Models of English in South Asia

There is a difference between linguistic behavior and an idealized linguistic norm. Southern British English has been the norm presented to the South Asians through the BBC, a small percentage of the English administrators and some teachers. Educated South Asian English was the variety actually used in South Asia in the past and it continues to be used now.

A speaker of South Asian English approximating RP has always been marked as socially and educationally separate, and such speakers form a very small minority. During the past three decades a different picture has emerge. The attitudes towards exocentric models (e. g. British and American), and endocentric models (e. g. Indian) are changing.

The recent situation is that there is a realistic attitude towards the issue of a model; there is recognition of the endocentric educated varieties, and there is also a significant impact of American English. RP and the British Standard have increasingly gone out of use while remaining an academic reference. The discussion of the question of model, whether it should be exocentric or endocentric, still continues.