The Oxford English Dictionary has given Indians a small reason to cheer with the inclusion of two words which we often use in expression! Yes you read it right!
As we know that OED makes four updates every year, this time it has added words “Aiyoh” and “Aiyah” in its September edition. These two words are pretty common in the southern parts of India and people of northern parts too are well acquainted with them, thanks to the Indian Film Industry.
OED is regarded as the holy book of “correct” English Language and it enjoys unchallenged authority when it comes to English-speaking world.
These two words don’t have particular meanings but their meanings depend on the tone and context in which they are used. They simply imply emotions like surprise, shock, irritation, disgust, pain, disappointment, etc.
Shailaja Vishwanath, a freelance writer-editor, who used to teach English Language earlier, shared her views on this matter:
“I’m appalled at the inclusion of this word! It is not English. At some level I understand they (OED) are adapting to regional usage. But at the level of a language, as a writer and editor it hurts me deeply. I believe in purity of language for all its effect. I cannot accept these words in the OED, though I may use them in my everyday life within a context. But does their inclusion in OED validate it? I don’t know…. The OED included the laughing emoticon some time ago and it took me a long time to come around to accept that!”
However, this inclusion has also thrown light on the universality of the language as these words have been attributed to Mandarin and Cantonese dialects of Chinese. The variants are available in Tamil as well as Sinhalese and often used in Malaysia, Singapore and other South-East Asian nations too.
Gita Aravamudan, famous author and journalist, feels that this inclusion doesn’t need to be given much importance and she calls it as “just hype”.
Gita further said,
“I think we have a vibrant language of our own in India drawn from different parts of the country and we don’t need an endorsement from others for our language. The OED is quite irrelevant now.”
What do you think about this inclusion? Let us know your views in the comments section below.