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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Cited by (5)
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Suárez‐Gómez, Cristina & Elena Seoane
2023. The role of age and gender in grammatical variation in world Englishes. World Englishes 42:2 ► pp. 327 ff.
Deuber, Dagmar, Eva Canan Hänsel & Michael Westphal
2021. Quotativebe likein Trinidadian English. World Englishes 40:3 ► pp. 436 ff.
Davydova, Julia
2019. Quotative like in the Englishes of the Outer and Expanding Circles. World Englishes 38:4 ► pp. 578 ff.
Davydova, Julia
2022. The role of social factors in the acquisition of vernacular English: A variationist study with pedagogical implications. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 32:3 ► pp. 425 ff.
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