World Englishes: Lesson 6

Hi everyone, 

In today's lesson, we started "outer circle" Englishes, and concentrated on Indian English. 

Language Diversity:
One of th main reasons why English is used in India is because it is one of the most linguistically complex areas in the world with over a 120 recognised languages spoken in the country. There are 22 that are official languages! 

English was brought over by the British through the East India Trade Company. Keep in mind, this trading company was very militaristic, and the local populations in India suffered greatly as a colony. The British needed locals who would talk like them, think like them and have the same morals, so the Macauley Minute was passed in  1835 to have English used in government and education.

Pronunciation:
We listened to a short audio of the standard Indian English dialect, and then analysed some of the key features. One feature is the interchanging of the retroflex sounds: /t/ and /d/.  Another feature is that Indian English is a "non-rhotic" language, which means the /r/ sound isn't pronounced after a vowel. RP is also non-rhotic. 

Grammar:
These are the key features of Indian English syntax:

1. use of the progressive tense instead of the simple present (as in U.S. Standard English)
2. use of "isn't it?" and "no?" as tag questions in non-standard Indian English.
3. use of reduplication 

Vocabulary:
​One of the main characteristics of Indian English vocabulary is the use of compounding. This occurs when two words are joined together to make a new word with a different meanings from the two individual words. Examples in Indian English include "creamy layer," "pass percentage," "car lifter," etc. 

Homework:
1. Lecture preparation #6

• chapter 8 notes on African Englishes (download the worksheet for questions in the Lecture Preparation section)

2. Listening Task #4: Standard Indian English

• listen to the two audios and complete the two worksheets for each one (see the Listening Homework section for videos, etc.)