SOUND STRUCTURE OF INDIAN ENGLISH -...

Chapter 4: Sound Strucuture of Indian English

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CHAPTER - 4

SOUND STRUCTURE OF INDIAN ENGLISH

Most of the Indian languages have letters of the alphabet which correspond and

educate the users of the related sounds. But in some of the languages, like English,

there is lack of one to one correspondence between letters of alphabet and the sound

they stand for. English spelling forms never ensure the appropriate pronunciation.

This drawback of English generated the need of additional symbols that may represent

each specific English sound distinctively. As a result, International Phonetic

Association (IPA) provided the IPA Alphabet to the users of English.

There are several varieties of English all around the world. Even, in British English

different varieties are found. Among all the varieties of British English, one of its

variety that is named as Received Pronunciation (RP) is considered as the Standard

English.

According to RP, English language has 44 symbols that represent 44 distinctive

sounds of English language. On the basis of their nature, 20 sounds are categorized as

vowel sounds (among them 12 as pure vowels and 8 as diphthongs) and the rest 24 as

consonant sounds. Though Indian English follows RP yet due to geographical

differences and mother tongue impact major variations are found.

4.1 PHONEMIC DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN ENGLISH

The present chapter aims at making a brief review of previous works on the phonemic

distribution of Indian English along with discussing the phonetic characteristics of a

few sounds frequently used in Indian English. It has been divided into six topics:

4.1.1. Vowels in British Received Pronunciation (RP): There are twenty distinct

vowel sounds in British RP that are further divided into pure vowels and diphthongs:


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4.1.1.1 List of Pure Vowels (RP)1

Sound as in Examples with Phonetic Transcription Type

/ i: / as in /rit/ etc. Long

// as in /kd/ Long

// as in /fl/ Long

/u/ as in /ful/ Long

/ / as in /nvs/ Long

// as in /bt/ Short

/e/ as in /sed/ Short

// as in /md/ Short

// as in /trst/ Short

// as in /rt/ Short

// as in /lk/ Short

// as in /p(r)/ Short

4.1.1.2 List of Diphthongal Glides (RP)2

Sound as in Examples with Phonetic Transcription Glide towards

/ e/ as in /ret/ //

/a/ as in /mat/ //

/ / as in /rl/ //

// as in /hm/ //

/a/ as in /spas / //

// as in /b(r)/ //

/e/ as in /ke(r)/ //

// as in /kj(r)/ //

1 Based on Bansal, R.K. and J.B. Harrison, Spoken English: A Manual of Speech and Phonetics. P. 15.

2 Ibid.


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4.1.2 Vowels in Indian English1

IPA Lexical

set Examples

Diaphoneme Cultivated Standard Regional

~a ~ TRAP lad, bad, cat

~ BATH pass, path,

sample

~ ~~ LOT not, wasp

~o ~ CLOTH off, loss, cloth

~o THOUGHT law, caught

KIT kick,sit

i i FLEECE see,city

e e ~ e e FACE Date

~e ~e DRESS Bed

r ()~() ()~ NURSE Burn

~~ ~~ STRUT run, won

~ FOOT Put

u u ~ GOOSE through, you

a ~ PRICE my, wise

~o CHOICE boy, hoist

o o ~

o o GOAT no, toe

o ~ GOAL goal, cold

a ~ ~ MOUTH now, trout

r () ()~() ()~ NEAR deer, here

r e ()~ () e () e ()~e SQUARE mare, there

r ()~o() () ~ ()~o() CURE tour, moor

r ()~o() () ~() NORTH Horse

r ()~o() () o~o() FORCE Hoarse

Diaphoneme Cultivated Standard Regional Lexical

set Examples

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_sethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_sethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Englishhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel#Mid_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel#Mid_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel#Mid_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel#Mid_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel#Mid_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-open_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel#Mid_central_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_central_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_central_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_central_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_central_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_central_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_near-front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_front_unrounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_back_rounded_vowelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Englishhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_sethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_set


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Corresponding to 20 vowels of British R.P. Indian English has following vowels:

4.1.2.1 List of Pure Vowels of Indian English1

Sound as in Examples with Phonetic Transcription

/ i: / as in /rit/

// as in /tt/

/e/ as in /e:t/

// as in /bd/

// as in /md/

// as in /rt/

/o:/ as in /ho:m/

// as in /lk/

/u/ as in /tjub/

// as in /bs/

4.1.2.2 List of Vowel Glides of Indian English2

Sound as in Examples with Phonetic Transcription Glide towards

/a/ as in /mat/ //

/ / as in /rl/ //

/a/ as in /spas / //

// as in /b(r)/ //

/e/ as in /ke(r)/ //

// as in /kj(r)/ //

No human language can keep itself away from the impact of mother tongue and first

language. Similarly, Indian English, on regional basis, also has great influence of

Indian languages. This impact is clearly audible in spoken English. In an Indian

1 Based on Bansal, R.K. and J.B. Harrison, Spoken English: A Manual of Speech and Phonetics. P. 16..

2 Ibid.


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speech the influence of mother-tongue is consciously or unconsciously exhibited.

Hence, it is essential to concentrate on Hindi sounds especially, in this research work.

4.1.3 Hindi Vowel Sounds

Vowel i: u U e o

Hindi Vowels on the basis of classification a. Tongue Tip, Front, Back

b. Height of tongue Open, Half-open Half-close, Close

c. Position of Lips Rounded, Unrounded

d. Pronunciation Short, Long

e. Oral or Nasal Oral, Nasal

Dig.4 Hindi Vowel Limit (Source:


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English vowels

//, //, //, /i:/, /u/, /u:/

Hindi Vowels

//, //, //, /i:/, /u/, /u:/

4.1.4.2 Dissimilar vowels and diphthongs: Below are given the vowels and

diphthongs of English and Hindi that are different from each other; e.g.

//, //, /e/, //, //, //, // 1

4.1.5 Difference between Standard English and Indian English Vowel System:

Following differences are being observed between Standard English and Indian

English vowels:

4.1.5.1 There is only one phoneme // in Indian English that corresponds to RP //,

// and / /; e.g.

Word British R.P. Indian English

/s(r)/

/pp/

/f(r)/

/sr)/

/pp/

/f(r)/

4.1.5.2 Indian English has // corresponding to RP // and //; e. g.

Words British R.P. Indian English

/r/

/pt/

/r/

/pt/

4.1.5.3 . In place of British RP diphthongals /e/ and // Indian English has //e/ and

/o:/; e.g.

Words British R.P. Indian English

/re/

/m/

/re:/

/mo:/

1 Chaturvedi, M.G.1973. A Contrastive Study of Hindi-English Phonology.


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4.1.5.4 RP has two distinctive back vowels // and /:/ whereas Indian English has //.

Thus, in Indian English there is no difference in the pronunciation of:

Words British RP Indian English

/kt/

/ kt/

/kt/

/kt/

4.1.5.5 RP /: / as in is more back than Indian English equivalent /a: /.

4.1.5.6 The Indian English equivalent of RP /e/ as in / be(r) /, has a closer

vowel as the first element.

4.1.5.7 Certain distinctive sounds affected by the use of different vowels in RP are

realized in Indian English by the use of sound /r/; e.g. /t/ and

/t/.

4.1.5.8 Variation in pronunciation may also be noticed in several inflectional

formations; e.g.

Simple Present reaches= BrE /ritz/ NAmE /ritz/1 Indian English /rits/

Simple Past reached = BrE /ritt/ NAmE /ritt/2 Indian English /ritd/

a) In Indian English, sometimes vowel distribution differs from R.P; e.g. in RP a

weak vowel is used in an unaccented syllable. Indian English implies vowels

according to the used spellings so to use a weak vowel in an unaccented syllable

is impractical in Indian English.

4.1.5.1 Consonants in British RP: There are 24 different consonants among the 44

phonemes in British R.P. English phonemes are classified in terms of their voicing

place and manner of articulation. Jones (1989) Abercrombie (1967), OConnor

(1973) and Syamola (1992) described consonants along the articulatory parameters.

According to them RP consists of 20 consonants where as British RP gives a total of

24 consonant phonemes of which four /h/, /r/, /z/ and /n/ are of restricted

occurrence.3

1 http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/reach_1?q=reach

2 Ibid.

3 Gimson, 1965.

http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/reach_1?q=reach


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4.1.5.2 Consonant System of Indian English-The consonant system of Indian

English consists of twenty three consonants. They are classified as follows:

4.1.5.2.1 Place of Articulation: According to place of articulation, Indian English

consonants are:

Bilabial - /m/, /p/, /b/

Labio dental - /f/

Dental - /t/, /d/

Alveolar - /n/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/

Palatal-alveolar - //, //

Palatal - /j/, /t /, /d /

Velar - / /, / k /, / g /

Retroflex -/T/, /D/, /N/

Glottal - /h/

4.1.5.2.2 Manner of Articulation: According to the manner of articulation Indian

English consonants are: Plosives - /p/, /b/, /t/, / k /, / g /

Affricates - /t /, /d /

Fricatives - /f/, /s/, / /, / /, /h/

Lateral - /l/

Nasal - /m/, /n/, / /

Approximates - /v/ and /j/

Trill or Tap - / r /

4.1.6 Difference between RP and Indian English: It has been observed that there is

an ample of difference in the pronunciation of vowels in Indian English than that of

British English and American English. But there is a little difference in their

consonants. It has been observed by several linguists and contemporary Indian

English fiction writers that a good number of speakers do not know that they deviate


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from RP in their English pronunciation. These observed deviant phonological

features are as follows:

4.1.6.1 All native Indian languages lack the voiced palatal or post alveolar sibilant

/d/, as in treasure.

4.1.6.2 In Indian English, /w/ is generally replaced by /v/1 because it doesnt point

out any difference between /v/ voiced labio-dental fricative and /w/ velar semi-vowel.

Many Indians pronounce a frictionless labio-dental approximant near to /v/ for both

/v/ and /w/ graphemes. Thats why is spoken by some as and

as etc.

4.1.6.3 Indian English lack the phonemes //, voiceless dental fricative and //

voiced dental fricative. Hence, the aspirated voiceless dental plosive /th/ is

substituted as // and the unaspirated voiced dental plosive /d/ is substituted for //.

This creates confusion to native speakers.

4.1.6.4 Phonemes /p/, /t/ & /k/ are slightly aspirated in RP when used in a word or

syllable at initial position. Whereas, unlike English, in most Indian languages the

distinction between aspirated and unaspirated plosives is phonemic. Thus in such

context, Indian English uses the corresponding unaspirated voiceless plosives /p/, /t/,

/k/ instead of /ph/, /t

h/ and /k

h/.

4.1.6.5 In place of corresponding alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/ of RP, Indian English

uses retroflex plosives /T/ and /D/.

4.1.6.6 Some of the Indian languages lack affricates. So, Indian pronunciation of

English affricates /t/ and /d/are corresponding to palatal plosives without the

following friction.

4.1.6.7 In the speech of some of the English speakers, syllables /l/, /m/, /n/ are usually

replaced by voiced consonant clusters.

4.1.6.8 In RP /r/ occurs only before a vowel whereas Indian English implies a very

sharp as well as clear alveolar trill / / in all word positions.

1 Bansal, R.K. and J.B. Harrison, Spoken English: A Manual of Speech and Phonetics. P.75.


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4.1.7 Phonetic Features of Indian English: The following are the phonetic features

of Indian English:

4.1.7.1 English alveolar sounds /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/ & /l/ are perceived by Indian and

Dravidian language speakers as allophones of retroflex consonants whereas the Indian

dental phonemes/ /, / /, //, // are approximate equivalents to the English alveolars

/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/ & /l/.

4.1.7.2 In British R. P. words like rate or date etc. have /eI/ diphthong; that in

Indian English are produced as monophthong /e:/. This vowel shift form diphthong to

monophthong may be termed as Monophthongization.

Dig. 6 Indian Monophthong /e:/

and is pronounced as /o:/ as in bone, home and rope etc.

Dig. 7 Indian Monophthong /o:/

4.1.7.3 Confusion in the place of articulation of /p/ and /f/ by some east and north

Indian speakers.

4.1.7.4 /r/ is either alveolar /r/ retroflex tap //.


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4.1.7.5 Consonant clusters involving s often prefixed by /I/1 in the speech of the

speakers of some regions of India. Epenthesis (insertion of an extra sound) of vowels

// tend to precede the consonant clusters , , ; e.g. /spik/

/isp:k/, /iskool/, /istool/ etc.

4. 2 PROSODIC FEATURES

Prosodic features are also known as supra-segmental phonemes. These are related to

the utterances longer than a sound segment. These include length, stress and pitch.

Length relates to duration, stress to intensity, air pressure and muscular activity

whereas pitch to the note of the voice as determined by the frequency of vibration of

the vocal cords.

Supra-segmental phonemes involve structure of syllables, stress and tone. The

phonological features of Indian English that demarcate the first language varieties of

English are deviations in stress, rhythm and intonation.

4.2.1 Stress: The word stress refers to the degree of intensity, muscular activity or

air pressure. A stress pattern is said to be with a reinforced pulse of the chest that

provide basis to a syllable-one contraction of the intercostals muscular within the

chest. The reinforced chest pulse which produced the stress pulse as per the result of a

greater muscular activity compared to what one has for a normal chest pulse is called

stress-timed language that English is.

Most Indian languages are classified as syllable timed language whereas English is a

stress-timed language. Thus, it is well known that Indian languages which have

syllable timed rhythm cannot have any stress in the way that English has.

Gopal Krishnas study L-1 taken as a Dravidian Language emphasises influence of first

language on the stress pattern of Indian English. He pointed out some deviations like

unawareness of the pattern of primary and secondary stress, unfamiliarity or ignorance of

the stress pattern of nouns, adjectives and verbs and unawareness of the occurrence of a

shift in stress in different parts of speech (Some Observations 62-67); e.g.

1 Todd, Loreto and Ian Hancock. 2005. International English Usage. P. 208.


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Word BE AE IE

Noun: 1 /ekspt/ /eksprt/ /eksprt/

Verb: /kspt/ /ksprt/ /eksprt/

This shift in stress and change in pronunciation is not known to most of the Indian

English users and speakers. Indian speakers are usually prone to give stronger and

equal stress to the unstressed or weak syllables of English. Their patterns of stress

and points of juncture have always been unpredictable. Indians tends to stress

different syllables (one researcher estimates one in five of all the words used in Indian

English is stressed differently). Significantly, these words are made up of mostly

content words which carry most of the meaning of the sentence rather than

connecting words which are often less crucial.2 To add to this, Dave further quoted:

Some examples include words such as deVElop versus DEvelop and NECessary

versus neCESSary and prePARE versus PREPare and casSETTE versus CASSette.3

Whereas famous Indian English to Hindi dictionaries present these words as:

Word Standard English Pronunciation Indian English Pronunciation

unique /junik/ u-nik

psychology /sakldi/ sa-kl-di

Examination /zmnen/ -zmnen

Cassette /kset/ kset

develop /dvelp/ dev-lp

necessary /nessri/ nessri

prepare /prpe(r)/ prper

4.2.2 Word Accent: Word accent is one of the features of English language. In

English language, if the word has many syllables (more than one); all syllables have

different prominence. The syllables that are prominent than others, are accented.

Accent is of two types:

1 http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/export_1

2 Dave, Shilpa S. 2013. Indian Accents. P.45.

3 Ibid.


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Primary or Tonic accent A vertical bar above and in front of the syllable

refers it. It is on the syllable where a pitch changes; e.g. /nessri/

Secondary Accent A bar below and in front of the syllable is used to mark

secondary Accent. It is on another prominent syllable after the primary or tonic

accent; e.g. the third syllable of the word /rklt(r)/.

4.2.2.1 Word accent in Indian English: Complexity in accent lingers even in

Standard/Native English. The reason belongs to the origin and development of the

language. It is so because English language is drawn from two main sources, Germanic

and Romance. In the first, words normally had accent at the beginning; in the second, on

the contrary, the last syllable was usually the most prominent.1 Accentual pattern of

modern English are the result of interaction of aforesaid principles.

Most of the Indian speakers have not been trained on such minute aspects of spoken

English language. They speak as per their own style and way that is generally the

outcome of the influence of their mother tongue or first language. They not only vary

from native speakers on the grounds of pronunciation but also on the pattern of stress,

accent and mannerism. In Indian word accent, there is no variation in accentual

pattern whether the word is a verb, a noun, or an adjective. That is why, several Indian

speakers of English (due to ignorance and lack of training), very often replace the

place of accent, i.e. first syllable to second, second syllable to first syllable and so on.

Some word accentual patterns in Indian English that diverge from Standard English

are given below:

Words RP American Indian Pronunciation

Atmosphere /tmsf (r)/ /tmsfr//tmsfr/

Conduct (V) /kndkt/ /kndkt/ /kndkt/

Correct /krekt/ /krekt/ /krekt/

Develop /dvelp/ /dvelp/ /develp/

Expect /kspekt/ /kspekt/ /kspekt/

Hotel /htel/ /hotel/ /htel/

Industry /ndstri/ /ndstri/ /ndstri/

Minister /mnst(r)/ /mnstr/ /mnstr/

Mistake /mstek/ /mstek/ /mstek/

1 Bansal, R.K. & J. B. Harrison. 1986. Spoken English for India. P. 77.


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Occur /k(r)/ /kr/ /kr/

Prefer /prf(r)/ /prfr/ /prefr/

Record (n.) /rekd/ /rekrd/ /rIkcrd/

Refuge /refjud/ /refjud/ /rifjuz/

Written /rtn/ /rtn/ /rten/

Yesterday /jestde/ /jestrde/ /ystrde/

/jestdi// /jestrdi/

different varieties of English spoken in India differ a good deal in respect of word

accent, not only in native varieties of English but also from one another.1Thus, it is

utmost necessary for English users of all religions of India to follow a uniform stress

pattern, either Standard or Indian, so that it may be intelligible to native speakers as

well as to non-native speakers of English.

4.2.3 Rhythm: When words are combined into sentences in English, it is found

that the accentual syllables tend to recur at regular intervals of time.2All human

languages of the world belong to any one of rhythmic patterns. These patterns are:

The language of stressed-timed rhythm.

The language of syllabus-timed rhythm.

English language belongs to stressed-timed rhythm group. In English, rhythm occurs

at approximately regular intervals. Syllable length is also closely related to rhythm.

In English language the content words in an utterance are stressed and the structure

words are compressed. That is why in English language rhythm governs periodicity of

an utterance and the tempo of speech. Rhythmic pattern of Indian spoken English has

some variations from the native language. Words that are normally accented in

native English are sometimes left unaccented in Indian English.3 Indian speakers

mostly leave either the head word or one of the modifiers, in noun phrases,

unaccented. A few examples are as follows:

Central Bureau of Investigation the word Bureauis not accented etc.

Electrical Engineering' the word Engineeringis not accented

Ninety seven the word seven is not accented

Rural and Urban centres the word centres is not accented

1 Sethi, J. and D.V, Jindal. 1993. A Handbook of Pronunciation of English Words. P. 43.

2 Bansal R.K. & J.B. Harrison. 1986. Spoken English for India. P. 83.

3 Ibid.


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Other than this feature of rhythmic pattern of Indian spoken English, weak forms are

not always used in Indian English. Sometimes the weak form used is different from

that in British R.P.1

A list of such variations in pronunciation is given below:

Word Weak Forms in British RP Common Indian Pronunciation

//

/n/

//before a consonant,

/i/before a vowel

/(r)/

/kn/

/hd/

/z/

/l/

nd/, /n/, /n/

/z/

/t/

/t/

/f(r)/

/frm/

/v/

/t/before a consonant

/t/ before a vowel

/e/

/en/

/d/

/r/

/kn/

/hd/

/z/

/l/

/nd/

/z/

/t/

/t/

/fr/

/frm/

/f/

/t/

4.2.4 Intonation: Continual variations in the levels at which the voice is pitched

[which seems similar to the melodic voice up to some extent] has been named as

Intonation or Intonation pattern. The basic unit of the intonation is the tone-unit, a

stress of utterance with major pitch movements and at least one prominent syllable.

The constituents of the tone unit are the nucleus, the head, the pre-head and the tail.

The Nucleus is a prominent syllable in a tone unit. Its prominence is due to the

presence of noticeable pitch movement either in the form of a glide on the nuclear

syllable or in the form of a jump from the nuclear syllable to the following syllable.2

Intonation patterns are different in different languages. In case of Standard English

language, the system of intonation patterns used by a native speaker of English, as of

any other language, is complex. A foreign learner of the language would need years

1 Bansal R.K. & J.B. Harrison. 1986. Spoken English for India. P. 85.

2 Couper-Kohlen, An Introduction to English Prosody P.79


184

of study and practice before he could use the total system with the same facility as one

born to it. 1

The most complex problem of the intonation faced by the non-native speakers is

positioning of the nuclear tones and in what directions they should move. Native

speakers use the correct intonation pattern instinctively; whereas non-native speakers

have to learn it on the basis of certain rules or sometimes most of them imply the

intonation pattern of their own mother tongue on to the English language. Such

implementation or variation in the use of intonation pattern brings unique colour to

the language. As India is multi-lingual country, there are several variations in the

intonation pattern of Indian usages. Intonation patterns of a Bengali speaker contain

the touch of Bangla language, a Punjabis contains the touch of Punjabi language, a

Gujratis contains the ting of Gujrati language and so on; e.g. Punjabi language has a

number of intonation patterns, which add conventionalized meanings to the utterance.

There is no real agreement amongst phonology specialist about the exact number of

tones in speech, but all agree on at least four. These are: Fall, Fall-Rise, Rise and

Rise-fall.2 A Bengali English speaker generally follows three intonation patterns

even in wh-questions that is falls, rise-falls and rises3 The intonation pattern of a

non-native speaker is affected as much as the English pronunciation of a non-native

speaker by the respective mother tongue.

In Indian English, by the intonation of a connected speech social as well as emotional

meaning is being conveyed. Hence, it may also express social attitude of the speaker.

4.3 MORPHOPHONEMICS

The study of the phonemic structure of morphemes is termed as morphophonemics or

morphophonology. There are several morphemes of single phonemic shape. They

are known as the simplest morphemes. Some morphemes have constant phonemic

shapes wherever and whenever they are used; e.g. play /ple/, plays, played, played,

playing, player, playable and so on. But, there are certain morphemes of complicated

1 Bansal R.K. & J. B. Harrison. 1986. Spoken English for India, P. 88.

2 http://www.cle.org.pk/Publication/Crulp_report/CR04_05E.pdf

3 Khan, S. ud D. 2008. Intonational Phonology and Focus Prosody of Bengali. Los Angeles:

University of California. P. 185.


185

phonemic shape that undergo the changes in certain positions; e.g. sing /s/, sang

/s/, sung /s/, singing /s/ etc. According to modern linguistics morpheme and

word are interdependent, morpheme cannot be detected without word and the word

cannot be analyzed without morpheme; e.g. Pani + ghat = panghat.

According to morphological process and Sandhi rule the second long vowel (i:) of the

Hindi word pani is deleted and the initial long vowel () becomes short vowel.

Morphological processes also occur in Standard English also; e.g. Curious + -ity =

Curiosity = kjris + - ti = /kjristi/

Here, alternation occurs due to addition of suffix. This causes replacement of

phoneme //as //.

Though, in Indian English it may also be heard as /kjristi/ or /kjristi/.

Some of the morphemes which may have two or more phonological shape are termed

as pseudo-morpheme or pseudo-phonemes. In English language generally irregular

verbs and certain noun inflections fall under this category. Morphophonemics

system is the code which ties together the grammatical and the phonological

system.1

Human speech is always found different in its pronunciation by the changes of

geographical region along with a demarcation of their culture and language. This

variation or change of pronunciation and phonemic shape is termed as Sporadic

Alternation.

Though, India is a multi-lingual country, yet most of the Indians always want to keep

themselves closer to the pronunciation of Standard English. But, because of the

mother tongue influence sporadic alternation is also visible in the speech of Indian

speakers. A number of Indian English speakers consciously or unconsciously adopt

sporadic alternations in their speech in which they acquire habit of both pronunciation

patterns, using now the one and now the another one in a quite unpredictable and

random manner; e.g.

1 Hockett, Charles Francis. 1958. A Course in Modern Linguistics. P. 137.


186

English Word Base Form Sporadic Alterations by Indian Speakers

Heart

Unique

/ht/

/junik/

/hrt/ or /hrt/

/junik/

Sometimes not only sporadic alterations but the sloppy sporadic alteration is audible

in the speech of Indian English speakers. It may occur and may be noticed whenever

the speaker in his normal sloppy way slips and replaces some other phoneme instead

of the base form. His intended term may be understood despite of deviation. Due to

sloppy sporadic alteration clown /klan/ may also be articulated as /lan/or

witch /wt/as /bt/. In Indian English it generally occurs due to impact of

mother tongue and lack of knowledge of place and manner of articulation of English

consonants. These variations are found in great amount among the speakers of

different regional zones of India.

A number of different classifications, including partial intersection of morphemes,

occur in English language. It is established that morphophonomics includes all

alternatives of phonemes within morphemes, whether these alternations are

predictable (automatic) or unpredictable, meaningful or meaningless. In Hindi

language these alternation or phonemic assimilations are mentioned as concomitant

effect of juncture1. It is studied more deeply and clearly as Sandhi that means

putting together.

4.3.1 Classification of Morphemes: Hockett (1970) has classified morphophonemics as:

4.3.1.1 Base Form: Base forms are of immense importance. The study of

morphophonemics is chiefly starts from base form because alternation occurs on

base form only. Base form is the fuller form or the original form to which

particular pronunciation is associated but because of some grammatical influences

onto the same word, pronunciation deviates from the base word; e.g. Base From:

Knife /naf/ Alternation Form: Knives / navz/ etc.

1 Cuppiramaiyan , Ca. V and K. M. Irulappan.1980. Heritage of Tamils: Language and Grammar.

P.69.

https://www.google.co.in/search?sa=X&hl=en&biw=1360&bih=655&tbm=bks&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Ca.+V%C4%93+Cuppirama%E1%B9%87iyan%CC%B2%22&ved=0ahUKEwiG_P_W-v3KAhWSBo4KHQpHA4QQ9AgIHTAAhttps://www.google.co.in/search?sa=X&hl=en&biw=1360&bih=655&tbm=bks&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22K.+M.+Irulappan%22&ved=0ahUKEwiG_P_W-v3KAhWSBo4KHQpHA4QQ9AgIHjAA


187

4.3.1.2 Internal (Sandhi): In internal sandhi the boundary occurs inside a word.1

It is generally applicable on several words (even Proper nouns) from Indian

languages; e.g. Ram+-s = Rams. Its phonemic shape in Standard English is based

on the verb rams /rmz/ but as it is used as a Proper noun, in Standard English it is

generally pronounced as Ramas /rmz/. Whereas, in Indian English /rmz/ as

well as /rms/ both phonemic shapes are taken into account.

4.3.1.3 External (Sandhi): In external sandhi, the boundary occurs between words;

e.g. in structures like brother and sister, mother and father etc., in Standard

English instead of /nd/ the phonemic shape /n/ is alternated. This alteration in

phonemic shape occurs regularly and automatically when similar words spoken in

fluency. But, most of the Indian languages have neither voiceless phoneme nor they

prefer silent phoneme; as a result, the phonemic shape /nd/ is preferred for such

structures by several Indian English speakers.

In Indian English, most of the time, use of External Sandhi is optional because in

English grammar a sentence may follow two grammatical structures for the same

meaning but their phonemic shapes may be different; e.g.

Sentences Pattern-1 Phonemic Shape Sentences Pattern-2 Phonemic Shape

John is talking.

Mohan is running.

Firoz is sleeping.

dn z tk

z

z

Johns talking.

Mohans running.

Firozs clapping.

dnz tk

/s/

/z/

Grammatically, both structures are correct and possess the same meaning, but

phonemically they are different. This style morpheme2is optionally implied by

Indian users at certain places without any significant variations in phonemic shape.

4.3.1.4 Irregular Alternation (Sandhi): The sandhi that does not occur so often

under the same condition is an irregular sandhi. Irregular plural noun forms; e.g. /n/

of oxen, // of data and infixed /e/ in etc. fall under this category. Indian

English strictly follows this form of sandhi.

1 Fortson, Benjamin W. IV. 2010. Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. P. 213.

2 Hockett, Charles F. 1970. A Course in the Modern Linguistics. London: Macmillan. P. 279.


188

4.3.1.5 Phonemically Conditioned Alternation (Sandhi): Several times, the

pronunciation of the first phoneme of the succeeding word decides the phonemically

conditioned alternation of the preceding word; e.g. Use of indefinite articles a or

an. Indian English also agrees to this automatic alteration of Standard English

though exceptions are not impossible.

4.3.1.6 Morphemically Conditioned Alternation (Sandhi): The non-automatic

alternation shapes are also followed with certain plural (noun) morphemes in Standard

English and in Indian English as well; e.g. half /hf/ halves /h vz/; calf /k f/

calves /k vz/ etc.

4.3.2 Morphophonemics in Indian English: In Standard English, when a noun

plural morpheme is followed by a noun ending in a vowel sound, the phonemic shape

/z/ appears but because of the influence of mother tongue (Hindi), the noun plural

morpheme may also be represented by /s/ or /z/ instead of /z/; e.g.

Standard English Indian English

Singular noun &

(Phonemic Shape)

Plural noun &

(Phonemic Shape)

Singular noun &

(Phonemic Shape)

Plural noun &

(Phonemic Shape)

toy /t/

fee /fi/

toys /tz/

fee /fi/,fees /fiz/1

toy /t/

fee /fi/

toys /tz/; /tz/

fee /fi/; /fis/

Not even this, in Standard English, after voiceless consonants /z/ is replaced by /s/.

This is because of the phonemic characteristics of the voiceless consonants, after

which sound /z/ is almost impossible in Standard English. But, as Indian English does

not deeply concentrateon the phonemic features of Standard English (because of the

irremovable impact of mother tongue), sound /z/ is used at the final stage of some of

the plural noun shapes that has voiceless consonants at their base forms; e.g. cliffs

/klfz/ instead of /klfs/ etc.

Hence, it is evident that basically Indian English follows the patterns of

morphophonemic alternation of Standard English but due to mother tongue impact a

few deviations are found in the morphophonemics of Indian English.

1 http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/fee#fee__4


189

4.4 SPELLING SYSTEM

Every human language that has its script has its own alphabetic spelling system which

is termed as orthography. It is a set of habits to represent speech sound in writing.1

English is written using on ALPHABETIC writing system. In an ideal alphabetic

system there should always be just one letter corresponding to one PHONEME (i.e.

distinctive sound of the language).

4.4.1 English Orthography: English orthography is phonemic up to some extent.

The Standard English spelling system is based on rules. These rules are severely

complex in their nature and are riddled with exception.2 There are a number of

English words that show peculiar relationship between spelling, and pronunciation;

e.g. honour, pneumonia etc.

4.4.1.1 Irregularities in English Orthography: The relationship between the

spellings and pronunciation of several words, even, proper nouns of Standard English

is equally unpredictable; e.g. Shakespeare /ekspe(r)/, Cockburn /kb/ etc. The

irregularities in the English orthography have always been a subject of deep regret.

(Webster, 1828)3 In English spelling, several words are spelled in more than one

way. Its spelling does not reflect the sound changes in the pronunciation of the

language. In most spellings, all letters can be pronounced in more than one way and

often in many different ways4; e.g. Live (Verb) /lv/, Live (Adj./adv.) /lav/.

Among the commonly used words of daily life, there are about 400 words, which are

whole heartedly embraced by Standard English, despite of their irregularity. They provide

erroneous impress if spelt. Though, there are some historical reasons because of the

existence of non-phonemic spelling, yet they create confusion. Use of Roman alphabet

for English spelling and pronunciation is also one of the major reasons of irregularities.

4.4.1.2 Irregularities at Vowel Level: With only five vowel letters, clear and regular

relationship between English spelling and pronunciation cannot be maintained. These five

vowel letters are not sufficient to represent the 20 and some more distinct vowel sounds

1 Jena, SPK. 2003. Learning Disability, Theory to Practice, India: Sage Publication. P. 37.

2 Ibid. P.199.

3 Cook, Vivian J. 2014. The English Writing System. P.183.

4 Jena, SPK. 2003. Learning Disability, Theory to Practice, India: Sage Publication. P. 37.


190

of English. Often several vowel sounds in the spelling are not phonemic. This causes the

lack of exact match of vowel phonemes and letters. Several times, the same vowel letter,

can be noticed, representing different vowel sounds; e.g. the first English letter a

represents five different English sounds; such as:

Cat /kt/

Cane /ken/

Call a . /kl/

Career /kr(r)/

Calm /km/

4.4.1.3 Irregularities at Consonant Level: Several irregularities also exist at

consonant level. In English language sometimes two letters and sometimes three

letters stand for single sound; e.g. sheep and bitch respectively. The digraph sh

represents / / and tri-graph tch represents /ch/. Even some single letters represent

sound cluster; e.g. x for ks as in fix /fks/. Sometimes, some diagraphs change

their sound with the change in their position e.g. letters gh sounds as // when

occurs at initial position and as ghost /ost/ and as /f/ when occurs at final position

as in tough /tf/. Similarly, some letters represent more than one sounds; e.g.

d = dog /d/

education /eduken/

g = goat /t/

gym /dm/, gipsy or gypsy /dpsi/

ch = chemist /kemst/

church /tt/

chauffeur /f(r)/

Other than this, at certain times, doubling of consonants and silent letters also create

irregularity in English spelling patterns; e.g. sudden /sdn/ (doubling of sound /d/

doesnt occur); and in listen /lsn/, sound /t/ is silent.


191

4.4.2 Spelling System of Standard English: The spelling system of Standard English

has undergone severe reformation. The first concentrated movement for the reform of

English spelling got speed in the second half of the sixteenth century and continued into

the seventeenth to cope with the flood of technical and scholarly terms coming into the

language as loan from Latin, Greek, and French.1 Fred Brengelman (1980) suggested

five important measures that caused great reform in the English spelling. But irregularities

still exist that generate scope for further reformation for standardization. Standardization

came about by gradual consensus.2 However, since the middle of the last century, both

in Britain and the United States, there has been a long succession of individual scholars,

writers and even politicians with their strong views on spelling reform and offering a

wide spectrum of proposals for change.The main argument for reform is self-evidently

valid: that the removal of irregularities is our present writing system would make for

greater and easier literacy.3

4.4.3 Spelling System of American English: Among the varieties of English,

American English occupies the second position that is next to the Standard / British

English. In regard of spelling, it shares several similarities and several differences

from that of Standard English. Standard English has irregular and unorganised

spelling system in a number of cases, whereas The American English spelling

system is both self-regulating and selfreorganizing.4 As systematicity is one of the

chief characteristic of American spelling system. For spelling formation American

Spelling System follows basically two rules; i.e.

4.4.3.1 Tactical rules Under this, the sequence of clusters deals with the sequence

of sounds and letters that describes patterned regularity; e.g. the diagraph is

used only after short vowel unigraph; e.g. clock /klk/, tick /tk/ etc.

4.4.3.2 Procedural rule This controls the way, the spelling modifiers prefixes,

bases and suffixes are connected and used to form a word.

1 Edward, Carney. 1994. A Survey of English Spelling.P.467

2 Ibid. P.468.

3 Ibid.

4 Cumming, DW. 1988. American English Spelling: An Informed Description. P.5.


192

American English orthography is marked by a growing visual bias, increasing

standardization, and increasing regularity and pattern.1 Because of this, American

spelling style remarkably differs from British Spelling Style, at several points.

Standard English American English Indian English

Colour Color Colour (preferable)/ color

Honour Honor Honour

Programme Program Programme = an event

Program=computer program

4.4.4 The Spelling System of Indian English: To understand the spelling system of

Indian English it is necessary to understand the languages used in India. Almost every

Indian language has its own complex phonetic system and a developed script

which can precisely represent most of the sounds.2 In most Indian languages

orthography is rather rule governed. English orthography is less transparent than

many Indian languages.3 As, most of the Indian language are the offspring of

Sanskrit they follow almost similar rules; esp. between the relationship of sounds and

spellings. Similarly, in Hindi language, up to certain extent, one to one

correspondence between sound and spelling exists. If any irregularity occurs, that is

also based on certain grammatical rule; e.g. /bhn/ /bhIn /.

4.4.5 Hindi Alphabet: Hindi alphabet has 11+1+2 vowels and 33+3 consonants +5

borrowed as (x), (), . (q), ( f), (z). It is also enriched with matras. It

has 13 - 14 matras that enable the language to acquire the title of an ideal language.

An Indian English speaker is well versed and well blessed with an ideal language that

is not only richly phonemic but also enriched in alphabet and matras. Relationship

of various matras and akshras is also based on solid rules. In Hindi language, for

each distinct sound a distinct symbol in available.

4.4.6 Impact of Mother Tongue on Indian English Spelling System: Knowingly

or unknowingly, Indian English users/ speakers imply the phonemic patterns of their

1 Cumming, DW. 1988. American English Spelling: An Informed Description. P. 29.

2 George, K.M. 1992. Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology: Plays and Prose. P. vii.

3 Jena, SPK. 2003. Learning Disability, Theory to Practice. P.37-38.


193

enriched mother tongue on English language. Hence, they often deviate from the

pronunciation of Standard English. Since, they are used to write as they speaks or

listen (which is generally not possible in Standard English), the impact is also visible

on their English spellings. Hence, the curios Indian minds do not hesitate to establish

one to one relationship between spelling and pronunciation. Though Indian English

users/ speakers generally follow spelling system of Standard English, yet for several

spellings American spelling system is preferred. For the sake of innovation and

novelty, Indian word-artists, sometimes, form new spellings based on Indian

pronunciation; e.g.

i. Injan for engine (Coolie, 7)

ii. Kwality for quality in (In Custody, eBook) (Though it in the name of

restaurant mentioned by Desai. It is re-spelt and appropriated as Kwality to

create an Indian Brand Name)

These newly coined spellings have not been taken into consideration to enrich English

spelling system. Indian English was used to adopt British spelling system1. Now, it

is slightly being replaced by American English spelling system. Sometimes, both

spelling systems are considered as correct one, in Indian context. In present times, due

to advancement of information technology, computer and globalized business,

American English and its spelling style has spread its wings widely. Indians, who beat

the traditional line or who follow literary English, generally, advocate British English

and British spellings, and those who, generally, belong to the field of science and

technology (especially Computer Science and Information Technology), trumpet for

American English, including its spelling style and pronunciation patterns. Thus, now,

both spelling styles have acquired almost the same status in India.

4.4.7 An Evaluation of British, American and Indian Spelling System: To discuss

spelling system of Indian English, various Indian novels, e.g. The Suitable Boy,

Can Love Happen Twice, Starry Nights, Two States and several other Indian

novels and writings are randomly taken into consideration . An evaluation of British,

American and Indian spelling system is presented below:

1 Kurzon, Dennis. 2013. Indian Languages, Hidden English in Text and Society; Globally Speaking:

Motive for Adopting English Vocabulary in Other languages. P. 21.


194

4.4.7.1 Rule for letter for spelling and sound /r/ for pronunciation:

Standard American English is a rhotic dialect in that /r/ is present in all positions and

British English RP is non-rhotic in that /r/ is absent before consonants and silence.1

In American spelling system, scholars/ author have tried to improve English spellings.

Among the good number of scholars, Noha Webster made perhaps the only

successful attempt at spelling reform of English. But it only affected the small area of

spelling in an erratic way, showing perhaps how difficult it would be to implement the

far more rational and extensive reforms.2

American style spelling is not so much a systematic reworking of English as a minor

tinkering with spelling reform. The difference between them is more likely a designer

label sewn on to the clothes than the clothes themselves- British and American

style - having nothing to do with systematic differences in sound to letter

correspondence. Had American English been reworking to correspond better to

American Pronunciation or had the whole system been reformed on a logical basis

then something more general or less arbitrary might have emerge.3

For letter in spellings and sound /r/ in pronunciation Indian English is closer to

American English; e. g.

Word Standard English American English Indian English

Letter /let(r)/ /letr/ /letr/

Jar /d(r)/ /dr/ /dr/

4.4.7.2 < - our > of British v/s < - or > of American; e.g.

British Spelling American Spelling Indian Spelling

Colour

Honour

Favourite

Labour

Rancour

Color

Honor

Favorite

Labor

Rancor

Colour (Two States, 75) /

Color (The Color of our Sky, Title)

Honour (A Suitable Boy,5)

Favourite (Ibid, 1336)

Labour (Indian Labour Movement, 63) /

Labor (Born to work: Child Labour in India, ix)

Rancour (The Great Indian Novel, 243)

1 Cook, Vivian J. 2014. The English Writing System. P.183.

2 Ibid. P.185.

3 Ibid. P.184.

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=YkX9CQAAQBAJ&dq=color+in+Indian+novel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjby8y3nPnKAhXQGI4KHcdlAnsQ6AEIIjABhttps://books.google.co.in/books?id=72MFAQAAIAAJ&q=labor+in+Indian+novel&dq=labor+in+Indian+novel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjyn5WVn_nKAhVLGo4KHaFWDIQQ6AEIITAB


195

4.4.7.3 British < - oul > v/s American < - ol > & Br < - ou > v/s American < - o>; e.g.

British

Spelling

American

Spelling

Indian Spelling

Smoulder

Mould

Plough

Smolder

Mold

Plow

Smoulder (The Collected Novels, eBook)

Mould (A Suitable Boy,412)

Plough (Ibid, 531)

(Though, exceptions exist in both spelling style as American spelling system

also preserves < - our > as in Saviour, Glamour, and similarly some British words

also contain < -or >in the spelling style as in Honorary, laborious, Terror etc. By

the way, < - our > is also found in old British English in terrour (1712))

4.4.7.4 British < - re> v/s American < - er > ; e.g.


Centre

Theatre

Center

Theater

Centre (A Suitable Boy,746)

Theatre (Ibid, 1198)

(Some exception in American spellings, as acre, genre)

4.4.7.5 Doubling of Consonant - British Single < - l > versus < - ll > of American; e.g.


Enrol

Fulfil

Enroll

Fulfill

Enrol (The Great Indian Novel,68)

Fulfil (A Suitable Boy, 59)

4.4.7.6 British < - ll > versus American Single < - l >; e.g.


Jeweller

Traveller

Woollen

Jeweler

Traveler

Woolen

Jeweller (A Suitable Boy, 64)

Traveller (Ibid, 555)

Woollen (Ibid, 164)

4.4.7.7 Other Consonants; e.g.< - > and < - p >; e.g.


Waggon

Kidnapping

Wagon

Kidnaping

Wagon (Coolie, 243)

Kidnapping (A Suitable Boy, 769)


196

4.4.7.8 British < - ise> v/s American < - ze>; and British < - yse> British

English implies both ise and ize; but prefers ise style; e.g.


(-ise/-ize)

Apologise

Recognise

(-yre/-yze)

Analyse

Paralyse

Apologize

Recorgnize

Analyze

Paralyze

Apologize (A Suitable Boy, 746)

Recognize (A Suitable Boy, 1140)

Analyse (Musings on Indian Writing in English, ii)

Paralyse (Indian Short Stories,1900-2000, P. 213)

Exceptions American English also implies- ise style in some spellings, as in

advertise etc. Indian English also implies the same spelling advertise (The Suitable

Boy, 882).

...among British publishers is preferred by Cassell, Collins, Longman,

Oxford, by the Reader Digest (UK); Chamber has for its native

speaker dictionaries, for its EFL Learners dictionary. 1

4.4.7.9 British < - ce> versus < - se >; e.g.


Defence (Noun)

Pretence

Defense (Noun)

Pretense

Defence (Noun) (Indian Defence Review, Title)

Defense (Noun) (Bookless in Baghdad, eBook)

*both are taken into use as noun because the word defend is

used as verb form.

Pretence (Indian Political Novel in English, 131)

Note: In British English, in some cases, -ce is used to denote some nouns and se to

denote verb; e.g. Advice (N.), Advise (V.) and Practice (N.), Practise (V.) etc.

Indian English follows the same; e.g.

The little girl look to her mother for protection, but got up without waiting for

advice. (Lajwanti and Other Stories, 62)

What would you advise, Heaslop? (The Great Indian Novel, 78)

1 Mc Arthur, Tom. 1992. The Oxford Companion to English Language. P.43.

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=_GmN9Zs4tcYC&pg=PR2&dq=Analyse+In+Indian+writing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAWoVChMI4YrVxuPwxgIVBi2mCh36JQZHhttps://books.google.co.in/books?id=kLn11KD4ea0C&pg=PA213&dq=Paralyse++In+Indian+writing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBsQ6AEwADgUahUKEwjw9fm75PDGAhWk3KYKHej1Dis


197

4.4.7.10 < ae> versus American < -e >; e.g.

British English contains some words derived from Latin, Greek and French. Such

words have or in form of and in British English; but American

English uses only for such derived words; e.g.

British

Spelling

American

Spelling

Indian Spelling

Paediatric

Faeces

Haemorrhage

Pediatric

Feces

Hemorrhage

Paediatric(100+ Clinical Cases in Paediatric, 99)

Pediatric (Clinical Pediatric Dermatology, 2012)

Faeces (Innovation in India: Combining Economic Growth

with Inclusive Development, 322.)

Feces (The Journal of Indian Writing in English, Vol. 27, 46)

Haemorrhage (The Great Indian Novel,351)

Hemorrhage (Indian Writing Today - Issues 15-18 , 117

For some words British English shows flexibility as it implies both or e.g.

encyclopaedia / encyclopedia, mediueval /medieval etc. American English implies

only for such words. Some exceptions, that imply < ae> or both in British

and American spelling styles; e.g. conoe, paella and reggae.

4.4.7.11 British < - ogue> Versus American < - og>; e.g.

British

Spelling

American

Spelling

Indian Spelling

Dialogue

Monologue

Catalogue

Dialog

Monolog

Catalog

Dialogue (Can Love Happen Twice)

Monologue (Starry Night)

Catalogue (Women Writing Violence, 112)

Catalog (It is also used in general writing)

4.4.7.12 Some Other Differences:-


Cheque (Banking term)

Sceptic

Judgment/Judgement

Moustache

Check(Banking term)

Skeptic

Judgement

Mostache

Cheque (Banking term)(A Suitable

Boy,1261)

Sceptic(al) (The Sceptical Parrot, Title)

Judgement(Can Love Happen Twice)

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=P9hHAAAAYAAJ&q=Feces+in+Indian+writing&dq=Feces+in+Indian+writing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBWoVChMIpqff-eLwxgIVCRaUCh0xhgmWhttps://books.google.co.in/books?id=P9hHAAAAYAAJ&q=Feces+in+Indian+writing&dq=Feces+in+Indian+writing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBWoVChMIpqff-eLwxgIVCRaUCh0xhgmWhttps://books.google.co.in/books?id=t-UvAAAAIAAJ&q=Hemorrhage++in+Indian+writing&dq=Hemorrhage++in+Indian+writing&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDEQ6AEwBGoVChMIue-UpOLwxgIVy6aUCh0L7wcB


198

Sulphur

Programme

Tire

Tyre

Aeroplane

Carat

Cosy

Rosy

Aluminium

Axe

Pyjamas

Sulfur

Program

Tire

Tire

Airplane

Karat

Cozy

Rozy

Aluminum

Ax

Pajamas

Moustache (The Rajahs Moustache, Title)

Sulphur (Coal Industry of India, 59)

Programme (Ignited Minds, eBook) (an

event)

Program (It is also used in general writings)

Tire (The White Tiger, 193) for a part of

vehicle

Tire (Rise of the Indian Novel in

English,183)

to exert

Tyre (Indian Author,Vol.4, 39) only for a

part of vehicle

Aeroplane (Narratives of Indian Cinema, 76)

Carat (The Next Life,122)

Cozy (Bubble Wrap) (Can Love Happen

Twice)

Rosy (Starry Nights)

Aluminium(Starry Nights)

Aluminum(Management of Man Power in

Indias Aluminum Industry: A Case Study of

HINDALCO)

Axe (Sea of Poppies,141)

Pyjamas (Sea of Poppies,141)

Pajamas (His Monsoon Bride)

Note British Spelling style often implies two spellings for the same term; whereas

American prefers only one. By two different spelling styles, British English enhances/

expands the more accurate usage; e.g. to check someones write up/ to deposite a

cheque in LIC Housing Pvt. Ltd. and a latest computer program/ a television/

Radio/FM programme.

Thus, it is quite evident that neither of the spelling styles is completely flawless.

Though, American spelling system lacks in number of irregularity than the British.

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=VcHpAAAAMAAJ&q=Tire+in+Indian+novel&dq=Tire+in+Indian+novel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5nuXqrPnKAhWEcI4KHTsUCXA4ChDoAQg6MAYhttps://books.google.co.in/books?id=VcHpAAAAMAAJ&q=Tire+in+Indian+novel&dq=Tire+in+Indian+novel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5nuXqrPnKAhWEcI4KHTsUCXA4ChDoAQg6MAYhttps://books.google.co.in/books?id=VG45AAAAIAAJ&q=Tyre+in+Indian+novels&dq=Tyre+in+Indian+novels&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2lfvlq_nKAhUQBY4KHTd5CIIQ6AEINzAF


199

One major point, related to the spelling system is spelling pronunciation; this cannot

be ignored in the discussion of spelling style. It is often said that ideal spelling system

exactly follows the phonemic pattern of the language. Now, the question arises that

how it can be possible in terms of English language. Different speakers of English

belong to different geographical regions of the world. They have different cultures,

attitude and style. Their languages are also different and are articulated in different

specific ways and patterns. This also causes impact on English language. Reflection

of these differences can be traced in spelling system if written or formed, as they are

spelt. So, in such circumstance, especially to avoid further more confusion, it is better

to choose spelling style among the fairly reputed ones. Yet, influence of ones mother

tongue cannot be avoided completely.

American spelling system advocates economy of linguistic expression1; and at

certain times economy of letters also. In the process of simplifying spelling in

American English, scholars have introduced spelling, (in majority of cases) shorter

than British spelling.2

In this case Indian English follows British English spelling styles, because it also

acknowledges two different spellings for several terms used for various purposes.

Though for some spellings American spelling style is preferred especially by

technical and scientific writers.

In Indian circumstances, learners of English as well as scholars of English have been

cramming the spellings supplied by the Britishers, in previous times, and the

Americans, in present times. No considerable reformation has been done in English

spelling system by any Indian scholar on the basis of rules. This is, perhaps, because

English is not an aboriginal language of India as it is of Britain and America. Hence,

Indian English users have to follow either British or American spelling style, until any

Indian English scholar provides universally acceptable solid rules for English

spellings and pronunciation, similar to his own mother tongue.

1 Zoltan, Kovecses. 2000. American English: An Introduction. P. 168.

2 Ibid.

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