Congratulations to our own Dr. Caroline Wiltshire, whose “element” (think journal meets book), titled “Uniformity and Variability in the Indian English Accent” was just published by Cambridge University Press. It is freely available until Decemeber 7th, so check out the link here to get your free copy. The abstract for her element is below:
“The sounds of Indian English are distinct and recognizable to outsiders, while insiders perceive variations in how English has developed in this large diverse population. What characteristics mark the unity? Which are clues to a speaker’s origins or identity? This Element synthesizes research over the past fifty years and adds to it, focusing on selected features of consonants, vowels, and suprasegmentals (stress, intonation, rhythm) to understand the characteristics of Indian English accents and sources of its uniformity and variability. These accent features, perceptible by humans and discoverable by computational approaches, may be used in expressing identity, both local and pan-Indian.”
To hear her talk about this research, you can also join us for our last Monday Colloquium of the semester on Monday, November 30, from 4:00-5:00 pm EST. For the link to the Zoom, please e-mail Caleb Ewing.