South African Indian English: a qualitative study of attitudes.
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Date
2010
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Association for World Englishes Inc.
Abstract
This paper focuses on attitudes towards South African Indian English (SAIE), an L1 variety of English spoken in South Africa. The attitudes of the participants are considered against the backdrop of the socio-political history of this variety and its speakers, and in contrast to their attitudes to what they perceive as ‘good’ English. While the research methodology is primarily based on lengthy, semi-structured interviews with twenty young South African Indians (i.e. ingroup members), the paper also includes a discussion of some of the linguistic features of SAIE, which is mainly motivated by methodological considerations. Through an examination of SAIE wh-questions, we show that the grammar of this variety differs systematically from that of the reference variety. Using examples of these wh-questions, we elicited grammatical judgments from participants and compared these judgments to the attitudes of the participants as expressed in response to open-ended questions in interviews. On the basis of the empirical data that we obtained and analysed, we argue that the young South African Indian students who participated in our study have a profoundly ambiguous attitude towards the variety associated with their own ethno-linguistic group.
Description
This is the unreviewed manuscript of an article originally submitted to World Englishes and whose final and definitive form has been published in World Englishes 30 (2) pp. 251-268. Available online at : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291467-971X
Keywords
Indians--South Africa--Languages., English language--Dialects--South Africa., English language--Usage--South Africa., English language--Social aspects--South Africa.
Citation
Wiesbesiek, L. Rudwick, S. & J. Zeller. South African Indian English: a qualitative study of attitudes. World Englishes 30 (2) pp. 251-268.