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English in South-Asia
S(caps)outh Asian English refers to varieties in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Together they account for about a fifth of the world population. Within this group, only Indian and Lankan Englishes are well developed and well documented. We shall concentrate only on Indian English. Unlike Bangladesh and Pakistan where English is used mainly for official purposes, English in India performs a neutral unifying role like in Nigeria, serving as a language of communication across people of diverse cultures. India was colonized by Britain from 1765 until independence in 1947. During this period, English was the language of administration and education. The earliest English language policy was contained in Macaulay’s famous ‘minute’ passed shortly after his arrival in Calcutta as the British head of the Indian Supreme Council in 1834. Thomas Macaulay served in India as the British Representative for four years. His ‘minute’ (i.e., bill) presented the case for a new English subculture in the region. When the Universities of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras were founded in 1857, English became the primary medium of instruction thereby establishing its status and steady growth during the next century. Today, English in India performs both public and private functions in a variety that has developed its own sound system, grammatical structure, and vocabulary. English is recognized as the next official language after Hindi following the 1950 Constitution of India, which declared Hindi the official national language, and English was made the ‘associate’ official language by the 1967 Official Language (Amendment) Act. This means that English would continue to be used alongside Hindi in all official matters at the national level.
In adapting to local cultures and environment, Indian English has evolved its own characteristics through the interaction of Indian languages and social behaviors with those of English. For speakers of Hindi, for instance, English words that begin with sk, st, or sp are usually pronounced with an initial vowel since Hindi does not permit sk or st at the beginning of words. So, a Hindi speaker would pronounce a word like ‘standard’ – ‘istandard’; ‘skim’ would be ‘iskim’. And in some varieties of Indian English, /v/ and /w/ sounds are not usually differentiated. Words like ‘vet’ and ‘wet’, for instance, would sound the same way. Greetings and remarks showing politeness in English are something like "kindly please advise me," "invite your kind attention," "bow my forehead," "blessed my hovel with the good dust of your feet," etc. Modes of address are often like "king of pearls," "policewala," etc. Compliments include "helloji," "thank youji," "doctorji," etc. The additional suffix is probably an item from Hindi. (See Baugh & Cable 2002; Jenkins, 2003). Indian English is also characterized by a great deal of code-switching or code-mixing.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
1. Describe some features of Indian English.
2. Why is the Indian variety of English more developed than those of Bangladesh and Pakistan?
Caribbean English
English in the Caribbean countries like Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Haiti, etc., is characterized by the use of Pidgin and the English-based Creole. Creole is pidgin that has native speakers with fairly stable features. Creole, like pidgin, is a combination of a European language (e.g., English) and other languages. In most of the Anglophone Caribbean islands, the language contacts are those of West Africa and the African languages spoken by the slaves brought to the Caribbean during the slave trade. Rather than describe this variety as “English Creole,” some scholars prefer to describe it as “Caribbean Creole” or West Indian Creole.
However, a variety of Standard English exists in the Caribbean countries as an official means of communication among the educated minority. The American variety of English is preferred even by the mass media due to an increasing influence of USA in the local economies. Each of the English-speaking countries in the region has to some extent developed its own variety of standard language through variations in accent and vocabulary to reflect indigenous cultural practices. Some of these English-based varieties show some contact with other languages such as French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. But it is clear that the varieties of the Caribbean have much in common due to the shared history and linguistic heritage of the people. No wonder, the concept of Standard West Indian English has begun to emerge.
A shared feature of Caribbean English is the West Indian accent, which sounds much like the West African tone language feature. Syllables tend to be equally stressed. Consequently, unstressed syllables in most English accents are given prominence. The schwa /ə/ is usually stressed so that a word like Peter /pitə/ would sound like /pi:ta/; bigger /biga/; photo /fọto/ will sound like /foto/ etc. This often causes intelligibility problems with those not familiar with the style of speech. Vowels like /a/, /ọ/, /ọ:/ merge, so that words like God, pot, and caught are pronounced the same. Words like teeth are pronounced /tit/, father /fada/, and think /tink/.
There are few prominent differences in grammar in the standard varieties of Caribbean English but some features mark them off as Creole English. An example is the problem with differentiating between the uses of will and would, shall and should etc. which is a problem common with most learners of English in West African countries. The Caribbean English however has added some new vocabulary to Standard English. Most of these loan words reflect the Caribbean environment, the people’s traditional behavior, and religious customs. Those that have entered into Standard English include reggae, calypso, dreadlocks, Rasta, etc. Some of the words are restricted to the regions they belong. Words like duppy (ghost), ganja (weed), susumba (a type of plant), watchy (watchman) belong to Jamaican English while words like boar-hog (boar), roti (a type of bread), and congolala (a type of medicinal plant) are found in Trinidad and Tobago English. A large number of words in Caribbean English can also be traced to African languages.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
1. Describe some general features of Caribbean English.
2. Identify at least five (5) words that Caribbean English has contributed to Standard English.
English in Canada
Earlier settlers in Canada were from the United States, so the American English has had the strongest influence in Canadian English. However, features of British pronunciation and spelling are observable on the Canadian variety. English and French are the two official languages in Canada, again creating a possible influence between the two languages. Both British and American English no doubt have supplied Canadian English with features with American influence dominating. The use of linguistic features from British English (BrE) or American (AmE) however varies from person to person depending on age, education, sex, occupation, and location. For instance, the AmE is more popular with young people throughout Canada than with elderly people. Some features originate in Canada and are peculiarly Canadian, while some are BrE, AmE, and French. Words like aboiteau (dam), creditiste (member of the Social Credit Party), salt-chuck (ocean), skookum (powerful), etc., are Canadian. A word like Prime Minister is used at the federal level while Premier is regional. Some cultural or political institutions in Quebec, for example, are called bloc Quebecois or Caisse Populaire, which are words of French origin. Canadian English (CaE) spelling incorporates both British and American. The British ‘tyre’ is often spelled ‘tire’ in CaE while the American ‘center’ is spelled the British ‘centre,’ showing that CaE cannot be identified completely with either the AmE or BrE. Similarly, both AmE and BrE varieties provide sources of vocabulary to the CaE. The British tap (AmE faucet), railway (AmE railroad), AmE gas (BrE petrol), sidewalk (BrE pavement), etc., are used side by side though usages vary from place to place. Pronunciation leans more towards the British model. However, some general impressions about English in Canada are that one hardly differentiates between what is Canadian and what is American.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3
1. Describe Canadian English.
2. Why does the American variety tend to have the greater influence on Canadian English?
Conclusion
English in South Asian countries, together with West Indian English, is among modern varieties of English known as new world Englishes. English became the official language of these regions through British colonial influences in Asia and the slave trade in Africa between the 16th and 19th centuries. The American earliest settlement in Canada contributed a great deal to the influence of American English on Canadian English.
Summary
Among the South Asian Countries, India and Sri Lanka have the most developed and documented varieties of new world Englishes. India’s long history of British Colonial influence gave it a strong backing to adopt a national language policy that favored the growth and spread of English in the country. Today, about 350 million Indians speak English as their first language.
Though a variety of Standard English exists in the Caribbean as the official medium of communication among a few educated people, Caribbean English is more of English-based Pidgin and Creole. All the Caribbean varieties share a common feature of pronunciation but different use of vocabularies, which serves as a pointer to the region that supplies some particular words. Caribbean English is significantly influenced by languages of the West coast of Africa, including Hausa, Efik, Igbo, Yoruba, and Twi. Lastly, you have seen that Canadian English is largely influenced by American English, British English, and French. However, some lexical items are peculiarly Canadian.
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