Although the sound system of Indian English has been the object of numerous publications over the years, there has been a remarkable scarcity of variationist sociolinguistic research carried out on the topic. The present study addresses this gap by describing the short front vowels of 22 lifelong English-speaking Delhi residents born between 1948 and 1992. Focusing more specifically on variation in the relative configuration of trap /æ/, dress /ɛ/, and kit /ɪ/, the study provides apparent-time evidence for a series of interrelated changes affecting the system. Those include an ongoing lowering of /æ/ and /ɛ/, as well as age-related variation in a previously unreported allophonic split of /ɪ/. I argue that these apparent-time patterns are amenable to an analysis in terms of chain shift, and I discuss the implications of such a claim, linking the phenomenon described to similar patterns reported in various other parts of the English-speaking world.

中文翻译：

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德里英语短元音的变化与变化

尽管多年来印度英语的声音系统一直是众多出版物的主题，但对该主题进行的变异社会语言学研究却非常稀缺。本研究通过描述 1948 年至 1992 年间出生的 22 名终身讲英语的德里居民的短前元音来解决这一差距。更具体地关注相对配置的变化陷阱/æ/,裙子/ɛ/，和成套工具/ɪ/，该研究为影响系统的一系列相互关联的变化提供了明显的时间证据。其中包括 /æ/ 和 /ɛ/ 的持续降低，以及以前未报道的 /ɪ/ 的同位异音分裂中与年龄相关的变化。我认为这些表观时间模式可以根据链式转移进行分析，并且我讨论了这种说法的含义，将所描述的现象与英语世界其他各个地区报告的类似模式联系起来。