Indian English

Introduction

In less than 200 years since its formal introduction as part of a nascent and westernized education system, English has grown to be the medium through which the people of India communicate with the world, and often with one another. In large parts of a country with several major languages, it vies with Hindi—the most commonly used Indian language—as the spoken language of choice. There is a range of ability from a mere smattering of words, to some amount of rudimentary communication, to highly proficient use of the language. Arguably, the number of Indians speaking at least a few words of English, and the contexts in which they do so, continue to grow by the day. The language has a large presence in governance, education, media, and the publishing industry. For instance, the number of English language newspapers registered in India and their circulation figures are second only to those in Hindi. India produces the third largest number of English books in the world, after the USA and UK.
Excerpt taken from the OED article ‘Introduction to Indian English’ by Prof Pingali Sailaja

Indian English words recently recorded in the OED

An image representing the Indian English word 'chuddies'. — View the *OED* entry for ‘chuddies’

Click on the links above to view these words, or explore further using the advanced search (access our getting started guides to learn how to search the OED).

Submit an Indian English word to the OED

Use this submission form to suggest an Indian English word for inclusion in the OED.

Indian English editors and consultants

The OED works in partnership with external experts from or in India to ensure that our entries for Indian English words draw from local knowledge and expertise and reflect the everyday reality and distinctive identity of the Indian English-speaking community.

View our Indian English consultants below:

Prof Paul Gunashekar, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad
Dr Meghana Kamble, Lecturer, University of East Anglia
Prof Elinor Payne, University of Oxford
Prof Pingali Sailaja, University of Hyderabad
Prof J Clifford Wright, SOAS University of London (etymology of loan words originating in Indian languages)

Indian English pronunciation

View the OED’s pronunciation model and key to pronunciation for Indian English.

Indian English pronunciations in the Oxford English Dictionary

An Indian English pronunciation model, accompanied by several hundred audio recordings, has been added for the first time to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Dr Catherine Sangster,Oxford University Press,Divyanshi Shaktawat, University of Glasgow, and Dr Matthew Moreland, University of East Anglia, talk about the project, discussing:

Why Indian English pronunciations were added
The project’s journey and considerations along the way: what was needed for the model
The approach to naturalization and code-switching
What the core model (and its extensions for languages spoken in India) looks like, with examples
The implications for other English varieties

Who is this for?

Lexicographers and linguists
Anyone interested in phonetics and pronunciations in general
Those with an interest in Indian English in particular
Those with an interest in World Englishes

Speakers (in alphabetical order):

Dr Catherine Sangster

Oxford Languages Exectuvie Editor: Pronunciations

Dr Catherine Sangster is Executive Editor: Pronunciations at Oxford Languages. Before moving into lexicography, she headed the BBC Pronunciation Unit, and completed a D.Phil. in Sociophonetics.

Divyanshi Shaktawat

Doctoral Researcher

Divyanshi Shaktawat is a final-year doctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow. Her research examines 1st generation immigrants and specifically how the sounds of their native language and dialect change when they come in contact with a new dominant host language. This is explored in 1st generation Indian immigrants in Glasgow who are native speakers of Hindi and Indian English and are now in contact with Glaswegian English. Additionally, she is examining the effect of multiple psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic variables on this transfer. Her research interests include psycholinguistics of bilingualism, phonetics and phonology, language change and variation.

Dr Matthew Moreland

Senior Consultant Phonetics Editor at Oxford Languages, and Lecturer in Phonetics, University of East Anglia

Following linguistics qualifications from the University of Reading, Dr Matthew Moreland started as one of OED’s British English speakers in 2012 and has been a pronunciations editor since 2015, where his remit includes researching and drafting OED’s World English pronunciation models. Alongside his Oxford Languages role, Matthew teaches and assesses on the University of East Anglia’s speech and language therapy programmes as a phonetician and qualified clinician.

Indian English resources from the OED website

After several years and publishing pronunciations in several more varieties of English, we returned to Indian English with a helpful new friend in tow – ELSI. While there are some commonalities to how English is pronounced by speakers across India when the words are not of a root language spoken in India, the same cannot be said for words which are. The given pronunciations must allow for a strongly Sanskrit-based yaksha, a Hindi-like diya, an Urdu-guided kalgi, Bengali-influenced almirah, Marathi-flavoured vada, Telugu (or Kannada) motivated pallavi, Gujarati-shaped bindaas, or Panjabi-coloured amrit. ELSI – the Extensions for Languages Spoken in India – is a set of symbols and principles which expands the model to account for differences in length of vowels or consonants, or occurrence of contrastive nasalization, rhoticity, or aspiration. An additional range of retroflex consonants (in which the tip of the tongue is curled back to articulate with the front of the hard palate) are possible, beyond the /ʈ, ɖ/ found for many speakers in tie and die. Some additional sounds are found towards the back of the mouth, such as the uvular plosive /q/ in some Urdu words.
Excerpt taken from the OED article ‘Naturalization and Indian English’

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