Учебное пособие для специальностей «Переводческое дело» и«Иностранный язык: два иностранных языка»

157 
UNIT 5. ENGLISH IN INDIA 
 
§1. General information 
The term Indian English (
IndE / IE
), though widely used, is the subject of many 
debates. Some scholars believe that Indian English is an established variety with its 
own incipient standard. Others say there are so many kinds of English in India, 
different from each other both socially and geographically, that they cannot be 
lumped together in one common variety. Despite these debates, the length of time 
that English has been in India, its importance, and range make the term essential for 
an adequate discussion of the place of the language in Indian life and its 
sociolinguistic context.
India is the third largest English-speaking country in the world with about 30 
million people (4% of the population) regularly using English. English is used in the 
pan-Indian and regional administration, armed forces, legal system, national business, 
and the media. Hindi and English are the link languages in the complex multilingual 
Indian society.
Indian English has a number of important distinctive characteristics, some of 
which are given in the paragraphs below. 
§2. Pronunciation 
Indian accent is often easily recognized due to a number of peculiarities:
1.
IndE is rhotic. This means that the sound [r] is pronounced in all positions.
Besides, Indian [r] is articulated somewhat differently from the British or 
American [r]. Here [r] is pronounced closer to the Russian one than to the British or 
American. 
2.
Indian English tends to be syllable-timed: in such words as 
student
and 
photography
weak vowels are pronounced as full vowels. Word stress is used 
primarily for emphasis and suffixes are stressed too, as in 
readiness
.
3.
The alveolar consonants [t, d] are retroflex. 
4.
The fricatives (voiced and voiceless 
th
) are pronounced with aspiration as 
[t]/[d]; thus the word 
those 
sounds like [dhous] and 
thumb 
sounds as [thʌm]. 
5.
The sound [f] is often aspirated and pronounced as [p], e.g. [phud] for 
food
. 
6.
In such words as 
cold
and 
show
the vowel is generally [o]. 
7.
Consonant clusters [sk], [sl], [sp] do not occur word-initially among northern 
(Indo-Aryan) speakers, – instead, an epenthetic vowel is added in the beginning: 
[iskool] for 
school
(the Punjab region). 
8.
The distinction between [w] and [v] is generally neutralized to [w]: [wine] for 
both 
wine
and 
vine
.
9.
A light variety of the [l] sound is used in all positions. For example, in words 
like 
leap
and 
bill 
the sound [l] is pronounced in the same manner.

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