Subcontinental English

[Bryan Maloney]

On Sat, 24 Jan 1998, M & R Sheff wrote:

> How would a con lang distinguish between "the English of the Subcontinent"
> and "English spoken by the underclasses of the Continent" ?

That depends entirely on how the conlang uses its equivalents to "sub".
In English, as an example of a natlang, "subcontinental" to mean
"underclass of 'the Continent'" is a non-meaning, at least among the
majority of native speakers of US English. However, "the subcontinent"
is also a null-meaning term among the majority of native speakers of US
English. Over here, the vulgate is "India" or "the Indian subcontinent",
and the latter only among those who fancy themselves intelligentsia.