Indian English comprises several dialects or varieties of English spoken primarily in India, and by first-generation members of the Indian diaspora. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country A non-resident Indian (NRI is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country a person of Indian origin who is born outside India or a person of This dialect evolved during and after the British colonial rule of India for nearly two hundred years. For usage see British rule in India British Raj ( rāj, lit "reign" in Hindustani) primarily refers to the British English is the co-official language of India, with about 100 million speakers. ^[1] With the exception of some families which communicate primarily in English as well as members of the relatively small Anglo-Indian community (numbering less than half a million), those speaking Indian English have it as a second language, with an indigeneous language such as Hindi as their native tongue. Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry and the term is sometimes used in the West. A second language (L2 is any Language learned after the first language or mother tongue (L1 Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is ^[2]

Variations in the pronunciation of several phonemes are affected by the regional tongues (see Languages of India) across the Indian subcontinent, the greatest distinction being that between South India and the region of North India. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia For geopolitical treatments see South Asia. South India is the area encompassing India 's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union Geography Northern India lies mainly on continental India and a very small part of it lies on the Indian peninsula Several idiomatic forms crossing over from Indian literary and vernacular language also have made their way into the English used by the masses. In spite of India's diversity, however, there is indeed a general homogeneity in syntax and vocabulary that can be found among speakers across South Asia.

Contents 1 Influences: British and American 1.1 Indian English literature 2 "An Indian English Grammar" 3 Phonology of Indian English 3.1 Vowels 3.2 Consonants 3.3 Spelling pronunciation 3.4 Supra-segmental features 4 Grammar, idioms and usage in Indian English 4.1 Grammar tweaks 5 Idioms and popular phrases 5.1 Titles (of respect; formal) 5.2 Interjections and casual references 5.3 Anomalous usage 5.4 Words unique to or originating in Indian English (in formal usage) 5.5 Colloquial and slang words used in Indian English 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links

Influences: British and American

The form of English that Indians (and other subcontinentals) are taught in schools is essentially British English. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the For most, it is desirable to emulate the brand of English that is linguistically known as Received Pronunciation or, more commonly, Television English. Received Pronunciation ( RP) is a form of Pronunciation of the English language (specifically British English) which has long been perceived as However, even during the time of British imperialism (before the creation of the separate states of Pakistan and Bangladesh), Indian English had established itself as an audibly distinct dialect with its own quirks and specific phrases. The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power.

The Indian government and school system accepts both British English and American English forms of spellings as 'correct' English and makes no distinction. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. Indian spellings typically follow British conventions, however American conventions are now increasingly being used.

After gaining independence in 1947, Indian English took on a divergent evolution; thus, many phrases that the British may consider antiquated are still popular in India. The term " Indian independence movement " is diffuse incorporating various national and regional campaigns agitations and efforts of both Nonviolent and Militant Divergent evolution is the accumulation of differences between groups which can lead to the formation of new species usually a result of different groups of the same species adapting to different The legacy of the East India Company and its practices still prevails in all official correspondence in India. The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or Official letters continue to include phrases like "do the needful," "please do the needful" and "you will be intimated shortly". "Do the needful" is a phrase which means "do that which is necessary" and carries the respectful implication that the other party is trusted to understand what This difference in style, though, is not as marked as the difference between British and American English. Older British writers such as Thomas Hardy and P.G. Wodehouse, who made creative (and comical) use of now obsolete forms of colloquial English, are still popular in India. Thomas Hardy OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928 was an English novelist Short story writer and poet of the naturalist movement though he saw Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE (15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975 (ˈwʊdhaʊs was an English Comic novelist who enjoyed enormous popular success ^[3] British writer, journalist, and wit Malcolm Muggeridge once joked that the last Englishman would be an Indian. Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge ( Croydon, England 24 March 1903 &ndash 14 November 1990) was a British Journalist ^[4]

However, because of the growing influence of American culture in recent decades, American English has begun challenging traditional British English as the model for English in the Indian subcontinent. Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia For geopolitical treatments see South Asia. The proliferation of American Programming, especially through television and movies, and the increasing desire of Indians to attend colleges and universities in the United States, rather than in the United Kingdom, is leading to the spread of American English among Indian youth. American-English spellings are also widely prevalent in scientific and technical publications, while British-English spellings are used in other media. The economic and political influence of the U. S. often leads to heated debates as to whether British English or American English is the more practical dialect for emigrating Indians to adopt. It must be stressed, however, that British English retains its hold on the majority of Indians, particularly those of the older generation and the younger generation in smaller cities and towns.

Studies show 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 would be better, and 17% preferred the Indian variety of English. Received Pronunciation ( RP) is a form of Pronunciation of the English language (specifically British English) which has long been perceived as Standard English (often shortened to SE within linguistic circles is a term generally applied to a form of the English language that is thought to be normative General American is an accent of American English within American English General American and accents approximating it are contrasted with Southern American " ^[5]

Indian English literature

Main article: Indian English literature

Spoken Indian English is often the butt of jokes by "educated" British-, American-, and Indian-English-speakers alike, as is evidenced by such characters as Peter Sellers' Indian party-goer in the movie "The Party" and the convenience-store owner Apu Nahasapeemapetilon in The Simpsons; there is also no dearth of jokes among Indians 'riffing' the pronunciation and idiomatic inconsistencies of Indian English (see External Links at bottom). Indian English Literature (IEL refers to the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be one Richard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers ( 8 September 1925 &ndash 24 July 1980) was a British The Party (alternative title " Hollywood Party " is a 1968 comedy written and directed by Blake Edwards,

However, in spite of banter regarding colloquial English, India has produced many notable writers in the English language, including Sri Aurobindo, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohandas Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, the famous novelist R K Narayan, Ruskin Bond, and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Sri Aurobindo (শ্রী অরবিন্দ Sri Ôrobindo) ( August 15, 1872 – December 5, 1950) was an Indian Jawaharlal Nehru (जवाहरलाल नेहरू ʤəʋäɦəɾläl nɛɦɾu (14 November 1889 27 May 1964 was a major political leader of the Congress Party Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી moɦən̪d̪äs kəɾəmʧən̪d̪ gän̪d̪ʱi (2 October 1869 – 30 January Swami Vivekananda (স্বামী বিবেকানন্দ Shami Bibekānondo; स्वामी विवेकानन्द Svāmi Vivekānanda) ( For other users see Narayan (disambiguation R K Narayan ( October 10, 1906 - May 13 2001) born Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ruskin Bond (रस्किन बोंड born 19 May 1934 is an Indian author of British descent Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, OM ( Telugu:సర్వేపల్లి రాధాకృష్ణ Tamil:சர்வேபள்ளி More contemporary Indians, such as Vikram Seth and Salman Rushdie, are acknowledged masters of English literary style. Vikram Seth (विक्रम सेठ pronounced /vɪkrəm seːʈʰ/ born June 20, 1952 is an Indian Poet, Novelist, travel Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie Kt (born 19 June 1947 is an Indian - British novelist and essayist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, a Kolkata-native, is a major figure in current literary theory notorious for her rigorous and, to some, incomprehensibly academic English prose. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born February 24 1942) is an Indian Literary critic and theorist. Indian-English writers and English writers of Indian origin—notably Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy; and Kiran Desai, Booker Prize shortlisted author Rohinton Mistry; Pulitzer Prize Winner Jhumpa Lahiri; and Nobel Prize winner V. S. Naipaul—have made creative use of more stereotypical Indian English through the characters in their works. The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length Novel Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie Kt (born 19 June 1947 is an Indian - British novelist and essayist Suzanna Arundhati Roy (born November 24, 1961) is an Indian Writer and Activist who won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel Kiran Desai (born 3 September 1971) is an Indian Author who is a citizen of India and a Permanent Resident of the United States The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length Novel Rohinton Mistry (born 3 July, 1952) is considered to be one of the foremost authors of Indian heritage writing in English Jhumpa Lahiri ( IPA: /ˈdʒuːmpʌ lʌˈhɪəriː/ (born Nilanjana Sudeshna on 11 July 1967) ( Bengali: ঝুম্পা লাহিড়ী The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset (Nobelprisen is a Swedish prize established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Peace, Literature Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul Kt, TC (born August 17, 1932 in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago) better known It should be noted that while some of the novelists in this group often made use of Indian English in their dialogues, all of these aforementioned writers communicate in and write prose of standard English grammar.

"An Indian English Grammar"

The role of English within the complex multilingual society of India is far from straightforward: together with Hindi it is used across the country, but it can also be a speaker's first, second, or third language, and its features may depend heavily on their ethnicity and caste. The grammar of Indian English has many distinguishing features, of which perhaps the best-known are the use of the present continuous tense, as in 'He is having very much of property', and the use of isn't it as a ubiquitous question tag: 'We are meeting tomorrow, isn't it?' The first example rejects another characteristic of the language, which is to include intrusive articles such as in or of in idiomatic phrases. Verbs are also used differently, with speakers often dropping a preposition or object altogether: 'I insisted immediate payment', while double possessives - 'our these prices' (instead of the British English 'these prices of ours') - are commonplace.

Formal British English is preferred over the layman's Indian English in educated Indian circles and higher Indian writing. ^[6] Middle and upper-class Indians, especially those with greater and wider exposure to the West through books, electronic media (such as television or movies) and travel, tend to speak grammatically-standard English. Electronic media are media that utilize Electronics or Electromechanical energy for the End user ( Audience) to access the content English is an official language of central and some state governments in India. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory What is characterised as Indian English is not considered "correct usage" by either government-related institutions (such as offices and schools) or educated Indians who prize 'proper' English. Indian schools still teach grammar from (frequently older) British textbooks like Wren & Martin or J. Wren & Martin refers singly to the book High School English Grammar and Composition or collectively to a series of English Grammar textbooks authored jointly by C. Nesfield (1898): the grammar of higher British English is considered the only correct one. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the Efforts by the Oxford University Press to publish a dictionary of Indian English resulted in abject failure since customers in India preferred the 'proper' British dictionary.

The distinct evolution of regional variations in contemporary usage has led to terms such as Hinglish (Hindi + English), Kinglish(Kannada + English ) ,Telgish (Telugu + English) Tanglish (Tamil + English) and Minglish (Marathi + English). Hinglish, a Portmanteau of the words Hindi and English, usage of Hindi and English words combining both in one sentence Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Kannada (kn [[wiktಕನ್ನಡ ಕನ್ನಡ]] Kannaḍa) is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state Madras Tamil or Madras bashai (மெட்ராஸ் Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. Marathi (mr मराठी Marāṭhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of what is considered western India. These terminologies are often referred to in a humorous way, but at times they also have a derogatory connotation, with each region or stratum of society having fun at the expense of others. Hinglish, Tanglish, Bonglish (Bengali + English) and other unnamed variations are particularly capitalised and made popular in the field of advertising. Here, the aim of reaching a large cross-section of society is fulfilled by such double-coding. There are thus many borrowed words from Indian languages that do find their way into popular writing, advertisements and newspapers, not to mention TV spots and shows.

Phonology of Indian English

Indian accents vary greatly from those close to a pure British (RP) to those leaning towards a more 'vernacular' (Indian language)-tinted speech. Received Pronunciation ( RP) is a form of Pronunciation of the English language (specifically British English) which has long been perceived as

Vowels

Among the distinctive features of vowel-sounds of Indian English speakers are:

• Many Indian languages (exception: Western Hindi and Punjabi) do not natively possess a separate phoneme /æ/ (as in <trap>). Many speakers thus do not differentiate between the vowel sounds /ɛ/ (as in "dress") and /æ/ (as in <trap>), except in cases where a minimal pair such as <bed>/<bad> exists in the vocabulary of the speaker. In Phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of Words or phrases in a particular Language, which differ in only one phonological element such as a Phone Thus such a speaker might pronounce "tax" like the first syllable of "Texas". ^[7] Marathi, Bengali and Sinhalese, which do differentiate /ɛ/ and /æ/ are notable exceptions; thus, these languages are not prone to this merger. Marathi (mr मराठी Marāṭhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of what is considered western India.
• Chiefly in U. P. and Bihar States, the short [ɛ] becomes lengthened and higher to long [eː], making <pen> sound like <pain>.
• When a long vowel is followed by "r" speakers of Indian English usually have a monophthong instead of the diphthong used in almost all other accents. A monophthong ( Greek μονόφθογγος "monophthongos" = single note) is a "pure" Vowel sound one whose articulation at In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with Thus "period" is pronounced [pirɪəd] instead of [pɪəɹɪəd]. ^[7]
• Indian English often uses strong vowels where other accents would have unstressed syllables or words. Thus "cottage" may be pronounced [kɒteʤ] rather than [kɒtəʤ]. 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]. ^[7] Another example is that many Indian English speakers often pronounce <the> 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, <the> 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 <a> is often pronounced by many Indian English speakers as [eː], irrespective of whether it is stressed or unstressed. In native varieties of English, <a> is pronounced as [ə] when unstressed and as [eɪ] when stressed.
• The RP vowels /ʌ/, /ə/ and /ɜː/ might be realized as /ə/ in Indian English. ^[8]. Bengalis often pronounce all these vowels as a, including the <r>-colored versions of these vowels. Thus, <firm> may be pronounced the same as [farm].
• General Indian English realizes /eɪ/ (as in <face>) and /oʊ/ (as in <goat>) as long monophthongs [eː], [oː]. A monophthong ( Greek μονόφθογγος "monophthongos" = single note) is a "pure" Vowel sound one whose articulation at ^[8]
• Many Indian English speakers do not make a clear distinction between /ɒ/ and /ɔː/. (cot-caught merger). Father-bother merger The father-bother merger is a merger of the Early Modern English vowels /ɑː/ and /ɒ/ that occurs in almost all varieties of North American English
• Unlike British but like General American English, many Indian speakers cannot pronounce the rounded /ɒ/ or /ɔː/, and substitute /a/ instead. This makes <not> sound as [nat]. The phoneme /ɔː/, if used, is only semi-rounded at the lips.
• Words such as <class>, <staff> and <last> would be pronounced with a back <a> as in British English but unlike American English, i. e. , [klɑːs], [stɑːf] and [lɑːst] rather than American [klæːs], [stæːf] and [læːst].

Consonants

Among the most distinctive features of consonants in Indian English are:

• Standard Hindi and most other vernaculars do not differentiate between /v/ (voiced labiodental fricative) and /w/ (voiced labiovelar approximant). The voiced labiodental fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The voiced labiovelar (actually labialized velar) approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in certain spoken Languages including Instead, most Indians use a frictionless labio-dental approximant [ʋ] for words with either sound, possibly in free variation with [v] and/or [w]. In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. So wine and vine are homophones. ^[7]
• Because of the inability to pronounce [w] even in word middle positions, many Indians pronounce words such as <flower> as [flaː(r)] instead of [flaʊə(r)], and <our> 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. ^[9] The same is true of the voiceless postalveolar afficate /ʧ/.
• The alveolar stops English /d/, /t/ are often retroflex [ɖ], [ʈ], especially in the South of India. Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets In Phonetics, retroflex consonants are Consonant sounds used in some Languages (They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants ^[10] In Indian languages there are two entirely distinct sets of coronal plosives: one dental and the other retroflex. In Linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a Consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth such as /t/ /d/ /n/ and 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. Postalveolar consonants are Consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the Alveolar ridge, placing them a bit further back in the 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. The palate (ˈpælɨt is the roof of the Mouth in humans and Vertebrate animals This also causes (in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) the /s/ preceding alveolar /t/ to allophonically change to [ ʃ ] (<stop> /stɒp/ → / ʃʈap/). Uttar Pradesh (उत्तर प्रदेश اتر پردیش pronounced, Translation: Northern Province) referred to as '''U 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. The retroflex flap is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents
• Many native languages of India (including Hindi) lack the voiced postalveolar fricative (/ʒ/). The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol Typically, /z/ or /dʒ/ is substituted, e. g. treasure /trɛ. zəːr/,^[10] 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]. Description Voiceless consonants are produced with the Vocal cords open and voiced consonants are produced when the vocal folds are fractionally closed The voiceless dental plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that The voiced dental plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that is substituted for /ð/. ^[11] 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/.
• Most Indian languages (except Urdu variety) lack the voiced alveolar fricative /z/. The voiced alveolar fricatives are Consonantal sounds The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a Sibilant 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/. This makes words such as <zero> and <rosy> sound as [dʒiːro] and [roːdʒi:]. This replacement is equally true for Persian and Arabic loanwords into Hindi. The probably 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 very common among the more uneducated people (dehāti or country-bumpkins) across India and is also reflective of their social status (as perceived by their accent).
• Continuing the point above, most uneducated and rural people in India pronounce / f / as aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive [pʰ]. The voiceless bilabial plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in many spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet 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.
• Inability to pronounce certain (especially word-initial) consonant clusters by people of rural backgrounds. In Linguistics, a consonant cluster (or consonant blend) is a group of Consonants which have no intervening Vowel. 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. Bhojpuri ( is a regional language spoken in parts of north-central and eastern India. Exactly the opposite is seen for many Bengalis. The Bengali people are the ethnic community from Bengal (divided between Bangladesh and India) on the Indian subcontinent with a history dating
• In case of the postalveolar affricates /tʃ/ /dʒ/, the 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 [g] after it. Hence /riŋ. iŋ/ → /riŋ. giŋg/ (ringing).
• 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. A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as 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. In Linguistics, specifically Phonetics and Phonology, schwa can mean the following An unstressed and toneless neutral General American is an accent of American English within American English General American and accents approximating it are contrasted with Southern American e. g. , meter, /miːtə(ɹ)/ → /miːʈər/.
• 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.

Spelling pronunciation

A number of distinctive features of Indian English are due to "the vagaries of English spelling". ^[12] 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 <gh> represents a voiced velar plosive (/g/) in other accents, some Indian English speakers supply a murmured version [gʱ], for example <ghost> [gʱoːst]. The voiced velar plosive is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that No other accent of English admits this voiced aspiration. ^[10]
• Similarly, the digraph <wh> may be aspirated as [ʋʱ] or [wʱ], resulting in realizations such as <which> [ʋʱɪʧ] found in no other English accent. ^[13]
• In unstressed syllables, native English varieties will mostly use the schwa while Indian English would use the spelling vowel, making <sanity> sound as [sæ. In Linguistics, specifically Phonetics and Phonology, schwa can mean the following An unstressed and toneless neutral ni. ti] instead of [sæ. nə. ti]. Similarly, <above> and <ago> 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 <spa>). In Linguistics, specifically Phonetics and Phonology, schwa can mean the following An unstressed and toneless neutral But in Indian English, the ending < a > is pronounced as the long open central unrounded vowel /aː/ (as in <spa>) instead of schwa. The open front unrounded vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet So, <India> is pronounced as /ɪn. ɖɪ. aː/ instead of /ɪn. dɪ. ə/, and <sofa> as /soː. faː/ instead of /soʊ. fə/.
• The word "of" is usually pronounced with a /f/ instead of a /v/ as in most other accents. ^[11]
• 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/. ^[10]
• Use of [s] instead of [z] for the "-s" ending of the plural after voiced consonants, for example <dogs> may be [dɒgs] instead of [dɒgz]. ^[11]
• Pronunciation of <house> as [hauz] in both the noun and the verb, instead of [haus] as noun and [hauz] as verb.
• The digraph <tz> is pronounced as [tz] or [tdʒ] instead of [ts] (voicing may be assimilated in the stop too), making <Switzerland> sound like [svit. zər. lænd] instead of [swit. səɺ. lənd].
• 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. ^[11] The allophone used is a mild trill or a tap. Indian speakers do not typically use the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ for <r>, which is common for American English speakers. The retroflex approximant is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that
• All consonants are distinctly doubled (lengthened) in General Indian English wherever the spelling suggests so. e. g. , <drilling> /dril. liŋg/.
• <Here> is pronounced as [heə(r)] (like in <hair> and <hare>) 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, <tensile> would be pronounced as [tɛn. saɪl] like the British, rather than [tɛn. sɪl] like the American; <anti> would be pronounced as [æn. ti] like the British, rather than [æn. taɪ] like American.
• 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. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people See also French language This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect English phonology is the study of the Phonology (ie the sound system of the English language. e. g. , <bouquet /bu. kɛt/ or /bau kwɛt/ instead of [bu. keː] ; <entrée> as [ɛn. ʈriː] instead of [ɑn. t̪reː].

Supra-segmental features

Any of the native varieties of English is a stress-timed language, and word stress is an important feature of Received Pronunciation. Language timing is the rhythmic quality of a particular type of speech in particular how Syllables are distributed across time In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word Indian native languages are actually syllable-timed languages, like Latin and French. Language timing is the rhythmic quality of a particular type of speech in particular how Syllables are distributed across time Indian-English speakers usually speak with a syllabic rhythm. ^[14] Further, in some Indian languages, stress is associated with a low pitch ^[15], whereas in most English dialects, stressed syllables are generally pronounced with a higher pitch. Thus, when Indian speakers speak, they appear to put the stress accents at the wrong syllables, or accentuate all the syllables of a long English word. The Indian accent is a "sing-song" accent, a feature seen in a few English dialects in Britain, such as Scouse and Welsh English. Scouse (ˈskaʊs is the accent and Dialect of English found in the city of Liverpool, and in some adjoining urban areas of Merseyside Welsh English, Anglo-Welsh, or Wenglish (see below refers to the Dialects of English spoken in Wales by Welsh people.

Reference: Varshney, R. L. , "An Introductory Textbook of Linguistics and Phonetics", 15th Ed. (2005), Student Store, Bareilly.

Grammar, idioms and usage in Indian English

Grammar tweaks

John Lawler of the University of Michigan observes the following anomalies in the grammar of Indian English:

• The progressive tense in stative verbs: I am understanding it. John Lawler is a University of Michigan -based general linguist who is perhaps best known to the wider public for his role in creating the Chomskybot. The University of Michigan Ann Arbor ( U of M, U-M, UM or simply Michigan) is a top-ranked Coeducational public research Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. The continuous and progressive aspects are Grammatical aspects that express incomplete action in progress at a specific time they are non-habitual imperfective She is knowing the answer. ; an influence of traditional Hindi grammar, it is more common in northern states. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is
• Variations in noun number and determiners: He performed many charities. She loves to pull your legs.
• Prepositions: pay attention on, discuss about, convey him my greetings. In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. Most prepositions of English are direct mental translations of the approximate postpositions of Hindi, but the Hindi-speakers fail to note that there isn't always a one-to-one correspondence. In Mathematics, a bijection, or a bijective function is a function f from a set X to a set Y with the property
• Tag questions: The use of "isn't it?" and "no?" as general question tags, as in You're going, isn't it? instead of You're going, aren't you?, and He's here, no? ('na' often replaces 'no': another influence of Hindi, this time colloquial, common all across the North, West, and East--the South replaces it with the 'ah' sound, as in Ready, ah?, an influence of colloquial Tamil and Kannada. A Tag question (also question tag) is a grammatical structure in which a declarative statement or an imperative is turned into a question by Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. Kannada (kn [[wiktಕನ್ನಡ ಕನ್ನಡ]] Kannaḍa) is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state )
• Word order: They're late always. (instead of "They are always late") My friends are all waiting. (instead of "All my friends are waiting)
• Yes and no agreeing to the form of a question, not just its content -- A: You didn't come on the bus? B: Yes, I didn't. "
• Use of the indefinite article a before words starting with vowels (usually a slip of the tongue).

In addition to Lawler's observations, other unique patterns are also standard and will frequently be encountered in Indian English:

• The past perfect tense used in verbs where International English speakers would use the past simple. The perfect aspect is variously considered either an aspect or tense which calls a listener's attention to the consequences generated by an action rather than the International English is the concept of the English language as a global means of communication in numerous dialects and also the movement towards an international standard 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 Please do the needful as in "Could you help me with this?"
• 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. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is )
• Anglicisation of Indian words especially in Chennai by adding "ify" to a local Tamil word. Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent.
• Use of yaar, machaa, abey, arey in an English conversation between Indians, mainly by people of native Hindi-speaking origin; 'da', 'machaa' is more frequently used in the South.
• Use of the word ki (Hindi and Marathi) to mean, loosely, that, such as in "What I mean is ki we should adopt this plan instead. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Marathi (mr मराठी Marāṭhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of what is considered western India. " (Seen mainly in North and West India. )
• Idiomatic English for quantification in use of preposition "of", as in "There is so much of happiness in being honest. "
• Use of the plural ladies for a single lady or a woman of respect, as in "There was a ladies at the phone. "
• 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. Quebec English is the common term for the set of various linguistic and social phenomena affecting the use of English in the predominantly French -speaking
• Use of "hope" where there is no implication of desire but merely expectation: "We don't want rain today but I hope it will rain. " (Used mainly by people from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu)
• Use of "off it" and "on it" instead of "switch it off" and "switch it on. Tamil Nadu ( Tamil:, Country of the Tamils, t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ is one of the 28 states of India. "
• Use of "current went" and "current came" for "The power went out" and "The power came back"
• Use of "y'all" for "you all" or "all of you", as used in Southern American English, especially by Anglo-Indians. Southern American English is a group of Dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry and the term is sometimes used in the West.
• Swapping around the meanings of "slow" and "soft" as in "I shall speak slower for you" (actually means I will speak softly) or "make the fan softer" (actually means make the fan go slower/ reduce its speed)
• Creation of nonsensical, rhyming double-words 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 "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 "wallah" to denote occupation or 'doing of/involvement in doing' something, as in "The taxi-wallah overcharged me. ", "The grocery-wallah sells fresh fruit. " or "He's a real music-wallah: 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. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised . . "), 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. "
• Overuse of the words "Generally"/"Actually"/"Obviously"/"Basically" in the beginning of a sentence. e. g "Actually I am not feeling well. "
• 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. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is
• Confusion, especially among North Indians, between the use of till and as long as, as in "Till you haven't finished your homework, you will not get dinner. " This is again directly traceable to Hindi grammar. Modern Standard Hindi is the Official language of India, while Urdu is the National language of Pakistan as
• Use of the word "gift" as a verb : You are gifting me a new cell phone?
• Use of "I can able to cook" instead of "I can cook" - a widespread grammatical error in Tamil Nadu. The word error has different meanings and usages relative to how it is conceptually applied Tamil Nadu ( Tamil:, Country of the Tamils, t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ is one of the 28 states of India.
• 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"
• Use of "throw it" instead of "throw it out"
• Use of "wish her" instead of "wish her a happy birthday"
• Use of "meet" or "met" to refer to spending time with someone as opposed to a first-time acquaintanceship: "i met my friend last night. "
• Omission of the definite article: e. g. "Let's go to city" instead of "Let's go to the city"
• Usage of "out of hundred" instead of per cent: "He got hundred out of hundred" instead of "He got a hundred" or "He got one hundred per cent".
• Pronunciation of "h" as "hech" instead of "eych" in South India.
• Use of the Latin word "cum", meaning "with", as in "Welcome to the gymnasium cum swimming pool building. A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is an artificially enclosed Body of water intended for Swimming or " This was common in the past in British English.
• In South India, phrases such as "that and all", or "this and all" are used roughly to convey the meaning "all of that (stuff)" or "regarding that". e. g: A: "Can I pay you back later? I don't have my wallet. " B: "That and all I don't know. I need the money now. "
• Use of "the same" instead of "it", as in "I heard that you have written a document on . . . . Could you send me the same?" (this again used to be standard British English but now appears old-fashioned).
• Use of "right?", a translation of Hindi kya, at the end of a sentence. Kya is also encountered in Indian English.
• Skipping of verbs, as used in Hindi in the beginning of the sentence as in "What I did?", instead of "What did I do?"

Idioms and popular phrases

• Gone for a six or Taken a six - to mean something got ruined. (Origins linked to game of Cricket)
• Eve-teasing - 'Sexual harassment'
• Pre-cap - 'like re-cap at beginning of serial TV show, a pre-cap at the end previewing the next one'
• 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'
• Sharma sir is not here - same as Sharma-ji is not here, a respectful address. No knighthood suffix.
• I will make a move now - means 'I'm leaving', not 'making a move on someone', or anything related to chess.
• 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?'
• Cheap and best means good quality at a low price - a great deal
• I don't take meat/milk/whatever - 'I don't eat meat/ drink milk' etc
• It is worst - 'It is really bad or of very poor quality'.
• She is innocently divorced - her marriage wasn't consummated.
• Wheatish complexion - Seen in matrimonial ads. Means 'not dark skinned, tending toward light'
• "Your good name please?": "What is your name?", carryover from Hindi expression "Shubh-naam", literally meaning "auspicious name". Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is 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. It is also an indication that the questioner wants to know the person's formal or legal given name, as opposed to the pet name s/he would be called by close friends and family. Legal name is often the Name which an individual is called at birth or which appears on their Birth certificate (see Birth name) or
• "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.
• "Hello, What do you want?": used by some when answering a phone call, not perceived as impolite by most Indians
• "Tell me": used when answering the phone, meaning "How can I help you?"
• "send it across" instead of "send it over", as in "send the bill across to me" instead of "send the bill over to me". A telephone call is a connection over a Telephone network between the Calling party and the Called party.
• "order for food" instead of "order food", as in "Let's order for sandwiches".
• "What a nonsense/silly you are!" or "Don't be doing such nonsense any more. ": occasional - idiomatic use of nonsense/silly as nouns (although this use of nonsense is not uncommon in British English).
• "back" replacing "ago" when talking about elapsed time, as in "I met him five years back" rather than "I met him five years ago. " (Though this too is not uncommon in British English)
• "pass out" is meant to graduate, as in "I passed out of the university in 1995. "
• "go for a toss" is meant to go haywire or to flop, as in "my plans went for a toss when it started raining heavily. "
• "funny" is meant to replace not only "odd"/"strange" but "rude"/"precocious"/"impolite" as well. "That man was acting really funny with me, so I gave him a piece of my mind"
• "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".
• I have some doubts - 'I have some questions'

Titles (of respect; formal)

• Referring to elders, strangers or anyone meriting respect as "'jee'"/"'ji'" (suffix) as in "Please call a taxi for Gupta-ji" (North, West and East India)
• Use of prefixes "Shree"/"Shri" (Mr) or "Shreemati"/"Shrimati" (Ms/Mrs): Shri Ravi Shankar or Shreemati Das Gupta. Pandit Ravi Shankar ( রবি শংকর Devanagari: रविशंकर "Pandit" ( Sanskrit, "learned" is honorific born April
• As with Shree/Shreemati, use of suffixes "Saahib/Sāhab" (Mr) and "Begum" (Mrs)(Urdu) as in "Welcome to India, Smith-saahib. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country " 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".
• 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 logical and perhaps 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 friend's parents as Mr Patel or Mrs Patel (etc. The culture of India has been shaped by the long History of India, its unique geography and the absorption of customs traditions and ideas from some of its neighbors ) is considered unacceptable, perhaps even offensive—a substitution of Sir/Ma'am is also not suitable except for teachers. On the contrary, if a person is really one's uncle or aunt, he/she will usually not be addressed as "uncle"/"auntie", but with the name of the relation in the vernacular Indian language, even while conversing in English. 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). It is interesting to observe that calling one's friends' parents auntie 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) while referring to any person, such as "No Baba, just try and understand, I cannot come today".
• In lengthy texts, such as newspaper articles, a person is referred to with his name, position, department and company without prepositions and often without the first name spelled out, leaving just the initial: "D. Singh, manager, department function ("tech sales"), company name". ^[16] In South India, especially in Tamil Nadu, where surnames are not used, the initial stands for one's father's first name, e. g. , in M. Karthik, the initial M could stand for Mani, Karthik's father's first name.
• the phrase of 'the concerned person' is widely used in oral Indian English.
• 'A child was born of wed lock' in Indian English was actually meaning "a child was born out of wedlock. "

Interjections and casual references

• Casual use of words yaar (friend, buddy, dude, man, mate), bhai (brother) and bhaiyya (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. Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology. " 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. "
• Informal and sometimes coarse assignations of familial relationships to friends. For example, alliyan in Kerala, machan in Chennai and sala in Mumbai literally mean brother-in-law, but are informally used by the youth to refer to each other. A brother-in-law is one's sister's husband or one's spouse's brother Targeted at a stranger, such words may take a derogatory meaning (like "sleeping with your sister").
• Use of interjections Arey! and acchha! 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 for the verb "walk") to mean the interjection "Ok", as in "Chal, I gotta go now" at the end of a phone call
• Use of T-K in place of O. Luck (also called fortunity) is a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person's control. K. when answering a question, as in "Would you like to come to the movie?" -- "T-K, I'll meet you there later. " ("theek hai", literally "fine is", meaning "okay"). T-K is a anglophonic homophone of the Hindi phrase "Theek hai" similar to the French "Ça va" similar to the English phrase "Alright then. "
• Use of oof! to show distress or frustration, as in "Oof! The baby's crying again!"
• Along with "oof!", there is also "off-oaf!" [of. fof] which is in a more whining voice which kind of means "oh, no!". Not many Indians will say this, but it is used widely in Hindi movies or soap operas. A soap opera is an ongoing episodic work of Fiction, usually broadcast on Television or Radio. The South Indian equivalent is "Aiyo!" [əiː. jo], expanded to "Aiyaiyo!" in proportion to the provocation. The latter phrase is the trademark of the South Indian, as caricatured in Hindi movies.
• Use of "Wah" 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. The sitar ( Hindi: सितार Urdu: ستار Persian: سی تار) is a Plucked stringed instrument. e. g. Q:"Why did you do it?" A:"Simply!" or "Just I was telling to [sic] him.
• "Lady's finger" means "Okra" (as in some other English-speaking countries). "Brinjal" or "Bai-ngan" means eggplant or aubergine.
• "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" or "stepaney" refers to a car's spare tyre. It is also used to refer to a mistress (i. e. , a "spare" wife!)
• "specs" means spectacles or glasses (as in colloquial UK English). Glasses, also called eyeglasses or spectacles, are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the Eyes normally for vision correction,
• "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.
• 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. In Linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Verb, Noun or Adjective from its Principal parts by Inflection
• 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)"
• Use of "chumma chumma" (means simply in Tamil) at the beginning of a sentence. (eg. chumma chumma dont talk)
• Unnecessary repetition of a word to stress on the general idea. Used mostly with words like Yes No Right Ok etc. (eg. A: Did you finish reading the book ? B: Yes yes !! ) It is generally accompanied by an emphatic shake of the head.

Anomalous usage

• "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. For example, "Put the documents in a cover and post it", and "Put the vegetables in a separate cover".
• "To fire" used to mean "given an oral (not written) dressing down by a superior" rather than "sacked" or "dismissed. " Indian: I got fired today at the office. American: I got chewed out today at the office.
• "Today morning" (afternoon, evening, etc. ) instead of "this morning. " ("I met with him today morning. "). Similarly, "yesterday night" instead of "last night".
• "Pattice" is used for a singular vegetable /Corn patty or plural Corn patties. (even among educated classes)
• The verb "revert" used to mean "reply to" and the noun to mean a "reply" ("Why have you not reverted my letter?" meaning "Why have you not replied to my letter?")
• The word "marriage" used to mean "wedding. " ("I am attending my cousin's marriage next month. ")
• The word "holiday" used to mean any day on which a person is not at work, including official holidays, vacations, sick leave, weekends, etc. Sick leave (or sickness pay or sick pay) is an employee benefit in the form of paid leave which can be taken during periods of sickness to attend doctor visits or ("Sunday is my holiday. ")
• 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). Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea 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". This Indian usage with eggs is non-uniform, because many Indians have started considering eggs as vegetarian due to the fact that with modern technology they are unfertilized and unable to hatch into chicks.
• 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. Lamb, hogget, and mutton are the meat of Domestic sheep. The meat of an animal in its first year is lamb; that of an older sheep is hogget For mammal meat see Red meat. For the band see Red Meat (band. 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 verb "repair" in southern India is used as a noun for a broken object as in, "The TV became repair. " The same word is used for saying when the broken object is fixed: "The TV is repaired and now it is working properly. "
• The word "stay" used for "live" or reside at": "Where do you stay?" meaning not "Where are you temporarily lodging" but "Where is your residence?" (though this is normal in Standard Scottish English)
• The word "damn" used as an intensifier, especially a negative one, far more frequently and with far more emphatic effect, than in international English, as in "That was a damn good meal". Scottish English is the variety of English spoken in Scotland, also called Scottish Standard English.
• The word "healthy" to refer to fat people, in North India and in general as in "His build is on the healthy side" to refer to a positively overweight person. Obesity is a condition in which excess Body fat has accumulated to such an extent that health may be negatively affected This is primarily because India used to have great food shortages and famines during early decades after independence, and a slim person would remind of someone malnourished and probably going to die, as compared to a fat person who would be seen as having enough food to eat.
• 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.
• The word "cloth" usually refers only to any clothes or fabrics that are not wearable, like "waste cloth": "Use that cloth for cleaning. "
• "Full Shirt or Full Arm Shirt" is used for "Full Sleeves" and "Half Shirt or Half Arm Shirt" for "Half Sleeves" or "Short Sleeves". Similarly full-pant means trousers and half-pant means shorts.
• "Cloth" and "clothe" are used interchangeably.
• "Shirtings and suitings" used for the process of making such garments and also to refer to shops specializing in men's formal/business wear.
• saloon [sæ. 'luːn] instead of salon, as in "I will visit the hair saloon. "
• "Bath" and "bathe" are also used interchangeably.
• Usage of the word Mohammadans instead of proper Muslims by many Hindus. This is an example of hyperforeignism, i. e. since Mohammadan is a highly anglicized word, it is considered "more proper" term; in reality, most Muslims would consider it disrespectful. Similarly, many Indians would still call the Blacks as negro without knowing that in modern usage it is disrespectful.
• Foreigner often means not just an alien in India, but any ethnic white Caucasian person (even if he or she has got an Indian citizenship). E. g. , "Nina has such a fair complexion and blue eyes; she looks just like a foreigner".
• Greetings like "Happy Birthday" are used even to say that "Today is my happy birthday". However, this usage is mostly restricted to children.
• 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 lot!!"
• 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). "
• The word "marry" used to mean "arrange or organize a wedding for," as in "I will be marrying my daughter next month", meaning: "I will be hosting/organizing my daughter's wedding next month. "
• "Keep" is used to refer to a woman who is someone's mistress. For example, "She is his keep", and also "She is a kept woman".
• "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. A bachelor's degree is usually an Undergraduate Academic degree awarded for a course or major that generally lasts for three four or in some cases and "), whereas in the United States it refers to completion of Highschool, Master's or PhD as well.
• Word order following who, what, where, when, why, or how with clauses is anomalous. In Linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the different ways in which languages arrange the constituents of their sentences relative to each other and the systematic In standard American and British English, the following are correct

"Where are you going?"

"Tell me where you are going"

In Indian English, however, a speaker will tend to choose one or the other word order pattern and apply it universally, thus:

"Where are you going?" and "Tell me where are you going. ", or

"Where you are going?" and "Tell me where you are going. "

• "Metro" to mean large city (i. e. 'metros such as Delhi and Chennai') This is a shortening of the term Metropolis. A metropolis (from the Greek μήτηρ mētēr meaning 'mother' and πόλις pólis meaning 'city/town' is a big City, in most cases with 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. The Delhi Mass Rapid Transit System ( MRTS) or Delhi Metro (दिल्ली मेट्रो is a Rapid transit system in the Indian National
• 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 "Sugar" to ask people if they are diabetic ("Do you have sugar?", instead of "Do you have diabetes?").
• Use of "power" to ask people if they are wearing corrective glasses ("What is your power?").
• Use of "blood pressure" or "BP" to refer particularly to high blood pressure, as in "I have BP!" to mean "I am suffering from high BP or hypertension".
• Use of "off" as an emphatic. ("I did it off" to mean "I went ahead and did it", or "Do it off" to mean "Do it without hesitation". )
• Use of "bucks" as a colloquial name for the Rupee. (This is more common in the US, while "quid" is used likewise in the UK).
• Lifting the phone instead of picking up the phone.
• Use of "doubt" to mean "a follow-up question", as in "I have a small doubt about this week's homework" or "Do you have time for a doubt?".
• Use of "one another" instead of "one more" or "another"
• "Yoghurt" is called as curd in Indian English, whereas in native varieties of English, curd is sour coagulated milk which is precursor to cheese. Yoghurt, yogurt, yoghourt, youghurt or yogourt (see spelling below is a Curd is a Dairy product obtained by curdling (coagulating Milk with Rennet or an edible Acidic substance such as Lemon juice
• Pronouncing words starting with the letter <h> as if the [h] sound is muted, e. g. Heidi as [aɪ. ɖi] (mainly South Indian)
• Pronouncing the word <environment> as [en. vi. rɔn. ment] (mainly South Indian)

Sometimes indians use english vocab in their sentences but the sentence is basically hindi. eg. Madhuri ne kuch food khaya.

Words unique to or originating in Indian English (in formal usage)

Main articles: List of English words of Hindi origin, List of English words of Tamil origin, List of English words of Sanskrit origin, List of English words of Urdu origin, and List of English words of Malayalam origin

Indians frequently inject words from Indian languages, such as Marathi,Bengali, Kannada,Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Urdu into English. This is a list of English language words of Hindi language origin bethrothal candy cool cry culvert This is a list of English words of Sanskrit origin Many of these words were not directly borrowed from Sanskrit Words of Urdu origin have entered other languages Many words have been incorporated into Indian English. This is a list of words in the English language that originated in any of the Languages of India. Marathi (mr मराठी Marāṭhī) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of what is considered western India. Kannada (kn [[wiktಕನ್ನಡ ಕನ್ನಡ]] Kannaḍa) is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Punjabi (pa ਪੰਜਾਬੀ in Gurmukhi script pa-PK {{Nastaliq پنجابی}} in Shahmukhi script Pañjābī in Transliteration) is an Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised While the currency of such words usually remains restricted to Indians and other Indian subcontinentals, there are many which have been regularly entered into the Oxford English Dictionary as their popularity extended into worldwide mainstream English. This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia For geopolitical treatments see South Asia. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English Some of the more common examples are "jungle", "bungalow", "bandana", "pyjamas"; others were introduced via the transmission of Indian culture, examples of which are "mantra", "karma", "avatar", "pundit" and "guru". Kids in pajamasjpg|thumb| Boys in pyjamas]] Pajamas or pyjamas (see also spelling differences) is a word with several different related meanings in A mantra ( Devanāgarī मन्त्र (or mantram is a religious or mystical syllable or poem typically from the Sanskrit language Karma ( Sanskrit: कर्म, kárman - "act action performance" Pali: kamma) is the concept of "action" Avatar or Avatara (अवतार IAST Avatāra) is often inaccurately translated into English as incarnation A pundit is someone who offers to mass-media his/her opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the Social sciences A guru (गुरु গুরু is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge wisdom and authority in a certain area and uses it to guide others The lead female character in the American pop sitcom "Dharma and Greg" has a Sanskrit name "Dharma" (interestingly, "dharma" is masculine in Hindi and Sanskrit). Dharma & Greg is an American Television Situation comedy co-produced by Chuck Lorre Productions More-Medavoy Productions and The Sanskrit term ( Devanāgarī: धर्म Pali transliteration dhamma) is an Indian spiritual and religious

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. (See this blog)
• compass for pencil box
• 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. cousin in Kinship terminology is a relative with whom one shares a common Ancestor, but in modern usage the term is rarely used when referring to a Extended family (or Joint family) is a term with several distinct meanings
• Dicky/dickey the boot of a car
• Double-confirm for re-confirm or just confirm.
• eve teasing (catcalling - harassment of women)
• foot overbridge (bridge meant for pedestrians)
• godown (warehouse)
• godman somewhat pejorative word for a person who claims to be divine or who claims to have supernatural powers
• gully to mean a narrow lane or alley (from the Hindi word "gali" meaning the same). Eve teasing is a Euphemism used in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan for Sexual harassment or molestation of women by men
• Himalayan blunder (grave mistake)
• mugging to mean studying hard or swotting, and having nothing to do with street crime
• nose-screw or nose-ring (woman's nose ornament)
• opticals (eyeglasses)
• pass-out to graduate from college
• to prepone (to advance, literally the opposite of 'postpone').
• ragging for fagging(UK)/hazing(US).
• rubber for eraser
• In tension for being concerned or nervous
• tiffin for lunch box
• time pass or timepass to mean something that is good enough for killing time. For example, "The movie was not great, but timepass".
• updation (used in out-sourcing to mean to update something, as in "I've completed the updation". )
• upgradation (commonly used in business communication instead of 'upgrade')
• uptil used for or "up until". Business Communication: communication used to promote a product service or organisation relay information within the business or deal with legal and similar issues
• upto (a shortening of "up to")
• villi used for villainess, especially in some parts of South India.
• would-be (fiancé/fiancée)
• co-brother indicates relationship between two men who married sisters, as in "He is my co-brother" (commonly used in South India)
• Some Indians consider "baby" as applicable only to a female infant. A male infant would be called a "baba" [baːbaː] (in Hindi [i]-ending nouns are usually feminine and [a]-ending ones usually masculine. )

The book Hobson-Jobson by Henry Yule and A. C. Burnell, first published in 1886, gives a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words. Hobson-Jobson is the short (and better-known title of Hobson-Jobson A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases and of Kindred Terms Etymological Historical Sir Henry Yule ( May 1, 1820 - December 30, 1889) was a Scottish Orientalist. Arthur Coke Burnell (1840&ndash 12 October, 1882) English scholar in Sanskrit, was born at St Year 1886 ( MDCCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry and the term is sometimes used in the West.

Colloquial and slang words used in Indian English

The words below are not generally used in formal Indian English. These are mainly used by the younger generation and may not be used or understood by older English speakers in India.

• arbit (a slang term and short for arbitrary. Slang is the use of highly informal Words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's Dialect or Language. Can be used to mean "vague", "random" or "bad". e. g. : "What an arbit ending that movie had!" Used primarily by college students in the metros. It is pronounced either as "arbitt" or "arbid", usually with equal stress on both syllables)
• funda short for fundamental. Refers to the background behind a concept - "I can't understand the funda of compactness!", "He explained the funda of Newton's Law of Cooling". Used almost exclusively by college students in large cities, esp. Delhi and Mumbai.
• fundu or fundoo - great. Someone who has good fundas is fundu. 'Fundu grub' means great food. The word sometimes surfaces more publicly as in this ad for chips: 'Five fundu flavours', probably aimed at the young, college-going market
• enthu, a short form for 'enthusiasm' or 'enthusiastic'. For example, 'He has a lot of enthu'.
• despo, a short form for 'desperate'.
• senti, a short form for 'sentimental'.
• n - Many (He takes n troubles to stay neat).
• time pass or timepass to mean something that is good enough for killing time. For example, "The movie was not great, but timepass".
• "Deadly", "hi-fi", "sexy" are used in idiomatic ways as adjectives. Deadly means intense, "hi-fi" stylish or beyond the perception of the average person and "sexy" excellent or extremely cool. Examples are "That movie was deadly, yaar; what an action scene!", "Your shoes are hi-fi. Where'd you get them?" and "That's a sexy car, man!"
• "Propose", to ask a person of the opposite sex if he/she is interested in him. Unlike Western usage, it does not imply marriage, instead it means asking someone out.
• "Gone for a toss", to mean something got ruined.
• . . freaking out - used (loosely) in place of ". . having a good time", as in We are all going to the club tonight to freak out or it can also mean being worried about something, as in I am freaking out thinking about the exams

See also

• Hinglish
• Indian English literature
• Regional accents of English
• Regional differences and dialects in Indian English
• Sri Lankan English
• India
• English language Indian films

References

Bibliography

• Wells, J C (1982). Accents of English 3: Beyond the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521285410.  

External links

• Dictionary of Indian English
• "Linguistic and Social Characteristics of Indian English" by James Baldridge : A rather thorough analysis of Indian language published by the "Language In India" magazine.
• On the future of Indian English, by Gurcharan Das. Gurcharan Das (गुरचरण दास born 1946, is an Indian author consultant and public intellectual
• An exploration into linguistic majority-minority relations in India, by B. Mallikarjun.

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