When talking about someone from India, rather than a Native American, is it normal to use "Indian" as a noun?
For example, "The shop-keeper was an Indian."
The person using this word is probably learning American English.
3
-
Is there any particular dialect you are interested in? There may be differences in usage in different parts of the world.– chosterFeb 14, 2014 at 16:01
-
@choster thanks - I've edited the question to say the person is probably learning American English.– Golden CuyFeb 14, 2014 at 22:23
-
Equivalent question on ELU: english.stackexchange.com/questions/9641/…– Golden CuyJun 6, 2015 at 3:04
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
Nice question! Let the native speakers shed more light on it but being an Indian, I'd like to express my views here.
"Is it normal to use "Indian" as a noun." -That's absolutely fine to me. And, I'm an Indian!
Commonly, we come across Native used with American. I think that's because when you say Native American it implies to a particular group of people.
Native American (n) - Any member of the peoples living in North or South America before the Europeans arrived.
The US has diversified history (and still going on?) of lot of immigrants from several continents.
However, India does not show those many (frequent?) migrations from several continents (maybe, there are many who migrate but then they are from nearby countries like Nepal, Bangladesh etc.).
Referring to an Indian as an Indian is okay. In fact, being an Indian, if you call me a native Indian, it will sound strange to me.
Note: This is interesting. In a survey conducted in 1995, most Native Americans referred to themselves as American Indians or simply Indians.
answered Feb 14, 2014 at 7:44
-
I have indeed not met anyone from India so far who seemed to think it strange or who used any alternative to the designation "Indian" for someone from India. Honestly, I think it would be strange to look for an alternative, simply because of some mix-up in the naming of completely unrelated people on the other side of the world :) Feb 14, 2014 at 8:05
Yeah, it's normal, including in the sentence you provided. A little more often, that sentence would be
The shopkeeper was Indian.
However either form is normal.
