Railway Register - a Sociolinguistic Study

This book is the first study undertaken on the variety of English employed in the Indian Railways. It is meant to introduce Railway English to the students of linguistics as a new registral variety, with its specific terms, acquired meanings and their specific usages. One of the paramount reasons for studying Railway Register is the need for distinguishing the different shades of meaning and the connotation that words have acquired, during the course of a decade and a half, in the...
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This book is the first study undertaken on the variety of English employed in the Indian Railways. It is meant to introduce Railway English to the students of linguistics as a new registral variety, with its specific terms, acquired meanings and their specific usages. One of the paramount reasons for studying Railway Register is the need for distinguishing the different shades of meaning and the connotation that words have acquired, during the course of a decade and a half, in the history of a giant organization called Indian Railways. The study focuses particularly on the varied techniques of word formation and the meanings associated with each category of words formed. Being the first of its kind, the book brings to limelight, the language in use in Railways as a social variety and claims the status of a Register based on its extensive usage all over the field for over a couple of centuries. The study is a beginning of an ongoing process which is hoped to continue further with valuable suggestions from the readers and linguists.