 1986. The Alchemy of English.Oxford: Pergamon Press.

– And others



2. People are also identified with reference to

their possessions:

• jack-tree Tippa

•cardamom-field Ramachandra

•the fig-tree-house people

3. Their profession: rice-pounding Rajamma



Identifying People

• 4. Their physical attributes and habits:

• left-handed Madanna

•

nose-scratching Ningamma• pock-marked Sidda

• one-eyed Linga



B. Translation of local language expressions

extends the frame of reference for describing

familiar objects and states:• 1. the pumpkin moon

bell-metal voice

2. Range of kinship terms:co-brother

co-sister

little mothercousin brother

cousin sister



Kinship Terms (Nigerian English)

• Adebija (1989:167)

• wife:

(a) a woman to whom a man is married;

(b) a woman married to a man in a particular family; culturally, sheis wife to both the males and the females in the family. Thus,

it would not be strange to hear a woman say, "Meet Bola,she is our wife."

•

• brother:

(a) a male relative with the same parents;

(b) a male relative belonging to one's extendedfamily;

(c) a male relative belonging to one's town.



C. Greeting and Leave-taking:

• I am well here and hope to hear the same

from you

• May we live to see ourselves tomorrow



D. Offering:

• Take only this much milk, aunt, only this much.

• Take it, Bhatre, only one cup more, just once.



E. Invitations:

In India, it is also customary to

"request the pleasure of your company with

family and friends" at weddings.

the expression "...and friends" is not just a

formality.



F. Abusing, Threatening, and Insulting

1. Abuses:

• son of a concubine

• son of an ass

• son of a widow

• son of a prostitute• donkey's husband

• traitor's to one's salt-giver

2. Threats:• If I hear your voice, I'll peel the skin off your back.

• If he tries to show off, I'll cut off his tail



G. Intensifying:

1. Reduplication

• hot hot coffee

•

grows and grows• white white sari

• poked and poked

• Oh, I'm tired of sitting and sitting...• People are chattering and chattering.



H. Quotative

• 1. That is considered as adhamada:nam

[inferior gift].

• 2. Then it is called as ama:va:sya [new moon

day].

• 3. Seven are called as the u:rdhwa lo:ka

[higher world].



I. Use of present continuous for

repeated or habitual actions

or states

• Always they are struggling and struggling and

not finding.

• Even for his maintenance of his wife and

family, he is going from house to house,

begging.



J. No sequence of tense:

• His father wanted a son who can kill Indra.

• The same night, the Lord appeared in the

dream of the king who has put the two men in

the prison.



K. Question formation in Indian

languages: no inversion and nodo-support:

• And when this puja is to be started? Only in

the evening.

•

What the hell you think?• Then, where to do this pu:ja?



Indian English as a Mixed Language

• If we didn't add the tadka (seasoning) of our own

linguistic mix, the curry wouldn't be spicy

enough. -- Anjoo Mohun, The Guardian, Jan 27,

2011• VJs on MTV India: It's not about a word or two

but entire shows that are conducted in a

seamless mix of Hindi and English• Bollywood movie titles: Jab We Met (When We

Met) or Love Aaj Kal (Love Today Tomorrow).



From Travel Channel

• Gopalpur ek chota sa fishing village hai,

famous for its beaches.

• Yeh lake itna bada hai ki you can’t tell ki kaha

lake khatam hota hai aur akash shuru.’

• Paakistaan kaa pahlaa luxury length ciagrette.

• ‘Pakistan’s first luxury length ciagrette’.



From Monsoon Wedding

• Scene: Bride-to-be is sleeping. Parents come in the

bedroom.

• Father: You know Pimmi (his wife), ‘Sometimes when

I look at them I feel love which I almost cannot bear.kaise itni jaldi badi ho gayi hai (When did she grow

up?) And when did we grow old. If only their lives

are happy, bas (That’s all). And for that I’m willing to

take on every trouble, every sorrow in the world.’



Code-Mixing in Kannada

• ‘. . . kshainisu, dear boy, na:nu use ma:dida stronglanguage-u eshto: control -ma:do:k no:dde. a:dre na:nu educated-u, man of culture-u, broadminded-u ,ambo:dnella martubittu nannello: halli:kade:l huttid

commercial minded gama:ra anta tilkondu holyalliance of marriage arrange-ma:do: sacred occasion-nalli dowry esh tu anta ke: Iti:yalla, nan blood-uboiling point-ge barde iddi:te?’



Code-Mixed Song

• disco me dance hona cahiya ‘There should be disco dancing’

• kabhi kabhi chace hona chahiye ‘Sometimes there should be a chance’

• coke, popcorn, wafer hona chahiye ‘There should be coke, popcorn,wafers’

• khali khali theater hona chahiye ‘There should be an empty theater’

•motor bike par ana jana chahiye ‘(One) should go on a motor bike’

• are bar bar break lagana chahiye ‘(One) should apply the breakfrequently’

• hamesha alert hona chahiye ‘(One) should be always alert’

• thora thora flirt hona chahiye ‘(One) should flirt a little’



Mixing as a Resource as a Handicap

• David Graddol: increasingly people will becalled upon to be proficient in more than onelanguage. Young people in countries like India

will have an edge, since multi-lingualism willbe valued as a professional skill.

• At the same time, India needs to be moreaware of the evolution of English elsewhere inthe world, as this will have an impact on itscompetitiveness.



English & the IT Success and Future

• Nilekeni: reasons behind a change in perception -

- English is no longer viewed as a foreign

language.

• He cautioned that "the demographic dividendthat India enjoys could turn into a demographic

disaster if we don't give opportunities and access

to our people. English is very much a part of thisequation – ultimately, the lack of English

becomes the lack of access."



What English should we teach in India?

• But what sort of English should be taught in

India's schools: the standard English of the

workplace, or the spicy mix favoured by the

music channels?

• Attitudes:

• Tata Channel: Active English for Housewives



Select References

• Jason Baldrige. 2002. Linguistic and SocialCharacteristics of Indian English. Inhttp://www.languageinindia.com/junjul2002/baldridgeindianenglish.html

• Indian English:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English

• Anjoo Mohan. 2010. English or Hinglish - does itmatter what Indian students are learning?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2010/jan/27/english-hinglish-for-indian-students

http://www.languageinindia.com/junjul2002/baldridgeindianenglish.html







AAS 330 Features of Indian English

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