Review of Fuchs, R. 2016. Speech rhythm in varieties of English: Evidence from educated Indian English and British English. Singapore: Springer Science+Business Media Singapore. 226 pages. ISBN: 978–3–662–47818–9

Abstract

Review of Fuchs, Robert. 2016. Speech in varieties of English: Evidence from educated Indian English and British English. Singapore: Springer Science+Business Media Singapore. 226 pages. ISBN: 978-3-662-47818-9.Fuchs (2016) is the monograph version of Robert Fuchs's PhD thesis (University of Munster, Germany, 2013). It details research carried out on the production and perception of speech in Indian English (IndE) and British English (BrE) among students at two Universities in Hyderabad, India, at the start of this decade, the development of multidimensional model of rhythm (Fuchs, 2016: 4), and of an approach to speech perception research which modifies existing practice. From the outset, and just by reading the Preface to the volume (Fuchs, 2016: v-vii), one gets a sense of the enthusiasm Fuchs has for India, the people, the variety, and the research he has undertaken. This is a promising opening to what is basically a write-up of a research study, boding well for the rest of the book, and leading on to the introductory chapter in which the scene is set.The book is organised into eight chapters, as follows:a) Chapter 1 is a general introduction, outlining the available research at the time the study was undertaken and justifying the book's focus on speech in IndE, i.e., the lack of work on prosodic features of the variety. It also serves to situate the study firmly in a World Englishes paradigm, referring to Kachru's (1985) terminology of Inner, Outer and Expanding Circles, and Schneider's Dynamic Model of Postcolonial Englishes (2003, 2007).b) Chapter 2 starts by giving a historical and social description of English in India, including an account of the different varieties of IndE and of the Dravidian and Aindo-Aryan languages spoken. It further elaborates on IndE with respect to Kachru and Schneider's models, before going on to give a comparison of the phonologies of BrE and IndE based on existing descriptions.c) Chapter 3's focus is on speech itself and how it can be measured, with a review of speech metrics, and suggestions on how these might be improved.d) Chapter 4 reviews existing research on speech in varieties of English with a view to evaluating whether Outer Circle varieties tend to be more syllable-timed than Inner Circle ones. There is a criticism that most research does not look at a variety of speaking styles; this is one area Fuchs attempts to address in his research by looking at read speech (a passage) and an interview task.e) Chapter 5 is a classic methodology section, giving an account of the data used in the study (material and tasks; recording procedure; profile of speakers) and the methods used to annotate and analyse it.f) Chapter 6 presents the results of Fuchs's production study, with sections on vocalic and consonantal durations, syllable durations, sonority, voicing, fundamental frequency, intensity, loudness, speech rate, and word initial glottal stop insertion before vowels. It is here where he introduces his multidimensional model of speech rhythm.g) Chapter 7 looks at the perception of IndE and BrE speech rhythm, detailing first pilot studies and then main studies on accent discrimination and 'Cocktail Party Effect', and introducing a partially new technique (Fuchs, 2016: 5) for the measurement of speech perception events.h) Chapter 8 is a general conclusion, summarising the results, describing the phonology of current IndE, speculating about its future development, and highlighting the importance of the research for work on varieties of English. There is a section on the implications of the research presented here for future work on IndE.i) Finally, there is an appendix and index. References are included at the end of each chapter and not as a list in the end-matter of the book.Using Kachru's (1985) circles paradigm, India is described as fairly typical Outer Circle country (Fuchs, 2016: 12), with IndE at Schneider's (2003, 2007) fourth phase, exonormative stabilization. …