Status Marking in Tamil: A Sociolinguistic Study, Ph.d. Thesis Published in Language in India E –Journal, Ed.M.S. Thirumalai , June, 2008 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Taminglish is a reality now. English teachers in Tamil society are made to feel guilty about what they are being accused of doing as a profession—the teaching of English as " a neo-imperialistic language(!) " to Tamil learners of English at different levels. Politicians and Tamil activists alike raise a lot of hue and cry against the mixing of English in the daily Tamil discourses. They often fail to understand a linguistic fact that changes on account of language contact do not amount to corruption but enrichment of the languages involved and that change is natural and inevitable in the history and development of any language. Changes happen neither for worse nor for better. They come from inside and from outside the language. However, 'Tamil lovers' would like to artificially maintain the classical status of Tamil even now when Tamil society has irretrievably become a bilingual and bi-cultural community. One of the psychological impacts of such a political project of preserving the purity of Tamil on English teaching community is that they refuse to accept the bilingual method of teaching English without any professional basis. The process of language development has always been independent of human intervention and therefore, Tamil is firmly entering a new phase of its development, which in this article, is termed as " Taminglish. " Through a recent order, the government of India has instructed all its employees to follow 'Hinglish' in the Devanagiri script for official communication. Tamil has already permitted hundreds of English words and set expressions both in oral and written discourses. This paper interrogates diachronically and longitudinally the history behind the evolution of the phenomenon called 'Taminglish,' a process of code-mixing/switching in Tamil/English discourse, and establishes that English teachers need not feel guilty about this linguistic hybridity.
Language as a Reflection of Shifting Social Values in India
Language is governed by two innate characteristics: first that it is always changing, in all areas of its structure be it phonology, morphology, grammar, semantics, vocabulary or conversation style, and second that it changes in diverse patterns at diverse situations and times. What influences the change in linguistic usage and the pace of its change is the shifting social values and social development (urbanization, literacy etc.). Indian social structure has undergone a paradigm shift in the past few decades, and this has galvanized the shift in language usage too. The words that used to be a taboo in Indian ideological set up are now in common use. The use of slang, abusive words and rude gestures are now style statements for the youth. The movement for woman empowerment and the struggle for equality have influenced the shifting language usage by women too. Women were considered to be innately decent and modest, and this was reflected in their language usage too. But with the changing values in the modern times girls also find it comfortable to use profane language like boys as a reflection of their psychological adaptation to socio-cultural change. This article attempts to examine different aspects of socio-psychological changes in India, and their impact on language usage. There is an attempt not to judge, but to present the observations with objectivity.
Sociolinguistics of English in India
2014
The Present study attempts to discuss the Sociolinguistics of English in India. The rising status and the rapid spread of English is a matter of discussion in the field of applied linguistics. The language we speak defines and determines one’s place and identity in the world. It is not just a set of sound words or sentences. Many different regional varieties of English or ‘Englishes’ exist around the globe and are slowly but steadily gaining recognition. Indian English is one such variety. English spoken in India is deeply linked with the society, culture and the people. The function of English in India is different from that it performs in the native context. The defining factors such as the cultural plurality and presence of different languages have given India a distinct place in the multilingual context. The growth of English in India can be directly correlated with the growth of imperial rule in India. English language has been and continues to be a dividing force in the society.
ACQUISITION OF HONORIFICS IN HINDI: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC COMPETENCE
The honorifics system in Hindi is a complex set of flexible rules. Its morphological representation is present in nouns, pronouns adjective and verbs. It reflects intertwined relationships among individuals based on formality, familiarity, age, familial relationships, social status, caste and other social factors. Whereas the TV distinction in most of the language is expressed in second person only, in Hindi it is extended to third person and to certain extent first person. This adds to the complexity in its acquisition by a foreign language learner. The ability to make the TV distinction, while talking with a native Hindi speaker, is imperative for HFL students to acquire this culturally sensitive communicative competence. If used incorrectly a HFL learner might give a misleading idea of his own personality or culture that could cease the opportunity for him to penetrate deeper into the society through language. This paper deals with the Hindi honorific system in details, its significance and culturally appropriate use and the paper will also offer some suggestions for the its acquisition by foreign language learners.
Language, Culture and Communication: India
2015
We use language to express our emotions and attitudes, to give our ideas and opinions, to complain, to gain acceptance or approval, and to receive and transmit information. Essentially, language is a means of cultural communication. There are different ways we can communicate. In this world, just about everyone--his/her intelligence, competence, social status, group membership, and the value system are often judged from the language through which one communicates. The tone, the speed of the speech, and the accent can evoke reactions not only in monolingual but more so in bilingual and multilingual societies, causing tensions and conflicts related to social identity and belonging. Language influences our thinking, feelings, and behaving. This paper discusses diverse sociolinguistic variants, such as, gender, race, ethnicity, class, caste, and religion with reference to Marathi, Hindi and India’s diverse cultures. The paper also discusses extra-linguistic factors, including biological...
The usage of contemporary Tamil
Tamil-Socio Linguistics, 2019
The history of Tamil language is of a pretty long period. This language was patronized by the three Sangams; it has been origin of many languages, and the most ancient language and among the living languages in the world; and now in the twenty first century, through delayed, it has been recognized as a classical language. It is quit nature, when people speak to the people of a different speech community they use code mix. The object of this research paper is to study and describe as to how change in language or code mix in the use of the people crop up from time to time, to identify with a historical basis the words of other languages that are prevalent in modern Tamil, and to find the opportunity to improve the vocabulary by coining new words for the scientific and social needs particularly for the new inventions. The Language in the Beginning The first treatise or book now available to us is only a grammar book. It treats the usages of words and prescribes the rules of the language. Tholkapiyam tells that people of our country were multilingual, and hence the lexis in Tamil were categorically given as iyarcol, tiricol, ticaicol, and vadacol. May foreign words have been borrowed to Tamil. Moreover, a language will have same changes from time to time, and after certain period, some words may be archaic, so the people of modern period have to depend on the commentary given by the commentators to read and learn the literature of Sangam period. The words used by the administrators The foreign invasions, aggrandizements, domination of other milers seriously affected the people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, their language, their culture, etc, during the region of the Mohals, the Portiguese, the French, the British, the language of people attained a mixed one. Even after years have passed, the vocabulary borrowed from urban, Portiguse, French and English have become the part of our fridian language in general and of Tamil in particular.
2013
This paper is a contribution to an anthropology of aurality in Tamil Nādu. Using a sociolinguistic approach to performance, I shall argue that contemporary low caste performers in Tamil Nādu are part of a discursive tradition that dates back to Caṅkam times in order to show how this tradition, the dialogue between the art of writing and the practice of speech, is actually a feeling in Tamil that affects the concept of locality in Tamil. This feeling, or spoken Tamil, is a kind of aural competence. In performance, it is a way of speaking with writing in mind. In writing, it is that sentiment which demonstrates a kind of ethnographic authority. Caṅkam literature, Bhakti devotion, Tamil nationalism--indeed, the practice of spoken Tamil has been, and continues to be, a mode of organizing people in light of the state. Then and now, spoken Tamil has never been about how people really speak. Rather, it has always been a way of producing citizens by manufacturing aural competence.