Matrimonial advertisements, or matrimonials, are the principal conduits of a type of communication that facilitates arranged marriages within Indian society. As examples of simplified registers, matrimonials are formulaic texts of identity that follow a specific schematic structure and are replete with culturally nuanced lexical items referencing caste/sub-caste, patrilineal descent, and planetary positions at birth. They are written in Indian English and are semantically incomprehensible to cultural outsiders. A sub-genre of the classified advertisements, matrimonials may be interpreted through the Matrimonial Ads Register, which explicates language use in the textual discourse of matrimony in terms of functionality and simplicity as read against sociocultural norms and ideologies.
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