Mastering the Trinidadian English Creole Accent: A Case Study of Native Telugu Speakers in Trinidad
Date
2018-05-06
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Publisher
UWI
Abstract
According to Dr. Vijaya Rani, native Telugu speaker, informant for this study and medical doctor at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Center in Trinidad, there are over two hundred native Telugu speakers living in Trinidad at present. The topic for this study was selected because of this researcher’s interest in this topic and in this population of Indians from Andhra Pradesh, India. The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference in accents between native Telugu speakers focusing on variables of geography and time, that is, Telugu speakers in the north of Trinidad and native Telugu speakers in central Trinidad will be compared, as well as the differences in time spent living in Trinidad and its impact on their acquisition of the language.
This study discusses these concepts and the data which were elicited from the informants in order to understand how the variation of time and exposure to a language has influenced the language which these persons now speak.