Date:  Tue, 12 Mar 1996 11:21:01 -0500

From:  "M. Lynne Murphy" <104LYN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MUSE.ARTS.WITS.AC.ZA>

Subject: british english question



(incidentally, how do we parse "american dialect society"--is it an

american society devoted to dialects or a society devoted to american

dialects?)



i need to know whether "asian" in british english has a sense that

means "south asian/indian." now, i know that "asian" is used to

refer to people of indian/pakistani/sri lankan descent in britain, but

the fact that it is used to refer to these people does not mean that

it has a sense that means "indian"--just like if i refer to my

siblings and they all happen to be male, it doesn't mean that

"siblings" has a sense that is synonymous with "brothers".



so, the best kind of evidence that i could get for an 'indian' sense

would be if it were contrasted with other words for people

from asia--something like "asians and chinese live there" or "the law

discriminates against asians and chinese."



i've checked three british dictionaries and not found this sense, but

then the south african dictionaries don't have the sense either, even

though south african english definitely does have the "south asian

only" sense.



does anyone know or have any references for me to chase down?



thanks as ever,

lynne



---------------------------------------------------------------------

M. Lynne Murphy              104lyn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]muse.arts.wits.ac.za

Department of Linguistics            phone: 27(11)716-2340

University of the Witwatersrand          fax: 27(11)716-8030

Johannesburg 2050

SOUTH AFRICA