South Asian English

         English is a wide spoken language in the world. In fact, it is the third most spoken language in the world with over 1.5 billion speakers. Out of these 1.5 billion, only 375 million are native speakers. The others have adopted English at some point of time. This happened and is happening due to the spread of English language across the globe from its origin, the small island. It has spread to various parts of the globe as time passed under various circumstances for various purposes from education to religion. In this essay, we learn about the history of English in the South Asian countries. The author has also dealt with themes like the various uses of the language, the emergence and the future of English in these countries. It is to be noted that each of these countries have their own distinct type on the language English.

“…use of the term South Asian English is not to be understood as indicative of linguistic homogeneity in this variety nor of a uniform linguistic competence. It refers to several broad regional varieties such as Indian English, Lankan English and Pakistani English.”

       The author further says that South Asian English is linguistically and culturally very interesting and distinct. There are factors that hold this variety unique from the other Englishes of the world. The author calls it interesting because though it is a foreign language, it has become one of the major languages of communication. It is distinct because it has emerged very successfully and is changing and adopting everyday according to the culture of the region. There have been constant adaptations and alterations.

History of the English language in the South Asian sub-continent:

·         The South Asian sub-continent includes the countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka. But this was after a long while. Initially, Bangladesh and Pakistan were a part of India.

·         The Europeans were coming to the Indian sub-continent for trade purposes. The British was also one among them.

·         In 1600, they began the economic expansion of the British empire into India with the setting-up of the East India Company.

·         By the end of this century, they took over all the international trade that was happening in India. They fought battles with the French and other neighboring countries to take control over the sub-continent.

·         In 1689, three Presidencies were set up in the port cities of Bombay, Madras and Bengal, and hence the British rule was established in India.

·         In 1773, they established Governor Generalship in India.

·         With the India Act of 1784, a department was formed to manage the Indian affairs under the British.

·         When the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 happened, it was responded with the Act of Better Government of India in 1858, and hence the British took responsibility of governing India.

·         Along with trade and these changes, the British also brought their language along. They introduced English into the sub-continent in various stages.

“The formal introduction of English in South Asia has passed through several stages. What “The formal introduction of English in South Asia has passed through several stages. What started as an educational debate in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries culminated in Lord Macaulay’s much maligned Minute of 2 February 1835, which initiated planned activity for introducing the English language into South Asian education.”

·         There were two major purposes or phases of introducing English education in these countries. Initially it was by the missionaries to spread the preaching of Christianity. The spread English language and educated people in English. They wanted to propagate the religion and to do this they had to educate the people about the religion and they needed English language for this.

·         The secondary purpose was to involve the natives in the administration and for them to work for the British. To put it in a better way, to create “Indian babus” to serve the British.

·         In the case of Sri Lanka, which was called Ceylon then, it was not very different from India. There were missionaries who were there to spread knowledge and religion who set-up many schools some of which were taken over by the British Government later.

·         The missionaries like Rev. James Cordiner and Sir Edward Barnes played a very important role in the spreading of the language for the purpose of religion.

“…to give a superior education to a number of young persons who from their ability, piety and good conduct were likely to prove fit persons in communicating a knowledge of Christianity to their countrymen.”

·         There were major developments after these countries got independence. Many changes took place in the post-independence period.

·         India was portioned into two with the formation of Pakistan in 1947. And later in 1971, Bangladesh was born as they got freedom from Pakistan. Till now they were a part of Pakistan, due to the majority Muslim population.

·         Again there was crisis here. After the partition, Urdu was declared the official language of Pakistan. Hence automatically, East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) also had to accept Urdu. But they had a majority on Bengali speaking population.

·         It was post-independence that this major crisis of languages started. It was also here that the English language came into power.

·         Each country has had its own history about the usage and development of this language after independence.

English in India since 1947:

·         English is found everywhere in India. From education to politics, from music to the film industry, our country has been fast growing and developing. She has alongside adopted English as her own language.

·         In fact, English has also entered religion. Today in our country, there is religious preaching in English too. The Vedas are translated and conveyed to the younger generation.

·         To be more factual, there are more English speakers in the Indian sub-continent than in the UK or in the USA.

·         After independence there were major debates about what role English must play in our country.

·         There were several leaders who were fighting for the removal of English as it was also considered British. They wanted to boycott all British actions, which also included to language of English.

·         They stressed that Hindi must be made the national language.

·         Again because of regional disputes the people who spoke Bengali and Dravidian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kanadda) severely opposed this.

·         There were other few leaders who saw that English was required for the development of the nation. They thought of the broader scene of India and the world than the regional disparities.

·         They saw that English could act as a “bridge” or “link” language across India.

·         And hence English was made the Associate Official Language until Hindi was made the national language.

·         All the governmental institutions were running in English. And hence they continued to as it would take long to change all these. English had become the medium of instruction (Macaulay’s Minutes and Woods Despatch).

·         This debate about English language continued to happen over the next few years.

·         The Official Languages Act of 1967 made English co-equal to Hindi.

“…for all official purposes of the union, for Parliament, and for communication between the union and the states.”

·         English takes the post of lingua franca in South Asia. It plays an important role in all governmental, educational and developmental affairs.

·         In India, English has always had an important place and has been developing ever since then.

English in Pakistan post-independence:

·         The language was also opposed in Pakistan severely as in India. But here it was done by the religious parties. It was against their religious faiths.

·         They believed it created a “new form of colonization.”

·         But English had to be used here for more or less the same reasons as in India. They needed a politically neutral language and also had lots of religious issues.

·         To put it in a simple way, English was a solution to avoid many conflicts in the nation.

·         In 1977, Zia-ul-Haq came into power by military force. To win the hearts of everyone, there was rapid implementation of Islam and Urdu across the country.

·         Urdu was made the medium of instruction in all schools except certain schools were the children of wealthy went. He didn’t implement there too because he wanted their support too.

·         There was total eradication of English.

·         But by 1987, he realized that this was a major mistake. To hold on with the global standards English was very much required.

·         They needed English for all kinds of development from economic development to human development.

·         The changes in the world pressurized the country to bring back English from the grave.

Why is South Asian distinct from other Englishes?

·         English is an additional language in these countries. Still it has proved itself to be very important. It has cut across all the regional languages and acts as a binding power.

·         It is acquired in all typical sociolinguistic educational and pragmatic contexts. It has reached everyone and everything.

·         Another major factor that differentiates South Asian English from other Englishes is the influence of the mother tongue over English.

·         The issue of bilingualism has always existed in the case of these South Asian countries.

·         If we take the case of India, the people of Kerala speak different English compared to the people of Punjab or Bihar.

For example: The people from Kerala have this tendency to use nasal sound in many words. The color “pink” becomes “ping” when it is spoken by native speakers of Malayalam. Similarly, the people of West Bengal and neighboring states find it very difficult to pronounce word beginning with the alphabet “v”. The name “Vidya” is pronounced as “Bidya” by them. This is the influence of the mother tongue.

·         Another distinctive factor is that the English of South Asia is mostly syllable-timed. So they tend to introduce their own syllable-timed rhythm. It id different from the native English users who use stress-timed pronunciation.

For example: We prefer to stress on every syllable as it is like that in our mother tongues. The example of the word examination can be taken. The British pronounce it as exami’nation but we do it as ex’am’i’na’tion.

The author has used various illustrations to differentiate South Asian English from others (based on lexical, grammar and pragmatics):

·         The inclusion of local words from the native language into English. Words are borrowed from the regional languages for the improvement of English. This helps in the better understanding of local sensibilities and expressions.

For example: The names of many local culinary dishes into the English language. The word “chutney” is used worldwide now. Similarly words like “purdah”, “sati” and “ahimsa” have not only been included into South Asian English but also has been accepted and used widely around the world. Many word like “bindaas” and “jai ho” have gained so much popularity through usage and media that it has entered the dictionaries.

·         The inclusion of many English words into the mother tongue in the modern days.

For example: The actual word for switch in Malayalam is “vidhuchaktiaag amana gamana niyendhrana yedhram”, but no one uses it anymore.

·         In the case of question formations, the questions are formed more on the basis of the structure in which it is asked in their native language.

For example: In Hindi we say “…tum aarahi ho na?” to ask “…you are coming, aren’t you?” But when it is asked in Indian English, it becomes “…you are coming no?”

·         And in many Indian languages the words are repeated according to the situation. There is reduplication of words.

For example: They say “hot hot coffee” and similarly a “small small house”.

·         The usage of present progressive with stative verbs.

For example: I am having a child at home, I am having my exams in class.

·         Another factor is the presence of politeness in the native language. This has a major influence on the English used here. It reflects care and affection too.

For example: Instead of offering to a person, “Will you eat some more?” they say “Please take some more.”

                The English language has been molded with vernacular languages to meet the cultural demands. Many Indian authors have been using such methodologies in their writing for the past many years. They use many local words in English writing to create that Indian mood and feeling in the minds of the reader. There is a debate about this usage of Indian English in writing instead of British English. For this philosopher and creative writer Raja Rao argues that,

“We cannot write like the English. We should not. We cannot write only as Indians. We have grown to look at the large world around us as a part of us. Our method of expression therefore has to be a dialect which will some day prove to be a distinctive and colorful as the Irish and the American.”

                The language of English plays a very significant role in South Asia. It is no longer considered as a foreign language and is accepted as a part of our daily life. Many great works have been produced in English by South Asian writers like Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy, V.S. Naipaul, Romesh Gunawardena, Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie, Aravind Adiga and many more such names. Even though English has occupied such a place, it is still being opposed by many across these nations. And each of these nations has a different kind of English. But still, in this age of science and technology and fast development, any country needs English for development. The language is required to survive in this world along with other countries. Today, we can find the significance of English everywhere, especially in the developing countries like India and Pakistan. They also act as a bridge for communication with the rest of the world.