Indianness in Indian English
Indianness in Indian English
Indianness in Indian English
The history of Indian English Literature began in 1830 with the publication of ‘Shair and Other Poems’ by Kashiprasad Ghose. Hence many Indian writers have come out boldly with their creative pens to give rise to an independent world of Indian English Literature like British English Literature, American English Literature, Australian English Literature and so on. The Indian English Literature has employed many native linguistic ingredients in their writings besides cultural ingredients which have added the flavour of Indian-ness to their English writings and this process has been going on incessantly. The Indian linguistic elements of the English Language have been making their entries in a variety of ways as enumerated below:
First, many native words, phrases and terms have got their entry through translation. For example, ‘Ishwar-prem’ is an Indian word that is translated by Mulk Raj Anand as ‘god-love’. Another phrase ‘namak-haram’ is translated as ‘spoiler of salt ‘by the same author. Various other examples of this kind are available in the writings of the Indian English writers. For example, we can quote these phrases like- ‘cow-worship’, ‘twice-born’, ‘car-festival’, caste-mark’, cousin-brother’, ‘waist-thread’ etc.
Secondly, many Indian words, and phrases especially proverb-like sayings have entered the Indian English Language by means of ‘shift’. A Shift is different from translation in the sense that in a shift no attempt is made to establish a formal equivalent. The following phrases and sentences may be treated as a shift which has been taken into the domain of Indian English, as-
(i) “May the fire of ovens consume you!”
(ii) “May the vessel of your life never float in the sea of existence.”
(iii) “A crocodile in a loin-cloth.”
Thirdly, there are many Indian phrases that have got their entries through collocation and deviation such as- ‘sister-sleeper’, ‘dining- leaf’, ‘flower-bed’, ‘rape-sister’ etc.
Fourthly, there are some English phrases especially British and American English phrases which have been used in Indian English in an Indian-like reduced form. For example, we get such phrases as-
(i)‘An address of welcome’ in reduced form as ‘welcome address.’
(ii)‘A bunch of keys’ as ‘key-bunch.’
(iii)‘Love of god’ as god-love.’
Fifthly, many phrases pertaining to Indian culture have been connoted to Indian English. For example- ‘flower-bed’ (for ‘nuptial bed’), ‘alms-bowl’, ‘bath-fire’, betel-bag’, ‘cow-dung-cakes’, ‘leaf- plate’, ‘rice-eating- ceremony’, ‘sacred ash’, ‘reed- mat’, upper-cloth’, ‘village-elder’, ‘wedding-house’ etc.
Sixthly, we have some hybrid or mixed formations of some phrases in which one element is from the native language and the other from British or American English. For example, we can roughly quote these phrases as- ‘attar-bottle’, police-jamadar’, ‘congress-pandel’, ‘kumkum-mark’ ‘nazul-land’ etc. Thus, the English Language has blended with the social and cultural life of India and this blending has rendered the flavour of Indianness in Indian English Writings. 0 0 0
Indianness in Indian English
N. B. This article entitled ‘Indianness in Indian English’ originally belongs to the book ‘Essays on Linguistics‘ by Menonim Menonimus. Indianness in Indian English
Books on Linguistics by M. Menonimus:
- A Brief History of the English Language
- Essays on Linguistics
- My Imageries
- Felicitous Expression: Some Examples
- Learners’ English Dictionary
Books of Composition by M. Menonimus:
- Advertisement Writing
- Amplification Writing
- Note Making
- Paragraph Writing
- Notice Writing
- Passage Comprehension
- The Art of Poster Writing
- The Art of Letter Writing
- Report Writing
- Story Writing
- Substance Writing
- School Essays Part-I
- School Essays Part-II
- School English Grammar Part-I
- School English Grammar Part-II..
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