FIRST LANGUAGE and SOCIOLINGUISTIC INFLUENCES on the SOUND PATTERNS of INDIAN ENGLISH by HEMA SIRSA a DISSERTATION Presented To
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FIRST LANGUAGE AND SOCIOLINGUISTIC INFLUENCES ON THE SOUND PATTERNS OF INDIAN ENGLISH by HEMA SIRSA A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Linguistics and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2014 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Hema Sirsa Title: First Language and Sociolinguistic Influences on the Sound Patterns of Indian English This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Linguistics by: Melissa A. Redford Chairperson Vsevolod Kapatsinski Core Member Tyler Kendall Core Member Kaori Idemaru Institutional Representative and J. Andrew Berglund Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded December 2014 ii © 2014 Hema Sirsa iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Hema Sirsa Doctor of Philosophy Department of Linguistics December 2014 Title: First Language and Sociolinguistic Influences on the Sound Patterns of Indian English The current dissertation is a systematic study of variation in the English spoken in multilingual and multicultural India. Three experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of two native languages (Hindi and Telugu) on English, which is spoken by almost all Indians as a second language. The first experiment indicated that Indian English (IE) is accented by the first language of its speakers, but high English proficiency and the degree of divergence between the sound patterns of the speaker’s native language and his or her IE suggested that other factors might influence the preservation of a native language accent in IE. The second experiment controlled for language investigated the effect of region on IE, finding that listeners were able to distinguish speakers based on region even when they spoke the same native language. The regional variation in IE was more noticeable for native Telugu speakers than for native Hindi speakers. This difference was attributed to differences in the social and political power associated with these native languages: Hindi being the national language and the language of the capital city of India; Telugu, a regional language of Andhra Pradesh and spoken by many fewer people than Hindi. The third experiment was motivated by the idea that persistent effects of the speaker’s native language might also be used to reflect a speaker’s personal iv identity. Accordingly, the experiment investigated the effect of speaking about personal versus neutral topics on IE pronunciation. The results were that speakers’ IE pronunciation was more like their native language when speakers’ discussed personal topics then when they discussed neutral topics. Overall, the results suggest that the pronunciation of IE is conditioned by social factors, meaning that it has entered the differentiation phase of Schneider’s dynamic model of English evolution. This dissertation includes previously published co-authored material. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Hema Sirsa GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene University of Delhi, Delhi, India DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Linguistics, 2014, University of Oregon Master of Philosophy, Linguistics, 2007, University of Delhi Master of Arts, Linguistics, 2005, University of Delhi Bachelor of Arts, Electronics (Gen), 2002, University of Delhi AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Experimental phonetics and phonology Second Language Acquisition English as Second Language PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Senior Linguist, Sensory Inc. Portland, 2012 – present Research Assistant to Professor Melissa A. Redford, Speech and Language Lab, University of Oregon, 2010-2012 Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon, 2008-2010 Target Language Expert (Hindi), Avant Assessment, Eugene, 2009-2011 Instructor for Hindi Self Study Program, Yamada Language Center, University of Oregon, 2008-2010 Target Language Expert (Hindi), Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS), University of Oregon, 2007-2008 Visiting Faculty Member, University of Delhi, India, 2005-2007 vi GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Research Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2010-2012 Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2008-2010 Bakony Professional Development Grant, 2010 Sushil Jajodia Indian Student Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2008, 2009 Jhamandas Watumull Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2009, 2012 Professor R. N. Srivastava Memorial Gold Medal, University of Delhi, 2005 Shri Uggersain Memorial Gold Medal, University of Delhi, 2005 PUBLICATIONS: Sirsa, H., & Redford, M.A. (2013). The subtle effects of native language on Indian English sounds and rhythm patterns. Journal of Phonetics, 41, 393-406. Sirsa, H., & Redford, M.A. (2011). Towards understanding the protracted acquisition of English rhythm. In Lee, W.-S., Zee, E. (eds.),Proceedings from the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, (ICPhS-11 Hong Kong), pp. 1862-1865. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It’s been a long road, but with support of so many people here I am at the end. Unfortunately, I can list a few names here, but my sincere gratitude goes to anyone who helped me in this journey, including family, friends, advisors, teachers, co-workers, employers. First of all I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor, Professor Melissa A. Redford for supporting throughout the process, be it academically, emotionally. Without her guidance and persistent help this dissertation would not have been possible. She has been my mentor and family, and will always have special place in my life. I would like to thank my committee members: Professor Vsevolod Kapatsinski, Professor Tyler Kendall, and Professor Kaori Idemari who were more than generous with their expertise and precious time. Their valuable comments have greatly improved this dissertation. My special appreciation also goes to Professor K. V. Subbarao and Professor Ravinder Gargesh of University of Delhi for their constant support and encouragement. I am also thankful to other faculty and non-faculty members in the Linguistics program at the University of Oregon and University of Delhi for their guidance and encouragement. My hearty appreciation goes to Magid, Becky and Abe at International Affairs for helping with visa and also for constant support. I am also thankful to Jeff Magoto at YLC for always being supportive. I also feel lucky to get in the best workplace be it CASLS, YLC, Speech and Language lab or Sensory Inc. Thanks to all the colleagues for the support and encouragement. viii I would also like to express my gratitude to my childhood friends Poornima, Rajesh Bhat, Rajesh Shirali, Venkatesh, Prashant, Lokesh, Sindhoor, Venugopal, Sriganesh, and Sharad for always standing by my side through thick and thin. I want to thank all my friends Amit, Nidhi, Neelam, Kalpana, Dinesh, Rajaneesh, and Shun for their warm encouragement. Special thanks to my friend Ghulam Memon for motivating me to learn Python and for helping in writing and editing scripts to make the process easy and also for all the help and support. My thanks also go to my host family Gene, Peggy and Shandi for providing home away from home. I would also like to acknowledge and thank all the informants who provided their speech data. Finally, I am thankful to my family, whose love and support kept me strong through all the phases of life. In particular, a special feeling of gratitude to my loving parents, without whom I would have never been able to complete my dissertation. My sisters Jaya Lata, Bijli and brother Toofan have never left my side, always supported me in every way and are very special. In addition, unconditional love from my nephew Manas and Viraj and niece Poorvi kept me going on this long journey. Thanks to my sister-in-law Swapna, brother-in-laws Madhu and Mohan for their support. Special thanks to my husband and friend Arun for being a critic and helping me get through the tough times. I also want to express my gratitude to my in-laws for their support. A very special gratitude to have my son Aadhav enter into our life at the end of the PhD journey, his unconditional love, smile and touch has provided new life to me. I also wish to express my sense of gratitude to one and all who, directly or indirectly, have lent their helping hand in this venture. ix To my Family and Friends x TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 II. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................ 6 2.1. English in India ........................................................................................................ 6 2.2. Indian English (IE) ................................................................................................. 10 2.3. Socio-Political and Cultural ................................................................................... 12 2.4. Sound Structure of IE ............................................................................................. 15 2.5. First Language Influences on IE ............................................................................ 18 2.6. Region as a Source of Variation ............................................................................. 20 2.7. L1 and Social Identity ...........................................................................................