South Asian English is the English accent of

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

, inherited from

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...

dialect. Also known as British-Indian English in the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, the English language was introduced to the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, In ...

in the early 17th century and reinforced by the long rule of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. Today it is spoken as a

second language A person's second language, or L2, is a language that is not the native language ( first language or L1) of the speaker, but is learned later. A second language may be a neighbouring language, another language of the speaker's home country, or a ...

by about 350 million people, 20% of the total population. Although it is fairly homogeneous across the region, sharing "linguistic features and tendencies at virtually all linguistic levels", there are also differences based on various factors.Marco Schilk, Tobias Bernaisch, Joybrato Mukherjee, "Mapping unity and diversity in South Asian English lexicogrammar: Verb-complementational preferences across varieties", in Marianne Hundt, Ulrike Gut, ''Mapping Unity and Diversity World-Wide: Corpus-Based Studies of New Englishes'', 2012,
p. 140''f''
/ref> South Asian English is sometimes called "Indian English", as

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

included most of the region, but today, the varieties of English are officially divided according to the modern states: *

Afghan English Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pash ...

Bangladeshi English Bangladeshi/Bengali English, Banglish, Benglish or Anglo-Bangla (similar and related to British English) is a variety of English heavily influenced by Bengali very common among Bangladeshis (mainly), and some Indian Bengalis (mainly from West ...

Bhutanese English Bhutanese may refer to: * Something of, or related to Bhutan * Dzongkha, the official national language of Bhutan (sometimes called "Bhutanese") * A person from Bhutan, or of Bhutanese descent, see Demographics of Bhutan * Bhutanese culture * Bhuta ...

Indian English Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. ...

Maldivian English Maldivian English is an English dialect spoken in the Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, trans ...

Nepali English Nepalese English ( ne, अङ्ग्रेजी) refers to a variety of the English language principally used in Nepal and is heavily influenced by the Indo-Aryan languages of Nepal. Many Nepalese speak English as a second or foreign langua ...

Pakistani English Pakistani English (also known as Paklish or Pinglish) is the group of English language varieties spoken and written in Pakistan. It was first so recognised and designated in the 1970s and 1980s. Pakistani English (PE), similar and related to ...

Sri Lankan English Sri Lankan English (SLE) is the English language as it is used in Sri Lanka, a term dating from 1972. Sri Lankan English is principally categorised as the Standard Variety and the Nonstandard Variety, which is called as "Not Pot English". The ...

Notes

References

* . * Braj Kachru, Yamuna Kachru, Cecil Nelson, ''The Handbook of World Englishes'', 2009, . Languages of South Asia Dialects of English {{english-lang-stub