Intonation in Indian English and Hindi late and simultaneous bilinguals
type: CreativeWork
description: Very little has been said about the intonation system of Hindi and Indian English. This study aims to contribute to the field of intonation studies by bridging the gaps in the understanding of intonation patterns of Hindi and Indian English. By analyzing the speech of both late and simultaneous bilinguals, this study aims to give a broader prospective about the speech of Indian English-Hindi bilinguals. The main objectives of this study are to understand the intonation system of Indian English and Hindi spoken in Delhi, India; to explore if simultaneous bilinguals of Indian English and Hindi have two different systems of intonation; and to explore if the intonation system of simultaneous bilinguals is different from late bilinguals. Three experiments were conducted in both Indian English and Hindi investigating pre-boundary lengthening (PBL), pitch accents and focus. This study shows that simultaneous bilinguals of Hindi and Indian English don’t have two different systems of intonation. They have a merged system probably because they acquired a nativized variety of English; however, there are some subtle features that mark their identity as separate from the late bilinguals (e.g. the use of H*/H*L pitch accent). With respect to the question of the difference between late and simultaneous bilinguals, we find that in pitch accents, late and simultaneous bilinguals have the same system in Hindi but different systems in IE; in PBL, both late and simultaneous bilinguals have the same domains of PBL and in the focus experiment, we find that there are statistically significant differences between late and simultaneous bilinguals in RMS amplitude and F0 excursion in Hindi and duration in IE. Here the late bilinguals express focus with higher amplitude, a bigger F0 excursion and longer duration than those of simultaneous bilinguals. The results of the PBL experiment show that Hindi and Indian English have pre-boundary lengthening and that the PBL effects can be seen both on …
abstract: Very little has been said about the intonation system of Hindi and Indian English. This study aims to contribute to the field of intonation studies by bridging the gaps in the understanding of intonation patterns of Hindi and Indian English. By analyzing the speech of both late and simultaneous bilinguals, this study aims to give a broader prospective about the speech of Indian English-Hindi bilinguals. The main objectives of this study are to understand the intonation system of Indian English and Hindi spoken in Delhi, India; to explore if simultaneous bilinguals of Indian English and Hindi have two different systems of intonation; and to explore if the intonation system of simultaneous bilinguals is different from late bilinguals. Three experiments were conducted in both Indian English and Hindi investigating pre-boundary lengthening (PBL), pitch accents and focus. This study shows that simultaneous bilinguals of Hindi and Indian English don’t have two different systems of intonation. They have a merged system probably because they acquired a nativized variety of English; however, there are some subtle features that mark their identity as separate from the late bilinguals (e.g. the use of H*/H*L pitch accent). With respect to the question of the difference between late and simultaneous bilinguals, we find that in pitch accents, late and simultaneous bilinguals have the same system in Hindi but different systems in IE; in PBL, both late and simultaneous bilinguals have the same domains of PBL and in the focus experiment, we find that there are statistically significant differences between late and simultaneous bilinguals in RMS amplitude and F0 excursion in Hindi and duration in IE. Here the late bilinguals express focus with higher amplitude, a bigger F0 excursion and longer duration than those of simultaneous bilinguals. The results of the PBL experiment show that Hindi and Indian English have pre-boundary lengthening and that the PBL effects can be seen both on …
author: Puri, Vandana
language: en
keywords: Intonation, Prosody, Bilingualism, Hindi, Indian English
date published: 2013-08-22T16:40:48Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:34Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45457