The Chutnification of English in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children: A Stylistic Analysis
Author : Deepa ThomasVolume 8 No.1 Special Issue:February 2019 pp 10-12
Abstract
Salman Rushdie has been lauded for his energising use of language. In Indian writing in English, Rushdie is generally accepted as an initiator and catalyst of a style that saw English being used imaginatively and with ease. Rushdie’s use of the expression “chutnification” epitomizes his use of language in the novels, with special reference to Midnight’s Children. The process of chutnification of English provides a tasty flavour to Rushdie’s works, which is obviously made possible through the abundant blending of Hindi and Urdu words with English, thereby reflecting India’s hybrid culture. The present paper proposes to make a comprehensive attempt to scrutinise the linguistic experiments conducted by Rushdie in this novel. An examination of the language of Midnight’s Children within the ambit of Stylistics, will yield a rich dividend, and an analysis and a study of this kind will add new insights to the novel.
Keywords
Chutnification, Hinglish, Midnight’s Children, Stylistics, Language Learning
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