Reading Working Papers in Linguistics 4 (2000) - The University of ...

SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIATION AND CHANGE IN URBAN INDIA
Implications
The conclusions drawn from a review of the literature on Indian sociology
were incorporated in the choice of social categories for the analysis of the
Pune speech data. Here I have not treated caste groups and class as being
coterminous. Following Karve (1965), Bernsten (1978) and K.S. Rajyashree
(1980) have combined economic status with caste categories as “in general,
it shows that the high castes and high economic status tend to converge” and
the backward classes “still constitute the least educated and the lowest
economic section in the society”, (K.S. Rajyashree 1980: 41). Thus, they use
three broad caste-class categories: (1) advanced class (white collar and
landed), (2) Backward classes (inclusive of scheduled castes and tribes), and
(3) Others (cultivators and artisans). The assumption made in this approach
is suited to a rural/ semi-urban setting; it does not, however, reflect urban
Indian reality, where occupation groups cut across caste categories.
Moreover, since the focal interest of this research is to examine the influence
of education and social class across traditional caste groups as it is reflected
in linguistic behaviour, the variable of class is crucial to this study.
3. The Pune Study
3.1 Background
Marathi, a modern descendant of Old Indo-Aryan, is the official language in
the south-western state of Maharashtra and is spoken by over 70 million
people (Census of India 1991) and has the third largest number of native
speakers in the country after Hindi and Telugu. Pune, after Mumbai
(Bombay), is the second largest city in the state and has a population of 2.5
million. While Mumbai is the economic and political capital of the state,
Pune is recognised as the cultural seat. The study of linguistic acculturation
of various social groups in Pune acquires significance for a number of sociohistorical
and sociolinguistic reasons.
Both in pre- and post-independence times Pune has been at the hub of
political activity in the country. The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, founded in
1870, was the leading association of western India in colonial times. Under
the leadership of political activists like Ranade, the Sabha became one of the
most active and energetic political associations in India (Johnson 1970).
Under the influence of the Sabha, Pune witnessed the beginnings of many
social and judicial reforms in the last three decades of the nineteenth
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