India is a country of continental proportions. It is home to 23 official languages but according to the 2001 census, there are 122 major languages and 1599 other languages in use in the country (Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India, n.d.). This figure may vary dependant on the source however, this is due to differing definitions of “language” and “dialect”. It is completely impossible to describe the usage of English in all of India’s hugely diverse regions. English is one of the two official languages of India and is even spoken natively in a few regions with very distinctive features. This is however, mostly amongst the elite and in urban areas. Due to this, the use of English in India has become quite complex since its independence in 1947. Today, it is mainly a language of the governments and in the education system, with very little use in home environments as the number of people who use it as a first language has decreased in recent years in favour of regional languages.
Western influences in India have existed since the 15th century. Although Britain was only one of the many colonisers of the country, it was by far the most significant and most influential one. When the British people first arrived in India in the 1600s, they were quick to establish trading posts in a number of prominent cities under the East India Company. Following this initial arrival, their influence only grew until the start of ‘The Raj’ in 1765 when they were effectively in control of most of the country. There was then a period of British rule which lasted until 1947 when India claimed political Independence. (The British Library, n.d.)
After independence, English was supposed to be phased out of the administration but there was a problem, which language would replace it? Although there were attempts to implement other dominant languages into the governments such as Hindi, due to an increase of protests, these attempts were eventually disbanded. Leaders in the freedom movement such as Gandhi, Nehru, Tilak and Bose amongst others conducted their speeches in English because they thought this would be the most effective way to get their messages across, even though they knew they could only send their messages to the majority of Indians in their own languages. Even today, opinions remain divided over whether English should remain such a prominent language in India. This is especially true as they have not yet found an appropriate replacement language.
Overall, it appears that English is used more in domains that are non-emotional and in more professional fields. It is the language of official communications, the government and science and technology. It is less likely to be used in conversation, especially when they are about personal things such as relationships and family. English is, in India at least, the language in knowledge and formality. Costenaro describes English in India as “the language of the classes not the masses” (Costenaro, 2014). It is suggested to be an “access language”, one which encourages social mobility, monetary gains and can even outweigh labels such as India’s strict caste system.
Although English has continued to be the dominant language in higher education, generally at lower levels, apart from the few states that have adopted English as their official language, children in government run schools learn in their regional languages whereas children in private schools are taught in English. Even today however, with increasing emphasis on the importance of learning regional languages first, English in government schools is still on the rise. (Graddol, 2010) In a report published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training “English in India today is a symbol of people’s aspirations for quality in education and fuller participation in national and international life” (National Council of Educational Research and Training, 2006). If a child in India learns English from a young age, they are supposed to be at an advantage as it is still seen as a language of mobility and better job prospects. Despite this, it is clear that English in Indian education is seen as both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, there is a huge demand for a language that signifies development, yet it is also perceived as a killer of native and indigenous languages. To some, English signifies a lack of diversity instead of an increasing sense of it in higher education.
While the demand for English speakers in India is increasing, it could be argued that this demand currently outweighs the supply, especially in terms of providing English teachers in schools. There is a lot of investment going into English teaching in India at the moment which has led to a lot of Indian children becoming first-generation learners of English with no support outside of school. Graddol shows us this as he points out that “A quarter of children in lower primary schools are now first-generation learners” (Graddol, 2010). The progress of this first group of learners is likely to have been stinted as a result of this; it is likely that the second cohort of learners will be in a better situation than their parents were. This predicts that English in India will only grow in the future as each generation becomes more familiar with the language and its culture.
Attitudes to English in India have changed lot over the years. English was once restricted to the elite; it was a way in which upper caste Indians retained their status when India became independent. However, even in the last decade, opinions appear to be changing. Populist politicians in India once promised to banish English in order to secure more rural voters, now there is an extremely popular grass-roots movement with the notion of extending English to the masses at its forefront. In this sense, English has been used as a way for politicians to gain votes, depending on the views of the Indian people at that time. The political campaigns over the years can even be shown to reflect India’s changing attitudes towards English language usage. For example, Paul Friedrich comments on the anti-British culture that swept India after they declared independence in 1947, he says “Hindi was voted in de jure by a congressional majority during the wave of patriotic fervour and anti-British sentiment that swept the country” (Friedrich, 1962).
Krishnaswamy and Burde state that “Some have projected English as the ‘Auntie’ tongue of India, a medium of expression that is not ‘a member belonging to any direct line of descent’ like Sanskrit.” (Burde, 1998). They counteract the notion that English is still widely used and say that ‘Indian English’ has not really taken root in India as it is not really used. They state that the language has been borrowed, and although is widely regarded as the language of technology and medicine, the language is “as borrowed as the technology itself” and it is only a matter of time before prominent Indian languages such as Hindi take over. The vast majority of the population in India reside in rural areas that technology has not even reached yet, therefore it is hard to say that English has brought the major technological change that it was meant to when those technologies were first introduced in India. In summary, it is hard to call English one of the more prominent languages in India when it is not spoken or even understood by the majority of the population.
Due to the fact that you do not need to know much English to navigate the web or send a text, even those in India who don’t speak much English can pick enough up quickly to use it. Linguistic homogeneity has increased since the introduction of mass media, public broadcasts and new technologies. This could suggest that English has a bright future in India and can only grow with continued use of social media and how easy it is becoming to contact people, even on the other side of the world. Pingali argues that “it is likely that the numbers of people with a functional knowledge of English will grow considerably, taking into consideration the penetration levels of these media.” (Pingali, 2009).
The future of English in India remains uncertain; despite the recent push for more Indian English speakers, there is still some resistance. However, it is that very resistance that, some people argue, could lead what is currently a type of ‘English’ to become its own Pidgin. Mehrotra coined the term “Indian Pidgin English” (IPE) in his report Indian Pidgin English: myth and reality which contains examples of the use of the pidgin. He demonstrates examples of its use and states that his report “will confirm the use of IPE in certain contextual domains which involve interaction between a local intercoluter and a tourist, generally an English speaking foreigner, not conversant with each other's language.” (Mehrota, 2000). While a universalist approach is often not regarded as the best approach in terms of Pidgin studies, it does meet a lot of the ‘criteria’ that could suggest IPE is a Pidgin. One example of this is in speech Mehrotra heard in a hotel. We can see that a British English speaker would be unlikely to say something like this “I service here about seven years” (Mehrotra, 1998). While understandable to other English speakers, it is not a typical sentence and thus, suggestive that IPE could be considered a pidgin.
In conclusion, English has a long and complicated history in India which has led to its continued use in the country for centuries. Once the language of only the most elite in the caste system, English is now making its way to the masses through the means of better education.