Sociolinguistics Dimensions of Marathi: Multilingualism in Central India

This study analyzes hitherto unexplored issues related to the dynamic interaction between language and society in the multilingual context of Maharashtra in central India, and its impact on the structure and function of Marathi and other languages. The book is divided into three parts according to their thematic focus. Part I, “language pluralism and language change”(a) examines the structure of the convergence of Marathi and Hindi, and its impact, i.e., emergence of four functionally determined codes, and (b) shows that the motivation the “shared bicultural identity” and “non-shared separate linguistic identities” operate as counteracting forces in determining the structure of language change. Part II, “Nativization: Processes and impact”, addresses the question of the relative status of multilingual (Sanskrit, Persian, and English) borrowings in Marathi and shows that (a) there is a hierarchy of the degree of nativization of the borrowings, and (b) Attitudes of Marathi speakers toward these languages influence this hierarchy. The discussion of the newspaper register of Marathi demonstrates the role of “modernization”, “maintenance of cultural pan-Indian identity”, and “regionalization” in code-mixing of Marathi with English, and Sanskrit. Part III,”Bi/multilingual's creativity”, illustrates the impact of multilingualism on the expansion of repertoire of registers and literary styles in Marathi.