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'''Sociolinguistic research in India''' is the study of how the [[India]]n society affects and is affected by the [[Languages of India|languages of the country]].

India is a highly multilingual nation, where many languages are spoken and also studied, both as part of [[linguistics]] and with the aim of aiding community development. Though [[Theoretical linguistics|theoretical]] and [[comparative linguistics]] have a long history in the country (dating back to perhaps the first millennium BCE), few researchers have concentrated on the [[sociolinguistic]] situation of India.

==Context==
India is a particularly challenging and rewarding country in which to conduct sociolinguistic research due to the large number of languages spoken in the country<ref name="Annamalai"/> (415 are listed in the [[SIL Ethnologue]]).

==History of sociolinguistic research==
Variation between Indian languages has been noted for millennia: by Tolkāppiyar (Tamil) in his "[[Tolkāppiyam]]"(5 BCE);[[Yaska]] in his ''Nirutka'' (500 BCE); [[Patanjali]] (200 BCE); [[Bharata Muni|Bharata]] in his
''Natyasastra'' (500 CE);and [[Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak]] in his ''[[Ain-e-Akbari]]'' (16th century).<ref name="McConnell">{{cite book
| last = McConnell
| first = Grant D.
| title = A Macro-Sociolinguistic Analysis of Language Vitality: Geolinguistic Profiles and Scenarios of Language Contact in India
| publisher = Les Presses de l'Université Laval
| date = 1991
| location = Sainte-Foy
| pages = 13
| isbn = 978-2-7637-7284-4}}</ref>

The classification of languages, particularly with regard to regional differences and to so-called 'hybrid' languages, continued to progress during the 19th century. From 1881, language information was explicitly sought in the census, which found a total of 162 languages in the country (116 Indian languages and 46 foreign languages). Questions about language continued to be included in the 10-yearly census in the following years, and in 1896 [[George Abraham Grierson]] began his ''Language Survey of India'', in which he tried to classify Indian languages based on the distribution of morpho-phonemic differences.<ref name="McConnell"/>

[[Jules Bloch]] published a study on caste dialects in 1910, however this was not followed up for some decades.<ref name="Shapiro">{{cite book
| last = Shapiro
| first = Michel C.
|author2=Harold F.
| title = Language and Society in South Asia
| publisher = Motilal Banarsidass
| date = 1981
| location = Delhi}}</ref>

Early Indian research into sociolinguistics can be said to have begun in the early 1960s. [[Charles A. Ferguson]] published ''Diglossia'' (1959) on variation as a developmental and functional phenomenon of language, while [[John J. Gumperz]] published on the linguistic aspects of caste differentiation in 1960. Both topics were quickly picked up by Indian linguists. In the mid-1960s, [[William Labov]] added an interest in variation within the speech of a caste.<ref name="Annamalai">{{Cite book
| last = Annamalai
| first = E.
| editor-last = Paulston
| editor-first = Christina Bratt
| editor2-last = Tucker
| editor2-first = G. Richard
| contribution = Development of Sociolinguistics in India
| title = The Early Days of Sociolinguistics: Memories and Reflections
| year = 1997
| pages = 35–41
| publisher = Summer Institute of Linguistics
| isbn = 1-55671-022-4
}}</ref>

A seminar on "Language and Society in India" was held in 1967 and in 1969 the Central Institute of Indian Languages was founded, which had a particular success into drawing young linguists into applied studies. In 1972 the University of Delhi introduced the first sociolinguistics course.<ref name="Annamalai"/>

Almost a hundred years after Grierson's survey, the International Centre for Research on Bilingualism completed its sociolinguistic ''Survey of India'' (1983-86), covering 50 major and minor languages in the country. Originally it had been intended to cover all the written languages except Sanskrit and English, but not enough data were collected for the other 47 languages reviewed.<ref name="McConnell"/>

==Fields of research==
===Caste dialects===
Following Bloch's 1910 work on caste dialects, further studies were carried out in the 1960s by (among others) [[William McCormack]], in an attempt to discover the origin and method of transmission of caste dialects, and by [[A. K. Ramanujan]], comparing the kinds of language innovation between [[Brahmin]] and non-Brahmin dialects of Tamil. Researchers have studied both the degree of association between caste distinctions and linguistic differences, and the methods and reasons for maintaining these differences.<ref name="Shapiro"/>

===Diglossia and Code switching===
Ferguson (1959) first used the term "[[diglossia]]", whereby languages exhibit two or more distinct styles of speech in different contexts, and a number of studies looked into the phenomenon in more depth. Much of this research was focused on Tamil, but diglossia in Sinhalese and in Telugu was also studied.<ref name="Shapiro"/>

Shanmugam Pillai attempted to analyse code switching among Kanyakumari fishermen (1968) with regard to the hierarchy of the caste structure.<ref name="Shapiro"/> Other research into code switching has studied it in the context of minority-majority interactions, urban and tribal transactions, and other special settings.<ref name="Annamalai"/>

===Language planning===
With help from the Central Institute of Indian Languages, language planning became a subject in Indian linguistic courses. Institutes in Language Planning were held in 1977, 1980 and 1987, and the ''New Language Planning Newsletter'' began in 1985.<ref name="Annamalai"/>

===Others===
Other social variables have also been studied, such as urbanness and education; informal friendship contacts; and occupation and residence.<ref name="Shapiro"/> There has also been pioneering work on the [[linguistic landscape]] of India.<ref>Itagi, N. H. and S. K. Singh. 2002. ''Linguistic Landscaping in India with Particular Reference to the New States''. Proceedings of a seminar, Central Institute of Indian Languages and Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University.</ref>

==Important researchers==
Besides those already mentioned, the following researchers have been instrumental in the development of Indian sociolinguistics:
* [[William Bright]] who, along with A. K. Ramanujan, wrote early work on phonetic and phonemic innovation in Brahman and non-Brahman dialects. Bright also wrote on semantic structural differences among speakers.<ref name="Shapiro"/>
* [[Murray Barnson Emeneau]], who had written the classic paper ''[[Sprachbund#Indian_subcontinent|India as a Linguistic Area]]'', also wrote on ritual language and ritual culture.<ref name="Shapiro"/>
* [[Prabodh Bechardas Pandit]] focused on sociolinguistic aspects of convergence and language shift.<ref name="Annamalai"/>

==Contribution of sociolinguistics to Indian society==
Sociolinguistic research has contributed to language in education, administration, and codification efforts of language standardisation.<ref name="Annamalai"/>

==See also==
* [[Dravidian studies]]
* [[Languages of India]]
* [[Caste]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*https://web.archive.org/web/20070205033818/http://logos.uoregon.edu/explore/socioling/
*http://www.languageinindia.com/may2005/jennifermissinglinks1.html
*http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book220703&currTree=Subjects&level1=400
*https://web.archive.org/web/20070207030018/http://www.utexas.edu/courses/linguistics/resources/socioling/index.html
*http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1360-6441&site=1
*http://www.sil.org/sociolx/

[[Category:Sociolinguistics]]
[[Category:Languages of India]]
[[Category:Linguistic research in India]]

Sociolinguistics research in India - Revision history

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