This is the first major sociolinguistic work on Indian diasporic communities in Germany. The study shows that metalanguage allows to understand what sociolinguistic stereotypes are at stake in diasporic communities and what criteria are made use of in such discriminations.
This is the first major sociolinguistic work on Indian diasporic communities in Germany. It investigates accent perceptions and attitudes to variation in Indian varieties of English. The study shows how differences in phonological characteristics index ethnic identities. Based on a network approach, it establishes the spatial dimensions of patterns of perceived language variation with a stratified sample of 60 Indians. The study uses an innovative mixed methodology to investigate overt stigmatisations as well as covert attitudes towards accent variation. It shows that metalanguage allows to understand what sociolinguistic stereotypes are at stake in diasporic communities and what criteria are made use of in such discriminations.
Accents - Dialects - Ethnicity - Identity - Indian diaspora - Indianness - Language attitudes - Language variation and change - Metalanguage - Mixed methods - Perceptual dialectology - Phonetics and phonology - Social networks - Sociolinguistics - Transient communities - World Englishes
Giuliana Regnoli holds a PhD from the University of Naples "L'Orientale" and the University of Heidelberg. She is currently a research assistant in English linguistics at the University of Regensburg (Germany). Her research interests include sociophonetics, language attitudes, perceptual dialectology and World Englishes.
