Interesting Facts about IndiaIndia never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.Chess was invented in India.Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.India is the largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.The largest employer in the world is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world(Source: Gemological Institute of America).The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.India exports software to 90 countries.The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectivelyThe largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.
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Hinglish, a blending of the words "Hindi" and "English", means to combine both types of words in one sentence. This is more commonly seen in urban and semi-urban centers of the Hindi-speaking states of India, but is slowly spreading into rural and remote areas of these states via television, mobile phones and word of mouth, slowly achieving vernacular status. Many speakers do not realize that they are incorporating English words into Hindi sentences or Hindi words into English sentences. David Crystal, a British linguist at the University of Wales, projected in 2004 that at about 350 million, the world's Hinglish speakers may soon outnumber native English speakers.[1]This highly popular mixing of both the languages in most parts of northern and central India has grown from the fact that English is a popular language of choice amongst the urban youth who find themselves comfortable in its lexicon. It is already the medium for imparting education in many schools across the nation. The advent of cable television and its pervasive growth has seen the masses exposed to a wide variety of programming from across the world.Columnist Devyani Chaubal was the first author to use Hinglish in her work. Author Shobhaa De then began to use Hinglish elements in her books and columns in the Indian magazine Stardust. Other authors that have used Hinglish extensively in their novels are Salman Rushdie and Upamanyu Chatterjee.[2]In 2005, Baljinder Kaur Mahal (pen name BK Mahal) wrote a book called, The Queen's Hinglish: How to Speak Pukka published by Collins
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Indian English or English in IndiaImagine you are an American corresponding with an Indian company. One day, you receive a mail that uses lines such as- “You will be intimated shortly” and ends with a polite note saying “We sincerely hope that you will do the needful at your earliest possible convenience”. Duh! Well, there is no need to panic. This is not some uneducated idiot talking to you. You are just getting a taste of colloquial English, a legacy left behind by the British who controlled India’s education system for decades. Not that the British write like that anymore, but this kind of English (It is not incorrect) often tints the writing of those educated under the old system.Does that mean that all the weird English you sometimes come across during your communication with Indians is correct? My God! You never knew British English was so different. Now, wait. Indian English may be influenced by the British, but all the proponents of Indian English together cannot defend some grammatical errors typical to some Indian English. Some Indians group all the colloquial usages and the errors together, as “Indian English”. But this so-called “Indian English” is not considered correct by Indian government institutions, such as schools or courts, by eminent writers or by educated Indians who prize grammatically correct English. When you deal with an Indian company or outsource your writing jobs to good companies in India, you do not get Indian English. You get grammatically correct, standard English.I am against the term “Indian English”. Makes it sound as if all Indians speak incorrect English. Henceforth, in this article I will be replacing that derogatory term with “English in India”. Same thing? Never mind. Makes me feel better.Let us look at the origins of this “language”. Indians speak countless languages and each of these languages has its own grammar. Accordingly, Indians from different parts of India, especially those who learnt another language before English, speak English as a translation of their own mother tongue using the same grammatical rules. See where that got some of them.So what are some examples of the so-called Indianisms or incorrect Indian English (I mean English in India)? There are plenty.Progressive tense in stative verbsThey might say: I am liking it very much.Instead of: I like it very much.Differences in noun number and determinersThey might say: She performs many charities.Instead of: She gives away a lot in charity.PrepositionsThey might say: Let us discuss about this.Instead of: Let us discuss this.Incorrect Tag questionsThey might say: They did it, no? / He is here, isn’t it?/ She closed the door, did she?Instead of: They did it, didn’t they? / He is here, isn’t he?/ She closed the door, didn’t she?Word order variationsThey might say: My all closets are empty.Instead of: My closets are all empty.They might say: He does this always.Instead of: He always does this.Answers to question contentA question “Didn’t you take Rita to school?”May be answered with: Yes, I didn’t.Instead of: No, I didn’t.Inappropriate usageThey might say: Tom was not there but.Instead of: But Tom was not there.They might say: I only told her to do that.Instead of: I told her to do that.Use of “of”They might say: She had so much of work to do that…..Instead of: She had so much work to do that……Rhyming double-wordsThey might say: Let’s go out for some ice-cream-vice-cream.They mean: Let us go out for some ice-cream (ice-cream and stuff).Overuse of actually/obviously/generally/seriously etcThey might say: Seriously, she is a good person.Instead of: She is a good person.IdiomsThey might say: What is your good name?Instead of: What is your name?Region-specific errorsA person from the southMight say: I simply forwarded the mail to my boss.Instead of: I just forwarded the mail to my boss.These are just some examples of what you might come across at times. Fine for a good laugh, but none of these are acceptable even in India.The output of good writers of English in India match those of their counterparts from anywhere in the world. Indian writers have won accolades in the literary world, bagging such prestigious awards like the Booker prize. Bestsellers such as God of Small Things, A Suitable Boy, Satanic Verses, Train to Pakistan, An Equal Music, The Namesake and many others were penned by Indian writers. Elite and educated Indians do not speak or write the so-called Indian English. English in India may have a British hangover but by no means is it vastly different from American English or any other correct English for that matter. Of course, slang is different everywhere in the world. All speakers of English from different parts of the world have added their own flavor to the language and sometimes also speak and/or write erroneous English. For example, a Texan might say “Howdy partner?” but in his business communication use a regular “How are you?” instead! India is no exception. What counts is what is considered correct in books and documentation. And there, all English – whether Indian, American, Australian or British - merge as one single entity. Grammatically correct English is always correct English.So, if you are thinking about outsourcing your work to India or dealing with reputed Indian companies or hiring an Indian writer, you do not have to be scared of a compromise with “Indian English”. In the world of quality writing, it does not exist.Dr.Roopa Nishi Viswanathan
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Influences: British and AmericanThe form of English that Indians and all the other people of the subcontinent are taught in schools is essentially British English. A socially-superior accent is deemed to be that of Received Pronunciation. However, even during the time of the British Raj, before the partition of Pakistan and Bangladesh, Indian English had established itself as an audibly distinct dialect of the language with its own quirks and specific phrases. Indian spellings typically follow British conventions.After gaining independence in 1947, Indian English took on a divergent evolution, and many phrases that other English speakers consider antiquated are still popular in India. The legacy of the East India Company and its practices still prevails in official correspondence in India. Official letters include phrases such as "please do the needful," and "you will be intimated shortly," which are directly lifted from East India Company correspondence from the seventeenth century.Because of the growing influence of American culture in recent decades, certain elements of American slang are now used by some Indians, especially younger ones. American-English spellings are also widely prevalent in scientific and technical publications, while British-English spellings are used in other media.[edit] Influences from other languagesTag questions: The use of "isn't it" as a generic question tag, as in "You're lying, isn't it?" (instead of "You're lying, aren't you?"). More recent tag questions include "no?" (used colloquially) as in He's here, no? ('na' often replaces 'no' in Hindi speaking areas; the South replaces 'no' with the 'ah' sound, as in Ready, ah?, an influence of colloquial Tamil and Kannada.)Use of the words but or only as intensifiers such as in: "I was just joking but." or "It was she only who cooked this rice." Or even "I didn't go only" to mean "I didn't end up going after all." (Influenced by Hindi syntax.)Adding "U" to all english words e.g. LeftU for left, BusU for Bus; especially people from South Indian states mainly Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have the habit of when speaking Tamil and Kannada and Telugu respectivelyUse of yaar, machaa, abey, arey in an English conversation between Indians, mainly by people of native Hindi-speaking origin; 'ra', 'da', 'machaa' is more frequently used in the South.Use of "baazi"/"baaji" or "-giri" for the same purpose, as in "business-baazi" or "cheating-giri." (Also prevalent mainly in Hindi-speaking states.)Use of word "wala" to denote occupation or 'doing of/involvement in doing' something, as in "The taxi-wala overcharged me.", "The grocery-wala sells fresh fruit." or "He's a real music-wala: his CD collection is huge."Use of the word maane (Bengali) , "Yani" (Urdu) and matlab (Hindi/Urdu) to mean, loosely, "meaning" ("What I mean is..."), as in "The problem with your idea, maane, what I feel is missing, is ki it does not address the problem of overstaffing." or "Your explanation, matlab, your feeble attempt at one, was sorely lacking in cohesiveness."[edit] Idioms and popular words/phrasesB.A. - fail - used in matrimonial ads to describe someone who did not pass the final examinations but was admitted to college and did take college classes, as opposed to someone who did not go to college. 'Higher Secondary (fail)' and 'M.A. (fail)' are similar.B.A. - pass - used as the opposite to the aboveGone for a six - to mean something got ruined. (Origins linked to game of Cricket)Eve teasing - 'Sexual harassment'Convented - 'A girl educated well in Christian convent-style school'I got a firing/I was fired by him - 'I got yelled at by him'Where are you put up? means 'Where do you live'?. Heard often in S.India.Where do you stay? is the same as 'Where do you live?' or 'Where's your house?'. This is also used in Scottish and South African EnglishShift - to move as in "I shifted my things from my old apartment to my new one".I don't take meat/milk/whatever - 'I don't eat meat/ drink milk' etcShe is innocently divorced or divorced (innocent)- part of matrimonial advertising terminology, it means the marriage was not consummated.Wheatish complexion - Seen in matrimonial ads. Means 'not dark skinned, tending toward light'"What is [your] good name?" to mean "What is your full name?" is a carryover from the Hindi expression "Shubh-naam" (literally meaning "auspicious name") or the Urdu "ism-e shariif" (meaning "noble name"), or in Bengali, bhalo-naam (meaning quite literally "good name" or "proper name"). This is similar to the way Japanese refer to the other person's name with an honorific "O-" prefix, as in "O-namae" instead of the simple "namae" when referring to their own name. Such a questioner wants to know the person's formal or legal given name that may appear on a passport, as opposed to the pet name they would be called by close friends and family."Out of station" to mean "out of town". This phrase has its origins in the posting of army officers to particular 'stations' during the days of the East India Company."Join duty" to mean "reporting to work for the first time". "Rejoin duty" is to come back to work after a vacation."Tell me": used when answering the phone, meaning "How can I help you?""order for food" instead of "order food", as in "Let's order for sandwiches"."pass out" is meant to graduate, as in "I passed out of the university in 1995.""go for a toss" means to end prematurely or unexpectedly, as in "my plans went for a toss when it started raining heavily." This phrase has origins in cricket, where to go for a toss as means to be dismissed on the first ball."on the anvil" is used often in the Indian press to mean something is about to appear or happen. For example, a headline might read "New roads on the anvil"."tight slap" to mean "hard slap".Timepass - 'Doing something for leisure but with no intention or target/satisfaction' For example, "Hows the movie?" reply - "Just timepass man... nothing great about it."Dearness Allowance Payment given to employees to compensate for the effects of inflation. Source:online Dictionary of Indian EnglishPindrop Silence Teachers in primary schools are often heard yelling out this to the kids. Source:Ask any school child.chargesheet: n. formal charges filed in a court; v. to file charges against someone in court"I won't give him a single pie" to mean a "single cent". Pie is an Indian denomination of the anna, which in turn was one-sixteenth of one rupee/taka.redressal: n. redress, remedy, reparation"Hill Station" means mountain resort."Hotel" means "restaurant" (as well as specifically "big hotel") in India: "I ate in the hotel". "Lodge" is used to refer to small hotels. Sometimes "Lodge" refers to a place where you stay (in rooms) and "Hotel" refers to a place where you eat."stepney" refers to a spare tyre. The word is a genericized trademark originating from the Stepney Spare Motor Wheel, itself named after Stepney Street, in Llanelli, Wales.[3]"specs" means spectacles or glasses (as in colloquial UK English)."cent per cent" means "100 per cent" as in "He got cent per cent in maths.""centum" is also frequently used to refer to 100.[edit] Medical termsOften the cause of undesirable confusionViral Fever: influenzaJaundice: Acute Hepatitis. While standard medical terminology uses jaundice for a symptom (yellow discolouration of skin), in India the term is used to refer to the illness in which this symptom is most common.Allopathy, used by homeopaths for conventional medicine.[edit] FoodBrinjal : aubergines / eggplantCapsicum : called chili pepper, red or green pepper, or sweet pepper in the UK, capsicum in Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and India, bell pepper in the US, Canada, and the Bahamas; paprika in some other countriesCurds : yoghurtCoriander : cilantroSooji or Rava : semolinaPulses : pulses, eg lentilsKarahi : wokDhal : lentilsSago : tapioca[edit] Addressing othersReferring to elders, strangers or anyone meriting respect as "'jee'"/"'ji'" (Hindi: जी used as a suffix) as in "Please call a taxi for Gupta-ji" (North, West and East India)Use of prefixes "Shree"/"Shri" (Devanagari: श्री meaning Mister) or "Shreemati"/"Shrimati" (Devanagari: श्रीमती meaning Ms/Mrs): Shri Ravi Shankar or Shreemati Das Gupta. "Shreemati"/"Shrimati" is used for married women. "Kumari" (Devnagari: कुमारी literally meaning a virgin) can be used for unmarried (as opposed to single) women or girls. "Sushri" (Devnagari: सुश्री a more recent addition and appropriate translation of Ms where marital status cannot be determined or is unimportant)As with Shree/Shreemati, use of suffixes "Saahib/Sāhab" (Mr) and "Begum" (Mrs)(Urdu) as in "Welcome to India, Smith-saahib." or "Begum Sahib would like some tea."Use of "Mr" and "Mrs" as common nouns for wife/husband. For example, "Jyoti's Mr stopped by yesterday" or "My Mrs is not feeling well" (this use of "Mrs." or "missus" is also used in the UK.Use of "Ms" (also Mr, Mrs) with first name. For example, Swathi Ashok Kumar might be addressed as "Ms Swathi" instead of "Ms Kumar". This is the only possible correct usage in South India, especially in Tamil Nadu, where most people don't use a surname.Use of the English words 'uncle' and 'aunty' as suffixes when addressing people such as distant relatives, neighbours, acquaintances, even total strangers (like shopkeepers) who are significantly older than oneself. E.g., "Hello, Swathi aunty!" In fact, in Indian culture, children or teenagers addressing their friends' parents as Mr Patel or Mrs Patel (etc.) is rare and may even be considered unacceptable or offensive (in the sense of referring to an elder person by name). A substitution of Sir/Ma'am, while common for addressing teachers/professors or any person in an official position, would be considered too formal to address parents of friends or any other unrelated (but known) elder persons. On the contrary, if the person is related, he/she will usually be addressed with the name of the relation in the vernacular Indian language, even while conversing in English.[citation needed] For example, if a woman is one's mother's sister, she would not be addressed (by a Hindi speaker) as "auntie" but as Mausi (Hindi: मौसी) (by a Kannada speaker as Chikkamma Kannada: ಅತ್ತೆ). It is interesting to observe that calling one's friends' parents aunty and uncle was also very common in Great Britain in the 1960s and 70s but is much rarer today.Use of Respected Sir while starting a formal letter instead of Dear Sir. Again, such letters are ended with non-standard greetings, such as "Yours respectfully", or "Yours obediently", rather than the standard "Yours sincerely/faithfully/truly".Use of "Baba" ('father' in some languages, but colloquially meaning 'buddy') while referring to any person, such as "No Baba, just try and understand, I cannot come today".the phrase 'the concerned person' is widely used in oral Indian English.'Sharma sir is not here - same as Sharma-ji is not here, a respectful address. No knighthood suffix.[edit] Interjections and casual referencesCasual use of words yaar (Hindi: यार meaning - friend, buddy, dude, man, mate), bhai (Hindi: भाई meaning - brother) and bhaiyya (Hindi: भइया meaning - elder brother) much as with the American English 'man' or 'dude', as in " Arey! C'mon, yaar! Don't be such a killjoy!", "Long time no see, bhai." or "Ay, bhaiyya! Over here!" Yaar is the equivalent of mate in Australian and British English. The word boss is also sometimes used in this way, among friends but also to male strangers, as in "How much to go to the train station, boss?", or "Good to see you, boss."Use of interjections Arey!(Hindi: अरे) and acchha! (Hindi: अच्छा) to express a wide range of emotions, usually positive though occasionally not, as in "Arey! What a good job you did!", "Accha, so that's your plan." or "Arey, what bad luck, yaar!"Use of the word "chal" (Hindi: चल - Imperative of the verb "to walk") to mean the interjection "Ok", as in "Chal, I gotta go now" at the end of a phone callUse of oof! or "oh fo!" (Hindi: ऊफ़ - an interjection in Hindi) to show distress or frustration, as in "Oof! The baby's crying again!"Use of "Wah" (Hindi: वाह) to express admiration, especially in musical settings, as in "Wah! Wah! You play the sitar so well!"Use of "just" and "simply" in a seemingly arbitrary manner in southern India, especially Kerala. e.g. Q:"Why did you do it?" A:"Simply!" or "Just I was telling to [sic] him.Use of "chumma chumma" (Tamil: சும்மா means simply) at the beginning of a sentence. (eg. chumma chumma dont talk)Overuse of the word "Please" as an interjection, often over-stressing the vowel. This could stem from "please" being implied within the verb conjugation in Hindi, causing speakers to overcompensate for its absence in English.Use of the verb "sit" in place of "located" e.g. "Where are you sitting?" for "Where are you located? (for one's location in a school or office but not home)"Repetition of a word to emphasise a word. Used mostly with words like Yes, No, Right, Ok etc. (e.g. A: Did you finish reading the book ? B: Yes yes !!)[edit] Divergent usageInsertion of "as" in describing a designation, where it would be omitted in Standard English: "Mahatma Gandhi is called as father of the nation." "Bangalore is termed as Silicon Valley of India." "Yogurt is called as curd in Indian English."Substitution of "one" in place of the indefinite article "a": "Let me tell you one story." This is because in Indian languages, the numeric word for one (e.g. Hindi एक ek) is also used as the indefinite article."Kindly" used to mean "please": "Kindly disregard the previous message"."Paining" used when "hurting" would be more common in Standard American and British: "My head is paining.""Cover" to mean envelope or shopping bag in South India. For example, "Put the documents in a cover and post it", and "Put the vegetables in a separate cover". In Western India, especially Maharashtra, a shopping bag is called as a 'Carry Bag'."Today morning" (afternoon, evening, etc.) instead of "this morning." ("I met with him today morning."). Similarly, "yesterday night" instead of "last night".The word "marriage" used to mean "wedding." ("I am attending my cousin's marriage next month.")Treatment of the phrase "I don't think so" as a unit, as in "I don't think so I can do that" instead of "I don't think I can do that."The word non-veg (short for non-vegetarian) is used to mean food which contains flesh of any mammal, fish, bird, shellfish, etc or even eggs. Fish, seafood, and eggs are not treated as categories separate from "meat," especially when the question of vegetarianism is at issue (milk and its products are always considered vegetarian). E.g., "We are having non-veg today for dinner", whereas the native varieties of English would have: "We are having meat today for dinner".The word "mutton" is used to mean goat meat instead of sheep meat (and sometimes in a broader, euphemistic sense to mean any red meat, i.e., not poultry or fish).The word "hero" is used to mean a male protagonist in a story, especially in a motion picture. The protagonist need not have any specifically heroic characteristics. More significantly, "hero" is used to mean a movie actor who is often cast in the role of the protagonist. Thus, "Look at Vik; he looks like a hero," meaning "he is as handsome as a movie star.""Music director" is used to mean a music composer for movies.The word "dialogue" means "a line of dialogue" in a movie. ("That was a great dialogue!" means "That was a great line!") "Dialogues" is used to mean "screenplay." In motion picture credits, the person who might in other countries be credited as the screenwriter in India is often credited with the term "dialogues." (Note the usage of British spelling).The word "damn" used as an intensifier, especially a negative one, far more frequently and with far more emphatic effect, than in other dialects of English, as in "That was a damn good meal".Use the word "only" where the word "just" would be used in other dialects. For example, "These people are like this only".The word "healthy" as a euphemism for fat people, in North India and in general as in "His build is on the healthy side" to refer to a overweight person.The word "dress" (noun) is used to refer to clothes for men, women, and children alike: "She bought a new dress for her son", whereas in international varieties of English a dress is a women's outer clothing with a bodice and a skirt as a single garment. The usage of dress as clothes does exist in international varieties but only in very rare occasions and in relevant context., e.g. schooldress. Young girls in India invariably wear a dress, which is called a frock by the Indians."Full Shirt" is used for "Full Sleeves" and "Half Shirt" for "Half Sleeves" or "Short Sleeves". Similarly full-pant means trousers and half-pant means shorts. (Telugu speakers may say "Half Hands" and "Full Hands" in a similar fashion)."Shirtings and suitings" used for the process of making such garments and also to refer to shops specializing in men's formal/business wear."Bath" and "bathe" are also used interchangeably. In Telugu, there is no clear distinction between the words bath and shower.The use of "also" in place of "too" or "as well"; as in "I also need a blanket" instead of "I too need a blanket" or "He was late also" instead of "He was late as well"Intensifying adjectives by doubling them. This is a common feature of most Indian languages. For example: "She has curly-curly hair"; "You are showing your hairy-hairy legs"; "We went to different-different places in the city in search of a good hotel; "You will get used to the humidity slowly-slowly"; "Don't worry about small-small things" to mean very insignificant issues.Use of "reduce" to mean "lose weight" as in "I need to reduce!"Use of "this side" and "that side" instead of "here" and "there." "Bring it this side." "We went that side."Use of "engagement" to mean not just an agreement between two people to marry, but a formal, public ceremony (often accompanied by a party) where the engagement is formalized with a ring and/or other local rituals. Indians will not speak of a couple as being "engaged," until after the engagement ceremony has been performed. Similar to the use of term "marriage," a person may say "I am going to attend my cousin's engagement next month." Afterwards, the betrothed is referred to as one's "would-be" wife or husband. In this case, "would be" is used to mean "will be" in contrast with the standard and American and British connotation of "wants to be (but will not be).""Gentry" is a generalized term for social class - not specifically 'high social class'. The use of 'good', 'bad', 'high' and 'low' prefixed to 'gentry' is common."Graduation" used exclusively to mean completion of a bachelor's degree: "I did my graduation at Presidency College" ("I earned my bachelor's degree at Presidency College."), whereas in the United States it refers to completion of Highschool, Master's or PhD as well."Metro" to mean large city (i.e. 'metros such as Delhi and Chennai') This is a shortening of the term Metropolis. This can be confusing for Europeans, who tend to use the word to describe underground urban rail networks. However, following the popularity of the Delhi Metro, the word Metro now tends to be used to describe both the metropolis and the underground rail network.Use of the word "shift" to indicate "move" (oneself with belongings to a different house or city), as in "When are you shifting?" (instead of "When are you moving?").Use of "blood pressure" or "BP" to refer particularly to high blood pressure, as in "I have BP!" to mean "I have high BP or hypertension".Use of the word "small" to mean "a small amount of" as in "Some small smoke came out of my radiator."Words unique to (i.e. not generally well-known outside South Asia) and/or popular in India include those in the following by no means exhaustive list:batchmate or batch-mate (Not classmate, but a schoolmate of the same grade)"eggitarian" for a person who is eats vegetarian food, milk and eggs but not meat.compass box for a box holding mathematical instruments like compass, divider, scale, protractor etc.cousin-brother (male first cousin) & cousin-sister (female first cousin); used conversely is one's own brother/sister (of one's parent, as opposed to uncle or aunt; English brother/sister): most Indians live in extended families and many do not differentiate even nominally between cousins and direct siblings.foot overbridge (bridge meant for pedestrians)Funda (fundamentals) as in "I cant understand the funda behind this chemistry formula."godown (warehouse)godman somewhat pejorative word for a person who claims to be divine or who claims to have supernatural powersgully to mean a narrow lane or alley (from the Hindi word "gali" meaning the same).Himalayan blunder (grave mistake)long-cut (The "opposite" of short-cut, in other words, taking the longest route).mugging or mugging up (studying hard or memorising, and having nothing to do with street crime, what the word would mean in British/American English).nose-screw (woman's nose-ring)prepone (The "opposite" of postpone, that is to change a meeting to be earlier). Many dictionaries have added this word.tiffin box for lunch box. The word is also commonly used to mean a between-meal snack.co-brother indicates relationship between two men who married sisters, as in "He is my co-brother"vote-bank is a term commonly used during the elections in India, implying a particular bloc or community of people inclined to cast their votes for a political party that can be best promise to deliver policies, favouring them.Words which are considered archaic in some varieties of English, but are still in use in Indian English:Curd, where yoghurt would be more common in British/American English.Dicky/dickey the boot/trunk of a car[4] or rarely, to refer to someone's rear.Into to mean "multiplied by", as in 2 into 2 = 4, rather than 2 times 2 = 4, which is more common in other varieties of English. The use of into dates back to the fifteenth century, when it had been common it British English.[5]Use of the phrases like nothing or like anything to express intensity. For example, "These people will cheat you like anything". Such usage was part of colloquial English language in seventeenth century Britain and America.[6][7]ragging for fagging(UK)/hazing(US).In tension for being concerned or nervous. Phrased another way, "He is taking too much tension". Found in eighteenth century British English.[8]Use of thrice, meaning "three times", is common in Indian English.Use of "the same" instead of "it", as in "I heard that you have written a document on .... Could you send me the same?"[edit] GrammarThe role of English within the complex multilingual society of India is far from straightforward: it is used across the country, but it may be a speaker's first, second, or third language, and its features may depend heavily on the regional origin of the speaker.While Indian speakers of English use idioms peculiar to their homeland, often literal translations of words and phrases from their native languages, only standard British English is considered grammatically correct.The distinct evolution of regional variations in contemporary usage has led to terms such as Hinglish (Hindi + English), Kanglish (Kannada + English), Telgish (Telugu + English), Tanglish (Tamil + English), and Minglish (Marathi + English). Hinglish and other variations are popular in the field of advertising. In this context, the aim of reaching a large cross-section of society is fulfilled by such double-coding. Many words borrowed from Indian languages find their way into the ostensibly-English media.[edit] Grammar quirksThe progressive tense in stative verbs: I am understanding it. She is knowing the answer. Also, "I am working at XYZ Company" instead of "I work at XYZ Company". This is an influence of traditional Hindi grammar; it is more common in northern states.The pluperfect tense used in verbs where International English speakers would use the simple past. I had gone for I went.Use of would instead of will as in "I would be going to New York this weekend".Use of do the needful as in "do whatever needs to be done"Anglicisation of Indian words especially in Chennai by adding "ify" to a local Tamil word, usually humorously and not used in general speech.Idiomatic English for quantification in use of preposition "of", as in "There is so much of happiness in being honest."Use of "open" and "close" instead of switch/turn on/off, as in "Open the air conditioner" instead of "Turn on the air conditioner", and "Open your shirt" for "Take off your shirt." This construction is also found in Quebec English and also among Arab speakers of English etc.Use of "off" and "on" as verbs rather than adjectives, as in "On the light" instead of "Turn on the light" or "Off the fan" instead of "Switch off the fan."Use of "y'all" for "you all" or "all of you", as used in Southern American English, especially by Anglo-Indians. However, unlike Southern American usage, it is only used as a subject or object in a sentence, never to address a group of people.Swapping around the meanings of "slow" and "soft" as in "I shall speak slower for you" meaning "I will speak softly" and "Make the fan softer" to mean "Make the fan go slower." This is because of influence from Indian languages. In Telugu, for example, the word 'melliga' can refer to either slow or quiet, and in Hindi "Deerai" can mean slowly or softly.Creation of rhyming double-words (rhyming reduplication) to denote generality of idea or act, a 'totality' of the word's denotation, as in "No more ice-cream-fice-cream for you!", "Let's go have some chai-vai (tea, "tea and stuff")." or "There's a lot of this fighting-witing going on in the neighborhood." (Prevalent mainly in Hindi- and Punjabi-speaking states.)Use of the word "since" instead of "for" in conjunction with periods of time, as in "I have been working since four years" instead of "I have been working for four years" or "I have been working since four years ago". This usage is more common among speakers of North Indian languages such as Hindi where the words for both "since" and "for" are the same.Use of "Can you drop me?" and "We will drop her first" instead of "Can you drop me off?" and "We will drop her off first"Omission of the definite article: e.g. "Let's go to city" instead of "Let's go to the city"Use of "told" instead of "said". An example would be "Ravi told he is going home" instead of "Ravi said he is going home" or "Ravi told me he is going home". This feature is more prevalent in South India.[edit] PhonologyIndian accents vary greatly. Some Indians speak English with an accent very close to a Standard British (Received Pronunciation) accent; others lean toward a more 'vernacular', native-tinted, accent for their English speech.[edit] VowelsAmong the distinctive features of the vowel-sounds employed by some Indian English speakers are:Many Indian languages (with the exception of Western Hindi and Punjabi) do not natively possess a separate phoneme /æ/ (as in ). Thus, many speakers do not differentiate between the vowel sounds /ɛ/ (as in "dress") and /æ/ (as in ), except in cases where a minimal pair such as / exists in the vocabulary of the speaker. Such a speaker might pronounce "tax" like the first syllable of "Texas".[9] Speakers of Southern languages and Sinhalese, which do differentiate /ɛ/ and /æ/, do not have difficulty making this distinction.Chiefly in Punjab and Haryana states, the short [ɛ] becomes lengthened and higher to long [eː], making sound like .When a long vowel is followed by "r", speakers of Indian English usually use a monophthong, instead of the diphthong used in almost all other accents. Thus "period" is pronounced [pirɪəd] instead of [pɪəɹɪəd].[9]Indian English often uses strong vowels where other accents would have unstressed syllables or words. Thus "cottage" may be pronounced [kɒtedʒ] rather than [kɒtədʒ]. A word such as "was" in the phrase "I was going" will be pronounced [ʋɒz] or [ʋas] in Indian English: in most other accents it would receive the unstressed realization [wəz].[9] Another example is that many Indian English speakers often pronounce as /d̪iː/, irrespective of whether the definite article comes before a vowel or a consonant, or whether it is stressed or not. In native varieties of English, is pronounced as [ðə] when it is unstressed and lies before a consonant, and as [ðiː] when it is before a vowel or when stressed even before a consonant.Continuing the above point, the indefinite article is often pronounced by many Indian English speakers as [eː], irrespective of whether it is stressed or unstressed. In native varieties of English, is pronounced as [ə] when unstressed and as [eɪ] when stressed.[citation needed]The RP vowels /ʌ/, /ə/ and /ɜː/ might be realized as /ə/ in Indian English.[10] Bengalis often pronounce all these vowels as a, including the -colored versions of these vowels. Thus, may be pronounced the same as [farm].[citation needed]General Indian English realizes /eɪ/ (as in ) and /oʊ/ (as in ) as long monophthongs [eː], [oː].[10]Many Indian English speakers do not make a clear distinction between /ɒ/ and /ɔː/. (See cot-caught merger.)Unlike British, but like General American English, some Indian speakers don't pronounce the rounded /ɒ/ or /ɔː/, and substitute /a/ instead. This makes sound as [nat]. The phoneme /ɔː/, if used, is only semi-rounded at the lips.[citation needed]Words such as , and would be pronounced with a back as in British English but unlike American English, i.e., [klɑːs], [stɑːf] and [lɑːst] rather than American [klæːs], [stæːf] and [læːst].[edit] ConsonantsAmong the most distinctive features of consonants in Indian English are:Standard Hindi and most other vernaculars (except, at least, Bengali) do not differentiate between /v/ (voiced labiodental fricative) and /w/ (voiced labiovelar approximant). Instead, many Indians use a frictionless labio-dental approximant [ʋ] for words with either sound, possibly in free variation with [v] and/or [w]. So wet and vet are homophones.[9]Because of the previous characteristic many Indians pronounce words such as as [flaː(r)] instead of [flaʊə(r)], and as [aː(r)] instead of [aʊə(r)].The voiceless plosives /p/, /t/, /k/ are always unaspirated in Indian English, whereas in RP, General American and most other English accents they are aspirated in word-initial or stressed syllables. Thus "pin" is pronounced [pɪn] in Indian English but [pʰɪn] in most other accents. In native Indian languages (except Tamil), the distinction between aspirated and unaspirated plosives is phonemic, and the English stops are equated with the unaspirated rather than the aspirated phonemes of the local languages.[11] The same is true of the voiceless postalveolar afficate /tʃ/.The alveolar stops English /d/, /t/ are often retroflex [ɖ], [ʈ], especially in the South of India.[12] In Indian languages there are two entirely distinct sets of coronal plosives: one dental and the other retroflex. To the Indian ears, the English alveolar plosives sound more retroflex than dental. In the Devanagari script of Hindi, all alveolar plosives of English are transcribed as their retroflex counterparts. One good reason for this is that unlike most other native Indian languages, Hindi does not have true retroflex plosives (Tiwari, [1955] 2001). The so-called retroflexes in Hindi are actually articulated as apical post-alveolar plosives, sometimes even with a tendency to come down to the alveolar region. So a Hindi speaker normally cannot distinguish the difference between their own apical post-alveolar plosives and English's alveolar plosives. However, languages such as Tamil have true retroflex plosives, wherein the articulation is done with the tongue curved upwards and backwards at the roof of the mouth. This also causes (in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh) the /s/ preceding alveolar /t/ to allophonically change to [ ʃ ] ( /stɒp/ → / ʃʈap/). Mostly in south India, some speakers allophonically further change the voiced retroflex plosive to voiced retroflex flap, and the nasal /n/ to a nasalized retroflex flap.Many Indians speaking English lack the voiced postalveolar fricative (/ʒ/), the same as their native languages. Typically, /z/ or /dʒ/ is substituted, e.g. treasure /trɛ.zəːr/,[12] and in the south Indian variants, with /ʃ/ as in <"sh'"ore>, e.g. treasure /trɛ.ʃər/.All major native languages of India lack the dental fricatives (/θ/ and /ð/; spelled with th). Usually, the aspirated voiceless dental plosive [t̪ʰ] is substituted for /θ/ and the unaspirated voiced dental plosive [d̪], or possibly the aspirated version [d̪ʱ]. is substituted for /ð/.[13] For example, "thin" would be realized as [t̪ʰɪn] instead of /θɪn/.South Indians tend to curl the tongue (retroflex accentuation) more for /l/ and /n/.[citation needed]Most Indian languages (except Urdu variety) lack the voiced alveolar fricative /z/. While they do have its nearest equivalent: the unvoiced /s/, strangely, it is not used in substitution. Instead, /z/ is substituted with the voiced palatal affricate (or postalveolar) /dʒ/, just as with a Korean accent. This makes words such as and sound as [dʒiːro] and [roːdʒi:]. This replacement is equally true for Persian and Arabic loanwords into Hindi. The probable reason is the confusion created by the use of the devanagari grapheme < ज > (for /dʒ/) with a dot beneath it to represent the loaned /z/ (as < ज़ >). This is common among people without formal English education.Many Indians with lower exposure to English also may pronounce / f / as aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive [pʰ]. Again note that in Hindi (devanagari) the loaned / f / from Persian and Arabic is written by putting a dot beneath the grapheme for native [pʰ] < फ >: < फ़ >. This substitution is rarer than that for [z], and in fact in many Hindi-speaking areas /f/ is replacing /pʰ/ even in its native words.[citation needed]Inability to pronounce certain (especially word-initial) consonant clusters by people of rural backgrounds. This is usually dealt with by epenthesis. e.g., school /is.kuːl/.Sometimes, Indian speakers interchange /s/ and /z/, especially when plurals are being formed. Whereas in international varieties of English, [s] is used for pluralization of a word ending in a voiceless consonant, [z] for that ending in a voiced consonant or vowel, and [ɨz] for that ending in a sibilant.Again, in dialects like Bhojpuri, all instances of /ʃ/ are spoken like [s], a phenomenon which is also apparent in their English. Exactly the opposite is seen for many Bengalis.[citation needed]In case of the postalveolar affricates /tʃ/ /dʒ/, native languages like Hindi have corresponding affricates articulated from the palatal region, rather than postalveolar, and they have more of a stop component than fricative; this is reflected in their English.While retaining /ŋ/ in the final position, Indian speakers usually include the [ɡ] after it. Hence /riŋ.iŋ/ → /riŋ.ɡiŋɡ/ (ringing).[citation needed]Syllabic /l/, /m/ and /n/ are usually replaced by the VC clusters [əl], [əm] and [ən] (as in button /buʈ.ʈən/), or if a high vowel precedes, by [il] (as in little /liʈ.ʈil/). Syllable nuclei in words with the spelling er (a schwa in RP and an r-colored schwa in GA) are also replaced VC clusters. e.g., meter, /miːtər/ → /miːʈər/.[citation needed]Indian English uses clear [l] in all instances like Irish English whereas other varieties use clear [l] in syllable-initial positions and dark [l] (velarized-L) in coda and syllabic positions.[edit] Spelling pronunciationA number of distinctive features of Indian English are due to "the vagaries of English spelling".[13] Most Indian languages have a very phonetic pronunciation with respect to their script, and unlike English, the spelling of a word is a highly reliable guide to its modern pronunciation.In words where the digraph represents a voiced velar plosive (/ɡ/) in other accents, some Indian English speakers supply a murmured version [ɡʱ], for example [ɡʱoːst]. No other accent of English admits this voiced aspiration.[12]Similarly, the digraph may be aspirated as [ʋʱ] or [wʱ], resulting in realizations such as [ʋʱɪtʃ], found in no other English accent.[14]In unstressed syllables, native English varieties will mostly use the schwa while Indian English would use the spelling vowel, making sound as [sæ.ni.ti] instead of [sæ.nə.ti].[citation needed] Similarly, and can be heard as [e.bʌv] and [e.go] instead of [ə.bʌv] and [ə.go].English words ending in grapheme < a > almost always have the < a > being pronounced as schwa /ə/ in native varieties (exceptions include words such as ). But in Indian English, the ending < a > is pronounced as the long open central unrounded vowel /aː/ (as in ) instead of schwa. So, is pronounced as /ɪn.ɖɪ.aː/ instead of /ɪn.dɪ.ə/, and as /soː.faː/ instead of /soʊ.fə/.[citation needed]The word "of" is usually pronounced with a /f/ instead of a /v/ as in most other accents.[13]Use of [d] instead of [t] for the "-ed" ending of the past tense after voiceless consonants, for example "developed" may be [dɛʋləpd] instead of RP /dɪvɛləpt/.[12]Use of [s] instead of [z] for the "-s" ending of the plural after voiced consonants, for example may be [dɒɡs] instead of [dɒɡz].[13]Pronunciation of as [hauz] in both the noun and the verb, instead of [haus] as noun and [hauz] as verb.The digraph is pronounced as [tz] or [tdʒ] instead of [ts] (voicing may be assimilated in the stop too), making sound like [svit.zər.lænd] instead of [swit.səɺ.lənd].[citation needed]In RP, /r/ occurs only before a vowel. But many speakers of Indian English use /r/ in almost all positions in words as dictated by the spellings.[13] The allophone used is a mild trill or a tap. Indian speakers do not typically use the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ for , which is common for American English speakers.[citation needed]All consonants are distinctly doubled (lengthened) in General Indian English wherever the spelling suggests so. e.g., /dril.liŋɡ/.is pronounced as [heə(r)] (like in and ) instead of [hɪə(r)].English pronunciation of the grapheme < i > varies from [ɪ] to [aɪ] depending upon the dialect or accent. Indian English will invariably use the British dialect for it. Thus, would be pronounced as [tɛn.saɪl] like the British, rather than [tɛn.sɪl] like the American; would be pronounced as [æn.ti] like the British, rather than [æn.taɪ] like American.[citation needed]English words borrowed from French are often given a French-influenced pronunciation, but in India, such words are sometimes pronounced according to the rules of English pronunciation. e.g., as [ɛn.ʈriː] instead of [ɑn.t̪reː].Read more…
Indian English comprises several dialects or varieties of English spoken primarily in the Indian Subcontinent. These dialects evolved during and after the period when Britain exercised colonial rule over India. English is the one of the official languages of India, with about ninety million speakers, according to the 1991 Census of India, but fewer than a quarter of a million people call it their first language.[1] With the exception of some families who communicate primarily in English, as well as members of the relatively small Anglo-Indian community (numbering less than half a million), speakers of Indian English use it as a second or third language, after their indigenous Indian language(s), such as Hindi, Bengali, Telugu,Marathi,Tamil,etc.[2]Several idiomatic forms, derived from Indian literary and vernacular language, also have made their way into Indian English. Despite this diversity, there is general homogeneity in syntax and vocabulary among the varieties of Indian English.
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