History News Desk !!! English is the official and Central Indo-Aryan language of the Republic of India. According to the 2001 census, about 25.79 crore Indians use English as their mother tongue, while about 42.20 crore people use one of its more than 50 dialects. Before 1998, English was ranked third in the statistics of the most spoken languages in the world in terms of the number of mother tongues. After the publication of the book of analysis of Indian languages in the 1997 census of India and the detailed report sent by Professor Mahavir Saran Jain, the then Director of the Central English Institute of the Government of India, on the basis of the UNESCO questionnaire sent by UNESCO in 1998 to prepare a report on the languages of the world, it is now accepted globally that English ranks second after Chinese among the languages of the world in terms of the number of mother tongues. The number of speakers of Chinese language is more than English language, but the use area of Chinese language is limited compared to English. The usage area of English language is more than that of English but the number of mother tonguers is more than that of English speakers. Some of its dialects, Maithili and Rajasthani claim to be separate languages. The major dialects of English include Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Brajbhasha, Chhattisgarhi, Garhwali, Haryanvi, Kumaoni, Magadhi and Marwari.
Modern English
By the time English reached its modern era, Brajbhasha had moved far away from the common language and Awadhi had turned its back on literature long ago. By the middle of the 19th century, the maximum expansion of English rule had taken place in India. This political change also affected the language of Madhya Desh, English. The new political circumstances encouraged Khariboli. When the literary form of Brajbhasha and Awadhi moved away from the common language, Khariboli gradually started taking their place. The English government also started using it. In the beginning of the modern era of English, Khariboli had to struggle for its existence due to the spread of Urdu on one hand and Brajbhasha being the language of poetry on the other. Till the 19th century, the language of poetry was Brajbhasha and the language of prose was Khariboli. By the 20th century, Khariboli became the literary language of both prose and poetry. In this era, various religious, social and political movements helped a lot in establishing Khariboli. As a result, Khariboli became the most important language of literature.
Different meanings of English
linguistic meaning
Sanskrit-dominated Khariboli written in the Nagari script.
Constitutional/Legal meaning
According to the Constitution, English is the official language or official language of the Union of India and the official language of many states.
general meaning
The refined language of the entire English speaking region, i.e. the language of governance, education, literature, business etc.
Broader meaning
In the modern era, English cannot be limited to only Khariboli. All the dialects and sub-languages of English come under the broad meaning of English. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Keshav Chandra Sen, Navin Chandra Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Taruni Charan Mishra, Rajendra Lal Mitra, Raj Narayan Basu, Bhudev Mukherjee, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (‘Those who will be able to establish unity among the various regions of India with the help of English language are worthy of being called true Bharatbandhu.’), Subhash Chandra Bose (‘If English is accepted as a language today, then it is not because it is the language of any particular province, but because it can be the language of the whole country due to its simplicity, wideness and capability.’).
