3.

Particularities
In India, English has been in use for more than four centuries, first as the language of the early merchants, missionaries and settlers, later as the language of the British colonial power, and finally as the so called associate official language of the Indian Union. Besides its status as the associate official language of the Indian Union next to Hindi, Indias national language, English is the official language in several Union states and territories.(according to Andreas Sedlatschek in Contemporary Indian English,p 22) Indian English comprises several dialects or varieties of English spoken primarily in the Indian subcontinent . English is one of the official languages of India ,with about ninety million speakers .Despite the diversity ,there is a general homogeneity in syntax and vocabulary among the varieties of Indian English.

a. Phonetics and Phonology

Some indians speak English with an accent very close to a Standard British accent;others lean toward a more vernacular native-tinted accent for their English speech. Accent in Indian speech is marked by regional variation.Standard accent is usually devoid of regional markers but it is still identifiable as Indian by virtue of some pan-Indians features. In Indian English pronunciation was imposed by the Received Pronunciation ,which is the standard British accent from southern Britain.This has happened in spite of the fact that the British who came to India were from different parts of Britain.(according to Pingali Sailaja in Dialects of English,Indian English,p 17) The speech of Indians can be classified on the basis of the four geographical regions and further regions within them. Speech tends to be marked by elements from the native language or the most influential language in the repertoire of the speaker. Although the native language has some influence on accent,schooling and peer groups influence accent much more.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English)

b.Spelling pronunciation
The influence of spelling is apparent in the pronunciation of certain sounds. Some further patterns can also be observed.In words that have ng in the spelling both letters are articulated irrespective of the position in the word: E.g. finger /fig/ ; sing /sig/ ; singing /sigig/ In this respect Standard Indian English Pronunciation is different from Received Pronunciation where only // is articulated word finallybut not |g|.

Another strong influence of spelling is seen in articulation of consonants .It is use a double articulation of the medials consonants of words: E.g. summer /s_mm/ ; happy /h_ppi/ ; killing/killig/ ; bitter /bitt/ Other differences are seen in words like judge and edgy in wich all the consonants may be articulated as /d dd / and /edd i/. The word of is usually pronounced with a |f| instead of a |v| as in most other accents. Use of [d] instead of [t] for the -ed ending of the past tense after voiceless consonants. E.g. developed may be [dlpd] instead of /dvlpt/. Pronunciation of house as [hauz] both the noun and the verb ,instead of [haus] as noun and [hauz] as verb. Use of [s] instead of [z] for the "-s" ending of the plural after voiced consonants, for example <dogs> may be [ds] instead of [dz]. The word here is sometimes pronounced [he(r)] (like in hair and hare) instead of [h(r)]. . The terms which are usually used in the Indian numbering system are: Lakh for 100 thousand Crore for 10 million (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English and Pingali Sailaja in Dialects of English,Indian English,p 26 )

c.Grammar
Indian English grammar contains many deviations from standard English forms, they are either a result of direct transfers of grammar features from native languages, of incomplete command of standard English forms, but can also be unique patterns that developed in India.Indian speakers of English use specific idioms for their homeland, often literal translations of words and phrases from their native languages, only standard British English is considered grammatically correct. Many words borrowed from Indian languages find their way into the ostensibly-English media. There are some differences concerning the topicalisation :

-it is common in Indian English for the adverbial indicating place,time and other additional
information to be placed at the beggining of a sentence rather than at the end. E.g.:Recently,I visited Londra. In the park,the children were walking. Also,the objects in a sentence get fronted. E.g.:This book I will return tomorrow.

-another tendency in Indian English is to not invert the subject and auxiliary in an
interrogative sentence.The preference is to retain the structure of the statement. E.g.:You will come? instead of Will you come? He is waiting? Instead of Is he waiting?

-in tag questions standard Indian English follows native varieties of English ,but nonstandard Indian English exhibits the invariant isnt it in all contexts. E.g.You will come,wont you?(standard Indian English) You will come,isnt it? (non-standard Indian English)

-'Yes' and 'no' agreeing to the form of a question, not just its content:
E.g. A: 'You didn't come on the bus?' B: 'Yes, I didn't.'

-the progressive used in static verbs:

E.g.: 'I am understanding it.' ; 'She is knowing the answer.' (according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English and Pingali Sailaja in Dialects of English,Indian English,p 58)

d.Indian influence on English

A number of Indian words have become a part of the English lexicon.With the coming of the Europeans in the fifteenth century and later during the colonial period,the process of borrowing from Indian languages became intense.Those words that have become part of native varieties of English are called assimilated items.Some of the most common words seen in English from Indian are:lac,divan,caravan,calico,curry,guru,punch(the drink),cot,bungalow,cheroot,shawl,shampoo,chit,avatar,cashmire,pug,loot..... Therefore,the only feature that distinguishes Indian English from other varieties of English more than lexis is phonology. While phonology is necessarily spoken, lexis is a feature of both spoken and written English. English, as is well known, is very assimilative of the different languages of the world. Indian English has developed a number of dialects, distinct from the General/Standard Indian English that educators have attempted to establish and institutionalize, and it is possible to distinguish a person's sociolinguistic background from the dialect that they employ. These dialects are influenced by the different languages that different sections of the country also speak, side by side with English. Indian English is a "network of varieties", resulting from an extraordinarily complex linguistic situation in the country. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English Pingali Sailaja , Dialects of English,Indian English Andreas Sedlatschek , Contemporary Indian English