Indianization of English Language in the Fiction of Salman Rushdie Khushwant Singh Upamanyu Chatterjee and Arundhati Roy

Abstract

English language is part and parcel of present India. It has attained status of a recognized variety of English. It is everywhere. Social media greatly helped it to reach it more than ever. Literally everyone, who has a smart phone, is using English language this way or that way. Literature recorded it as it is used by the people. But what sort of English is being used by the people? Is it Standard English or a sort of Indianized English? The present research is aimed at finding the status of English used by Indian people from all walks of life and its reflection in Indian English literature. For the study four Indian English novelists, namely Salman Rushdie, Khushwant Singh, Upamanyu Chatterjee and Arundhati Roy have been chosen with the following objectives: 1) to focus on the main issue of the abrogation and appropriation of English language in the contexts of perceiving Indian way of life; 2) to reveal the problems, predicaments and limitations of the writers in relation to the use of the English language in Indian context; and 3) To explain the use of various literary and linguistic devices in creating distinctive variety of Indian English . The methodology used for the research is as follows - For the purpose of the study, postcolonial approach has been used to study the abrogation and appropriation of the English Language. The findings of the research are as follows: Though foreign in its origin, English has been adapted in India as a language of education and literary expression besides being an important medium of communication amongst the people of various regions. Indian English has gained a distinct status of its own in recent times. It has been done through long process of coining and incorporating new words, structures and expressions. English in India has fared well as the vehicle of the creative and critical writing in this language. In this regard Indian English literature helped a lot to make Indian English take its own turns and curves. Writers like Salman Rushdie, Khushwant Singh, Upamanyu