No doubt India has been emerging as a super power in so many fields since the last quarter of the 20th century. Globalization as well as the increasing popularity of English education has also contributed a lot to it. However, the more an average Indian becomes fluent in English, the higher the number of silly mistakes that creep into their day-to-day use of the language.
There are plenty of examples in which certain English words and phrases are conveniently distorted or misused by the increasing number of speakers of English in India.
While a native English speaker may introduce their father’s brother as “He is my uncle”, the Indian speakers (and the listeners too) are not satisfied with this usage. Instead, they say, with an air of pride, “He is my paternal uncle!”. The argument on the Indian side goes like this: if we say just ‘uncle’, how can the listener understand what kind of uncle we are talking about?
Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary defines uncle as the brother of your mother or father; the husband of your aunt. Interestingly, a good majority of Indian speakers of English still believe that the real ‘uncle’ means "one’s mother’s brother" (and not father’s!). As a result, they seek solace in using the adjective ‘paternal’ before ‘uncle’ to mean the poor uncle who is fated to be the brother of an Indian father!
I am also an uncle to my nephews and nieces whom I love just like my own children. But, unfortunately, when they introduce me to someone as their paternal-maternal-variety-uncle, I feel a little alienated! Remember, the same happens to all the native English ‘uncles’ and ‘aunties’.
Probing further, I found that the misuse might have originated due to a particular practice in Indian culture. If someone says, “he is my uncle” or “she is my aunt”, the Indian nosy parkers* may ask “what kind of uncle/aunty?”, which is almost never heard in a native English speaker’s conversation.
However, I am not saying that uses such as ‘maternal/paternal uncle’, ‘maternal/paternal aunty’ etc are totally wrong. Use them only when you want to emphasize. Also, you may use 'maternal/paternal uncle/aunty when just an ‘uncle’ or ‘aunty’ may cause confusion or misinterpretation. Legal or medical contexts are classic examples for this.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Jacob (Nova English Campus)
