Volume 34, Number 18 · November 19, 1987
Indian English
By Jug Suraiya
Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive
by Col. Henry Yule R.E., C.B., by A.C. Burnell Ph.D., C.I.E., new edition edited by William Crooke B.A.
Rupa and Company (India), 1,021 pp., Rs 75
Of the many cultural by-blows spawned by the British empire none has proved more enduring or controversial than the global tribe of dialects that can trace their genealogy, however tenuously, to the English language. While the uncontested first among unequals in this motley clan is American English (which today can lay claim to being the real head of the family), Indian English is the gawky but up-and-coming country cousin. It is estimated that India currently has some seventy million speakers of English, in some form or other, which is more than Britain can lay claim to. Of India's 20,758 registered newspapers in 217 languages, 3,840 are in English, which is second only to Hindi, the official national language.
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