The Raj English in historical lexicography
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Valentyna Skybina
Abstract
The paper examines the scope and methodology of representation of the English language used in India during the Raj in historical lexicography. In historical dictionaries, a comprehensive documented data on a language/variety history and usage are accumulated. This makes historical lexicography a reliable source for the in-depth analysis of linguistic phenomena in a broad cultural context. As the English language used in India during the Raj, in fact, marks the genesis of Indian English its linguistic analysis might produce valuable data for the better understanding of the historical trajectories of this variety. Several studies of English in India consider the Raj period (e.g. Krishnaswamy & Krishnaswamy 2013; Ram 1983; Sailaja 2009) but mostly focus on socio-political and educational issues. This study draws attention to the Raj English lexis and the dictionaries in which it is defined: Hobson-Jobson: Being a glossary of Anglo-Indian colloquial words and phrases and of kindred terms etymological, historical, geographical and discursive, 1886 (further H-J) and Sahibs, Nabobs, and Boxwallahs, A dictionary of the words of Anglo-India, 1991 (further SNB). The methods applied are those of socio-historical linguistics and dictionary criticism. The results obtained suggest that the Raj English dictionaries on historical principles represent the linguistic and socio-linguistic specificity and the sources of the English used in India at that time. They also imply the necessity of compiling a comprehensive dictionary of Indian English on historical principles.
Abstract
The paper examines the scope and methodology of representation of the English language used in India during the Raj in historical lexicography. In historical dictionaries, a comprehensive documented data on a language/variety history and usage are accumulated. This makes historical lexicography a reliable source for the in-depth analysis of linguistic phenomena in a broad cultural context. As the English language used in India during the Raj, in fact, marks the genesis of Indian English its linguistic analysis might produce valuable data for the better understanding of the historical trajectories of this variety. Several studies of English in India consider the Raj period (e.g. Krishnaswamy & Krishnaswamy 2013; Ram 1983; Sailaja 2009) but mostly focus on socio-political and educational issues. This study draws attention to the Raj English lexis and the dictionaries in which it is defined: Hobson-Jobson: Being a glossary of Anglo-Indian colloquial words and phrases and of kindred terms etymological, historical, geographical and discursive, 1886 (further H-J) and Sahibs, Nabobs, and Boxwallahs, A dictionary of the words of Anglo-India, 1991 (further SNB). The methods applied are those of socio-historical linguistics and dictionary criticism. The results obtained suggest that the Raj English dictionaries on historical principles represent the linguistic and socio-linguistic specificity and the sources of the English used in India at that time. They also imply the necessity of compiling a comprehensive dictionary of Indian English on historical principles.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Acknowledgments VII
- Contents IX
- Introduction 1
- Saints, nobility, and other heroes. Colonial place-naming as part of the European linguistic heritage 13
- “The making of Greenland” – Early European place names in Kalaallit Nunaat 43
- Colonial place-names in Italian East Africa (AOI) (with additional data from Tripoli). The linguistic heritage of colonial practice 75
- Linguistic missionary heritage. Capuchin missionary Father Laurentius and his unpublished German-Chuukese dictionary 93
- Positioning by naming: Constructing group affiliation in a colonial setting 115
- Third-hand colonial linguistics: Adolphe Dietrich’s comparative study of Indian Ocean Creoles 139
- Spanish-Guarani diglossia in colonial Paraguay: A language undertaking 153
- Construction of (transcontinental) railways as a means of colonization. A corpus-based analysis on the German colonial discourse in postcolonial perspective 169
- The Raj English in historical lexicography 191
- Anglo-Norman: Language contact and obsolescence 219
- Index of Authors 245
- Index of Languages 249
- Index of Subjects 251
- Index of Toponyms 253
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Acknowledgments VII
- Contents IX
- Introduction 1
- Saints, nobility, and other heroes. Colonial place-naming as part of the European linguistic heritage 13
- “The making of Greenland” – Early European place names in Kalaallit Nunaat 43
- Colonial place-names in Italian East Africa (AOI) (with additional data from Tripoli). The linguistic heritage of colonial practice 75
- Linguistic missionary heritage. Capuchin missionary Father Laurentius and his unpublished German-Chuukese dictionary 93
- Positioning by naming: Constructing group affiliation in a colonial setting 115
- Third-hand colonial linguistics: Adolphe Dietrich’s comparative study of Indian Ocean Creoles 139
- Spanish-Guarani diglossia in colonial Paraguay: A language undertaking 153
- Construction of (transcontinental) railways as a means of colonization. A corpus-based analysis on the German colonial discourse in postcolonial perspective 169
- The Raj English in historical lexicography 191
- Anglo-Norman: Language contact and obsolescence 219
- Index of Authors 245
- Index of Languages 249
- Index of Subjects 251
- Index of Toponyms 253
