English in Indian Bilingualism

The author demonstrates this by challenging the current theoretical models of bilingualism and second language acquisition in the light of the Indian experience and providing original empirical evidence on such topics as language maintenance and shift, language use and attitudes, and experimental pragmatics.

This volume is a kaleidoscopic examination of the role of English in the multilingual matrix of India. The chapters of this volume address significant issues in the study of English in India. Topics include a profile of Indian bilingualism, English, Hindi, regional and minority languages in India’s language policy, sociolinguistic theory and Indian English and other non-native varieties, context and processes in the acquisition of Indian English, syntactic and psycholinguistic aspects of code-mixing in English and Indian languages, domains of use and attitudes toward English, Hindi, and local languages, the Indianization of English speech acts, maintenance of Indian languages by English-knowing bilinguals, and bilingualism as a creative resource in literature, among others. The basic thesis of this volume is that the acquisition, use, and the forms of English in India are best understood in the context of the organic, interdependent, and interpenetrating relationship between English and the Indian languages, both on a societal level and in the multilingual individual’s verbal repertorie.