diff --git a/sphinx/builders/html.py b/sphinx/builders/html.py
index ace4dd015..6aa4fda4d 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/html.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/html.py
@@ -232,10 +232,15 @@ class StandaloneHTMLBuilder(Builder):
         return pub.writer.parts
 
     def prepare_writing(self, docnames):
-        from sphinx.search import IndexBuilder
-
-        self.indexer = IndexBuilder(self.env)
+        # create the search indexer
+        from sphinx.search import IndexBuilder, languages
+        lang = self.config.html_search_language or self.config.language
+        if not lang or lang not in languages:
+            lang = 'en'
+        self.indexer = IndexBuilder(self.env, lang,
+                                    self.config.html_search_options)
         self.load_indexer(docnames)
+
         self.docwriter = HTMLWriter(self)
         self.docsettings = OptionParser(
             defaults=self.env.settings,
@@ -542,7 +547,7 @@ class StandaloneHTMLBuilder(Builder):
 
         # add context items for search function used in searchtools.js_t
         ctx = self.globalcontext.copy()
-        ctx.update(self.indexer.globalcontext_for_searchtool())
+        ctx.update(self.indexer.context_for_searchtool())
 
         # then, copy over theme-supplied static files
         if self.theme:
diff --git a/sphinx/search/__init__.py b/sphinx/search/__init__.py
index ff3124542..645ebfc81 100644
--- a/sphinx/search/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/search/__init__.py
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ class IndexBuilder(object):
         'pickle':   pickle
     }
 
-    def __init__(self, env):
+    def __init__(self, env, lang, options):
         self.env = env
         # filename -> title
         self._titles = {}
@@ -167,10 +167,7 @@ class IndexBuilder(object):
         # objtype index -> objname (localized)
         self._objnames = {}
         # add language-specific SearchLanguage instance
-        search_language = env.config.html_search_language or env.config.language
-        if not search_language or search_language not in languages:
-            search_language = 'en'
-        self.lang = languages[search_language](env.config.html_search_options)
+        self.lang = languages[lang](options)
 
     def load(self, stream, format):
         """Reconstruct from frozen data."""
@@ -277,7 +274,7 @@ class IndexBuilder(object):
         for word in visitor.found_words:
             add_term(word)
 
-    def globalcontext_for_searchtool(self):
+    def context_for_searchtool(self):
         return dict(
             search_language_stemming_code = self.lang.js_stemmer_code,
             search_language_stop_words = jsdump.dumps(self.lang.stopwords),
diff --git a/sphinx/websupport/search/__init__.py b/sphinx/websupport/search/__init__.py
index 58773fa01..9410973ca 100644
--- a/sphinx/websupport/search/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/websupport/search/__init__.py
@@ -113,6 +113,11 @@ class BaseSearch(object):
         except TypeError:
             return context
 
+    def context_for_searchtool(self):
+        """Required by the HTML builder."""
+        return {}
+
+
 # The built-in search adapters.
 SEARCH_ADAPTERS = {
     'xapian': ('xapiansearch', 'XapianSearch'),
diff --git a/tests/test_search.py b/tests/test_search.py
index 08ba40e57..d9dcfb81b 100644
--- a/tests/test_search.py
+++ b/tests/test_search.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def test_wordcollector():
     doc['file'] = 'dummy'
     parser.parse(FILE_CONTENTS, doc)
 
-    ix = IndexBuilder(None)
+    ix = IndexBuilder(None, 'en', {})
     ix.feed('filename', 'title', doc)
     assert 'boson' not in ix._mapping
     assert 'fermion' in ix._mapping