Language Research

States are free to adopt their own language of administration and educational instruction from the country's officially recognized languages (Scheduled Languages). Furthermore, all citizens have the right to primary education in their native tongue, although the Constitution does not stipulate how this objective is to be accomplished. One of the definitions of Constitutional recognition is the right to use any of these languages for the government service examination process.

ENGLISH

EDUCATION

English is the principal language of commerce and the language of instruction in almost all the country's prestigious universities and private schools. These institutions were first established in 1813 when the English Christian missionaries came to India. According to British laws the language of instructions at the university level was English, therefore schools emphasizing English were preferred by ambitious Indians. Even after India's independence, English remained the main language in India.

In the 1970s and 1980s about one third of Indian schools had English as their first language. For most of these students, English was their first language and it was easier for them to communicate, read and write in English than in Indian languages, including their mother tongues.

The English-language press remains highly influential. Scholarly publication is predominantly in English and almost exclusively so in science. Many Indians are devotees of literature in English (much of it written by Indian authors) as well as of English-language film, radio, television, popular music, and theatre. Until the beginning of the 1990s, foreign movies were not translated or dubbed to Indian languages but were broadcasted in English.

English also serves as the language of communication among Indians who speak different languages. Yet only around 3% of the population (28 million in 1995) is fluent in both English and Indian language.

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Updated (August 2001)

In the year 2000 more than 400 million Indians speak Hindi. Hindi is regarded as India's official language, though not the official national language. Instead, according to the Constitution, which is in English, India has 18 national languages.

After a decade-long “Indianization” to teach regional languages in the schools and remove British-era names of streets and places (Bombay is now Mumbai, Calcutta is Kolkata) a middle-class consensus to spread the learning of English is emerging. For 50 years, English has been a language of privilege, but today it must become a more common vernacular, say intellectuals, business executives and parents alike.

According to many, English will help India to become global cyberpower. In a Republic Day speech Indian President K.R. Narayanan said: “We have one of the largest reservoirs of technical personnel, but also the world's largest numbers of illiterates.” Acknowledging these realities, in December the government of Maharashtra, whose capital is Bombay, announced compulsory English lessons for all students from grade 6 onward. The move, like a similar one in West Bengal two years ago, reverses a policy of the early 1990s to teach only the local Marathi and Bengali languages in schools. Parents in Bombay were a major part of the lobbying effort to change the system.

Even in marriage, the most powerful Indian institution, English plays a new role. In matrimonial ads in India, even in Hindi-language newspapers, more ask for brides who attended “convent schools.” This does not signal religious sentiment. It implies the young lady will be English speaking, more employable, and able to travel into the dual and upwardly mobile English-Hindi worlds.

Although some promoters of English warn that a headlong attempt to teach the subject could be harmful, for the poor English is known as the language of opportunity.

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Updated (April 2003)

THE THREE-LANGUAGE FORMULA

Thirteen percent of the Indian population is bilingual and over 42 percent of the minority population is bilingual (Singh 2001). Singh and Manoharan (1993) worked with 623 tribal communities, and only 123 of them were monolingual while 500 were bilingual. According to them, the second or third language may be either a minor language, a scheduled language or even a regional language depending on the area in which people reside. Apart from the official language of the state, regional languages like Chattisgarhi, Halbi, and Tulu are also spoken for intergroup communication by tribal communities. Each state in India is multilingual but the rate of minority languages' speakers varies from 10 percent (Gujarat) to 44 percent (Panjab) (Bhatt and Mahboob 2002).

The three-language formula has further contributed to the high rate of bilingualism among minority linguistic communities. Traditionally, tribal communities lived isolated from the cities and villages. The languages of those communities have been maintained due to their isolation from the mainstream population, which did not interact with them. Since India's independence (1947), it has become necessary for tribal communities to interact with the mainstream population due to the changes caused by modernization (mechanization, deforestation and urbanization of villages). The policy of state governments has promoted education through the three-language formula, which has accelerated the speed of learning the dominant regional language in these communities.

As a result, the functional domain of tribal languages is restricted to home and intra-group communication. Several studies1 show that due to the lack of script, a paucity of teaching materials and a small number of speakers, many tribal languages are facing attrition.

The functional load of English and the regional languages is extremely high compared with that of minority languages; therefore it is not surprising that speakers of the minority languages perceive their languages as “powerless.” Several studies¹ show that they do not think it is useful or important to learn their first language. Out of the total 7.8 percent of tribal population in India, only 4 percent speaks tribal languages (Singh 2001).

Razz and Ahmed (1990) claimed that half of India's tribal population has already lost their languages, and that people have assimilated into a dominant linguistic group, adopting a dominant language as their mother tongue.

This trend indicates that members of tribes living in the cities seldom consider it their privilege to speak their mother tongue. On the contrary, ignorance of the tribal languages is regarded as an enhancement of status and prestige. If speaking Hindi they feel superior in comparison to the other tribe fellows.

Functional load is one of the parameters for defining minority languages. It is assumed that the degree of functional load can be measured by the number of functional domains of the language. However, the number of domains is not the only factor for measuring the degree of functional load. Another important parameter is “functional transparency.”

Functional transparency can be explained as follows: if a language “A” is the only language used to perform a particular function in a particular domain, then the language “A” can be said to have functional transparency vis-à-vis that function. In contrast, if the same function is performed by more than one language, the languages involved are said to be not transparent (but opaque) to that function. A language with higher functional transparency has a higher functional load. For example, the only language used for science and technology in India is English. Therefore, English can be considered to be transparent to this function. Similarly, the regional languages (in their native states) are almost exclusively used at home and the pidgin Hindi (Bazaar Hindi) in Mumbai is almost exclusively used as the “market language.”

IMMIGRANTS

In contrast, immigrants in their non-native context generally use two languages. While earlier they use their native language exclusively, later they begin to use the dominant language (of the country/place of immigration) along with their native language in various domains (home, social gatherings, etc.). In this case, their native language does not remain transparent to the function. Though the number of domains in which their native language is used is higher than that of Bazaar Hindi, its functional load is lower. This situation is fairly common as for the minority languages of India. Many minority languages once spoken exclusively at home gradually begin to be accompanied by the dominant language, usually as children start their schooling in that language. This use of two languages (minority and dominant) reduces the functional transparency of minority languages.

The hierarchy of functional load can be presented as follows:

HIGH FUNCTIONAL LOAD

1) + Functional transparency + number of domains

2) + Functional transparency - number of domains

3) - Functional transparency + number of domains

4) - Functional transparency - number of domains

LOW FUNCTIONAL LOAD

The above diagram shows relatively high/low degrees of functional load. Languages such as English and the regional languages in India fall into the category (1) as they all carry a high degree of transparency as well as a high number of domains. Sanskrit and Bazaar Hindi belong to the category (2), where the functional transparency is high but the number of domains is low. The categories (3) and (4) show the phases of attrition of minority languages. In the first phase (3), minority languages are used along with the dominant language (thus losing functional transparency); and in the second phase (4), the dominant language displaces minority languages, leading into their disappearance.

To summarize, a language with a higher functional load has a better chance to survive than a language with a lower functional load. For example, the regional languages, with their higher functional load, are more likely to be maintained in India than the tribal languages with a very low functional load.

Source: Minority Matters: Issues in Minority Languages in India by Rajeshwari V. Pandharipande, University of Illinois, Department of Linguistics, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA, MOST Journal on Multicultural Societies, Vol. 4, No. 2, ISSN 1564-4901, © UNESCO, 2002, http://www.unesco.org/most/vl4n2pandhari.pdf

¹ Biligiri (1969), Karunakaran (1983), Khubchandani (1983), Roy Burman (1969), Raju (1977), Abbi (1995)

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Updated (December 2007)

MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR THE BODO LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

The Bodo tribal community, one of largest minorities in Assam, has a unique culture and is full of self-esteem. However, the position of their language has been neglected for centuries and still suffers from lack of development.

The Bodo language, pronounced as Bo-Ro, comes under the Assam-Burmese group of languages and is spoken by inhabitants of the northeastern state of Assam. Bodo is amongst the official languages in this state as well as one of the 22 Scheduled Languages provided a special constitutional status in India.

A highpoint in the history of the Bodo language is the socio-political movement that was launched by local Bodo organizations, starting from 1913 onwards. Due to their relentless effort, this language was finally introduced as the medium of instruction in the primary schools in Bodo dominated areas in 1963.

At present, the language serves as a medium of instruction up to the secondary level in educational institutions. Just recently, it has been included as a part of the postgraduate course in the University of Guwahati.

The last couple of decades have been especially beneficial for the evolution of Bodo literature as its development received more attention from all corners, especially from the Asam Sahitya Sabha organization – the literary body in Eastern India. In fact, this organization has been playing a crucial role in coordinating efforts of Bodo poets, scholars and authors, by introducing their works to the local people.

The locals have already accepted this language as part of their socio-economic communication but the Total Literacy ‘Movement’ constituted by the Indian Government has not helped the language to grow to its possible heights. Even though the policy makers have always talked about their efforts to help the linguistic minorities, the minorities still have to fight for their rights. Lakkhi Basumatary, a representative of the Bodo minority, has noted that the government has not done much for the development of the Bodo language besides promoting a few writers.

On the other hand, they say they still lack publishers and their interest in publishing books in Bodo. Moreover, there are not books available for the students learning in their mother tongue. Recently, the All Bodo Student Association held a bicycle rally with 400 supporters to promote the use of the Bodo language in the area. Its aim was to describe importance of proper establishment of the Bodo language in education, and to make everybody be aware of their linguistic backwardness. The representatives think they need to press for the quality education among the masses since education is the means to usher in language development and to overcome obstacles.

Source: Merinews, December 12, 2007 by Pranjal Baruah http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=128494

ENGLISH – A LANGUAGE OF SUCCESS

India has always been a multicultural and multilingual society where bilingualism and multilingualism have become a substantial part of the country's everyday life. While mother tongues and regional languages were part of the curriculum from the beginning, English made inroads into Indian educational system as a second language. Realizing the importance of English as an international language, many schools upgraded it to the position of the first language in the curriculum.

Little information is available, however, on the number of people who “know” English and the level of their knowledge or even on how many people study English at schools.

At present, English continues to be the premier and prestigious language in higher education because the resource and guidance available in this language are abundant compared to that available in the regional languages or even in the national language. Careers in business and commerce, government positions of high rank, in science and technology, which attract the brightest, continue to require fluency in English.

People in India consider English a prestigious language and the tongue of their first choice. English is the language of instruction in elite schools at every level. It has also gained a position of the acceptable medium of communication across the nation, as it serves better than any other language spoken in India while one migrates to exploit new opportunities in different parts of the country.

The working-class comprised of rural and urban migrants, who perhaps are bilingual in their village dialect and the regional language, perceive English as the tool for their children's advancement. Schools in which English is the medium of instruction have better status. The English speaker, moreover, receives more respect and draws courteous responses in some situations than does a speaker of an indigenous language.

Furthermore, in the global marketplace, Indians have recently become the obvious choice of the knowledge-based industry because of their knowledge of the English language and the ability to effectively use it on the job. The trend is showing positive and upward growth and even the European and American companies have been showing greater interest in offering jobs to Indian professionals. Not all credit is to be given to English alone; knowledge of the subject is important too; yet, expression and communication are being powered by this language.

Realizing the importance of English which can bring benefit to the society and the nation, the National Knowledge Commission of India has proposed to the Indian Government to include English as Standard I in the school curriculum.

Source: Merinews, September 12, 2007 by Rama Kant Mishra http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=126342&catID=2&category=India&rtFlg=rtFlg

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