Published in: South Asian English. In A Companion to the History of the English Language (Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture) edited by Momma, Haruko, and Matto, Michael. Basil Blackwell Publishers. 2008, pages 404-412. South Asian English Linguistically and culturally, South Asian English is a very interesting and a dynamic phenomenon. Interesting, because English has become one of the languages of communication for South Asians, and as such a distinctive form of South Asian English has emerged; and Dynamic, because the English language is constantly evolving and changing in South Asia, as it is constantly being used to express nuances of South Asian cultures and sensibilities. As Y. Kachru and C. Nelson point out, "South Asia is a linguistic area with one of the longest histories of contact, influence, use, and teaching and learning of English-in-diaspora in the world." (2006:153). B. Kachru (1986:36) further elaborates, '[the] use of the term South Asian English is not to be understood as indicative of linguistic homogeneity in this variety nor of a uniform linguistic competence. It refers to several broad regional varieties such as Indian English, Lankan English and Pakistani English." This chapter will focus on the history of English in the countries in the South Asian sub-continent, the users and users of English, the emergence of South Asian English, and the future of English in South Asia. In order to do justice to this topic, one has to start with defining the term South Asia. In current literature, South Asia is said to compromise the countries of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka (B. Kachru 2005:30). Historical background: How and why did British come to India? Briefly, the end of the year 1600 saw the beginnings of officially sanctioned expansion out of Britain to India. By the end of the 17th century, the British East India Company controlled virtually all international trade with India. In 1689, with the establishment of the three presidencies or administrative districts in Bengal, Bombay (now Mumbai), and Madras (now Chennai), British rule was established in the subcontinent. In 1773, the British Government established a Governor Generalship in India, and by the India Act of 1784, a department to manage to Indian Affairs under British rule was established in the subcontinent by the East India Company. Following the so-called "Mutiny" of 1857, the Act for the Better Government
of India in 1858 resulted in British Government assuming the responsibility of governing India (Y. Kachru and Nelson 2006:154). The British also brought their language. B.Kachru (2005:30) notes: "The formal introduction of English in South Asia has passed through several stages. What started as an educational debate in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries culminated in Lord Macaulay's much maligned Minute of 1835, which initiated planned activity for introducing the English language into South Asian education" During this phase, the role of the missionaries was quite vital in the spread of English. At the beginning, the educational efforts of the Europeans "had an ulterior purpose, viz. the