Bidialectalism and extended diglossia in Kanauji speakers

Pandey, Anu

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/118073 Copy

Description

Title

Bidialectalism and extended diglossia in Kanauji speakers

Author(s)

Pandey, Anu

Issue Date

2023-05-19

Keyword(s)

Linguistics

Abstract

Sociolinguistic variation in relation to the understudied and endangered language variety Kanauji has hitherto not been accorded due attention. Kanauji is a dialect of western Hindi spoken by around 9.5 million as of 2001. (Eberhard, Simons & Fennig 2021). This study scrutinizes how Kanauji speakers exhibit diglossia, bidialectalism, or both in the Kanpur district, Uttar Pradesh (India). Hindi and Urdu have a common parent language known as Hindustani, which is essentially a colloquial language (Verma 1933). Quantitative data collection involving 150 respondents: rural school-going teens (R) and urban college youth (U), has been used for this sociolinguistic study. The survey revealed that Kanauji speakers maintain their language in ‘rural’ regions more than in urban centers. Kanauji speakers switch between the standard dialect ‘Standard Hindi’ and the vernacular dialects ‘Hindustani or Kanauji’ in language variation patterns, exhibiting bidialectalism and extended diglossia. Native Kanauji speakers were found to be bidialectal in the vernacular varieties ‘Kanauji’ and ‘Hindustani.’Back-and-forth code-switching between Hindustani and Kanauji varieties was also observed. Bildialectalism has been established in that it shares similar features with bilingualism such as language contact between L1 and L2, and motivations for learning L2. It was observed that native Kanauji speakers used all Hindi, Hindustani, and Kanauji in different and often overlapping domains of language use. Because each domain (social situation) in any bilingual community is "commonly associated with a particular variety of language." (Fishman 1972:44). Overlapping of domains in Kanauji speakers is the crucial reason for extended diglossia.

Publisher

Studies in the Linguistic Sciences: Illinois Working Papers

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Owning Collections