From elite to subaltern : stages in the adoption of the English language in India

Abstract

Probal Dasgupta, in his book, 'The Otherness of English', posits that "the communication matrix of India identifies for English in-India the role of an "auntie" who is around, but not one of us." Despite early reservations about the adaptability of the English language to Indian sensibilities, and continuing antagonism against the imposition of the hegemony of English over India in some pockets, the notion that the English language is an "other" in India could not seem more far-fetched in this day and age -at a time when critics have been speculating that the way English is spoken in India may imminently dictate how English is going to be spoken as a global language. In this paper, I analyse the evolution of the English language in postcolonial India, from its status as a legacy of colonialism, to becoming India's very own representative. I argue that the process is temporally marked by three stages, and that three different classes of Indians have adopted and appropriated the English language to make it truly pan-Indian.