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In:Grammatical Change in English World-Wide
Edited by Peter Collins
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 67] 2015
► pp. 297–334

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Linguistic change in a multilingual setting

A case study of quotatives in Indian English

 | University of Mannheim
Published online: 24 February 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.67.13dav
The study explores recent diachronic developments in quotative marking in Indian English, using variationist sociolinguistic methods. Drawing on data obtained from a multilingual community in the south of New Delhi, it reveals a highly diverse system of strategies employed to introduce direct speech. A closer inspection of underlying constraints reveals that such a system has undergone restructuring and sociolinguistic proliferation as a result of learners’ drive for creativity combined with the pressure to select context-appropriate linguistic forms that ensure successful communication in a multilingual setting. Keywords: quotatives; Indian English; linguistic change; direct speech; New Delhi
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Suárez‐Gómez, Cristina & Elena Seoane
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Deuber, Dagmar, Eva Canan Hänsel & Michael Westphal
2021. Quotativebe likein Trinidadian English. World Englishes 40:3 ► pp. 436 ff. DOI logo
Davydova, Julia
2019. Quotative like in the Englishes of the Outer and Expanding Circles. World Englishes 38:4 ► pp. 578 ff. DOI logo
Davydova, Julia
2022. The role of social factors in the acquisition of vernacular English: A variationist study with pedagogical implications. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 32:3 ► pp. 425 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
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