Questions tagged [subcontinental-english]
Questions related to the English language as it is spoken and written across the Indian Subcontinent in the South-Asian countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
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Is there a term for when in Indian English stress is placed on the word "the" before a noun?
I often hear speakers of Indian English place stress-accent on the word "the", with a pause before finishing a sentence with a noun. There's a raised pitch and stress on the word "the&...
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9
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Saying meaning "Don't speak unless you can improve silence"
Is there an English equivalent to this familiar saying used in India:
Don't speak unless you can improve silence.
The saying loosely means it is better to be silent than prattle on about something....
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Is 'Updation' a correct word?
I was wondering whether 'updation' is correct English or not.
Sample sentence: I was involved in the updation of the website.
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14
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Why is Indian English usually rhotic?
It seems that speakers of Indian English generally speak with a rhotic accent, pronouncing an [r] in all cases where spelled, whereas a speaker of British English would leave it off in postvocalic ...
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5
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Is "stepmother treatment" Indian English?
When I googled stepmother treatment, I found that it was mainly used in India to refer to neglect, disregard or inattention. Most of the other non-Indian links talked about the literal treatment by ...
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Is “suite” pronounced like “suit” in any native English-speaking countries?
The word suite is pronounced the same as sweet in British and American English. Surprisingly, even some educated Indians mispronounce it almost similar to suit. Even name boards ...
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0
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'Too good': Hyperbole, fossil, calque, quirk, something else?
I often hear the exclamation "too good" in Indian English. Sometimes it describes food, sometimes music, sometimes an event, anything really; it's rather versatile, common enough to have ...
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4
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What does "the book was drenched" mean, from the first page of a scanned book?
The first printed page in the scanned online version of Analytical Solid Geometry by Shanti Narayan says, "the book was drenched". I'm positive it doesn't have anything to do with wetness. So what ...
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Pejorative term for Indian English [closed]
There was, it seems, a pejorative term during the British Raj to describe Indian people trying to speak English. What was it?
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6
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We Indians often say "I finished my homework today itself", which I know is wrong. Which is the correct way to say it?
We use 'itself' to emphasize that the homework was done today, not yesterday. Nor was it delayed till tomorrow. What is the correct way to emphasize the fact that the homework was done today?
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Where does the phrase "cheater caught, Peter red" come from?
Growing up in Pakistan, I heard variations of either:
Cheater caught, Peter red; or
Cheater cock, Peter red
I assumed it was about a cocky boy named Peter who was either caught red-handed or turned ...
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1
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Why do Indian people usually ask questions in English using the first-person-plural form?
I don't know much about the languages spoken in India, so I'm going to assume the speaker is speaking Hindi natively.
I've noticed that whenever a question is asked in an English forum, and it ...
- 8,620
3
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1
answer
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What are the differences between Indian English and other (native) varieties?
From my observation, I can identify some differences.
Indian speakers use some Hindi words which are not found among native speakers.
Indian speakers pronounce 'w' and 'v' interchangeably.
Indian ...
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22
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5
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What loanwords from the languages of India appear in cricket's vocabulary?
One of the things I find surprising is that India seems to have had little influence on the vocabulary of cricket. Notwithstanding India long being such a great cricketing nation, I can't immediately ...
- 84.9k
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1
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Why do speakers from India frequently use the phrase "the same"?
In working with overseas teams, as well as with reading text written by speakers from India, I notice a strong overusage of the following types of phrases:
Please reply with the same.
Kindly review ...
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