Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T16:53:24.293Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - ENGLISH IN SOUTH ASIA

from PART II - English overseas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Robert Burchfield
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The history of English in South Asia is one of prolonged heated debates and controversies. The controversy about the legacy of English and desirability of its continued place in language policies and its cultural associations has still not abated. However, the political map of South Asia is completely altered now from the way it was when the English language was originally introduced to the subcontinent over two centuries ago. The profile of English in the subcontinent is also different from that in 1947 when the colonial period came to an end and the country was divided into India and Pakistan. One task of the two new governments was to determine the role of almost 560 sovereign states which were ruled by maharajas, nawabs and lesser luminaries depending on the status and revenue of each state. In 1972, an independent nation, Bangladesh, was carved out of Pakistan after considerable bloodshed. When we refer to contemporary South Asia, we are talking of the following seven sovereign states: India (pop. 1,042·5 million), Pakistan (pop. 162·46 million), Bangladesh (pop. 150·6 million), Sri Lanka (pop. 19·39 million), Nepal (pop. 24·0 million), Bhutan (1·9 million) and Maldives (pop. 0·272 million).

The projected population of this region in the year 2000 is 1,401 million, which will be 22·4 per cent of the world's population. The largest percentage (74·4) of this population will be in India, and the smallest percentage (0·19) in Maldives. These political divisions, though meaningful at one level, are somewhat misleading at another level.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aggarwal, N. K. (1982). English in South Asia: a Bibliographical Survey of Resources. Gurgaon and New Delhi: Indian Documentation Service.
Agnihotri, R. K., Khanna, A. L. & Mukherjee, A. (1984). The use of articles in Indian English. IRAL 22, 2.Google Scholar
Annamalai, E. (ed.) (1979). Language Movement in India. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.
Banerjee, S. (1878). Lord Macaulay and Higher Education in India. Calcutta: I. C. Bose.
Bansal, R. K. (1969). Intelligibility of Indian English. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages.
Bansal, R. K. (1990). The pronunciation of English in India. In Ramsaran, S. (ed.) Studies in the Pronunciation of English: a Commemorative Volume in Honour of A. C. Gimson. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Barnes, E. Sir (1932). The History of Royal College. Colombo.
Baumgardner, R. J. (1987). Utilizing Pakistani newspaper English to teach grammar. World Englishes 6, 3.Google Scholar
Baumgardner, R. J. (1990). The indigenization of English in Pakistan. English Today 21, 6.1: 59-65.Google Scholar
Baumgardner, R. J. (ed.) (1993). The English Language in Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
Baumgardner, R. J. (ed.) (forthcoming). South Asian English: Structure, Use and Users. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Bayer, J. M. (1986). A Sociolinguistic Investigation of the English Spoken by the Anglo-Indians in Mysore City. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.
Bhatia, T. K. (1987). English in advertising: multiple mixing and media. World Englishes 6, 1.Google Scholar
Bhatia, T. K. & Ritchie, W., (eds.) (1989). Code-Mixing: English Across Languages. Special Issue of World Englishes 8.3.
Bryant, A. (1932). Macaulay. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Chatterjee, K. K. (1976). English Education in India: Issues and Opinions. Delhi: Macmillan.
Chatterji, S. K. (1926 [1970]). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, 2 vols. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Chatterji, S. K. (1963). The Literary Unity of India. In Mukherji, S. (ed.) Towards a Literary History of India. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages.
Chaudhary, S. C. (1989). Some Aspects of the Phonology of Indian English. Ranchi: Jayaswal Press.
Chaudhuri, N. C. (1976). The English language in India - past, present and future. In Niven, A. (ed.) The Commonwealth Writer Overseas: Themes of Exile and Expatriation. Brunells: Librairie Marcel Didier SA.Google Scholar
Cheshire, J. (ed.) (1991). Sociolinguistic Perspectives of English as a World Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Clive, J. (1973). Macaulay: the Shaping of the Historian. New York: Knopf.
Coppola, C. (1988). Marxist Influences and South Asian Literature. Delhi: Chanakya.
Danchev, A. (1984). Translation and syntactic change. In Fisiak, J. (ed.) Historical Syntax (Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Monographs 23). The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Dissanayake, W. (1985). Towards a decolonized English: South Asian creativity in fiction. World Englishes 4, 2: 233–42.Google Scholar
D'souza, J. (1986). Language modernization in a sociolinguistic area. Anthropological Linguistics 28, 4.Google Scholar
Dustoor, P. E. (1954). Missing and intrusive articles in Indian English. Allahabad University Studies 31.Google Scholar
Dustoor, P. E. (1955). Wrong, usurping and dispossessed articles in Indian English. Allahabad University Studies 32.Google Scholar
Emeneau, M. B. (1955). India and linguistics. Journal of the American Oriental Society 75.Google Scholar
Emeneau, M. B. (1956). India as a linguistic area. Language 32.Google Scholar
Fernando, C. (1976). English and Sinhala bilingualism in Sri Lanka. Language in Society 6.Google Scholar
Fernando, S. (1989). Style range in Sri Lankan English fiction: an analysis of four texts. World Englishes 8, 2.Google Scholar
Fernando, T. (1972). The Burghers of Ceylon. In Gist, N. P. & Dworkin, A. G. (eds.) The Blending of Races: Marginality and Identity in World Perspective. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Firth, J. R. (1930). Speech. London: Benn's Sixpenny Library, no. 121; reprinted, London: Oxford University Press, 1966.
George, K. M. (1972). Western Influence on Malayalam Language and Literature. New Delhi: Sahitya Academi.
Gopalakrishnan, G. S. (1960). Some observations on the South Indian pronunciation of English. Teaching English 6, 2.Google Scholar
Grant, C. (1831-2). Observations on the state of society among the Asiatic subjects of Great Britain, particularly with respect to morals, and the means of improving it. In General Appendix to Parliamentary Papers 1831-32. London.Google Scholar
Gupta, S. M. (1980). Vowel reduction in U.P. English: an instrumental study. CIEFL Bulletin 16, 1.Google Scholar
Guthrie, T. A. (1897). Baboo Jabberjee B.A. London: J. M. Dent.
Hands, S. (1983). Pakistan: a Country Study, 4th edn (Foreign Area Studies, The American University). Washington DC: US Government.
Hashmi, A. (1978 [1987]). Pakistani Literature: the Contemporary English. Islamabad: Gulmohar.
Hashmi, A. (1989). Prolegomena to the study of Pakistani English and Pakistani literature in English. Paper presented at the International Conference on English in South Asia, Islamabad, 4–9 January.Google Scholar
Hawkins, R. E. (1976). Supplement of words from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. In Ostler, G. (comp.) The Little Oxford Dictionary of Current English. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hock, H. H. (1986). Principles of Historical Linguistics. The Hague: Mouton de Guyter.
Hosali, P. & Aitchison, J. (1986). Butler English: a minimal pidgin. journal of Pidgin and Creole Linguistics 1, 1.Google Scholar
Hunt, C. (1931). Honoured Sir from Babujee. London: P. Allen.
Hunt, C. (1935). Babuji Writes Home: being a new edition of ‘Honoured sir’ with many additional letters. London: P. Allen.
Islam, R. (1975). Language planning in Bangladesh. Indian Linguistics 36, 3.Google Scholar
Iyengar, K. R. S. (1962). Indian Writing in English. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.
Iyengar, K. R. S. (1985). Indian Writing in English, revised and updated edition. New Delhi: Sterling.
Jussawalla, F. F. (1985). Family Quarrels: Towards a Criticism of Indian Writing in English. New York: Peter Lang.
Kachru, B. B. & Smith, L. (1986). The Power English: Cross-cultural Dimensions in Literature and Media. Special issue of World Englishes 5.
Kachru, B. B. (1965). The Indianness in Indian English. Word 21, 3.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1976). Models of English for the third world, white man's linguistic burden or language pragmatics. TESOL Quarterly 10, 2.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1978). Code-mixing as a verbal strategy in India. In Alatis, J. E. (ed.) International Dimensions of Bilingual Education (Georgetown Monographs on Languages and Linguistics). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1980). The new Englishes and old dictionaries: directions in lexicographical research on non-native varieties of English. In Zgusta, L. (ed.) Theory and Method in lexicography: a Western and Non- Western Perspective. Chapel Hill, NC: Hornbeam Press.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1982). Language policy in South Asia. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 1981 2.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1983). The Indianization of English: the English language in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Kachru, B. B. (1985a). Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: the English language in the outer circle. In Quirk, R. & Widdowson, H. G. (eds.) English in the World: Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1985b). Institutional second language varieties. In Greenbaum, S. (ed.) The English Language Today. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1986a). The Alchemy of English: the Spread, Functions and Models of Non-native Englishes. London: Prentice-Hall. (Reprinted Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990).
Kachru, B. B. (1986b). The power and politics of English. World Englishes 5, 2-3.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1987). The bilingual's creativity: discoursal and stylistic strategies in contact literatures. In Smith, L. E. (ed.) Discourse across Cultures: Strategies in World Englishes. London: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1992b). The second diaspora of English. In Machan, T. W. and Scott, C. T. (eds.) English in its Social Contexts: Essays in Historical Sociolinguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (1994). Englishization and contact linguistics. World Englishes 13.Google Scholar
Kachru, Y. (1985). Discourse analysis, non-native Englishes and second language acquisition research. World Englishes 4, 2.Google Scholar
Kachru, Y. (1987). Cross-cultural texts, discourse strategies and discourse interpretation. In Smith, L. E. (ed.), Discourse Across Cultures: Strategies in World Englishes. London: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Kachru, Y. (1992). Culture, style and discourse: expanding noetics of English. In Kachru, B. (ed.).Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. (ed.) (1992a). The Other Tongue: English Across Cultures, 2nd edn. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Kachru, Y. (ed.) (1991). Symposium on speech acts in World Englishes. World Englishes 10, 3.Google Scholar
Kandiah, T. (1971). New Ceylon English (Review Article). New Ceylon Writing.Google Scholar
Kandiah, T. (1981). Lankan English schizolossia. English World-wide 2, 1.Google Scholar
Kandiah, T. (1984). ‘Kaduva’: power and the English language weapon in Sri Lanka. In Colin-Thomé, P. and Halpé, A. (eds.) Honouring E. F. C. Ludowyk: Felicitation Essays. Dehiwela: Tisara Prakasakayo.Google Scholar
Kandiah, T. (1991). Sociolinguistic perspectives in English in South Asia. In Cheshire, (ed.).Google Scholar
Kanungo, G. B. (1962). The Language Controversy in Indian Education: Historical Study. Chicago: Comparative Education Center, University of Chicago.
Kindersley, A. F. (1938). Notes on the Indian idiom of English: style, syntax and vocabulary. Transactions of the Philological Society.Google Scholar
King, B. (1987). Modern Indian Poetry in English. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Krishnamurti, Bh. (1978). Spelling pronunciation in Indian English. In Mohan, R. (ed.), Indian Writing in English. Madras: Orient Longman.Google Scholar
Krishnamurti, Bh. & Mukherjee, A. (eds.) (1984). Modernization of Indian Languages in News Media. Hyderabad: Osmania University.
Lal, P. (1969). Modern Indian Poetry in English: An anthology and a Credo. Calcutta: Writers Workshop.
Law, N. N. (1915). Promotion of Learning in India by Early European Settlers. London: Longman.
Lewis, I. (1991). Sahibs, Nawabs and Boxwalahs; a Dictionary of the Words of Anglo-India. Bombay: Oxford University Press.
Lowenberg, P. & Sridhar, S. N. (eds.) (1986). World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition Research. Special issue of World Englishes, 5.
Malla, K. P. (1977). English in Nepalese Education. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.
Masica, C. P. (1972). The Sound System of General Indian English (Monograph no. 7). Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages.
Masica, C. P. (1976). Defining a Linguistic Area: South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mendis, G. C. (1952). Ceylon under the British. Colombo: the Colombo Apothecarien.
Meraj, S. (1993). The use of English in Urdu advertising in Pakistan. In Baumgardner, (ed.) (1993).Google Scholar
Morris, H. (1904). The Life of Charles Grant. London: J. Murray.
Mukherjee, M. (1971). The Twice-born Fiction: Themes and Techniques of the Indian novel in English. New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann.
Musa, M. (1981). Language Planning in Sri Lanka. Dacca: Bani Mudron.
Nagarajan, S. (1981). The decline of English in India: some historical notes. College English 43, 7.Google Scholar
Naik, M. K. (1982). A History of Indian English Literature. Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.
Nehru, J. L. (1963). The language problem in India. Bulletin of the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages 3.Google Scholar
Neill, S. (1984). History of Christianity in India: the Beginnings to 1707. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Neill, S. (1985). History of Christianity in India: 1707-1858. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nelson, C. (1982). Intelligibility and non-native varieties of English. In Kachru, B. (ed.) The Other Tongue: English Across Cultures, 1 st edn. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Nihalani, P., Tongue, R. K. & Hosali, P. (1979). Indian and British English: a Handbook of Usage and Pronunciation. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Nurullah, S. & Naik, J. P. (1951). A History of Education in India. Bombay: Macmillan.
Pandit, P. B. (1972). India as a sociolinguistic area. Poona: University of Poona.
Parasher, S. V. (1991). Indian English: Functions and Form. New Delhi: Bahri.
Prator, C. H. (1968). The British heresy in TESOL. In Fishman, J., Ferguson, C. A. & Gupta, J. (eds.) Language Problems of Developing Nations. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Quirk, R. (1988). The question of standards in the international use of English. In Lowenberg, P. H. (ed.) Language Spread and Language Policy: Issues, Implications, and Case Studies. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Quirk, R. (1989). Language varieties and standard language. JALT Journal 11, 1.Google Scholar
Rahman, T. (1991a). Pakistani English: some phonological and phonetic features. World Englishes 10, 1.Google Scholar
Rahman, T. (1991b). Pakistani English. Islamabad: National Institute of Pakistan Studies; Qaid-i-Azam University.
Rahman, T. (1991c). A History of Pakistani Literature in English. Lahore: Vanguard.
Rajagopalachari(ar), C. (1962). The Question of English. Madras: Bharathan.
Ram, T. (1983). Trading in Language: the Story of English in India. Delhi: GDK.
Ramaiah, L. S. (1988). Indian English: a Bibliographical Guide to Resources. Delhi: Gian.
Rao, G. S. (1954). Indian Words in English: a Study in Indo-British Cultural and Linguistic Relations. London: Oxford University Press.
Report of the Special Committee on Education, Ceylon (1943). Sessional papers, XXIV. Colombo: Sri Lanka.
Report of the Official Language Commission. 1956 (1957). New Delhi: Government of India Press.
Richter, J. (1908). A History of Missions in India, trans. Moore, S. H.. New York: F. H. Revell.
Robarts, T. T. (1800). An Indian glossary consisting of some thousand words and forms commonly used in the East Indies… extremely serviceable in assisting strangers to acquire with ease and quickness the language of that country. London: Murray and Highley.
Roy, R. (1823). Letter to Lord Amherst, 11 December. In Selections from Educational Records, Part I (1781-1838). Calcutta: Bureau of Education, Government of India.Google Scholar
Ruberu, R. (1962). Education in Colonial Ceylon: Being a Research Study on the History of Education in Ceylon for the Period 1796 to 1834. Kandy: Kendy.
Schuchardt, H. (1891). Indo-English. In Pidgins and Creole Languages: Selected Essays, ed. and trans. Gilbert, G. G., 1980. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sethi, J. (1978). The vowel system in educated Punjabi speakers' English. Bulletin of the Central Institute of English 14.2.Google Scholar
Sethi, J. (1980). Word accent in educated Punjabi speakers' English. Bulletin of the Central Institute of English 16.2.Google Scholar
Shah, A. B. (ed.) (1968). The Great Debate: Language Controversy and Higher Education. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.
Sharp, H. (ed.) (1920). Selections from Educational Records. Calcutta; Bureau of Education, Government of India.
Shastri, S. V. (1988). The Kolhapur corpus of Indian English and work done on its basis so far. ICAME Journal 12.Google Scholar
Shaw, W. D. (1981). Asian student attitudes towards English. In Smith, L. (ed.) English for Cross Cultural Communication, London, Macmillan.Google Scholar
Sherring, M. A. (1884). The History of Protestant Missions in India from their Commencement in 1706 to 1871. London and Edinburgh: Religious Tract Society.
Singer, M. (1972). When a Great Tradition Modernizes. New York: Praeger.
Singh, A., Verma, R. & Joshi, I. M. (eds.) (1981). Indian Literature in English, 1827-1979: a Guide to Information Sources. Detroit, MI: Gale.
Sinha, S. P. (1978). English in India: a Historical Study with Particular Reference to English Education in India. Patna: Janaki Prakashan.
Smith, L. & Nelson, C. (1985). International intelligibility of English: directions and resources. World Englishes 4, 3.Google Scholar
Spencer, J. (1966). The Anglo-Indians and their speech: a sociolinguistic essay. Lingua 16.Google Scholar
Sridhar, K. K. & Sridhar, S. N. (1986). Bridging the paradigm gap: second language acquisition theory and indigenized varieties of English. World Englishes 5, 1.Google Scholar
Sridhar, K. K. (1989a). Pragmatic differences between native and indigenized varieties: requesting in Indian English. In Walsh, T. J. (ed.) Synchronic and Diachronic Approaches to Linguistic Variation and Change. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Sridhar, K. K. (1989b). English in Indian Bilingualism. New Delhi: Manohar.
Sridhar, S. N. (forthcoming). Toward a grammar of South Asian English. In Baumgardner, (ed.), forthcoming.
Sridhar, S. N. & Lowenberg, P. H. (eds.) (1986). World Englishes and Second Language Acquisition Research. Special issue of World Englishes 5.
Tambiah, S. J. (1967). The politics of language in India and Ceylon. University of Ceylon Review 8, 2.Google Scholar
Thumboo, E. (1985). Twin perspectives and multi-ecosystems: tradition for a commonwealth writer. World Englishes 4, 2.Google Scholar
Verma, Y. P. (1988). The Press in Nepal: an Appraisal. Kathmandu: Pratibha.
Wadia, A. R. (1954). The Future of English in India. Bombay: Asia Publishing House.
Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English, 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wijesinha, R. (ed.) (1988). An Anthology of Contemporary Sri Lankan Poetry in English. Colombo: The British Council, Sri Lanka.
Wilson, H. H. (1855). A glossary of judicial and revenue terms and of useful words occurring in official documents, relating to the administration of the government of British India. London: W. H. Allen. (Reprint 1940.)
Yule, H. & Burnell, A. C. (1886). Hobson-Jobson: a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive. New edn by Crooke, W., 1903. London: J. Murray.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×