Social Mobility and Phonetic Change in South African Indian English: Retroflexion and GOOSE-Fronting in Potchefstroom and Mohadin

Abstract

This paper examines linguistic variation in South African Indian English (SAIE) as part of a broader effort to document and digitally preserve marginalized voices in post-apartheid South Africa. Focusing on Potchefstroom and the historically segregated township of Mohadin, the study investigates two key phonetic variables: retroflexion and the GOOSE vowel. The analysis is based on 32 speakers stratified by age, gender, and social class. Data were collected through Labovian sociolinguistic interviews and analyzed using PRAAT and RStudio. Welch’s t-tests and conditional inference trees (ctrees) were used to explore how inter-ethnolinguistic mobility, gender, and social class shape phonetic variation. Results reveal significant sociophonetic shifts, with younger speakers and women in Potchefstroom leading a move towards more standardized English pronunciations, while older women in Mohadin maintain traditional speech patterns. By combining rigorous quantitative sociophonetics with digital analytical tools, this research highlights the potential of Digital Humanities to document and amplify marginalized linguistic identities. It contributes to ongoing discussions on decolonizing knowledge by foregrounding under-researched communities and demonstrating how digitally archived linguistic data can inform inclusive and culturally grounded models of language change and variation.