It is argued that there is a paradigm gap that has prevented research on second-language acquisition (SLA) theory and indigenized varieties of English (IVEs) from making substantive contributions to each other. While it is true that studies of IVEs and their acquisition have been impressionistic (non-empirical) and often atheoretical, the lack of rapprochement is also due to SLA theory's excessive reliance for its models on acquisition in native-speaker environments and ignorance of the dynamics of language use in multilingual settings. This has resulted in the neglect and misunderstanding of IVEs. It is shown that IVEs represent a number of significant sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic variables, the investigation of which will put SLA theory on firmer theoretical ground and give it greater explanatory power.
This is a study of the phenomenon of code switching between Hindi and English among urban Englisheducated native speakers of Hindi. The subjects chosen for the study were all female-I2 students and six faculty members from a college in Delhi. The data were recorded in an interview type situation in which the subjects were asked to, for example, narrate stories, air their views on topics of current interest, and give a recipe. Pandit uses the data to study the syntax of intrasentential Hindi-English code switching. She then describes the status of Mixed Hindi English (hereafter MHE) and makes an attempt towards writing a grammar of this variety.The book is divided into five chapters: 'Methodology' (pp. 30-35), 'Some aspects of the syntax of Hindi-English code switching' (pp. 36-50), 'The rationale of Hindi-English code switching' (pp. 51-68), 'Mixed Hindi-English' (pp. 69-85), and Towards a grammar of MHE' (pp. 86-109). In addition, there is a foreword (pp. 9-12), a preface (pp. 13-20), an introduction (pp. 21-29), a bibliography (pp. 110-1 IS), and an index (pp. 116-1 17).The study, a modified version of Pandit's M.A. dissertation, contains some very interesting observations. However, some of the conclusions reached need further substantiation. For instance, the author maintains that MHE is a separate code in the verbal repertoire of urban educate speakers of Hindi and is functionally on par with Hindi and English. Thus, according to Pandit, social meaning is carried not by the switches within MHE, but by the switches between MHE, Hindi and English. This conclusion is a significant one but cannot be reached on the basis of a study limited to the verbal repertoire of 18 subjects.The author does not define her use of 'code' but states that the MHE code has no native speakers. Yet, if, as she maintains, MHE is used in all informal situations, surely there is a generation of children now growing up with MHE as their first language.A more serious problem arises from the fact that the writer does not distinguish between code 'mixing' and code 'switching' and though this is done consciously I think that it is a step in the wrong direction. Recent studies (Kachru, 1983;Marasigan, 1985;Sridhar and Sridhar, 1980) have shown this to be an important distinction and more insightful results regarding constraints and the use of MHE could have been obtained had this distinction been maintained. Kachru, Braj B. (1983) On mixing. In The Indianization of English: The English Language in India. REFERENCESNew Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 193-207. Marasigan, E. (1985) Codeswitching and codemixing in multilingual societies. Doctoral dissertation, University of Singapore. SEAMEO Regional
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