Lexical changes in Indian English: A case study of Novel “One Indian Girl”

Abstract

This study examines the phenomenon of code-switching between Hindi (L1) and English (L2) and its impact on the development of Indian English (IE). As noted by Sridhar and Sridhar (1980), code-switching occurs when bilingual speakers alternate between their first and second languages in a single conversation or even within a single sentence. This process highlights how language adapts and changes as it crosses cultural boundaries (Kachru, 1983). The current investigation explores the role of native speech in shaping IE, with a focus on sociolinguistic aspects such as language contact, language convergence, and language identity (Pandey, 2018). To illustrate these concepts, the study draws on Chetan Bhagat's feminist novel "One Indian Girl" as a corpus. A hybrid research methodology is employed to analyze the data. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the complex dynamics of language contact and the evolution of IE as an autonomous variety.