Part III Language Policy and Language Politics: The Role of English 10 Identity and Multilinguality: The Case of India (original) (raw)
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Language conflicts, dominance and linguistic minorities in India
Dominated Languages in the 21st Century: Papers from the International Conference on Minority Languages XIV, 2015
The present paper deals with the status of linguistic minorities in India and tries to give an overview of the problems plaguing Indian language policy regarding minority languages. India represents a unique case in the current global linguistic scenario, as it is the only country in the world with 23 official languages (2 official cross-regional languages and 21 official regional languages). Despite this fact, minority languages in India cannot be regarded as well protected, as obvious from the high number of languages listed as ‘endangered’ by UNESCO. The paper looks into the various forms of domination and subordination that dictate the language policy and influence the various language communities in India, including linguistic minorities. Moreover, it undertakes an analysis of the various kinds of language conflicts prevalent in the Indian linguistic situation and examines whether the language conflicts emanate from group-specific dominance and unequal status ascriptions, and secondly, whether language is simply a secondary feature in conflicts that are mainly socially, economically and politically motivated. Lastly, the paper addresses the aspect which it sees as a highly questionable part of Indian language policy, i.e. the principle of ‘rationalization’, a method developed by the Government of India to take account of the number of ‘languages’ in India, but which has been widely criticized as a ‘reductionist’ policy because through the process of ‘rationalization’, smaller and minority languages are categorized as ‘dialects’ or ‘variants’ of the so-called major languages and are thus deprived of their own independent status and identity.
Language policies and lesser-known languages in India
[first published in 2012 with the French version] This article makes a case against treating lesser-known languages as points on a scale that ranges from the neediest communities to the least needy. My argument refers to factors that become salient during the transition form a modern order of nation-states to an unsettled dynamism involving heterogeneous spaces. Under the exigencies and anxieties of globalization, the experiences become traumatic and call for urgent efforts to formulate and address what are experienced as vital issues on the ground. For clarity, I briefly present first the view I oppose, calling it ARSA (the Aid Recipient Spectrum Approach). I then outline the alternative I advocate, ILCEA (the Inter-Local Community Empowerment Approach). Once these have been introduced, the Language Policies in India section situates the problem with respect to India; the ARSA section discusses how the consensus both in India and elsewhere has swung towards ARSA; the final section focuses on ILCEA, considers some reasons for wishing to turn the tide and proposes ways of bringing this about. The article situates issues of indigenous peoples in the context of the subnationalisms associated with the major languages of India. A French version of this article appeared in _Droit et Cultures_ 63:143-160 in 2012 ('La politique linguistique et les langues indiennes moins répandues'). It is available online at https://journals.openedition.org/droitcultures/2955
Languages of Nationhood: Political Ideologies and the Place of English in 20th Century India
2011
My research studies the relationship of language and national identity in postcolonial India, with a particular emphasis on the English language. Language politics in India has historically been polarizing, and is already the focus of a significant body of work. Research has focused especially on the trajectory and ramifications of the Hindi-Urdu (or Hindi-Urdu-Hindustani) controversy of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which interwove the discourse of nation and linguistic nationalism with that of religion and authentic “Indian-ness.” Discourses of language community and of resistance to linguistic hegemony have been the other major focal point of the existing repertoire, especially with respect to Tamil in south India. This theme has also been analyzed extensively in the context of the linguistic reorganization of states, where the question of national (dis)integration and the potential threat of separatism inherent in the official recognition of geographic and cultural bou...
Bloody Language: Clashes and Constructions of Linguistic Nationalism in India
Locating ‘‘nation’’ not on the center but on its borders, this study seeks to shift the study of nation from an analysis centered on its origins or its substantive and foundational aspects to an investigation focused on its mode of boundary construction. This article reverses the debate over whether nations grow out of some presumed ethnic, linguistic, or religious foundations to argue that these foundations themselves are given shape by a sociocognitive frame of total closure that informs the national system. Taking a close look at the formation of India and Pakistan as nations, the article shows how Hindi and Urdu were separated as two distinct national languages out of the same dialect—Khari Boli—under the pressure of conflicting national aspirations of nineteenth-century South Asia. To exaggerate differences, Hindi was developed as a Sanskritized version of Khari Boli, while Urdu matured as its Persianized form. Devnagari and Persian scripts respectively gave them their distinc- tive looks.
2018
One of the main political issues in Indian politics is connected to language problem. After India's independence the government decided that the official language of India will be Hindi. In this paper, I have attempted to take a look at study of politics of languages in late colonial India. A set of languages used by political operators in the Indian scenario where the diverse political scenarios play a vital role in the linguistic matters viz, organization of languages, language policies and planning, minority and majority languages. The motive of this paper is to present the historical overview of language politics in India and its impact on the documentation and organization of languages. How the political concern influences the up gradation and degradation of the status of a language. It further illustrates how the government policies used for the development of majority languages, causing a threat to minority languages. Abstract-One of the main political issues in Indian politics is connected to language problem. After India's independence the government decided that the official language of India will be Hindi. In this paper, I have attempted to take a look at study of politics of languages in late colonial India. A set of languages used by political operators in the Indian scenario where the diverse political scenarios play a vital role in the linguistic matters viz, organization of languages, language policies and planning, minority and majority languages. The motive of this paper is to present the historical overview of language politics in India and its impact on the documentation and organization of languages. How the political concern influences the up gradation and degradation of the status of a language. It further illustrates how the government policies used for the development of majority languages, causing a threat to minority languages. historical linguistic, language politics, language policy and planning, language documentation, minority and majority language.
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AND LINGUISTIC CONFLICT IN INDIA
Language is the dominant feature in determining nationality or ethnicity. In the emerging world order, when rise of ethno- nationalism is posing a major challenge to the nation state, political assertion of language and religious identities has assumed importance. Acknowledging the emotive power of language, the leaders of the new Indian nation attempted to unite the many regions of India with a common, universal language. Politicians knew that the implementation of new Language Policies would be politically sensitive. The language controversies that accompanied the first years of Indian independence had pushed the country to the brink of instability. Despite Nehru's intuitive understanding and handling of the complex language issue we couldn’t lay a solid foundation for Indian unity by robbing the language crisis of its potential for causing disorder. Today, language problems are no longer seen as forces of national disintegration however, its explosive nature can not be denied. The three major language issues facing Nehru as leader of independent India were: the linguistic states movement, the national language debate and Hindi Urdu controversy.
This discussion paper attempts at making a re-appraisal of some of the works on linguistic identity politics around Hindi-Urdu-Hindustani, in twentieth century India. It calls into question certain assumptions about Urdu. It argues that Urdu, contrary to common perceptions, was shedding its Persianization and its literature was drawing upon local imageries. Urdu’s anti-colonial and anti-separatist articulations have been highlighted. It underlines that marginalization of Urdu in late-colonial and post-colonial India was more because of majoritarian discriminations. Gandhiji’s project of ‘Hindustani’ and the inclusive nationalism of the Congress, threw inadequate weight behind the project. They were rather inclined more towards Hindi, and some important leaders of the Congress, more particularly in UP, were not only pro-Hindi but also anti-Urdu. The exclusion of the Hindustani from the broadcast plan of the All India Radio, by 1944-45, and the ill-fated Hindustani Prachar Sabha (1942) testify the majoritarian assertion of Hindi against Urdu. It further argues that Urdu was wrongly vilified to have played role in dividing India; this perception held in popular as well as academic domain, had its bearings upon the fate of Urdu in sovereign India.
Language policy and political strategy in India
Policy Sciences, 1989
The official language policy of India is described as a 3 + 1 language outcome. The central question that guides this paper is to explain why, when Congress leaders attempted to provide for India a single indigenous language for official communication, have they suffered more opposition than have rulers of states that consolidated in earlier centuries? Standard explanations for the different outcome, relying on special attributes of Indian culture and history, are found to be inadequate. A game theoretic analysis of political strategy helps to highlight two variables that best explain India's language outcome: the world historical time of state consolidation; and the nature of politician/bureaucrat relations for postcolonial states.