Indian English: Features and Sociolinguistic Aspects

Abstract

AbstractIndian English has been the subject of study since colonial times, with several works written over the years describing its linguistic features. Considerable attention has been paid to the lexis, morphology and syntactic constructions, as also the sound system. Yet, the investigation is far from over, nor is there agreement on issues. Recent work has moved in the direction of corpus‐based studies, enabling the establishment of tendencies and grammaticalised forms in a quantified manner. Acoustic phonetic studies are increasingly the norm. These empirically verified conclusions either negate or confirm earlier intuition‐based and impressionistic descriptions. Together, these works help to establish what makes up the national variety, the standard and variation. Two theoretical debates emerge in this scenario. The first is the nature and extent of substrate influence and its intersection with L2 universals. The second is a debate on the phase to which Indian English belongs in Schneider’s dynamic model of evolution for New Englishes: phase 3 of nativisation or phase 4 of endonormative stabilisation.