Butler English

Butler English
Bearer English
Kitchen English
RegionMadras, India
EraMadras Presidency through 20th century
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
Glottologbutl1235

Butler English, also known as Bearer English or Kitchen English, is a dialect of English that first developed as an occupational dialect in the years of the Madras Presidency in India, but that has developed over time and is now associated mainly with social class rather than occupation. It is still spoken in major metropolitan cities.

The name derives from its origins with butlers, the head servants of British colonial households, and is the English that they used to communicate with their masters.

Butler English persisted into the second half of the 20th century, beyond the independence of India, and was subject to southern influence in its phonology, in particular the substitution of [je] for [e] and [wo] for [o], leading to distinctive pronunciations of words such as "exit" and "only".