Text-construction, register-shifting and social pragmatics in Indian English

This paper intends to analyse the pragmatic and stylistic aspects of specialized text-construction in Indian English, in particular focusing on the tension between the need for clearness in scientific and formal discourse and the outcomes of nativisation of linguistic forms, as a result of local sociocultural and sociolinguistic influences. Samples are taken from specific domains, such as academic genres (e.g. calls for papers, academic resumes) or the language of tourism (e.g. brochures), and considered in the light of Indian English as a “multi-modular” language, namely an apt code to express several linguistic functions in the localized Indian context.