Contact and impact: Englishisation (Part II)

Lexicalization

The lexis of a language is open to the greatest intrusion from a language in contact.

                Loanwords: the registers of science, technology, fashion, television, cinema and advertising have a particularly high frequency of such items.

                Loan shifts: two types: extension of a lexical item from English, e.g. transport is translated into a Tamil pokkuvarattu “going and coming”, and lexis-bound translation in which the aim is to establish lexical equivalence, e.g. illegal license is translated as donga laysensū and common man is translated as sri samanya “Mr common”.

                Hybridisation: at least one component is from English, e.g. tikit ghar for “ticket office”.

                Parallel lexical sets: the use of parallel lexical sets which have roughly the same denotation meaning is an interesting example of the structure of the multilinguals’ verbal repertoire, e.g.:

                Sanskritisation                 Persianisation                  Englishisation                   Gloss

               

                Dayā karnā                         rahan karnā                       piti karnā                            “to pity”

                Ghrinā karnā                     naphrat karnā                   hate karnā                         “to hate”

                Pratikshā karnā                intizar karnā                      wait karnā                          “to wait”

                Pyār karnā                          muhabat karnā                love karnā                          “to love”

English provides an additional lexical item for which there already is a native lexical item. In many South Asian languages, the borrowed word from English is perceived as “neutral” in many interactional contexts, or its use implies a certain status, class or level of education. The native words have caste, class or regional connotations. This is not true of an English word, and, in that sense, then, English has “neutrality”. Using English words or phrases where correct translation equivalents are available in an Indian language is common in educated informal speech.

Grammar

At the grammatical level, Englishisation is mode-dependant and register-dependant. “Mode-dependant mean restricted in terms of spoken or written mode. The “register-dependent” features have high frequency in a specific register. The following are illustrative of the Englishisation at the grammatical level:

                Impersonal constructions, this construction is no longer register-specific, and is now used in the colloquial style in Hindi-Urdu, for example kahā gayā hai “it is said”

                Passive construction, some modifications in the passive are attributed to English, particularly the passive with the NP agent. In Hindu-Urdu a construction with overt manifestations of the agent has a high frequency in formal registers

                Word order, the SVO construction in Hindi-Hurdu is used for stylistic effect, as opposed to the traditional SOV. The following constructions are also attributed to the influence of English:

                               Indirect speech, in such constructions there is a vak-shifting of a pronoun as in:

                               Bil ne kahā ki vo khā rahā hai, “Bill said that he is eating” (here maī (I) shifts to

                               Vo (he))

                               Post-head modifier “jo” (who) as in:

                               Vo larka jo āyā thā čalā gayā, “That boy who came has left”

                               Parenthetical clause, attributed to contact with Persian and English. Has

                               Pragmatic implications which indicate reaction to a situation.

The “mixers” and “mixing”

The “mixers” are South Asian bilinguals who “mix” a South Asian language and English. Mixing with English is found in both spoken and written modes of South Asian languages. The motivations for the use of code-mixing with English include the following:

               

                Register-identification: particularly the registers of science and technology. This is particularly true since the registers of local languages are as yet not quite stable and institutionalized.

                Style-identification: Englishisation of style is a marker of education, modernity and westernization.

                Elucidation and interpretation: in using specialized vocabulary or technical concepts after using the term in the local language. It is like providing a “translation equivalent”.

Social value represents the interlocutor’s attitude towards a person who has linguistic flexibility in English, since the use of English is considered an indicator of status, modernization, mobility and “outward-looking” attitude. Englishisation has contributed to the development of several stylistic and discoursal strategies. We have nativised English discourse, and we have Englishised discourse in South Asian languages. In nativised English the speech acts, strategies of persuasion, request, apology and command, are South Asian, while the lexicalization is English; it is in this sense that English has a local cultural identity. South Asian languages have adopted certain strategies, of thanking, introducing, etc., which show the influence of English speck patterns.

The written mode of South Asian languages has also been Englishised; the whole system of punctuation marks has been adopted. In most South Asian languages, e.g. Hindi, the punctuation marks were traditionally restricted to two vertical lines “II” termed virām, for marking the end of a paragraph, and one vertical line “I” termed ardha virām, for a full stop. This has been replaced by a full set of English punctuation marks. The practice of breaking a text into paragraphs has also been introduced.

Contact and impact: Englishisation (Par I)

Englishisation is the impact of the English language and English literature on South Asian languages and literatures. The prolonged contact of English with South Asian languages has resulted in a deep and subtle influence on the languages of the region, both major and minor. The contact with English is the latest and is in some sense multidimensional. Englishisation was responsible for changes in the outlook of English-educated people. It opened a new way of looking at social order, and the concepts of liberalism, secularization and the fundamentals of humanistic culture.

The impact of Englishisation has several facets. The first facet is related to the extent of the impact this language has had on all the major and minor languages of the subcontinent. English contributed to conceptualization of literature and literary theory within new sociological, literary and linguistic paradigms. It made models available for the development of literary genres traditionally not associated with South Asian literatures.

English made a contribution towards the extension of the thematic range of literature and a new way of treating themes. This happened in many ways: by the expansion of genres and by the introduction of social realism, secularism and concepts of a social order different from the ones known to the subcontinent. In India, European modernism, introduced through English, provided dynamic paradigms of literary creativity.

English functions as a resource for formal innovation within a genre, such as blank verse, the sonnet and short expositionary essays. Additionally, English became a resource for the transmission of literary controversies, innovations and trends. A good example is the paradigm of “progressive” writing introduced by the Progressive Writers’ Movement in the 1930s. The impact has been immense in changing the direction of South Asian literatures in terms of both their thematic focus and stylistic innovation. The call of the progressive movement was to break away from the well-enthroned Great Tradition (South Asian languages with a well-established and rich literary tradition when they came in contact with English) and accepted norms of literary creativity. In Hindi, the literary movement termed rahasyavãd (“mysticism”) was the result of the Romantic Movement.

English has functioned as the main agent for releasing the South Asian languages from the constraints of the classical literary traditions. Some of the major languages, particularly those used in the metropolitan cities like Calcutta (Bengali), became the vehicles for channeling the impact of English into other languages. What is called “the Bengal Renaissance” did not influence only the neighboring languages, but the gains of the renaissance were transmitted to Hindi. In turn, these literatures transmitted the literary and linguistic impact of Englishisation. It is in this way that Englishisation became a pan-South Asian phenomenon. Englishisation increased as the diffusion of English expanded in its societal depth and functional range. Englishisation became a symbol of modernization for people and for their language.

Bilinguals’ creativity in South Asian English

Bilinguals’ creativity refers to creative uses of English in South Asia by bilingual and multilingual people. South Asia has a long tradition of creative uses of English in journalism, broadcasting, literary genres and advertising.

India is the third largest English book-producing country, and in book publishing it ranks eighth in the world. Among the languages in which book are published in India, the largest number of titles are in English.

In many important intra- and inter-regional domains of use, English continues to have currency. Even in an average-sized city, there is a newspaper in English and the local radio and/or television station allocates some time to English. This is particularly true in India.

In India, the English press has immense influence, disproportionate to its circulation. This influence continues to increase particularly noticeable since 1947.

In 1984, there were 21,784 newspapers in India, out of which 16·9 per cent (3,691) were English and 29·2 per cent (6,370) were in Hindi. The government of India publishes the highest number of periodicals in English, followed by Hindi. Out of thirty-one states and Union Territories in India, English newspapers appear in twenty-eight.

It is in South Asian English literature that the stylistic innovations and experimentation have been most creative. India has the largest, most vibrant, productive and articulate group of writers in English. There seems to be an acceptance of Indian English literature as “one of the voices in which India speaks” (Iyengar 1962: 3).

Attempts at creativity in English go back to the 1830s; Kashiprasad Ghosh’s Shair and other poems (1830) is considered the earliest South Asian attempt at writing poetry in English. Sochee Chunder Dutt was the first writer of fiction. He also consciously initiated the process of Indianisation of English by translating Indian expression to English.

In the beginning, it was the deeply nationalistic political writing in English which dominated. English was used as a linguistic tool in the freedom struggle; it was the language of an elite culture which cut across linguistic, cultural and religious boundaries. South Asian novelists not only nativised the language by extensive stylistic experimentation, but also acculturated English in terms of the South Asian context. Indian English literature is one of the twenty-two national literatures recognized by the National Academy of Letters.

The distinctiveness of South Asian English literatures in three points:

First, in linguistic terms, grammatically, lexically or collocationally, the text may not be very South Asianised. The nativisation may be rather in the historical and cultural presuppositions in the text.

Second, the organization of textual structure may not necessarily be the preferred structure associated with English and may involve a lexical shift: direct lexical transfer, hybridization, code-switching, etc.

Third, the rhetorical strategies are not consistent with those used in the native varieties of English. Similes and metaphors from local languages may result “unusual” collocations, combinations of lexical items, from the native speakers.

Indian American (Famous Speakers)

Indian Americans are citizens of the United States of Indian ancestry and comprise about 3.18 million people, or ~1.0% of the U.S. population

Kal Penn: is an American actor, producer, and civil servant.As an actor, he is known for his roles portraying the character Dr. Lawrence Kutner on the television program House and the characterKumar Patel in the Harold and Kumar comedy films.
                                                     

Dalip Singh Rana (born 27 August 1972), better known by his ring name The Great Khali, is an Indian American professional wrestler, actor, and powerlifter. He is currently working for WWE.

Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress. She is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and Sue Jones.

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon:  is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria.

British Indian (Famous Speakers):

The term British Indian (also Indian British or Indian Britons) refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK. 

These are some of the most famous British Indian:

-Mahatma Gandi: was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights and freedom across the world.

-Freddie Mercury: was a British Indian musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Queen.

Sir Ben Kingsley:  is a British English actor who has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. 

Naveen Andrews: is a British Indian actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the film The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.

Kunal Nayyar: is a British Indian actor best known for his role as Rajesh Koothrappali on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory and Gupta in Ice Age: Continental Drift.