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Published
in Gulf News, May 22, 2007
The stress
on accent
Many
of
us Indians for whom English is a first, or near-first, language,
fondly imagine we have a "neutral accent". This illusion
is helped along - at least for the ones in America - by the fact
that Indians use Received Pronunciation as a base, and so "bath"
rhymes with "hearth" and not "math", for example.
But
to a non-Indian ear, this purportedly neutral accent is, in fact,
an "Indian" accent. I was fascinated last year by a demonstration
of how our (or any) accent is ingrained with, not just pronunciation,
but also rhythm. We were working on a play that was set in English-speaking
Bangalore, but was being performed by Indo-American actors. I was
keen that it be done without a put-on "Indian" accent
because, as anybody from India will tell you, there's no such thing.
Ask somebody from Delhi and somebody from Madras to say just two
words each, and it'll be clear who's from where.
The
director agreed to try it, and told the American-accented cast:
"Let's try the scene without accents." I almost blurted
out, "You mean, with American accents" before it hit me
that "no accent" to an American is "with an American
accent" to me. (I'm slowly beginning to appreciate the differences
among American accents, and not just the South vs. the rest of the
country.)
Something
was wrong. The scene didn't seem to make any sense at all. So I
reluctantly agreed to let the actors try it with an Indian accent,
shuddering at the thought of everybody sounding like Peter Sellers
at The Party. I should have trusted them. These experienced
actors put on just the hint of an accent and something magical happened.
The scene fell into place and suddenly everything was clear. It
was as if the rhythms were hidden among the very words.
Some
English-speaking Indians have an uneasy relationship with their
accents. Anglo-Indian, Canadian-born comedian Russell Peters, hit
the nail on the head when he let out the Indian "secret":
that Indians know what they sound like and know it isn't sexy. Thus,
the American accent is considered aspirational by many younger Indians.
A common joke concerns people who acquire American accents just
by getting US visas, usually excited young students going to study
abroad for the first time.
That's
why the fond notion that weaker Indian accents aren't accents at
all, and why the readiness with which people change the way they
have spoken all their lives. Some do it permanently, others vary
it according to current location. Some, usually with stronger accents
to start with, get caught in the middle, and produce a hideous hybrid
that sounds as if they've been possessed by a surfer-dude who says
every alternate word in their sentences.
While
I'm not motivated to want to, or be able to, make changes, I can
sympathise with people who adopt an American accent when they live
in the US. Some Americans assume that since we have accents, our
English isn't up to scratch, and nothing gets our goat (and our
chickens and cow) more.
Let's
be fair though. If I met somebody with a French accent, I might
initially assume they weren't totally comfortable with English.
But after they demonstrate fluency, or say they've spoken English
all their lives, or say they write for an English newspaper, it
would be foolish and insulting of me to continue my assumption.
But
sometimes people just don't get the hint and are seemingly unable
to look past the fact that they are talking to "the Indian
guy". It quite makes my "neutral" accent want to
take up arms and go to war.
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