Pakistani English: phonology

A study of Pakistani English (PakE) must begin with an understanding of its historical and social roots in an undifferentiated, pre-partition ‘British India’. English was first introduced in the Indo-Pak subcontinent by the British in the 16^th century. It received official recognition with the passing of Macaulay’s minutes of 1835. Throughout the British era, English kept gaining political and social status. By 1947, when Pakistan and India gained their independence from the British, the English language had become so entrenched in the socio-political fabric of the region that it was retained as an official language in both countries.

English in British India initially spread because of economic and social mobility associated with the language. People learned English either by contact or through formal schooling. However, since there were not enough native English-speaking teachers to meet the demand, most English teachers were Indians. Thus, the input that English language learners received in South Asia was non-native and local. There was relatively little contact with native varieties of English in India, and after independence, this contact was further reduced. These factors have contributed to the institutionalization and evolution of South Asian English as a distinct variety.

During the British era, as various nationalist and ethnic movements in South Asia used language as a symbol of their identity, linguistic issues complexified. An example of such symbolism is the division leading to linguistic changes between Hindi and Urdu which strengthened (and is strengthening) as a result of religious affiliation of these languages with Hinduism and Islam, respectively. In a regional setting, the status of Hindi vs. Dravidian languages of South India in post-colonial India, or the role of Urdu vs. Sindhi in Pakistan, has been a cause of strife within each country. As a result of this politicization of local languages, English, because of its ‘foreignness’, has been preferred as a neutral language and gained political acceptance in the new countries. These local needs and uses of English, and the limited contact with native speakers of English has resulted in what has been called ‘nativization’ of English in the Indian sub-continent.

With the political partition of the sub-continent, the fate of English fell into the hands of the respective political leaders in India and Pakistan. In Pakistan, English was to go on a roller-coaster ride. While it was initially maintained by the Pakistani leadership, it soon became a symbol of resentment amongst the religious parties, who felt that maintaining the status of English symbolized a new form of colonization. There was intense opposition to English by these groups. However, there were three reasons why these demands were not taken into consideration by the government: (1) there was insufficient material in local languages to use in education and other domains (lack of corpus planning), (2) there was no other politically neutral language that could replace English, and (3) the religious parties did not have sufficient political power. As a result, English maintained its supremacy in Pakistan and little was done to change this. However, this status quo changed with General Zia-ul-Haq’s capture of power through a military coup in 1977. General Haq justified his coup by implementing rapid Islamization and Urduization policies and decentralizing the role of English. His was the first serious effort by a Pakistani government to decrease the role of English. This change in the government’s attitude towards English was manifest in the 1978 language in education policy which advised all English medium schools (schools where all classes were taught in English) to switch to Urdu. However, elite English medium schools, where children of the people in power studied, were waived from the need to make these changes. Although these changes were supported by leaders of certain political parties and religious organizations, they did not find favor among the populace. By 1983, there was recognition within General Haq’s government that the language in education policy had been hurriedly passed without the required planning, and, by 1987, it was retracted. Although the Urdu-only policies have been revised, the impact of non-English education for approximately a decade and its dismissal from official use (especially in government) is still evident. Today, the government realizes the value of English in a global economy and is implementing policies to teach it at primary level in all schools. This change in policy is supported by most of the people who prefer learning English to other languages and see it as a means of economic development.