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Toward a lexicon of South African Indian English
Author(s) -
MESTHRIE RAJEND
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
world englishes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.6
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-971X
pISSN - 0883-2919
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-971x.1988.tb00210.x
Subject(s) - lexis , linguistics , lexicon , variety (cybernetics) , formality , varieties of english , indian english , world englishes , lexical item , history , english based creole languages , sociology , computer science , modern language , language education , artificial intelligence , philosophy
The aim of this paper is two‐fold. Firstly, it reports on the lexical characteristics of a hitherto little studied ‘New English’ variety—South African Indian English. It points to lexical affinities with, and divergences from, other varieties of English in South Africa, at least one of which has been well studied in terms of its lexis. It also focuses on lexical similarities between English in India and the South African dialect under scrutiny. Preliminary comparisons with pidgins and creoles world‐wide as well as with other expatriate Indian Englishes are offered. Secondly, the study suggests some useful ways in which a lexicographer of a New English variety that has arisen out of a process of language shift might proceed, especially in situations involving several ‘ancestral’ languages, and consequently several sublects varying according to domain, speaker background, formality etc.