Minority Ethnic English

English in India

VIVIANA NEIRA
LUIS CASTILLO
CAMILA POOLEY
LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY
 Origins of English in India

•The British first arrive in

India in the early 1600
• By 1765 their influence
had grown so much that
British controlled most part
of the country
•Initially English was only
taught to local people by the
Christian Missioners from
Britain
• India finally got it’s
independency from the
British on August 15th, 1947
 Language facts

•4% of the Indian

population use English.
That figure might seem
insignificant, but out of
the total population this
represents 35 million •It is the largest English-
speakers. speaking community
outside the USA and the
UK.
 Indian Facts

Many Indians consider English

an elite, oppressive language.
It is used by many upper class
Indians to show off their status.

Delhi’s four official languages:

Hindi, English, Punjabi and
Urdu.
 Line of Time

1600 1765 1857 1947 1963

T
o
British British d
control Universities
arrived in Independence Protests a
most opened in:
India of India against the
part of Bombay, Calcuta y
and masdras imposition of
the
Hindu as a
country
English as national
influence in language
Admin. gobernment
Educated and social
indian elite
 Conclusion

Indian English comprises several dialects or varieties of English

spoken primarily in the Indian Subcontinent.

Today English remains at the heart of Indian society

It is widely used in the media, in Higher Education and government

English as a common means of communication among the ruling
classes

English is virtually a mother tongue for many educated South
Asians, but for the vast majority it remains a second language.