LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 25:11 November 2025
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Indianisation of English as a Language: From Post-Independence to the Present

Vaibhav Vishal

Abstract

Since gaining independence in 1947, India has maintained English as a de facto national language alongside Hindi. This paper examines how English in India has evolved into a distinct variety often called Indian English. It surveys policy history (the Constitution's provisions for official languages), changes in education and media, and the linguistic “indigenization” of English in vocabulary, grammar, and sound. Early postcolonial leaders chose Hindi as the official language but retained English for government and court. Over time, English spread widely through schools, urbanization, and globalisation. As Costa notes, English “has acted as a lingua franca between speakers of different local languages” and facilitated unity in India’s multilingual society. Contemporary studies report that Indian English has acquired unique lexical, grammatical, and phonological features (through Kachru's “indigenization”) that distinguish it from British or American English. English-medium education has surged (e.g. roughly doubling from 2009 to 2014) and use of code-mixed “Hinglish” is now ubiquitous. Survey data show English remains more common among the educated elite: only about 6–10% of Indians report any proficiency, concentrated in cities and among upper castes. By contrast, English has become widely embraced as a crucial skill rather than a colonial imposition: recent fieldwork finds that English has largely “shed its colonial associations” and is seen as a key credential of modern life. This study synthesizes scholarly sources to provide a comprehensive, post-1947 overview of Indian English's development, illustrating both its distinctive linguistic traits and its social significance.

Keywords:Indian English, Indigenization, Postcolonial Identity, Code-Switching, Language Policy, Education, Social Stratification, Globalization

Introduction

After 1947, India's leaders faced a multilingual nation and needed a common medium. The Constitution (1950) designated Hindi (in Devanagari script) as the Union’s official language, while permitting continued use of English for all governmental and judicial purposes[1][2]. Thus English remained co-official alongside Hindi at the federal level. In practice, English quickly became entrenched in administration, education, and technology. English is used “in tourism, government administration, education, the armed forces, business and the media”[3] and even dominated Bollywood film subtitles and news until the 1990s. Although only a tiny minority speak English natively, it serves as a lingua franca unifying India's linguistic diversity[3][7]. As Costa (2017) observes, English provides “stable linguistic threads for unity” in a nation of hundreds of languages[12]. In this context, a new variety – Indian English – emerged. This paper traces its emergence from Independence to the present, covering language policy, sociolinguistic factors, and the distinct linguistic features that mark Indian English.

Language Policy and Education (Post-1947)

At independence, the question of the national language was hotly debated. The 1950 Constitution adopted a bilingual policy: Hindi would be the official language (Article 343), but English “shall be used for all the official purposes of the Union”[1], including legislation and courts. This compromise was extended indefinitely via amendments (the “Official Languages Act” of 1963 and 1967), reflecting English’s practical necessity. English remained the medium of higher education and civil service exams, and it connected India with the global Anglophone world.

Educationally, English-medium instruction expanded rapidly. Parents increasingly favor English schooling for its perceived social and economic advantages. For example, government data indicate that enrollment in English-medium schools surged from roughly 15 million students in 2008-09 to 29 million by 2013-14 (nearly doubling in five years)[13]. Today private and public schools alike teach in English from early grades. English literacy and test preparation (TOEFL, IELTS) are widespread among youth. In contrast, rural and less affluent regions still rely more on regional languages; even in 2011 only about 10.6% of Indians reported English proficiency[14][7].

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Vaibhav Vishal
Independent Research Scholar,
M.A. English, B. Ed., UGC NET
vaibhavsandilya80@gmail.com
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