Re: Future English (was Re: CHAT Re: evolving languages)

On Sunday 19 January 2003 7:52 pm, Samuel Rivier wrote:
> I go to high school in Illinois with over 20% of
> students of south Asian descent (India and Pakistan,
> for all you geography whizzes), and there has been
> some influx of Hindi words in our vocabulary. As a
> white student, I'm called or sometimes call my friends
> "betta" (brother), and nobody says "Indian" anymore--
> we either say "brown" or "Desi," the latter of which
> is of course borrowed. Most people are familiar with
> at least the top two and lowest parts of the caste
> system (Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Untouchable,
> respectively), but it's usually only talked about by
> Indian students. The biggest influence is from the
> names, however. Anyone who graduates from our school
> has no problem pronouncing Indian names, because we
> deal with them every day. Though this has little
> effect on word borrowing (with the possible exception
> of calling any Indian with really, really dark skin
> "Babu," after a crazy graduate from last year), it may
> increase the chances of those graduates incorporating
> Hindi words they hear into their own vocabulary.
> Oh, and from the several Pakistani Muslims I know, the
> only Arabic term that has been picked up at all is
> "Ramadan."
>
> Hope this is somewhat informational
>
> -Sam
>
In England, you'd have a similar situation in almost all urban schools...

Oh, and the 'D' in 'Desi' is retroflex, right?