Aspects of Linguistic Interaction and Gender in South Asia
Valentine, Tamara Marie
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69833
Description
Title
Aspects of Linguistic Interaction and Gender in South Asia
Author(s)
Valentine, Tamara Marie
Issue Date
1986
Department of Study
Linguistics
Discipline
Linguistics
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Language, Linguistics
Abstract
This study is a cross-cultural and cross-linguistic investigation of language use and language structure within the non-Western context of India. It especially focuses on the relationship between gender and communication in two languages: Hindi, and Indo-Aryan language of India, and Indian English. Primarily examining the creative fiction writings of Indian authors of Hindi and Indian English, this study examines the following major points of focus.
First, this study examines how males and females are represented in the Hindi language and Indian English. Several aspects of linguistic sexism are examined: among others, linguistic gaps, asymmetries, and non-parallelisms exhibited by masculine generic formations, masculine marked terms, and homogenized and universalized forms. These occurrences reveal the lexical faults of ambiguity, exclusiveness, and inequity in the languages.
Second, this study is concerned with the dynamics of gender differences in conversational style in Hindi and Indian English written and spoken cross-sex conversations. The interactional patterns reveal how discoursal work is done in continuous verbal exchanges which leads to effective or non-effective communication. The conversational strategies and patterns examined include the rates of successful initiation of discourse topic, both with question and with statement forms, and the use of various regulatory linguistic devices which coordinate verbal interaction. It is suggested that Indian authors/users of English are influenced by their native sociocultural and linguistic contexts, hence these formal characteristics of Hindi are transferred into English. Moreover the social dimension gender is being transcreated.
Third, this study questions why in previous studies on varieties of English the social dimension gender has not been included to help distinguish non-native varieties further from standard English varieties. In order to attempt to answer this question the concepts of transference and creativity are introduced and discussed. An examination of gender in Indian English helps to further explain and distinguish the non-nativeness of this variety and contributes to the creative innovations in terms of the formal characteristics, the socially-determined speech functions, and the sociocultural components involved in the transcreational process. Furthermore, to fully understand the process of transference the traditional social and cultural categories of India from which female-types are derived are discussed. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)
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