Linguistic change in a multilingual setting

Abstract

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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