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A8 What’s the main role of English in India according to the speaker? 

   1)  Enabling communication between the country’s peoples.

  2)  Serving as the language of Indian Mass Media. 

  3)  Connecting India with the rest of the world.      

A9 Which of the following is TRUE about Indian English?    

1)  It has specific features in grammar as well as in vocabulary and phonetics.  

 2)  It exists only in local newspapers. 

  3)  It’s similar to Australian English.      

A10 What, according to the speaker, partly explains the specifics of Indian English?

    1)  Education traditions in India. 

    2)  Indian history and culture.  

    3)  Structure of local languages.    

A11 Which of the following is mentioned as a grammatical feature of Indian English?

    1)  Use of a plural form of a certain word in relation to a single object. 

    2)  Avoiding use of the progressive tense.

    3)  Overuse of the definite article.      

A12 Which of the following phrases is used in Indian English for “How can I help you?”?  

  1)  Where are you put up? 

 2)  Hello, what do you want?  

 3)  Tell me …      

A13 What does the speaker say about the language of Indian teenagers?

    1)  It makes Indian English more modern.   

    2)  It’s devised to confuse older people.   

   3)  It consists of slang mostly.    

A14 What’s the basic direction of changes in modern Indian English according to the speaker?

    1)  Purification.   

    2)  Simplification.  

    3)  Localization.

Tape script:

  Presenter: Today in our World Englishes programme we are going to discuss Indian English. Professor Barry Smith is my guest and my first question is: What is the role of English in today’s India?

 Professor: In India, where more than 18 different languages coexist, English serves as the connector between people speaking different mother tongues. So the number of Indians who wish to learn and use English is not only continuing but increasing. The number of English newspapers, journals and magazines is on the increase too. In fact, Indian English is a recognized dialect of English, just like British Received Pronunciation or Australian English or Standard American. It has a lot of distinctive pronunciations, some distinctive syntax and quite a bit of lexical variation.

 Presenter: What about grammar? 

Professor: Linguists observe the following anomalies in the grammar of Indian English. The Indians, for instance, use the progressive tense with stative verbs, which is an influence of traditional Hindi grammar. There’re also variations in noun, number and determiners, preposition use, building tag questions, word order. Another example’s that Indians often use the indefinite article a before words starting with vowels, though it must be mentioned that usually this is just a slip of the tongue. 

Presenter: Are these anomalies kind of accidental or can you explain them in some way?

 Professor: For those aware of the grammar of Indian tongues, the logic behind the quirks of Indian English is quite transparent and readily explicable. In addition to what I’ve already mentioned, Indians use the past perfect tense in verbs where International English speakers would use the past simple. There are lexical points as well – like using the words but and only as intensifiers or adding English affixes to local words. There are some funny cases like use of the plural ladies for a single lady or a woman of respect, use of open and close instead of switch on and off.  Some idioms and popular phrases include the question “Where are you put up?” instead of “Where do you live?” or the phrase “tell me” instead of “How can I help you?” Strange as it may seem sentences like “Hello, what do you want?” as a beginning of a business conversation aren’t perceived as rough by most Indians.

  Presenter: Have local Indian languages contributed to Indian English?

 Professor: Internet research shows that Indians frequently inject words from Indian languages. Some of the more common examples are jungle or bungalow; others were introduced via the transmission of Indian culture, examples of which are mantra, karma, avatar and guru.  There’re colloquial and slang words used in Indian English as well. Teenagers take an active part in modernizing the language. What younger generations devise may not be used or even understood by older English speakers in India. For example, youngsters use the expression hi-fi for cool or stylish.

 Presenter: Thank you, Professor, for a very interesting talk. What would you like to say in conclusion? What is your – mmm – final diagnosis?

Professor: Indian English is changing and trying to be more universal and simpler. The shifts in modern Indian English are well explained by the famous local proverb “There’s nothing noble in being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self”.

1. Look through the questions and guess the topic of the interview.
2. What dialects of English do you know?
3. What branches of the language will be discussed?
4. What specific features may a dialect have?
5. Give an example of typically Indian words in the English language.
6. Is the language changing? How?
7. How could you explain the proverb “There’s nothing noble in being superior to some other person. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self”?

Keys:

1. Indian English
2. The major native dialects of English are often divided by linguists into the three general categories of the British Isles dialects, those of North America and those of Australasia.
3. Grammar, vocabulary and phonetics.
4. Distinctive pronunciation, syntax and lexical variations.
5. jungle /ˈdʒʌŋɡ(ə)l/, bungalow /ˈbʌŋɡəˌləʊ/, mantra /ˈmæntrə/, karma /ˈkɑː(r)mə/, avatar /ˈævəˌtɑː(r)/ and guru /ˈɡʊruː/
6. Of course. It is going to be more universal and simpler.
7. You should not compare yourself with the other person, you must be better than you was yesterday.

Dialects are linguistic varieties which differ in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar from each other and from Standard English (which is itself a dialect).

Connect the category of the Indian English with its examples

Keys:

Grammar: c, I, j, k.

 Vocabulary . Lexical variation: a, b, d, f, g

  Idioms: e, h

  Pronunciation -

  Syntax -

  Colloquial and slang words: l

Try to explain the meanings of the following words: jungle /ˈdʒʌŋɡ(ə)l/, bungalow /ˈbʌŋɡəˌləʊ/, mantra /ˈmæntrə/, karma /ˈkɑː(r)mə/, avatar /ˈævəˌtɑː(r)/ and guru /ˈɡʊruː/.     

(Meanings:  a thick tropical forest; a house that is all on one level;   a sound, word, or phrase that is continuously repeated as a prayer, used in Hindu and Buddhist religious practices to help someone meditate; a belief in Hinduism and Buddhism that the way in which you behaved in past lives affects your present life, and the way in which you behave in this life will affect your future lives; a figure of god; a religious or spiritual leader, especially in Hinduism)                

KEY WORDS

Coexist - to live or exist at the same time or in the same place

These communities have peacefully coexisted for centuries.

serve as the connector – to connect

continuing - happening for a period of time without interruption

The peace talks resumed despite continuing uncertainty about the political situation.

Increasing - to becoming larger in amount or number

An increasing number of people are choosing not to have children.

on the increase - Increasing, especially in frequency of occurrence: Crime is on the increase.

Distinctive - easy to recognize because of being different from other people or things of the same type

a smooth, rich coffee with a distinctive flavor

anomaly - something unusual, unexpected, or different from what normally happens

a curious anomaly in the regulations

Hindi - a language of Northern India. It is one of the official languages of India.

Determiner - a word used before a noun for showing which thing or things you are talking about. The words 'a', 'the', 'this', 'some', and 'every' are determiners.

Vowel - a sound that you make when you speak without closing your mouth or throat

One of the letters 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', or 'u', used for representing these sounds. In English, 'y' is sometimes considered to be a vowel. The other letters are called consonants.

a slip of the tongue - a mistake you make when speaking, such as using the wrong word

Did I say she was forty? I meant fourteen - just a slip of the tongue.

kind of  - to some degree sort of

I try to dress kind of nicely for work. I guess I kind of forget to thank her for all she does for me.

Accidental- happening without being planned or intended

accidental damage/injury

aware of - knowing about a situation or a fact

They're aware of the dangers.

quirk /kwɜː(r)k/ - something strange that happens for reasons that you do not know or understand

transparent - simple, clear, and easy to understand

transparent rules

explicable /ɪkˈsplɪkəb(ə)l/ - easy to explain and understand

intensifier - a word that makes the meaning of another word stronger, for example adverbs such as 'very' and 'extremely'

contribute - to be a part of a group or an activity and help it to be successful

contribute something to something: Davis didn't really contribute much to the game in the second half.

frequently - often

He has frequently been compared to Michael Jackson.

Inject - to add something new to a situation

His intervention injected a note of caution.

Modernizing - making modern in appearance, style, or character; update

Youngster-  a child, or a young person

Diagnosis /ˌdaɪəɡˈnəʊsɪs/ - a.  A critical analysis of the nature of something.

b.  The conclusion reached by such analysis.

Shift - a change in something, for example in someone's ideas or opinions

the government's latest major policy shift