The Representation of Indian English in the Television Show "The Big Bang Theory" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,3, University of Würzburg, language: English, abstract: This paper will discuss the phonetic, phonological and morphophonological features of Indian English and compare them to the speech of the actor Kunal Nayyar in episode four of season three of The Big Bang Theory, called "The Pirate Solution". I will focus on the standard variety, as defining all the regional variations would exceed the purpose of this paper. Firstly, I will describe the realization of the consonants, monophthongs and diphthongs by IndE speakers examined in contrast to Native English, abbreviated NE. Secondly, morphophonological and prosodic differences will be discussed. The following chapter analyzes the similarities and the dissimilarities between the specified characteristics and the language produced by Nayyar. Finally, I conclude that Nayyar shares many features of standard Indian English, though, he often violates rules. So, his speech becomes similar to NE. Nevertheless, it is still an accurate example of standard IndE.

The American sitcom The Big Bang Theory has been one of the most popular television shows over the last couple of years. The show is set in Pasadena, California, and it portrays the lives of four scientists, who struggle with the challenges of everyday life, and their good-looking neighbor Penny. One of them is the Indian astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali played by the native Indian actor Kunal Nayyar. Typical for him is his authentically sounding Indian English, short IndE. Spoken by 125 million people as a second language, according to the 2001 Census of India figures, IndE represents a fairly new variety of English. Even though, it is only the native language of 200 thousand, it is widely used in India. Intranational communication via books, newspapers, reports, television shows is held in this language. Furthermore, IndE is the main medium of science and technology. This variety is also present in the media of the United States or Great Britain, e.g., in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. However, there are few studies concerning the representation of IndE in the Western media.