Are Marriages Made in Heaven? A Cultural-Linguistic Case Study on Indian-English Matrimonials

Abstract

In our chapter, we investigate Indian English matrimonials and British English contact advertisements in terms of underlying cultural conceptualisations. The approach we take is a synthesis of sociolinguistic methods and analytical tools used in Cultural Linguistics. The adverts display distinct profiles with respect to their text-linguistic features and the categories they highlight in the self and partner descriptions. We discuss the data against the background of Indian marriage culture and its current transformations among the urban middle class. With respect to the conceptualisation of marriage, our analysis is framed in terms of different elaborations of conceptual metaphors. Drawing on well-established notions from cultural anthropology, in particular E.T. Hall’s distinction between “high-context” and “low-context” cultures, our analysis addresses both “what is said” (i.e. made explicit) and “what is not said” (i.e. implicit, taken-for-granted knowledge). Our case in point is the notion of a ‘suitable match’, which is central in the Indian data. At the theoretical and methodological level, the major aim of our chapter lies in showing potential gains methods and approaches in culturally and cognitively oriented sociolinguistics may offer to studies along the lines of Cultural Linguistics.

In Indian English, matrimonials is the current term to refer to marriage adverts placed in newspapers or on so-called “matrimonial websites” (on this usage, also see OED 2013: s.v. matrimonial).