VARIABILITY OF RHOTICS IN PUNJABI-ENGLISH

This paper examines variation of /r/-pronunciation as a function of social identification in Punjabi-English bilinguals. This is clearly different from previous studies of linguistic stratification based upon geography, gender age or social network [1], [2]. The study presented here examines group affiliation of second generation Punjabi speakers (whose habitual home language is Punjabi) from south east Britain. The subject selection for the study partitions British-Asian speakers of English (from the Indian Subcontinent) on the basis of self-identification as either ‘British Asian’ or as ‘Asian’. The main research question was whether ‘British Asian ’ speakers of English with particular social affiliations acquire the local (south east British) pattern of /r/-pronunciation (excluding postvocalic realisations) or whether they retained features of Punjabi rhotic realisations and postvocalic /r/