Final Schwa in Tamil English Spoken in Chennai, India

EILJ Volume 16 Issue 2 December 2021 23

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Sociolinguistic Variation and Change of Enunciative Word-

Final Schwa in Tamil English Spoken in Chennai, India

Elizabeth Eldho

Rajesh Kumar

Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India

Abstract

Based on sociolinguistic interviews conducted among 30 mother tongue Tamil

speakers, this paper analyses the variation and change of enunciative word-final

schwa /ә/ in Tamil English variety spoken in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil

Nadu in India. The present study is motivated by our sociolinguistic

compulsions to investigate this potential variable in the past literature.

Linguistic constraints on the occurrence of the variable are first examined

followed by the correlation of the speakers’ choice of its variants with internal

and external factors to determine the direction of change. Results indicate that

in addition to the significant substrate influence of Tamil, the variation in the

feature is subject to social and style constraints displaying systematic social

patterns of variation. It is also observed that word-final enunciative schwa in

Tamil English, even though is in a state of progression, continues to exist as a

linguistic tool that marks the identity of the speakers.

Keywords: Tamil-English variety, word-final schwa, sociolinguistic variation,

identity

Introduction

English language for decades has been at the core of intensive linguistic

research and interdisciplinary fields of study, often prompted by the distinct

historical, socio-cultural, ideological, linguistic, and pedagogical contexts

where English has come to be used. The ever-increasing currency and

popularity of English over the past centuries is a matter of interest and

importance to linguists to anatomize how the language has been shaped over

time by the continuing socio-historical, cultural, political as well as

sociolinguistic changes. The discussion on Englishes has received wide

attention given its recognition as legitimate varieties and significance in the

broad spectrum and domains of language use and manifold spheres of applied

linguistic research. English is also a subject matter of contentious debate

globally, in addition to being an instrument of social, political, historical, and

ideological change. Contrary to the traditional approaches to the study of the

English language, present-day research has channelled its efforts towards

investigating the locally differentiated forms of English. Terms like “World

Englishes”, “New Englishes” have become time-honoured following the vast

diversity that the language exhibits and to emphasize the fact that English does


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not have uniformity as to power, prestige, and normativity are concerned. The

augmentation in the use of English in multitudes of contexts also confers a solid

foundation to the study of variation showing up at a larger scale within the same

language. With more academic works that embrace localization, in general, the

theorization of what we call “language” merely as a linguistic capital is

subjected to re-evaluation in the light of its embodied structure and nature

resulting in the integration of multidisciplinary and multidimensional

stratagems.

The case of English in India in particular since colonial times is of

interest to many linguists and non-linguists not only because “it carries the

stamp of the past but with the weight of the present-day socio-economic

realities” (Banerjee, 2014, p. 33). The variety of English spoken in India known

as Indian English has established itself with its linguistic norms and features

identifiable at phonological, morphological, lexical and syntactic levels (Sah &

Upadhaya, 2016; Sailaja, 2012). But, the concept of Indian English is still

disputed for its homogeneous view in a context that is multilingual and

multicultural. Previous studies on Indian English fall under either

prescriptivism or descriptivism. The former neglects dynamism and favours

homogeneity of the speech community and a monolithic view of English,

leading to issues of hierarchy and ownership as the approach claims the

existence of a “standard” as the reference model. The latter instead,

acknowledges the unique linguistic identity and complete autonomy of Indian

English as a variety acquired over years of acculturation in the subcontinent

post liberation from the clutches of British imperialism. Descriptive studies

focus mainly on the descriptions of observable features resulting from first

language influence (L1) on English (Goswami, 2020). These varieties are

regionally separated and termed as Punjabi English, Tamil English, Marathi

English, and such and the linguistic features exhibited by them primarily act as

identity markers (Costa, 2019). However, these studies are devoid of any social

characteristic of the context or the people who spoke the language. Despite the

long-running conflict between the traditional and progressive forces that operate

in English in India structurally, functionally as well as attitudinally, Indian

English still serves as a variety worthy of investigation (Patil, 2006). However,

a sociolinguistic perspective to the study of Indian English was not at the

forefront of research until recently, the neglect of which was fuelled by the

marginal and substandard nature of the variety, negative pedagogical

stereotyping, denied systematicity, and self-annulling attitude of the speakers

about the variety as a less prestigious one (Sridhar, 1986). But, the varying

social contexts and functions of English in India have necessitated the

researchers to formulate and emphasize a sociolinguistic view to study

variation, aspects of attitudes, ideology, and identity that English is equipped

with (Chand, 2009; Coelho, 1997; Sahgal & Agnihotri, 1988; Wiltshire, 2005;

Wiltshire & Harnsberger, 2006). Sociolinguistic variation of Indian English is

a potential area of research as the variety exhibits variations based on

parameters such as region, ethnic group, proficiency (Kachru, 1976) and other


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social factors such as age, education, gender, social class. This is because the

inevitable dynamization exhibited by all languages with regard to the

abovementioned factors is symptomatic of the fact that language is more than

just an abstract entity; it is a structured social system used by people to

communicate across cultures and boundaries for a social function.

This paper examines the sociolinguistic variation of a phonological

feature, word-final schwa /–ә/ in the English spoken by Tamil speakers in

Chennai which we have then analyzed quantitatively within the variation theory

of sociolinguistics with the objective of obtaining a realistic picture of the

linguistic and social patterns of variation. Our study carefully analyses the

variable and its correlation with linguistic and social factors such as first

language influence, age, level of education, exposure to English language, and

different styles of speech to figure out the sociolinguistic pattern of variability.

We investigate the linguistic conditioning for the occurrence of the feature, the

context and nature of the speakers’ preferences for the variants, how linguistic

and social factors have influenced the choice of the variants, the patterns of

variation displayed by the Tamil English speakers and the direction of change.

In light of this, we examine qualitative reflection on the speakers’ ideological

and attitudinal rationale behind the production of variants. In addition, we

interrogate the notion of so-called Standard Indian English, too general in nature

to be formulated for the purpose of learning and teaching English in India. Our

paper broadly aims at understanding the concept of “Indian English” more as

social than just a linguistic phenomenon. We find that the pattern of use of the

enunciative word final schwa is far more complex than its general and

perfunctory acknowledgement. The usage of the variable differs and its

structured variability shows correlation with linguistic and social factors, style

of speech, and the attitude and ideology of the speakers about English.

Enunciative word final schwa as a phonological feature is described in the

literature on Tamil English; however, the available descriptions are mostly

impressionistic, lacking adequate corpus and systematicity in analysis.

Therefore, this paper is an attempt to move beyond the intuitive observations,

descriptions and generalizations about the variable to present the object of study

as more valid in terms of adequate corpus and the methodology adopted.

The next section outlines the socio-historical account of the language

dynamics in Chennai followed by the theoretical framework adopted in the

study and a detailed description of the variable. A full account of the

methodology and collection procedures is provided. The data analysis, findings,

and conclusions are presented in the later sections of the paper.


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A brief socio-historical account of the language dynamics and

development of English in Chennai

Chennai, formerly Madras till 1996, is the capital city of Tamil Nadu state in

the Indian Union. It has a prominent role in the history of India as well as the

formation of the present day South Indian states, all of which were once part of

Madras Presidency during the British rule. Historically, the Madras Province

was a prominent centre of trade and commerce during the British rule in India.

Parallel to the expansion of East India Company to the southern parts of the

subcontinent, it was the first time that the people of south were exposed to

English language. As English East India Company’s mercantile authority paved

way for political authority of the Victorian State with the 1857 mutiny, English

language took a different trajectory towards language institutionalization in

India. Interestingly, Madras province in general and the city of Madras in

particular, witnessed institutionalization of English not only as a language for

administration but also as a tool that produced a new social class of bilinguals

for key socio-political positions. When compared to other parts of the Indian

subcontinent, one can observe a large-scale increase of educational institutions

in Madras Presidency under the Victorian era (Madras High Court, 2007). This

comparative advantage has produced a class of Tamil-English bilinguals even

during the British period in India with a considerable number of civil servants.

Though English was considered the language of elites during this period, the

gradual formal and non-formal institutionalization of the language helped its

acceptance and spread. Administrative divisions and territorial mapping with

the features of a typical city were formally introduced for the first time in 1639

by the Company and they declared English as the official administrative

language of interaction (Subramanian, 2015). These particular points of time in

history can be considered as the beginning of the spread of English in South

India as a prominent language of communication and hence, the growth of

Tamil English bilinguals that form the language ecology of the state (Muru,

2018).

British traders, bureaucrats, engineers and missionaries arrived in

Chennai in varying numbers with varying purposes which gradually led to an

increasing demand for English language to facilitate administration, trade and

communication in the city. Collaterally, English school education was started

in Chennai during this period. St. Mary’s English-Indian higher secondary

school in Shenoy Nagar and St. George Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School

in George Town were built in the 1720s marking a new era in the educational

history of Chennai. Both these schools have their roots in the oldest English

language teaching institutions outside of England (Muthia, 2014). English was

adopted as the medium of instruction in higher education institutions on the

basis of Charles Wood’s despatch (the Board of Control of English East India

Company) to the Governor General of British India. Hence, schools, colleges,

and universities formally offered language training and increasingly produced

English educated bilinguals. Increasing prominence of the Madras Port further


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catalyzed the movement of goods as well as people between Chennai and

“native” English speaking countries. Madras state in the independent India

included languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and various

other dialects; however, there were greater demands to reorganize the states on

linguistic basis. Subsequently, the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and

Karnataka were separately formed from Madras State, reducing the languages

of the capital city to Tamil and English as the official and associate official

languages respectively.

Figure 1. Map of India and the geographical location of Chennai in Tamil

Nadu state (Source: Income Tax Dept., Govt. of India, 2020)

In independent India, Madras produced 23.3% of the total Indian

Administrative Services during the years 1948-1962 in the whole country as a

result of the strong base in English education in the city. However, one of the

key aspects that affected the dynamics of Tamil-English language ecology after

Indian independence is the language policy of the central government.

Language policies of the respective governments at the centre that favoured the

spread of Hindi to non-Hindi speaking states were vehemently opposed by

Tamil Nadu, which further led to anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu, mainly

in the cities of Chennai, Tiruchirappilly, and Madurai in demand of the

preservation of two language formula i.e. Tamil and English in educational

institutions (Forrester, 1966). Strong opposition to the three-language policy in

general and the imposition of Hindi in particular, cultivated a pro-English

position across Tamil Nadu (Sasisekaran, 2009). The resistance to Hindi

imposition was seen as a need to preserve and promote Tamil language and to

form a distinct Tamilian identity (Forrester, 1966). English was prioritized as a

tool in education, business and public administration to promote this need. MSS

Pandian observes that these protests against the three-language policy were not

anti-national in nature but an attempt to conserve the Tamil identity (Pandian,

1996). In that sense, the movement can also be considered as a struggle to

protect both Tamil language and culture. This trend of a Tamil language identity

and preference to English in higher education continued in Chennai and other


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parts of the state till the city encountered a new opening up policy as part of

national economic liberalization in the 1990s, paving the way for global

interconnectedness (Banu & Duraipandian, 2014).

Since the Indian independence in August 1947, the city of Chennai has

assumed greater significance in terms of its linguistic and cultural diversity

given the status of the city as the Gateway of South India. Therefore, this

metropolitan area has the highest frequency and opportunities for language

contact when compared to other cities and places in contemporary Tamil Nadu.

The city has also emerged as a major hotpot of trade, business and investments

in a short span of time and was opened up to foreign investment and business

since the 1990’s as part of the New Economic Policy giving rise to English

speaking Tamils. Sectors such as healthcare, automobile and software industries

mushroomed in the 1990s due to the educational standards and proficiency in

English. At present, English is intertwined with the daily life of Tamils since

the arrival of the East India Company through various socio-cultural and

historic dynamics, paving the way for a significant share of Tamil-English

bilinguals in the city of Chennai. These factors justify the selection of Chennai

as the location for this study on Tamil-English bilinguals.

Theoretical framework of the study

The property of variation as observed in all-natural languages and the need to

integrate linguistic and social aspects to better understand the social dynamics

of language variation forms the foundation of our present study. Sociolinguistic

variation examines the different existing ways of saying the same thing and

looks for explanations for such use in our social life. More specifically,

according to Tagliamonte (2006, p. 5), “foremost characteristics of language in

balance with each other – linguistic structure and social structure; grammatical

meaning and social meaning – those properties of language which require

reference to both external (social) and internal (systemic) factors in their

explanation”. It hypothesizes that the interplay between linguistic structures and

social factors can be captured to generate a potential theory of language and

society. Research in sociolinguistic variation surfaced with William Labov’s

seminal work, New York City Study (Labov, 1966) which studied the variation

of post-vocalic /r/ conducted in three departmental stores in the New York City

in a random sample belonging to different social strata. Labov’s (1966) study

revealed systematic variation that correlates with the social class of the

speakers, and found that the speakers tend to use the prestige variants in more

formal contexts. Also known as Labov’s (1966) Departmental Store Study, it is

a major breakthrough study carried out in a monolingual context and thus,

directed the linguistic research to capture variation and change in languages

regulated by social factors. Social factors such as age, gender, education, social

class and aspects like style, attitudes, and language ideologies have inextricable

interconnections with how a language works in a society and in that way,

different ranges of linguistic behaviour can be observed (Eckert, 1997:1998:


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2000: 2001; Fischer, 1958; Labov, 1972, 2001; Silverstein, 1979; Trudgill,

1988). This theoretical framework has been employed in some studies on

sociolinguistic variation of Indian English, in particular of South Delhi English

(Chand, 2009; Domanage, 2015). Using this framework, our study models the

variation and change of enunciative word final schwa of Tamil English with

respect to internal and external factors.

The dynamic model of New Englishes by Schneider that proposes

different phases, namely, the foundation phase, exonormative stabilization,

nativization, endonormative stabilization and differentiation in the formation of

Englishes in the post-colonial societies also helps to substantiate the idea that

English in post-colonial contexts manifests itself in local forms (Schneider,

2007). This can question the previously made assumptions that have all through

the years become a conventional rationale, about the theorization of language

as a homogeneous entity. Schneider’s (2007) model finds relevance in the case

of Indian English as within Indian English, local varieties emerge with own

linguistic features of which Tamil English is an instance.

Word-final schwa /–Ә/ in Tamil English

Several factors contributed to the selection of the variable. Apart from its

potentiality as a frequently occurring phonological feature, it is observed that

word-final schwa exhibits strong ties with the linguistic and social processes of

change. Colloquially, this feature is usually orthographically represented as –u

at the end of the words (e.g., book:-u, girl-u, step:-u), but pronounced as schwa.

In addition to this, it is a stereotyped regional feature of English of the South

Indians. It is often mocked in movies, TV shows, and even by stand-up

comedians to represent South Indians’ English. It is magnified in the popular

media to attribute regional identity to the speakers that they belong to the

southern part of India. On the other hand, an additional enunciative schwa at the

end of the words is considered by some as an inappropriate way of pronouncing

words. For instance, in a TV version of the comedy play called Mouli’s Flight-

172 written by TSBK Moulee, the character, a Tamilian tries to explain

Nadaswaram, a musical wind instrument found in both classical and folk

traditions in South India, to his co-passenger in his “Desi-English”. He is

portrayed as uneducated, unable to communicate properly in English because

of a lot of local influence. In his dialogues, there are many instances of word-

final schwa, an attempt to present his speech as non-standard and lacking

proficiency. The presence of word-final schwa in speech is often viewed as

marker of the “uneducated” (Karunakaran, 2011). Kalaiselvan (2012) studies

the impact of Tamil on English within the Error Analysis framework and

regards the use of schwa at the end of the words as phonological error resulting

from mother tongue interference. However, we find that Balasubramanian

(1972) regards it as a feature of Tamil English and describes in detail, the

phonological environment for the occurrence of word final schwa in the English


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words as pronounced by Tamil speakers. He further observes that in Tamil

English, word final schwa occurs freely in speakers’ spontaneous speech.

This study moves away from considering enunciative schwa as an error,

but a phonological feature that marks the identity of Tamilians. Being insiders

of the community, we have often heard the speakers’ use of the variable in

conversations in various contexts. However, the variable has not been given the

informed attention it deserves in sociolinguistics in the past literature. Except a

few sketchy descriptive mentions (Annamalai, 1975; Yang, 2010), there is a

lack of systematic sociolinguistic works that adequately explain this potential

variable. Therefore, our study is primarily prompted by the need to provide a

sociolinguistic lens to this linguistic situation and aims to highlight this feature

as a social variable, hence directing the future works to cut across the

prescriptive and descriptive studies on the same. Though this is a Dravidian

English feature, this study is limited to the Tamil-English speakers in Chennai.

Note that, word final schwa manifests itself in two variants: either by its

presence or absence in the consonant ending words (schwa form and non-schwa

form) as can be seen in Table 1.

Table 1

Word final enunciative schwa and its variants in Tamil English

English tu:ɭ “tool”

Tamil English

(Variants)

tu:ɭ

Non-schwa form

tu:ɭ ә

Schwa form

Consider the following English words:

(1) “house” haus haus-ə [haus + ә]

English Tamil English

(2) “book” buk buKK-ə [buk + ә]

English Tamil English

In (1) and (2), the English words house and book are pronounced as

haus-ə and buKKə respectively by Tamil speakers. Consonant endings are

observed to be the potential phonological environment for enunciative word

final schwa to occur. Steever (1998, p. 130) finds this as a feature of Dravidian

languages and observes the same in the English spoken by the Dravidian

speakers. As he puts it, “While loanwords may end in a consonant, they often

take an enunciative vowel, u or ə, as in bassu “bus” (English)”. The final

consonants show a tendency for gemination when schwa is epenthesized finally

if the preceding vowel is short. However, speakers do not pronounce all the

words with schwa in the connected speech; rather we find that the use of schwa

is triggered by the need to emphasize a particular word. Another observation on


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the context of the occurrence of enunciative word final schwa is usually before

a pause as in the following:

(3) That was a great experience[ә] |…

(4) I remember him as a student[ә] | carrying Sasi Tharoor's[ә] books[ә]…

(5) I joined[ә] | the department when[ә] |...

(6) Our language skills are good[ә] |...`

In connected speech, we find the elision of enunciative schwa when the

following word begins with a vowel. But this is not always the case if the

speaker intends to pause in between. Monosyllabic words are more likely to be

pronounced with enunciative schwa compared to disyllabic and polysyllabic

words. Radhika (2014) observes this feature in Telugu English as a result of

transfer from Telugu. Namboodiripad (2021, p. 36) studies word final

enunciative schwa in Malayalee English and predicts that non-schwa form

could be “associated with a particular social meaning, perhaps representing a

younger, more urban, and more modern speaker who is oriented towards

English and away from Malayalam”. Similarly, this study in the context of

Tamil English bilinguals in Chennai identifies that the speakers’ choice of these

variants is constrained by social factors and contextual styles which are

discussed in detail in the following sections.

Methodology

As opposed to studies that investigate competence, sociolinguistic studies

devote to the investigation of the actual use of the language by the speakers as

they speak differently in different contexts. The findings of the present study

are based on sociolinguistic interviews conducted in the capital city of Chennai

between March 2020 and September 2020. The sample was selected through

social networks, also known as friend of a friend sampling method that “utilizes

the social networks of participants in the study to recruit potential new

participants” (Milroy & Gordon, 2003, p. 32). After reaching out to the

respondents, an online survey was conducted to glean information about

speakers’ demographic and language profile. Prior to the actual interviews, the

potential respondents for the study were further filtered according to their

responses. Collecting data for this sociolinguistic research was driven by the

objectives of the study; hence, a useful, rich, and quality data was a criterion.

Since linguistic patterns are determined by the contexts of its usage, it is

important to engage with the participants in a manner such that the data are not

affected. Sociolinguists aimed at studying a language are often confronted with

the issue of “observer’s paradox” in situations where the investigator wants to

observe how the participants speak when they are not being explicitly observed.

The effects of this can be minimized to an extent by utilizing the already

mentioned social networks and getting the investigator introduced to the

participant or the community as friend of a friend. In doing so, the investigator


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can take the role of an “insider” by establishing their credentials by creating

genuine social relationships and realistic speech situations.

Participants

The target sample for the present study is representative of a broad cross-section

of the population who are upper middle class Tamil English speakers in

Chennai, stratified according to age. The sample consisted of 30 informants,

divided into three age groups (11-30, 31-50, 50+) with 10 members in each

category. Such categorization, we believe can help to study the apparent time

variation; that is how age as a social factor influences the choice of the variants

as established in the past sociolinguistic research (Labov, 1966). The age groups

11-30, 31-50, and above 50 are classified under the younger, middle, and older

generation respectively. The sample was a mixed group of both males and

females. The participants belonged to various occupational categories such as

students, businessmen, government employees, housewives, teachers,

professors, IT professionals with different educational backgrounds. Based on

their levels of education, the participants fall under five levels: High school,

Pre-degree, Under Graduation, Post-graduation, and PhD. Despite the diversity

in educational backgrounds, they reported the use of Tamil and English on a

regular basis in a variety of situations, in addition to formal education received

in school in both the languages. Tamil was the preferred language at home, and

among close circles. Tamil served as the first language to most of the

participants; however, some of the younger participants have had equal

exposure to both Tamil and English from an early stage. Thus, the study

provides an analysis of Tamil English spoken by upper-middle class people of

different age groups, whose mother tongue is Tamil and who were born and

raised in Chennai. The present study is limited to participants from the upper-

class strata in urban Chennai who are proficient speakers of both Tamil and

English. Based on the online survey data, the participants belonging to the

upper-class strata were chosen based on their income and later, this was further

confirmed when the participants self-reported as upper middle class during the

interview. Incorporating other social factors and widening the strength and

social status of the participants could yield extensive results and findings which

would be beneficial for future sociolinguistic research on variation in Tamil

English. The social demographics of the speakers are given in the Table 2.


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Table 2

Social demographic background of the participants

Data collection procedures

A pilot study was conducted prior to the fieldwork to observe the participants’

speech and the use of variants to understand its feasibility in carrying out further

study. A preliminary study with the participants thus helped in verifying the

validity of the variants to be taken up for the actual work. The interview module

was organized in such a way that the conversation progressed from “general,

impersonal, non-specific topics/questions to more specific, personal ones”

(Tagliamonte, 2006, p. 38). The interview turned out to be meaningful when we

could break the ice with the participants and carry over the conversation as

naturally as possible for the purpose of the study. According to Labov (1969, p.

61), “Individual interviews will always be the best means of obtaining a large

sample of any one person's speech, with good sound and complete information

on his background”. As a means to confirm the online survey data, elicitation

of the speakers’ demographic data and language profile formed the first part of

the interview which then made headway to exploratory queries that helped to

understand the subjects’ topics of interest. Informal conversation with the

participants also aided in understanding their attitudes, ideologies, and views

about Indian English, and related sociolinguistic concepts. Personal topics were

meant to gather natural, spontaneous speech and thus, helped in reducing the

level of formality however, it differed with participants. This we believe

concurs with Labov’s (1984) claim that in sociolinguistic research personal

questions were the most preferred ones for tapping the vernacular.

The elicitation of casual speech was very important for the study,

therefore, the data thus obtained were natural and unmonitored, and without any

conscious efforts. Prior information about the participants and their background

through personal contacts were indeed helpful to carry out informal

conversation about the topics that were of interest to them which aided in the

elicitation of unmonitored speech. This was followed by a passage reading

session and word lists intended to elicit careful and more careful speech

respectively. Reading passage was carried out with an assumption that the

output would be made with more conscious efforts from the subjects resulting

in relatively monitored speech with the “prestige” form. Note that, in the

selected passage and word lists, potential sites for the occurrence of the variable

Age groups No. of

speakers

11-30 (Younger generation)

31-50 (Middle generation)

50+ (Older generation)

10

10

10

Total 30


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were identified prior to analysis. The three styles thus analyzed were casual

style, reading style (intended to elicit careful speech) and more formal style

(elicited by means of reading out selected word lists). The variants identified

were schwa and or non-schwa. All the interview sessions were digitally

recorded and lasted for an hour per participant. The data thus recorded were

transcribed for the analyses as demanded by the objectives of the study. Our

study has adopted triangulation of data to increase the credibility and validity

of results. Triangulation refers to the use of multiple methods or data sources to

develop a comprehensive understanding of phenomena under study

(Golafshani, 2003). Qualitative data collected from semi-structured interviews

from each age-category were analysed in depth to produce converging

suppositions.

Results

A case of transfer

The presence of word final schwa shows evidence of Tamil influence, a case of

transfer. According to Prakasar (1938, p. 6),

“Every word must terminate in Telugu and Canarese in a vowel; in

Tamil either in a vowel or in a single semivowel, as l, or r, or in a single

nasal as n or m. Malayalam resembles Tamil in this, but evinces a more

decided preference for vowel terminations.”

The findings of Annamalai and Steever (1998) show that in formal

Tamil, only obstruents are barred from word-final positions compared to

colloquial Tamil in which all words end with vowels. Krishnamurti (2003, p.

49) observes that “most of the words in Modern Tamil end in vowels”.

The focus of the paper, enunciative word final schwa, also known as

euphonic or enunciative vowel is found across Dravidian languages, and it is

mainly used for “euphonic purposes”, that is, to ease pronunciation (Asher &

Kumari, 1997; Caldwell, 1875; Mohanan, 1986; Namboodiripad & Garellek,

2017; Valentine, 1976; Wittmer, 2021). Prakasar (1938, p. 6) defines

enunciatives as “vowels suffixed to consonants for the facility of pronunciation.

The Dravidian is quite fond of them”. He also distinguishes euphonic

enunciatives from the enunciatives suffixed to verbal roots (also known as

sense-differentiating enunciatives or verbal determinatives), the presence of

which change the meaning of the words. Namboodiripad (2021, p. 34) notes

that the enunciative schwa in Dravidian languages is added post lexically to

“‘repair’ illicit word-final obstruents”. Steever (1998) finds, “while stops might

occur in initial and medial position, they could not appear in final position

without a non-morphemic vowel, the so-called enunciative *-u, e.g. *natu

‘country, cultivated land’”. Keane (2004, p. 114) observes that in Tamil, words

ending in liquids also take a final epenthetic vowel “to eliminate any consonant-


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final words from colloquial speech”. The study by Christdas (1988) too claims

that in Tamil, enunciative vowel is added to words that end in stops. Bright

(1975) observes that while enunciative vowel occurs in the final position of

obstruent ending words in Old Tamil, all the consonants in Modern Tamil can

end in enunciative vowel. Pillai (1943) gives a probable historical account of

the suffixation of the enunciative vowel; that, it first appeared in Tamil to

preserve its final plosives and later extended to other consonants. According to

Mahapatra (1979), consonant-ending words in isolation take an enunciative

vowel. Enunciative vowel in Tamil is observed as one of the colloquial features

of pronunciation of Tamil. It is added to words that end in consonants and the

same pattern is also found in loan words in English. Furthermore, the addition

of it causes lengthening of the final consonant of the word if the vowel

preceding it is short. The lengthening becomes even shorter if preceding it is

long. It is not found in formal pronunciation or in written form. In word-final

position, its frequency of occurrence is more than that of any other vowel.

Enunciative vowel is added mostly to monosyllabic words (Balasubramanian,

1972). Krishnamurti (2003) observes that in modern Tamil any consonant in the

word final position can take an enunciative vowel and it is lost when the

following word begins with a vowel. As Schiffman (1999, p. 5) states, “Tamil

can always make a word end in a vowel by adding the so-called “epenthetic”

(or “enunciative”) vowel to any word that does not already have a final vowel.

This “fleeting” vowel is often present only in isolation, i.e. before a pause. If

the word is joined to another, this vowel then disappears”. This has been

considered as one of the distinctive properties of Dravidian languages in which

the Sandhi rules that operate between the constituents of a sentence as a result

of which the sentence could be heard as a whole uninterrupted unit without any

pause in between. The sandhi rules can be accounted for the rich agglutinating

nature unique to Dravidian family of languages compared to other families in

the subcontinent. Therefore, in Dravidian language, in speech, the final vowel

of a word except for the last word in a sentence is elided or dropped when the

following word begins with a vowel to facilitate the flow (Subbarao, 2010).

Years of contact with English has resulted in the transfer of linguistic

features from Dravidian languages which can be observed at phonological,

morphological, syntactic, semantic, and suprasegmental levels. As a result,

enunciative word final schwa is manifested in the English spoken by the

Dravidian speakers for the absence of similar pattern in the “standard English”.

In this respect, in the English spoken by Tamil speakers in particular, the

occurrence of the enunciative word final schwa can be attributed to contact-

induced change from Tamil. We find the same phonological environment for

the occurrence of word final schwa in Tamil English as there in Tamil. In Tamil

English, the words that end in consonants only take enunciative schwa as can

be seen in examples 1(a) and 1(b). The post lexical epenthesis of schwa does

not bring about any change in the meaning of the word. It does not have any

grammatical function rather it is manifested solely for enunciation. It is also

noticed that the final consonant is lengthened following the addition of schwa


36

if the preceding vowel is short. Based on these similarities, we find that Tamil,

the substrate language, has significantly influenced the presence of word final

schwa in the Tamilized variety of English.

Effects of age and style

This section presents quantitative analysis of the data obtained from fieldwork.

Based on 1,260 tokens analyzed, the table given below provides the percentage

frequency of the occurrence of enunciative word final schwa in different age

groups along three contextual styles of speech.

Table 3

Percentage frequency of schwa according to style across age groups

Age group Percentage frequency of schwa (%)

Casual Style Reading Style More Formal

Style

11-30 (Younger) 30.05 26.6 3.33

31-50 (Middle) 39.5 33.3 10

50+ (Older) 54.1 46.6 23.3

The values in the table are graphically represented in the Figure 2: on

the x-axis, three speech styles are marked namely the Casual Style (CS),

Reading Style (RS), and More Formal Style (MFS), and on the y-axis, the

percentage frequency of schwa is depicted. The three age groups are also given.

It is clear from Figure 2 that age and speech styles of the speakers have markedly

influenced the production of schwa. The overall pattern shows that the

percentage frequency of schwa is higher among the older participants while the

use of schwa decreases remarkably in the younger generation, indicating a

significant correlation of the feature with age. This reveals that there is evidence

of apparent time variation as the production of schwa decreases as age decreases

indicating a change in progress. In the case of styles, as we move from casual

to more formal style, pattern of variation is such that the frequency of

occurrence of schwa decreases. Note that, while the usage of the feature shows

gradual decrease from casual to careful speech, towards careful style, there is a

significant decline.

In casual speech, the older generation shows a relatively high percentage

of schwa (54.1%) while the percentage frequency of schwa in the middle and

younger generation reduces to 39.5% and 30.05% respectively. Though

younger participants tend to be conscious initially, schwa appeared in many

instances in their causal speech. The level of education or occupation of the

participants does not seem to be a significant social factor in causing variation

in the given data as participants with the highest level of education or job

position did produce schwa-full speech. However, English education, its

quality, and degree of exposure to English language have influenced the


37

variation. The participants who have been exposed to English language from

early childhood had minimal use of schwa in their speech. The participants who

fall under this category are majorly the younger generation, though middle and

older speakers with early exposure to English language were also present. Most

of the older participants learned English formally in school after the acquisition

of Tamil. This is not the case with the younger generation who have had equal

exposure to English and Tamil from their childhood and used English in most

of the domains unlike the older participants who preferred Tamil as a medium

of communication with friends and family. Variation in casual speech thus

indicates a trend that is progressive in nature with older generation using schwa

maximally, younger minimally, and middle generation remains largely in

between the older and the younger.

In the passage reading session that intended to elicit careful speech, the

observed pattern of variation exhibits similarity with the casual speech data

wherein the schwa usage shows decrease in the younger speakers, slightly more

in the middle generation, and relatively more in the older speakers. However,

compared to the casual speech, the participants while reading were conscious

of their speech primarily because the recording process was purposefully made

conspicuous to them. As a result, we noticed that the participants had put a little

effort in reading the passage giving a monitored output. Possible sites that

favoured the occurrence of schwa were identified and the analysis shows that

schwa was less frequent among the younger speakers (26.6%) whereas the

percentage frequency increases gradually from middle generation (33.3%), to

older speakers (46.6%).

Figure 2. Percentage frequency of schwa by age and style

In reading, it was also observed that when a long sentence was separated

using a comma, the sentence final word i.e., pre-pausally (provided it is a

consonant final word) was ended with an enunciative schwa. This is to suggest

that the speakers tend to insert an enunciative schwa in the consonant ending

word that appeared before the comma (in reading style) which indicated pause.

0102030405060708090

100

CS RS MFS

Sch

wa

%

Style

Schwa %

II-30

31-50

50+


38

It is also interesting that most of the speakers used schwa to fill the pauses that

occurred while speaking as well as reading. Majority of the older speakers are

found to have used schwa also to overstate a fact or to emphasize words that

they felt were important in the sentence uttered. The more formal speech

included separate words, phrases, and compound words for the participants to

read out and the process of recording was same as that in the careful speech.

The participants were highly careful of their articulation and as per the data,

schwa usage declines significantly in all age categories. Compared to casual

speech, even though the pattern of variation remains the same in careful and

more formal speech, the frequency of occurrence of schwa is lesser in all the

groups.

Triangulating insights from qualitative data analysis

In this section, the findings from quantitative analysis are further corroborated

with the insights from qualitative data based on significant themes that emerged

within the interview to determine the level of variation and change in the word

final enunciative schwa.

It is observed that the classical legacy of Tamil language as mother

tongue is deeply embedded in the individual as well as social realms of older

generation respondents. As observed in the above quantitative data analysis

session, participants in the older generation had comparatively higher degree

of occurrence of schwa in all contexts of speech. It is primarily because older

generation participants embrace Tamil as their pride and prestige and so prefer

to converse in their mother-tongue. The influence of mother-tongue is clearly

visible in the English speech of the older respondents. In doing so, they also

contribute to the diversification of the English language. According to a

scientist (50+ age category) at Indian Meteorological Department, Chennai:

We think in our mother tongue and then we translate it to English. That

is what we do most often... You know that local influence will be there…

may be in schools, grammatically they will teach British English... but

while speaking definitely the influence of our mother tongue will be

there. It’s something called Indian English for that matter.

With the high degree of occurrence of the final word schwa in her speech it can be observed that the level of education or occupation is not an

instrumental social factor in causing variation as the above-mentioned

respondent is a Doctor of Philosophy.

The middle generation generally considers Tamil as their identity

especially in relation to other linguistic groups. When compared to the older

and younger generation, they interact with non-Tamilians more and construct

own linguistic identity when they engage in social interactions. Consider for

instance, a social activist in her 30s recounted her experience;


39

We often encounter this question… And that’s, you have this mother

tongue influence, right? So, I was working in this particular office, ok?

Some time back and an example I would like to give you. My employer,

he was my boss… he was from the U.S. We were working together for

a few months. One day he comes up and says, K@####, I have picked

up something from you… I was like, What? He was saying particularly

that I use “u” sound that I use at the end of the words. So that’s very

regional it seems. That’s other tongue influence, he said. And he said by

communicating with you I have started picking that up and I am using

that everywhere else. He made it sound as if it was a bad influence on

his speech. But I don’t think it’s bad. Obviously, the English that I speak

will have the influence of my mother tongue. That’s again part of my

identity. The same is the case with Chinese or Japanese.

Note that, that even though her boss was not really happy about the

influence of Indian English on his language, she considers it as her identity as a

Tamil English speaker or Indian English speaker. Majority of the speakers themselves reported that they are aware of the

feature and that they use it mostly when they talk freely in close circles.

Conversing in Tamilized English also brings a feel of belonging as stated by a

29-year old entrepreneur:

Lot of time… lot of time I have heard people add that –u at the end of

the words… bookku.. nottu… even I use… whenever I talk to my friends

and all…you won’t be so concerned you will be so free to talk to your

friend…you will not have that thing that you are talking to some stranger

or something. Obviously, I will use that bookk-u, nott-u, penn-u…we

will be comfortable…we won’t be very conscious we won’t look into

what we are talking… uhh… we should not be specific in pronouncing

that particular word and all…that way we will get a feel of belonging.

Speakers in the younger generation record an equal amount of influence

of Tamil and English. Compared to older generation and middle-aged

respondents, most of the speakers in the 11-30 category have been exposed to

English right from their childhood along with learning it formally in school; a

simultaneous picking up of both Tamil and English is noticed. This early

exposure of English is accelerated by the use of English by parents at home,

pressures of Westernization in pronunciation in schools, and for the matter of

status and prestige. In addition to this, the younger generation reported watching

English movies, and web series which might favour “standard” like

pronunciation.

A 19 year old student said;


40

I watch a lot of British movies from my childhood…may be my accent

would be very close to British English probably. I am more influenced

by Hollywood movies and their accent.

He further continued,

Being in an urban set up like Chennai has so much contributed to my

skills in English...I have been in central board schools, private schools

especially where there is insistence on English…I mean like, you need

to talk in English… You have to converse only in English…That kind of

pressure also forced me to be fluent in English…Insistence of English

might not be very strongly felt in tier 2 tier 3 cities.

This trend is also accompanied by the expansion of English language to

home domains with parents also insisting their children to communicate in

English thereby marking the increasing presence of English in almost all

domains from home, friendship, to institutional. In the case of younger

generation speakers, English is an integral part of their personal and social

spheres alongside holding a harmonious relationship with Tamil.

Discussion

We discuss in this section, the findings and implications of sociolinguistic

variation of the phonological feature in our study The use of the enunciative

word final schwa shows remarkable correlation with linguistic and social

factors, and with style. The manifestation of the feature in the English speech

of Tamil speakers in Chennai is found to have replicated from the first language

of the speakers, i.e., Tamil. As evidenced from the data, similar to Tamil, it is

the consonant final words that favour the occurrence of schwa post lexically in

Tamil English. The feature also exhibits variation on parameters of age and style

as has been observed and discussed in this paper, both of which show significant

association with variation. The analysis of the data finds a change in the

apparent time with schwa form being the dominant variant in the older

generation. But this trend is seen less in the middle generation and lesser in the

younger generation. Style is yet another major factor causing variation; the

schwa form appears more with casualness of the situation, speech, personal

topics and informal relationship with the participants. As formality increases,

the use of schwa among the speakers decreases. Note that, the percentage

frequency of schwa according to style is comparatively higher among the older

speakers, followed by 31-50, and 11-30 age categories. Considering the gender

of the participants, though not analyzed in detail in this paper, females tend to

perform higher in terms of using the dominant variant in all contexts when

compared to men. The degree of exposure to English language has also

contributed to the use of the variants. Though our study focused primarily on

proficient English speakers, not all the speakers had exposure to English


41

language from their childhood. Most of the older speakers learnt English

formally in the school, successive to the acquisition of Tamil which is their first

language. This has triggered the greater influence of Tamil in the English

spoken by the older speakers. Additionally, the use of English in the home

domains of most of older speakers was significantly less compared to the

speakers in the younger generation who prefer to and are motivated to speak in

English at home, however not at the expense of Tamil language. Exposure to

English is a crucial factor that accounts for the change. Interestingly, the

feature is very prominent when the participants narrated personal experiences

provided a rapport has already been established with the participants in the

course of time.

Though the fact that the speakers adapt to new changes in language

which is an inevitable process, they undeniably accept the way they speak

English. Attitude towards Indian English among the speakers is varied; most of

them consider it as their identity especially the younger generation. The

speakers’ awareness about Indian English, its features and varieties are worth

mentioning. However, the global ideologies about English tend to impact the

way they speak English, and hence the variation (Silverstein, 1979; Woolard &

Schieffelin, 1994). In addition, compared to other regions in Tamil Nadu,

Chennai being an urban region is far more educationally and economically

forward and the interaction in English is higher in the city. This is because there

are numerous industrial and economic activities and higher educational

institutions in the city that attract people from all walks of life due to the newer

opportunities in sectors such as medico-pharmaceuticals, Information

Technology and such others. Developments in the city strengthen the post-

independence “salad bowl” character of Chennai that denotes a mixture of

different socio-cultural and linguistic diversity (Coleman, 2005). In that

scenario, the speakers’ engagement with the city and people has remarkably

impacted their English-speaking skills, resulting in the quick adaptability to

changes in language. Enunciative word final schwa being a stereotyped feature

of Tamils (generally South Indians), has not completely disappeared from the

linguistic repertoire of Tamil-English bilinguals rather, the speakers, out of

conscious efforts and other social reasons, do not make it visible outright in

their speech. Though the feature is in the process of change which is progressive

in nature, it still persists as a phonological feature in the speakers’ English

indexing the Tamil identity. We hasten to point out that Tamil English or

Tanglish (Tamil + English) forms a small portion of the larger system of what

has been termed the “Indian English”. While Indian English is standardized

based on general linguistic features devoid of regional differences observed in

the English of the speakers in the multilingual India, it is crucial to understand

that Indian English exhibits internal heterogeneity and it is already in the phase

of internal differentiation (Schneider, 2007). Enunciative word final schwa is

an instance. Our study study questions the notion of Standard in Indian English

and resonates with Watts’ (2011, pp. 527-528) argument that: “If we take a

standard to be something that is conventionally agreed upon in a community as


42

being the measure to which all instantiations must conform, and if we apply this

to language, then our understanding of language is governed by the myths of

homogeneity, immutability and perfection and we have no means of accounting

for innovations, spontaneity, creativity and flexibility of speech”.

Setting boundaries to the progression of language by way of neglecting

variation hinders the process of language evolution itself, especially in a

multilingual nation, at individual and social level, as well in the learning and

teaching of English in India. Hence, it is important to deconstruct the myths of

standard, homogeneity and nativity with respect to English spoken in India

known as Indian English and other Englishes of the world. As the study

primarily looks at apparent-time variation, not all factors are considered in

detail. Hence, we are encouraged to suggest that an in-depth study by

incorporating other social factors (e.g., gender, class) can widen the scope of

this research. In light of this, our present study can be applied to other

sociolinguistic landscapes specifically in South India as this feature is found

across Dravidian English to check for variation and its correlation with social

factors. The study can also be explored with the real-time variation approach in

the same area in order to uncover the patterns of variation over time.

Conclusion

Previous studies on Tamil English in Indian context were distanced from taking

into account the social structure and factors causing variation. In contrast, this

paper within its limitations have attempted for sociolinguistic analysis of

variation of a phonological feature, enunciative word final schwa, in Tamil

English spoken in Chennai. The analysis shows that the dynamization of the

feature is a consequence of the internal processes working within the language

and externally by many social factors. While significant correlation is observed

with the substrate influence, age, and style, word final enunciative schwa,

however in a state of progression, continues to exist as a linguistic tool that

marks the regional and social identity of the speakers. The present study can

serve as a lead for further investigation into sociolinguistic variation of features

(not limited to phonology) in Tamil English to understand and explain the

process and direction of variation and change within a larger sample. Though

variation is an inevitable feature of language, it is often viewed by many

linguists as a barrier to their efforts to present language as homogenous.

Restricting language change to make theoretical generalizations about language

is the same as disrupting the language. In adopting the norms laid down by

“standard” variety is accepted as the correct way of speaking, language is put at

disadvantage for its progression is hindered. Linguistic theory, therefore, needs

to practice inclusiveness in terms of recognizing the differences in the speech.

In doing so, the general notion of language as a homogenous entity and

shielding against dynamism can be and should be interrogated thereby,

understanding language and language change via endo-normatively and

socially-determined approaches.


43

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Note on Contributors

Elizabeth Eldho is a doctoral Scholar of Linguistics in the Department of

Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Her research interests include Sociolinguistic variation, Indian English, and

English language Education. Email: [email protected]

Rajesh Kumar is a professor of Linguistics in the Department of Humanities

and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The broad

goal of his research is uncovering regularities underlying both the structural

form (what language is) and sociolinguistic functions (what language does) of

natural language. He is keenly interested in issues related to language

(multilingualism) in education, politics, human cognition, and landscape.

Email: [email protected]




https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00448.x

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00448.x

https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/jsal/index.php/fasal/article/view/203

https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/jsal/index.php/fasal/article/view/203




http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/bitstream/handle/10635/27909/NeoHYThesis.pdf?sequence=1




mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Final Schwa in Tamil English Spoken in Chennai, India

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