Chennai English

E11705

Chennai English is a regional variety of Indian English spoken in and around the city of Chennai, characterized by distinct pronunciation, vocabulary, and influences from Tamil.

Aliases (1)

Statements (47)
Predicate Object
instanceOf dialect of English
regional variety of Indian English
associatedWith Chennai culture
Tamil diaspora from Chennai
developedFrom colonial-era Indian English in Madras Presidency
differsFrom General American English
Received Pronunciation
emergesIn multilingual urban environment
hasAlternativeName Madras English
hasFeature Tamil-influenced intonation patterns
code-switching with Tamil
distinct pronunciation
distinct vocabulary
loanwords from Tamil
local slang expressions
non-rhotic pronunciation in many speakers
retroflex consonant influence from Tamil
hasGrammarInfluenceFrom Tamil discourse particles
Tamil word order in some sentences
hasLanguage English
hasLanguageBranch Germanic languages
hasLanguageFamily Indo-European languages
hasLanguageSubbranch West Germanic languages
hasLexicalInfluenceFrom Tamil kinship terms
Tamil slang
hasOrthographyFeature Tamil-influenced spellings in informal writing
hasPhonologicalInfluenceFrom Tamil consonant system
Tamil vowel system
hasRegister colloquial speech
youth slang
hasSociolinguisticStatus informal prestige within Chennai youth
marker of local identity
influencedBy Tamil
partOf Indian English
similarTo other South Indian English varieties
spokenIn Chennai
India
Tamil Nadu
usedBy bilingual Tamil–English speakers
urban population of Chennai
usedFor expressing local Chennai identity
humor in films and television
usedIn advertising targeting Chennai audience
films set in Chennai
informal communication
local media
usedOn social media by Chennai residents

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Chennai English ("Madras English")
hasAlternativeName
Indian English
hasRegionalVariety

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