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Variation and change in the short vowels of Delhi English
Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of English.
2020 (English)In: Language Variation and Change, ISSN 0954-3945, E-ISSN 1469-8021, Vol. 32, no 1, p. 49-76, article id PII S0954394520000010Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Although the sound system of Indian English has been the object of numerous publications over the years, there has been a remarkable scarcity of variationist sociolinguistic research carried out on the topic. The present study addresses this gap by describing the short front vowels of 22 lifelong English-speaking Delhi residents born between 1948 and 1992. Focusing more specifically on variation in the relative configuration of TRAP /æ/, DRESS /ɛ/, and KIT /ɪ/, the study provides apparent-time evidence for a series of interrelated changes affecting the system. Those include an ongoing lowering of /æ/ and /ɛ/, as well as age-related variation in a previously unreported allophonic split of /ɪ/. I argue that these apparent-time patterns are amenable to an analysis in terms of chain shift, and I discuss the implications of such a claim, linking the phenomenon described to similar patterns reported in various other parts of the English-speaking world.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2020. Vol. 32, no 1, p. 49-76, article id PII S0954394520000010
National Category
Languages and Literature
Research subject
Linguistics; English
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-183600DOI: 10.1017/S0954394520000010ISI: 000545090100003OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-183600DiVA, id: diva2:1455169
Available from: 2020-07-22 Created: 2020-07-22 Last updated: 2023-04-18Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. The vowels of Delhi English: Three studies in sociophonetics
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The vowels of Delhi English: Three studies in sociophonetics
2023 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Addressing the dearth of sociolinguistic variation research in the “new” varieties of English (D. Sharma, 2017b), this dissertation consists of a set of three sociophonetic studies on an urban dialect of Indian English. Relying upon community-based methods of data collection, this dissertation examines the vowels of an intergenerational sample of speakers from the upper-middle class neighbourhoods of Delhi. Each study of this compilation is guided by two principal goals. The first one is descriptive, that is to provide a detailed instrumental phonetic characterisation of the phonological vowels that compose the inventory of the variety. The second aim, which is historical, is to shed light of how Indian English carves its own diachronic trajectory, addressing issues relating to, for instance, diachronic stability and the transmission of language change across generations of speakers. Study I thus examines variation in the mid and low back rounded area of the vowel space, and seeks to draw relevant implications from the presence of lexical distributional “archaisms” (Wells, 1982, p. 626) in those vowels. Study II, on the other hand, is concerned with describing a chain-shift-like change in the short front vowels, and discusses the conditions of possibility for such change to occur in a mixed L1-L2 context. Lastly, Study III builds upon a complex allophonic “split” found and summarily described in Study II, and identifies this phenomenon as an element of historical convergence with geographically distant, unrelated, post-colonial varieties of English. Overall, several previously unreported features were found and described in detail in this dissertation, while important clarifications were also brought to areas that have been considered problematic in former descriptive works. Importantly, the studies also demonstrate that the variety under study and its patterns of variation seem to be, in general, amenable to the same kind of empirical analysis as other, so-called “native,” varieties of English, and call into question a number of ordinary assumptions on Indian English. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of English, Stockholm University, 2023. p. 125
Keywords
Indian English, phonology, sociophonetics, language variation and change, language contact, world Englishes
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics
Research subject
English
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-216510 (URN)978-91-8014-306-6 (ISBN)978-91-8014-307-3 (ISBN)
Public defence
2023-06-10, hörsal 7, hus D, Universitetsvägen 10 D, Stockholm, 10:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2023-05-15 Created: 2023-04-18 Last updated: 2023-05-08Bibliographically approved

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Domange, Raphaël

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