Uniformity and Variability in the Indian English Accent

Is there one Indian English accent? This Element examines the sounds of English(es) in India, seeking commonalities amidst the diversity.

Caroline R. Wiltshire (Author)

9781108823272, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 December 2020

75 pages
15 x 23 x 0.6 cm, 0.16 kg

The sounds of Indian English are distinct and recognizable to outsiders, while insiders perceive variations in how English has developed in this large diverse population. What characteristics mark the unity? Which are clues to a speaker's origins or identity? This Element synthesizes research over the past fifty years and adds to it, focusing on selected features of consonants, vowels, and suprasegmentals (stress, intonation, rhythm) to understand the characteristics of Indian English accents and sources of its uniformity and variability. These accent features, perceptible by humans and discoverable by computational approaches, may be used in expressing identity, both local and pan-Indian.

1. Introduction
2. Linguistic Situation in India
3. Consonants
4. Vowels
5. Suprasegmentals
6. Variation: Perception(s) and Attitudes
7. Conclusions, Appendix, References.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB], Language: history & general works [CBX]