  Primordial quantum fluctuations produced by inflation are conventionally
assumed to be statistically homogeneous, a consequence of translational
invariance. In this paper we quantify the potentially observable effects of a
small violation of translational invariance during inflation, as characterized
by the presence of a preferred point, line, or plane. We explore the imprint
such a violation would leave on the cosmic microwave background anisotropy, and
provide explicit formulas for the expected amplitudes $<a_{lm}a_{l'm'}^*>$ of
the spherical-harmonic coefficients.
