Spelling differences

South Asia

In terms of numbers of English speakers, the Indian subcontinent ranks third in the world, after the USA and UK. This is largely due to the special position which the language has come to hold in India itself, where it has been estimated that some 4 per cent of the people (over 30 million in 1994) now make regular use of English. There are also considerable numbers of English speakers elsewhere in the region, which comprises six countries (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan) that together hold about a fifth of the world’s population. The variety which has emerged throughout the subcontinent is known as South Asian English. It is less than 200 years old, but it is already one of the most distinctive varieties in the English-speaking world.

The origins of South Asian English lie in Britain. The first regular British contact with the subcontinent came in 1600 with the formation of the British East India Company – a group of London merchants who were granted a trading monopoly in the area by Queen Elizabeth I. It established its first trading station at Surat in 1612, and by the end of the century others were in existence at Madras, Bombay, and Calcuta. During the 18yh century, it overcame competitions from other European nations, especially France.

During the period of British sovereignty, from 1765 until independence in 1947, English gradually became the medium of administration and education throughout the subcontinent. The language questions attracted special attention during the early 19^th century, when colonial administrators debated the kind of educational policy which should be introduced. A recognized turning-point was Lord William Bentick’s acceptance of a Minute, written by Thomas Macaulay in1935, which proposed the introduction of an English educational system in India. When the universities in Bombay, Calcuta and Madras were established in 1857, English became the primary medium of instruction, thereby guaranteeing its status and steady growth during the next century.

Influential View

Thomas Macaulay (1800-59) began a four year period of service on the Supreme Council of India in 1834. His famous Minute presented the case for a new English subculture in the region.

“I think it is clear…that we that we ought to employ them (our funds) in teaching what is best worth knowing; that English is better worth knowing than Sanscrit or Arabic, that the natives are not desirous to be taught Sanscrit or Arabic… that it is possible to make natives of this country thoroughly good English scholars; and that to this end our efforts ought to be directed”.

The climate of opinion which led to this Minute had been much influenced by the views of the religious and social reformer Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833). In the 1820s he had proposed the introduction of a Western education curriculum, arguing that instruction in English was essential if Indians were to have access to European scientific knowledge.

Australia

Australia was visited by James Cook in 1779, and within 20 years Britain has established its first penal colony at Sydney, thus relieving the pressure on the overcrowded prisons in England. About 130,000 prisoners were transported during the 59 years after the arrival of the ‘first fleet’ in 1788. ‘Free’ settlers, as they were called, also began to enter the country from the very beginning, but they did not achieve substantial numbers until the mid-19^th century. From them on, immigration rapidly increased. By 1850, the population of Australia was about 400,000, and by 1900 nearly 4 million. Today, it is over 17 million.

The British Isles provided the main source of settlers, and thus the main influence on the language. Many of the convicts came from London and Ireland, and features of Cockney and Irish English can be traced in the speech patterns heard in Australia today. Several words commonly thought of as Australian started out in Britain, and may still be heard locally in British dialects, such as cobber, tucker (compare tuck shop), and joker (‘person’). On the other hand, the variety contains many expressions which have originated in Australia (including a number from Aboriginal languages), and in recent years the influence of American English has been noticeable, so that the country now has a very mixed lexical character.