ISSN: 2347-7474

International Journal Advances in Social Science and Humanities Available online at: www.ijassh.com

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Reliability and Impact of English in : A Historical Overview

J. Jayaraj, G. Leelavathi, F. Princy Merlin

Don Bosco College (Affiliated to Periyar University, Salem.), Sogathur, Dharmapuri, , India.

Abstract

History of and literature in India starts with the advent of Company in India. It all started in the summers of 1608 when Emperor Jahangir, in the courts of Mughals, welcomed Captain William Hawkins, Commander of British Naval Expedition Hector. It was India's first tryst with an Englishman and English. Jahangir later allowed Britain to open a permanent port and factory on the special request of King James IV that was conveyed by his ambassador Sir Thomas Roe. English were here to stay.As spread its wing in southern peninsula, English language started to get newer pockets of influence. But it was still time for the first English book to capitalize. Late 17th century saw the coming of printing press in India but the publication were largely confined to either printing Bible or government decrees. Then newspapers came. It was in 1779 that the first English Newspaper named Hickey's Bengal Gazette was published in India. The breakthrough in literature came in 1793 A.D. when a person by the name of Sake Dean Mahomet published a book in London titled Travels of Dean Mahomet. This was essentially Mahomet's travel narrative that can be put somewhere between a Non-Fiction and a Travelogue.In its early stages, the Indian writings in English were heavily influenced by the Western art form of the novel. It was typical for the early Indian English language writers to use English unadulterated by Indian words to convey experiences that were primarily Indian. The core reason behind this step was the fact that most of the readers were either British or British educated Indians. In the coming century, the writings were largely confined to writing history chronicles and government gazettes.In the early 20th century, when the British conquest of India was achieved, a new breed of writers started to emerge on the block. These writers were essentially British who were born or brought up or both in India. Their writing consisted of Indian themes and sentiments but the way of storytelling was primarily western. They had no reservation in using native words, though, to signify the context. This group consisted likes of Rudyard Kipling, Jim Corbett and George Orwell among others. Books such as Kim, The Jungle Book, 1984, Animal Farm and The man-eaters of Kumaon etc were liked and read all over the English-speaking world. In fact, some of the writings of that era are still considered to be the masterpieces of English Literature. In those periods, natives were represented by the likes of Rabindra Nath Tagore and Sarojini Naidu. In fact, Geetanjali helped Tagore win Nobel Prize for Literature in the year 1913.

Key Words: English, History, Impact, Indian, Language, Literature, Reliability. Introduction Just a few centuries ago, English was spoken by in Asia adds up to 350 million. India is the third just five to seven million people on one, relatively largest English-using population in the world, small island, and the language consisted of after the USA and the UK. Literatures in English dialects spoken by monolinguals. Today there are are nowadays recognized as part of the national more non-native than native users of English, and literatures, and English is also recognized in the English has become the linguistic key used for over-all language policy of the nation. opening borders: it is a global medium with local The language has penetrated deeply in the identities and messages [1]. English has become a society, which has, in its turn, resulted in several world language, spoken by at least 750 million varieties of English in India. The development of people. It is more widely spoken and written than those new varieties is connected with historical any other language, even Latin, has ever been. It and social factors. The new Englishes have all can, indeed, be said to be the first truly global their own contexts of function and usage, and they language. English is nowadays the dominant or have also, in their turn, affected the native in over 60 countries. varieties of English. Kachru, for instance [2] states the increase in the use of English in Asia as "overwhelming": at Indian English is used mainly by Indians whose present, the estimated population using English native language it is not. It is a minority

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 15 Available online at: www.ijassh.com language, but yet a language of national affairs, The term "new Englishes" is used for the varieties and its status is often called into question by, as which have developed in the Outer Circle, have Bailey puts it, "not only by foreigners with their been transplanted and, therefore, can also be ideas of proper English, but also by Indians who called "diaspora varieties". In a historical and remain ambivalent about its distinctive features linguistic sense, these varieties are not new. They and uncertain about its future" [3]. In fact, many are called "new" because it is only recently that of transplanted kinds of English are so attuned to they have been linguistically, and literature wise, the idea of a foreign standard of propriety that recognized and institutionalized, although they their independence remains partial. have a long history of acculturation in geographical, cultural and linguistic contexts The emergence of these new varieties has raised different from the English of the Inner Circle. questions concerning the power of English There is a decline of competence from educated language, questions of identity and new English to "broken" English (which is pragmatics of the language in new, foreign considerably mixed with local languages). surroundings. The spread of English across different cultures and languages has meant the The Power of English diversification of English, which, in turn, raises Kachru has discussed the power of English in questions about the standardization of English. many of his writings [4]. Bolinger [4] has used a The purpose of this study will be to study metaphor the loaded weapon to characterize language attitudes in India (especially attitudes language. According to Kachru, questions about towards English) and to analyze the use of language and power go beyond linguistics into languages in different domains (family, history, sociology, attitude studies, politics and friendship, neighbourhood, transactions, economic considerations. The power of language is education, government, employment). intimately connected with societal power. It can Additionally, the aim is also to find out about the be manifested by using persuasion, regulation, informants' preference for the model of the variety inducement or force to add a code to a speech of English in India. community or by the suppression of a particular language variety and the elevation of another. The Spread of English around the World There are two hypotheses concerning language The New Englishes power: the intrinsic-power hypothesis and the acquired-power hypothesis. The first one claims In the following, I will use Kachru's model of new that English would intrinsically possess certain Englishes (in e.g. The New Englishes: 1-5). He has linguistic characteristics which would make it a visualized the spread of English around the world preferred language for international purposes [4]. as three concentric circles representing different This position can, according to Kachru, to some ways in which the language has been acquired seem similar to claims of racial superiority. The and is currently used. second hypothesis emphasizes the ways in which The Inner Circle refers to the traditional a language acquires power, and thus it is also historical and sociolinguistic bases of English in easier to understand. the areas where it is the primary language (native This is a fact that English has spread as a result or first language; UK, Ireland, Canada, the USA, of exploitation and colonisation. It is notable that, Australia, New Zealand). The Outer Circle especially in many ex-colonies of Britain, English comprises regions colonized by Britain; the spread is still the language of exclusive social elite. of English in non-native settings, where the Cheshire, for instance, has discussed this [5]. language has become part of the country's chief institutions, and plays an important "second Kachru [4] has given various reasons for which language" role in a multilingual setting (India, languages are used in a society. They can be used Singapore, Malawi). The Expanding Circle to expand the speech community, as a vehicle of involves nations which recognize the importance cultural or religious enlightenment to deculturize of English as an international language, but they people from their own tradition (to the "civilizing do not have the history of colonization, nor does process" also belonged distancing from native English have any special status in their language cultures: the colonizers wanted to introduce policy. In these areas, English is primarily a European literature to the natives, at the same foreign language. time remaining ignorant of their indigenous

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 16 Available online at: www.ijassh.com literatures), to gain economic advantage, to English (which can also be understood as control domains of knowledge and information, individual motivations for learning the language): and for deception. The following statement by Demographic and numerical Unprecedented Charles Grant clearly demonstrates the attitudes spread across cultures and languages; on of the in India [4]. practically every continent Functional Provides access to most important scientific, technological, The Hindoos err, because they are ignorant and and cross-cultural domains of knowledge and their errors have never fairly been laid before interaction Attitudinal Symbolizes - certainly to a them. The communication of our light and large group across cultures - one or more of the knowledge to them would prove the best remedy following: neutrality, liberalism, status and for their disorders. progressivism Accessibility Provides intranational accessibility in the Outer Circle and international The most important reason for the success of mobility across regions (cf. "link language" and English is, according to Kachru [4] naturally the "complementary language") Pluricentricity has historical role of England as a colonial power. In resulted in the nativization and acculturation of India, for example, the political power naturally the language. These two are, then, responsible for attributed a power to the language of the Raj the "assimilation" of English across cultures (called the linguistic elitism strategy), and it also Material a tool for mobility, economic gains, and became a symbol of political power. English came social status Table 1: Parameters for the power of to be the language of the legal system, higher English/individual motivations for learning education, pan-regional administrative network, English. science and technology, trade and commerce - either because the indigenous languages were not In the same country the English language can be equipped for these roles and English provided for characterized by different terms representing the a convenient vocabulary, or because the use of power of the language: Positive/Negative, English was considered prestigious and powerful. National identity, Anti-nationalism, Literary English became gradually a major tool for renaissance, Anti-native culture, Cultural mirror acquiring knowledge in the sciences and the (for native cultures), Materialism, Modernization, humanities. It has come to represent Westernization, Liberalism, Rootlesness, modernization and development, and, as a link Universalism, Ethnocentrism, Technology, language, it has acquired international roles over Permissiveness, Science, Divisiveness, Mobility, the years. Alienation, etc.

Linguistic power can be manifested by using one Often the same term may be used both in a of the following power strategies: persuasion, positive and in a negative sense, depending on regulation, inducement and force. Kachru [4] has who uses it. The bad effects of the increasing listed as examples of linguistic power suppression power of English have been conscious and of a particular language (variety) and the unconscious lingocide and dislocation of native elevation of another. Strategies can include crude cultural traditions by introducing Westernization. linguistic power (e.g. the imposition of Japanese English is often seen as a tool of economic on the Koreans and the Malays during World War exploitation and domination. On the other hand, II), indirect psychological pressure (e.g. claims of the Outer Circle sees English also as a tool of "Other-World" power) and pragmatic power. national identity and political awakening (as in the independence struggle in India), a window on Kachru [6] lists also some other reasons for the the world, and a link language [4]. dominance of English around the world: its propensity for acquiring new identities, its power According to Bailey, too, English involves both of assimilation, its adaptability to "decolonization" positive and negative cultural values: economic as a language, its manifestation in a range of development yet exploitation, political and lects, and its provision of a flexible medium for cultural ideas and institutions, enrichment of literary and other types of creativity across English but possibly this at the cost of indigenous languages and cultures. languages, opportunities to communicate with readers around the world yet at the expense of The Parameters and Dimensions of the one's own language [3]. Power of English Cheshire [5] points out that although the spread At present, English dominates functional domains of English has often been associated with the in the widest possible register range. Kachru [4] death of indigenous languages in those countries has presented some parameters of the power of

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 17 Available online at: www.ijassh.com to which it has been transplanted, in India this of British India. The information below is mainly was not the case. In Saghal's [7] view, too, the role from The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (NEB; of English in India has not been replacive: it has 1974), Kachru [9, 10], Bailey [3]. It was Vasco da not driven out any of the indigenous languages. Gama who, in 1498, came ashore at Calicut, and Rather, she claims, English has enriched Indian restored a link between Europe and the East. languages (as well as it has been enriched by India was "a land of spices and of marvels" to them). European people. Portugal's control of the Indian Ocean lasted throughout the 16th century. The According to Kachru [4] the power bases of turning point came in the 1580s: in 1580 Portugal English have to be seen in both material terms was annexed to Spain. Spain was not too and psychological terms. English is supported in interested in former interests of Portugal, and the Outer Circle for cultural renaissance, spread gradually the control of the East fell through their of nationalism, pan-regional literary creativity hands. The route to the East was opened to the and neutrality, and there is a strong emotional Dutch and English. The Dutch were first ones to attachment to the language. The psychological arrive in 1595. The Dutch objective was plain and factors are important also because they are vital simple, the trade. They were not so interested in for creating an identity. proselytizing people, or trying to expand their empire; they were monopolists rather than Kachru [8] stresses the neutrality of English as imperialists (NEB 392). one clear advantage of using it: English is free from any undesirable (e.g. ethnic or religious) The document establishing the British contact connotations native languages may have. The with the Indian subcontinent was the Charter of pros of using English have wiped away the fact December 31, 1600, granted by Queen Elizabeth I. that it originally was the colonizer's language [8]. It granted a monopoly on trade with India and the East to some merchants of London - the East Domains of Control India Company was formed [9]. The company's objective was actually the spices of Indonesia, but Kachru [4] mentions four basic areas in which the because of Dutch opposition (e.g. massacre of power of English manifests itself: linguistic, Amboina in 1623), they decided to change plans literary, attitudinal and pedagogical. Linguistic and go to India instead. The English won victory control is reflected, for example, in the over some Portuguese territories in India as well, codification of a language, the attitudes toward and the Mughal court, which resented the linguistic innovation and lexicographical research. Portuguese, granted the English the right to trade The literary aspect refers to the ethnocentric and to establish factories in return for becoming attitude toward literary creativity in the Outer the virtual naval auxiliaries of the empire (NEB Circle. The attitudinal aspect is involved in issues 393). concerning the identities of individuals and speech communities. The English trade became more profitable than that of the Dutch, and the region gradually fell Kachru, for instance, stresses the importance of under British contact and domination. In 1818, attitudes when determining the power of a the British Empire became the British Empire of language: what one thinks the language will do India, instead of the British Empire in India. The for him or her and what others think of a person diplomatic settlement remained in force until when he or she uses the language. The 1947 (401). pedagogical aspect deals with teaching of English in global contexts (the concerns including the A question that has frequently been asked is: How model and the methods for teaching of English, was this sort of subjection of a whole subcontinent which are often commercially motivated and quite possible? Probably the answer lies in the innate seldom consider the local needs of different divisiveness of Hindu society (class and caste countries). divisions); for the Indians the neighbours were more unwelcome than outsiders; and the A Historical Overview: English Travels outsiders could actually help in defeating the to India neighbour. The outsiders were, in the end, accepted as masters; the Indians would rather be The Establishment of East India mastered by them than dominated by a rivaling Company family inside India (402).

In this section, I will briefly go through the story

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 18 Available online at: www.ijassh.com The Three Phases of the Introduction of Bentinck in the early nineteenth century, India Bilingualism in English in India saw many social reforms. English became the language of record of government and higher According to Kachru, there have been three courts, and government support was given to the phases in the introduction of bilingualism in cultivation of Western learning and science English in India. The first one of them, the through the medium of English. In this he was missionary phase, was initiated around 1614 by supported by Lord Macaulay (ibid, 403). Christian missionaries. The second phase, the demand from the South Asian public (in the Macaulay's Minute and the Beginnings eighteenth century) was considered to come about of Bilingualism in English in India through local demand, as some scholars were of the opinion that the spread of English was the Lord Macaulay was a central figure in the result of the demand and willingness of local language debate over which language(s) should be people to learn the language. There were used as the medium of . The prominent spokesmen for English. Kachru Orientalists were in the favour of use of classical mentions two of them, Raja Rammohan Roy languages of Indian tradition, such as , (1772-1833) and Rajunath Hari Navalkar Persian and Arabic, which were not spoken as (fl.1770). Roy and Navalkar, among others, were native languages. The Anglicists, on the other persuading the officials of the East India hand, supported English. Neither of these groups Company to give instruction in English, rather wanted to suppress the local vernaculars, mother than in Sanskrit or Arabic. They thought that tongues of the people. Both the groups agreed that English would open the way for people to find out education would be conducted in the vernacular about scientific developments of the West. during the first years of education. The Anglicist Knowledge of Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic or of group included Charles Grant (1746-1823), Lord Indian vernaculars would not contribute to this Moira (1754-1826) and T.B. Macaulay (1800-59); goal [10]. H.T. Prinsep (1792-1878) acted as the spokesman for the Orientalists" group [8]. A letter of Raja Rammohun Roy addressed to Lord Amherst (1773-1857) from the year 1823 is often The Anglicist group's views were expressed in the presented as evidence of local demand for English. Minute of Macaulay, which is said to mark "the Roy embraced European learning, and in his real beginnings of bilingualism in India" [11] opinion, English provided Indians with "the key to According to the document, which had been all knowledge -- all the really useful knowledge prepared for the general William which the world contains" [3]. In the letter, Roy Bentinck, after listening to the argument of the expresses his opinion that the available funds two sides, a class should be formed in India, a should be used for employing European group of people who would act as interpreters gentlemen of talent and education to instruct the between the British and Indians, "a class of natives of India in mathematics, natural persons, Indians in blood and colour, but English philosophy, chemistry, anatomy, and other useful in taste, in opinion, in morals and in intellect" [3]. sciences, which the natives of Europe have carried Macaulay's proposal was a success; and the to a degree of perfection that has raised them following year Lord Bentinck expressed his full above the inhabitants of other parts of the world support for the minute, declaring that the funds [10]. "administered on Public Instruction should be henceforth employed in imparting to the native Roy's letter has been claimed to be responsible for population a knowledge of English literature and starting the Oriental-Anglicist controversy, the science through the medium of the English controversy over which educational policy would language" (ibid). be suitable for India. The third phase, the Government policy, begun in 1765, when the East According to Bailey, in Macaulay's thinking India Company's authority was stabilized [10]. Indian languages would be enriched by English, English was established firmly as the medium of so that they could become vehicles for European instruction and administration. The English scientific, historical and literary expression (ibid, language became popular, because it opened 140). English gradually became the language of paths to employment and influence (NEB 1974: government, education, advancement, "a symbol 406). English of the subject Indians became of imperial rule and of self-improvement" [11]. gradually a widespread means of communication. Macaulay justified the imposition of British power During the governor generalship Lord William on the country by simply arguing that although

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 19 Available online at: www.ijassh.com this policy in India might seem controversial and Indian bourgeoisie was demanding English- strange sometimes, it can be so, for the Empire is language education as much as the missionaries itself the strangest of all political anomalies...that and educators (79), seeing knowledge of English we should govern a territory ten thousand miles as an essential tool in gaining social and economic from us, a territory larger and more populous prestige (76). than France, Spain, Italy and Germany put together...a territory inhabited by men differing English Becomes the Language of the from us in race, colour, language, manners, Elite, Press and Administration: English morals, religion; these are prodigies to which the in Independent India world has seen nothing similar. Reason is confounded...General rules are useless where the In the following years, English was established whole is one vast exception. The Company is firmly as the medium of instruction and anomaly, but it is part of a system where administration by the British Raj (1765-1947). everything is anomaly. It is strangest of all Indian education was ever greater anglicized as governments; but it is designed for the strangest the English language became rooted in an alien of all Empires[3]. linguistic, cultural, administrative and educational setting. The first universities were According to Kachru, the far-reaching Minute was established in India in 1857 (in Bombay, Calcutta highly controversial because of disagreement and Madras). English became accepted as the about whether it was correct to impose an alien language of the élite, of the administration, and of language on Indians. The Orientalists expressed the pan-Indian press. English newspapers had an their disagreement in a note dated 15 February influential reading public. in 1835, but they could not stop it from passing and English was also developing [10]. had to give way [10]. On 7 March 1835, the Minute received a Seal of Approval from Lord India, after becoming independent in 1947, was William Bentinck (1774-1839), and an official left with a colonial language, in this case English, resolution on Macaulay's resolution was passed. as the language of government. It was thought This resolution "formed the cornerstone of the that the end of the British Raj would mean the implementation of a language policy in India and slow but sure demise of the English language in ultimately resulted in the diffusion of South Asia. This, of course, has not happened. bilingualism in English" (68). The penetration of English in these societies is greater that it has ever been [13]. There are many sharing the view of Alastair Pennycook that in fact both Anglicism and Nationalist imperative wanted that English Orientalism really worked together towards the continue to be used. Nationalist motivations were same direction. He rejects the view that of the opinion that an indigenous Indian language Orientalism was somehow a "good and innocent should be adopted as the official language. project that only had the rights of the colonized seemed most qualified for that, since it had more people at heart". He claims that, in reality, native speakers than any other Indian language Orientalism was as much part of colonialism as and was already widely used in interethnic was Anglicism [12]. Although Orientalism is communication [14]. usually considered more sympathetic towards the local languages and cultures than Anglicism, it In addition, it was thought that linguistic unity acknowledged the superiority of Western was a prerequisite for political and national unity. literature and learning, and it was a means to Thus, Hindi was designated by the constitution as exercise social control over the people, and the language of communication between and imposing of western ideas [12]. within the states. It was to replace English within 15 years. The plan was that Hindi would be Pennycook claims, too, that although Macaulay is promoted so that it might express all parts of the credited the most influential individual in the "composite " [15]. language question, the issue is more complex than simply Macaulay arriving in India, writing the There were, however, several problems with Minute on education. and then heading off back to selecting Hindi, and since the protests were often England with having English firmly transplanted violent (e.g. the riots in Tamil Nadu in May 1963, in the colony. In his view, then, it is important to protesting against the imposition of Hindi), the understand that Macaulay just articulated a government wanted to adapt a policy which would position which had been discussed for a long time help to maintain the status quo. Firstly, Hindi is already [12]. He goes on further to argue that the not evenly distributed throughout the country;

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 20 Available online at: www.ijassh.com e.g. in Tamil Nadu, in the south, only 0.0002 per English provided a medium for understanding cent of the people claimed knowledge of Hindi or technology and scientific development. Non- , whereas in the northern states this figure western intellectuals admired accomplishments of can rise up to 96.7 per cent. Secondly, it was the west. European literature was made available thought that the speakers of other languages in colonies. Macaulay shows his ignorance would be offended by its selection; other Indian towards the native languages in India by saying languages, for example Tamil and Bengali, had as [8]. much right to be national languages as Hindi. The other Indian communities felt they would be “I have never found one amongst them (the professionally, politically and socially Orientalists) who would deny that a single shelf of disadvantaged were Hindi given the central role. a good European library was worth the whole Thirdly, Hindi was thought to need vocabulary native literature of India and Arabia.” development before it could be used efficiently as a language of government. In spite of these In India, English gradually acquired socially and problems, Hindi was chosen as the national administratively the most dominant roles: the language in the constitution, and English was to power and prestige of language was defined by be replaced by Hindi in fifteen years' time. the domains of language use. Ultimately the legal However, due to the continuous opposition in the system, the national media and important south, this replacement was not politically professions were conducted in English [8].In the possible. In 1967 a law was passed which allowed words of Kachru, skilled professional Indian the use of both Hindi and English for all official became the symbol of Westernization and purposes - and that situation still exists [14]. modernization. Raja Rammohan Roy was committed to the idea that the "European The controversy between Hindi, Urdu and gentlemen of talent and education" should be Hindustani made the case for Hindi even worse. appointed to instruct the natives of India. English Support for Hindustani almost ended with came to be used by Indians, as well. [8]. independence; Hindi's supporters' enthusiasm was not, also, channeled in a constructive By the 1920s English had become the language of direction. As a result, English continues to be a political discourse, intra-national administration, language of both power and prestige [8]. and law, a language associated with liberal thinking. Even after the colonial period ended, The Power of English: The Case of India English maintained its power over local languages (8). The British were given a lot of political stature due to their political power, and they were English was eventually used against Englishmen, required to adopt a pose that would fit their their roles and intentions as it became the status. Language became a marker of the white language of resurgence of nationalism and man's power. Kachru quotes E. M. Forster in A political awakening: the medium, ironically, was Passage to India [8]: "India likes gods. And the alien language. Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869- Englishmen like posing as gods". The English 1948), for instance, although struggled to create language was part of the pose and power. Indians consensus for an acceptable native variety as the accepted it, too (ibid). national language, expressed his message to the elite in English (8). English was used in India and elsewhere in the colonies as a tool of power to cultivate a group of Multilingualism in India people who identify with the cultural and other norms of the political elite. European values were, Definition of the Concept of naturally, considered somehow inherently better Multilingualism How Does whereas the indigenous culture was often Multilingualism Develop? considered somehow barbaric. English was Linguistic diversity-multilingualism-is, according considered as a "road to the light", a tool of to Mahapatra, found in most present-day nations "civilization". The Europeans thought that they [16]. In the Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged can bring emancipation to the souls; they Dictionary of the English Language (1996: 940), a considered this as their duty. They sincerely multilingual person is defined as one "able to thought they would contribute to the well-being of speak more than two languages with the native people in the colonies, and their approximately equal facility". Kachru describes language was elevated into being almost divine the same phenomenon as the "linguistic behavior (6).

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 21 Available online at: www.ijassh.com of the members of a speech community which languages tend to fade into other ones, so that it alternately uses two, three or more languages is difficult to say which different languages are, or depending on the situation and function"[8]. which are just dialects of one language[14].

According to Fasold [14] there are four different In 1971, it was estimated that the rate of kinds of historical patterns that can lead to bilingualism in India was 13%. 99% of English societal multilingualism. These patterns are speakers are second-language speakers, whereas migration, imperialism, federation and border in many other languages there are no non-native area multilingualism. In this context, I will speakers at all (although there are large numbers concentrate on the pattern of imperialism. of native speakers) [16].

The subtypes of imperialism are colonization, Spolsky describes the situation on the Indian annexation, and economic imperialism. Typical of subcontinent as one highlighting the "multitude of imperialist processes is that relatively few people problems facing a political unit that contains a from the controlling nationality take up residence great number of languages". He further points out in the new area. Former British, French, Spanish, that it comes as no surprise that India has some Portuguese and Dutch colonies in Africa, Asia and difficulty in setting up a language policy: the South America can serve as examples (ibid, 10). constitution, for example, avoids choosing a single official language [15]. Although relatively few people come to live in the subjugated territories, the language becomes very D.P. Pattanayak describes Indian societal important in the territory (ibid, 10). Spolsky, too, multilingualism as a non-conflicting type, in remarks that the larger the scale of colonization which different languages are allocated different from the homeland is, the more secure place the functions. He describes mother tongue as the conquerors' language will be in the new land, "expression of primary identity and of group although even a small ruling group may be able to solidarity". People are identified with certain maintain their language, provided they have linguistic, ethnic, religious or cultural groups contact with the homeland. Often in this case, the through ones mother tongue. "Mother tongue conquered people will be forced to learn the anchors the child to culture", Pattanayak language of the conquerors [15]. continues. In his view of multilingualism, it can be successful only if there is respect for In annexation and colonization, the imperialist multiplicity, "respect for the different", in a language is likely to be used in government and society [18]. education; in economic imperialism, the imperialist language is necessary for Spolsky points out that although there are so international commerce and finance: a foreign many languages in India, most of the people do language will become widely used because of the not know any other Indian language than their economic advantage associated with it [15]. own. English is most widely spoken second language, followed by Hindi. English is more The Indian Case useful as a "lingua franca"; the usefulness of Hindi as a lingua franca is regionally limited [15]. A regional language has its geographical bounds defined within the state [15].In addition to the National versus Official Languages designation of Hindi as an official language and fourteen others as national languages, each state National Language can choose its own regional language for use in local government affairs and in education among Following Platt, I would like to distinguish the languages spoken in its territory. India's between national and official languages: national constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to language – a language that is considered communicate in their own language with any representative of a nation or nationality. The governmental agency [17]. term connotes belonging to a nation, of ethnic and/or cultural identity. Usually it is a local There are over 900 million people and more than language spoken as native language by at least one thousand languages in India; the area is thus some of the population of a nation [19]. one of the most diverse linguistic and cultural areas in the world. Thus, it comes as no surprise Official Language that there are many problems in classifying and labeling languages in India. One reason is that Official Language – language generally used for

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 22 Available online at: www.ijassh.com government administration and the Higher applications, for instance, are appearing in Indian Courts of Law, in the media and as one of the languages, and training centres have been set up languages of education, at least of secondary and to teach them to people in Indian languages (The higher education on a nationwide basis (ibid, 19). Bline on India server. 1997.). Motorola has also been reported to have launched pagers in three Eighteen National Languages Indian languages (which was the first time a pager which can display messages in Indian In the early 1950s, a serious problem of linguistic languages has been launched). This means that and ethnic diversity was recognized by the Indian people who do not know English very well are government. As a solution to the problem, states able to send or receive messages in their mother were established along linguistic lines, so that in tongue [39]. all but two of India's eighteen states the majority spoke a common language [17]. Hindi, the Official Language Originally, 15 national languages were recognized Hindi descends directly from Sanskrit. More than by the Indian government. At present 18 180 million people in India regard Hindi as their languages are included in the Constitution of mother tongue. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan India. In many cases the State boundaries have group of languages [24]. It is, according to the been drawn on linguistic lines. The acknowledged Article 343 (1) of the Constitution, the Official languages are: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Language of the Union [25]. Hindi, , Kashmiri, Konkani, , Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, The position of Hindi as the Official Language of Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telegu and Urdu. India the Union becomes problematic the souther in is divided linguistically into two major language India one gets: while it is the predominant families, the Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian language in the north, in the south very few languages [20] (appendices 1 and 2). The most people speak it. The most ferocious opposition widely spoken national languages in India are (in toward the adoption of Hindi comes from the addition to Hindi): Bengali (7.5%), Telugu (7.4%), south; along with the strongest support for the Marathi (7.2%), Tamil (6.9%), Urdu (5.1%), retention of English [22]. Gujarati (4.2%), Malayalam (3.8%), Kannada (3.8%), and Oriya (3.4%) [21]. English in India – Who Speaks English to whom and when? The Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the Indo-European group of languages, and were the English is Virtually the First Language language of the central Asian peoples who for Many in India invaded India. Most of Indian languages of the north belong to this group. The Dravidian In terms of numbers of English speakers, the languages, on the other hand, (e.g. Tamil, Telugu, Indian subcontinent ranks third in the world, Malayalam), are native to (although after the USA and UK. An estimated 4% of the they are influenced by Sanskrit and Hindi) [22]. Indian population use English; although the number might seem small, out of the total There is an ongoing fear that Indian languages population that is about 35 million people (in will be ignored as English is becoming more and 1994)[26]. Although the number of speakers of more popular in India. One should be cautious English in India is somewhat limited (as about this, since Mark Tully claims [23] one can compared to the total population), that small obtain a deeper knowledge of the culture only segment of the population controls domains that through the knowledge of the language (or one of have professional prestige [8]. the languages) of that culture. He quotes Robert Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (1996), English is virtually the first language for many according to whom the consequence of the current educated Indians, and for many, who speak more language policy is that many among the younger than one language, English is the second one. generations of Indians are being deprived of Indian speakers of English are primarily bi- or familiarity with their cultural heritage, and quite multilingual Indians who use English as a second probably of an education that would enable them language in contexts in which English is used to contribute to the solution of Indian problems in among Indians as a "link" or an "official" the future. language. Only a minimal fraction of the English- using Indian population has any interaction with Nowadays, however, something is being done to native speakers of English. According to Kachru's keep Indian native languages alive. Computer survey (the population of which was graduate

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 23 Available online at: www.ijassh.com faculty of English in the universities and function of a nationalist language. colleges), only 65.64 percent had occasional interaction with native speakers of English; 11.79 English plays a dominant role in the media; it has percent had no interaction and 5.12 percent been used as a medium for inter-state claimed to have daily interaction with native communication, the pan-Indian press and speakers of English (Ibid, 110). broadcasting both before and since India's independence. The impact of English is not only The Role of English in Indian continuing but increasing. Multilingual Setting The English press in India initiated serious English serves two purposes. First, it provides a journalism in the country. The number of English linguistic tool for the administrative cohesiveness newspapers, journals and magazines is on the of a country, and, secondly, it serves as a increase. According to Kachru [28] at present language of wider communication. [8]. English there are 3,582 Indian newspapers in English. functions in the Indian socio-cultural context to English-language newspapers are published in perform roles relevant and appropriate to the practically all states of the Republic. Of a total of social, educational and administrative network of 19,144 newspapers registered in India in 1982, India [8]. those in English accounted for 18.7 percent, whereas the newspapers in Hindi accounted for English is used in both public and personal 27.8 percent. domains and its functions "extend far beyond those normally associated with an outside Language Planning: English in language, including the instrumental, the Education regulative, the interpersonal and the innovative, self-expressive function" [8].As pointed out before, English is the state language of two states in the role of English is not replacive: it overlaps eastern India, and . It is the with local languages in certain domains [27]. main medium of instruction at the postgraduate level, and it is taught as a second language at English as the Language of every stage of education in all states of India. Administration and Press In India, as in other linguistically and culturally English is not classified as one of the 15 national pluralistic societies, the position of English is (NEB: 286). Although Hindi is determined by various political, cultural and the Official Language of the Union, provision was social considerations. Kachru [28] sees primarily made in the Constitution that English would be three questions which continue to be discussed. used in official work until 1965, after which Hindi The first question concerns the position of English would replace it. Because of the opposition of the in early and in higher education. The second Dravidian south against Hindi, the Indian question is concerned with the roles of the Government decided to further extend the role of regional language, Hindi and English. The third English as an additional language with Hindi to question deals with the model of English be used for purposes of the Union and in presented to Indian learners, and how that Parliament. English is now recognized as an presentation can be made uniformly and associate official language, with Hindi the official effectively. The has language. It is recognized as the official language primarily been concerned with the first two in four states (, Meghalaya, Nagaland, questions, which are directly related to language ) and in eight Union territories. planning at both the national and state levels. There are, as yet, no acceptable answers to any of Various political and nationalistic pressures these questions [28]. continue to push for the choice of Hindi as a national language. However, it is hard to remove In the 1960s a bitter conflict considering the English from its place as a language of wider status of various languages in India arose from communication, lingua franca, especially among concerns of the southern states (in which Hindi is the educated elite, or to replace the regional not widely spoken) that the use of Hindi in the languages in mass communication by Hindi. government services would disadvantage them for employment in those areas. They thought, also, Fasold [14] suggests that English lacks the that it was unfair for them having to learn both symbolic power required to be chosen as the sole Hindi and English, whereas native speakers of official language in India, although it does have a Hindi would only have to learn English. high communicability necessary for the successful

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Consequently, the Three Language Formula was of English in India creates problems for the developed for the educational load to be fairer, to economic development because that means that promote national integration, and, to provide the education of the mass of people will be wider language choice in the school curriculum ignored. He argues that the solution for the [29] According to the formula, people from non- situation would be that the spread of English Hindi areas study their regional language, Hindi, throughout India would be encouraged so that it and English. Hindi speakers, on the other hand, would become a "genuine link language of the study Hindi, English and another language. country, not just, as it is at present, the link Baldridge quotes Kamal Sridhar (1989): language of the élite".

The Three Language Formula is a compromise Indian English Literature between the demands of the various pressure India is the third largest English book-producing groups and has been hailed as a masterly - if country after the United States and the United imperfect - solution to a complicated problem. It Kingdom, and the largest numbers of books are seeks to accommodate the interests of group published in English. Creative writing in English identity (mother tongues and regional languages), is considered an integral part of the literary national pride and unity (Hindi), and traditions in South Asia. Indeed, according to the administrative efficiency and technological words of an Indian critic Iyengar three decades progress (English).[30]. ago, quoted by Kachru, there seems to be an Although the formula sounds fine in theory, acceptance of Indian English literature as "one of Baldridge (ibid) states that the Three Language the voices in which India speaks...it is a new Formula has proved to be a failure in India as a voice, no doubt, but it is as much Indian as the whole, since it has not been followed in practice. others" [13]. Sanyal claims, too, that Indian Hindi states did not enforce the curriculum, and writing represents a new form of Indian culture. the anti-Hindi DMK government in Madras It has become assimilated and is today a dynamic removed all teaching of Hindi from schools in element of the culture [31]. Tamil Nadu. It can be said to be a challenge for the Indian Thus, in India, there is a great number of novelist to write about his experiences in a sociolinguistic pressures influencing the language which has developed in a very different development of language education; Spolsky[15] cultural setting; in a "foreign" language; how to has stated that the language policy of the school create sense of reality and intensity of Indian life system is both a result of the pressures and a in the medium of English language [31]. The source of pressure itself. He, too, claims education integrity of the writers writing in English is often to be the strongest weapon for enforcing language suspect in their own country, and in other policy , listing the following pressures to have an English-speaking countries they are treated as effect on language planning in a society: family marginal to the mainstream of English literature (attitudes at home), religion (if the maintenance [28]. Indian English writers are sometimes of a language is based on a belief in a "holy accused of abandoning the national or regional tongue"), ethnicity, political pressures (aiming at language and writing in a western, "foreign", establishing national unity; a language tradition language; their commitment to the nation is is acknowledged as a powerful force within a considered suspect. Indian writing in English nationalist movement), cultural pressures, dates back to the 1830s, to Kashiprasad Ghosh, economic pressures (which include commerce, who is considered the first Indian poet writing in advanced science and technology: the idea is that English. Sochee Chunder Dutt was the first not all languages have modern technological writer of fiction. In the beginning, however, vocabulary and it is more rational to adopt a political writing was dominant [13] (e.g. language such as English for this purpose), the Rammohan Roy wrote about social reform and mass media (e.g., if there is no media in a religion in the medium of English [31]. particular language, there will be strong pressure Stylistic influence from the local languages seems to learn another language which is better to be a particular feature of much Indian provided), legal pressures (lack of the official literature in English; the local language structure language can often become the basis for is reflected as e.g. the literal translation of local discrimination), military pressure (desirability to idioms (Platt et. al: 1984: 181). According to use one common language) [15]. Kachru, however, South Asian novelists have not Mark Tully [23] points out that the élitist status only nativized the language in terms of stylistic

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 25 Available online at: www.ijassh.com features; they have also acculturated English in rejected by purists, but they are becoming terms of the South Asian context [13]. increasingly accepted: English is not anymore treated as a foreign language; it is part of the A view of the mother tongue being the primary cultural identity of India. These innovations have medium of literary creativity is still generally led to some problems related to pedagogical held across cultures. Creativity in another tongue standards, national and international is often considered as a deviation from the norm. intelligibility and typology [7]. The native language is considered pure, it is treated as a norm. This causes difficulties for non- Is diversification Decay? native writers of English: it is not rarely that they The idea of corruption and barbarity of have to defend themselves writing in English [2]. transplanted kinds of English became accepted by The thematic range of literatures has been the end of the eighteenth century. The evaluation extended in India: in fact, Kachru points out that of different kinds of transplanted English is based English has functioned "as the main agent for on the fate of American English, the first releasing the South Asian languages from the transplanted variety to be despised. According to rigorous constraints of the classical literary Bailey, traditions". English has created new Attitudes toward transplanted varieties of experimentation in the field of Indian writing [13] English have taken many forms, from categorical Kachru points out that the linguistic centre of denunciation of an entire national variety to English has shifted. This means that English no niggling criticism of minute details of local longer only represents the Judeo-Christian usage… Received wisdom declares that traditions and Western concepts of literary transplanted English must be somehow different, creativity. The ranges of English have expanded, and probably worse; the image, in short, as the varieties within a variety have been formed anticipates the evidence [3]. [8]. Indians in their use of English have always been Nativization of Indian English restrained in comparison to Americans, for The process of nativization is due both to transfer instance. In India numerous British teachers and from local language as well as to the new cultural officials have been quick to censure all departures environment and communicative needs [7]. from the Standard British English forms. Because of deep social penetration and the "Imperfections" in Indian English were held up to extended range of functions of English in diverse scorn (Ibid, 142). sociolinguistic contexts there are several varieties, localized registers and genres for articulating The Question of Standard English local social, cultural and religious identities [2]. A standard variety has undergone at least some Also, factors such as the absence of a native degree of regularisation or codification, it is group, inadequate teaching and acquisitional recognized as a prestigious variety or code by a limitations (e.g. lack of exposure and facilities, community, and it is used for high functions learning under compulsion) contribute to the alongside a diversity of low varieties [32]. It process [7]. provides a means of communication across areas with various different dialects. According to Scholars (such as Kachru, Halverson, Verma, Saghal, a rather nebulous educated Indian Mehrotra and Sridhar) have all concluded that English variety close to the native standard is the South Asian varieties of English are being favoured as a model for Indian English by the nativized by acquiring new identities in new general consensus [7]. socio-cultural contexts. They have emerged as autonomous local varieties with their own set of According to Kachru, the spread of English and rules that make it impossible to treat them simply its intercultural uses raise questions concerning as mistakes of deficient Englishes [27]. diversification, codification, identities, cross- cultural intelligibility and power and ideology. South Asian English has developed to a more The ultimate danger could be decay or even loss of distinctive level than in other countries where international intelligibility; some have argued [6]. English is used as a second language [32]. English In the multilinguistic and culturally pluralistic in India has evolved characteristic features at the context of India, the English language has phonological, lexical, syntactic and even at developed its regional, social and occupational discourse level. Initially, these innovations were

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 26 Available online at: www.ijassh.com varieties: typically Indian registers of legal speech or expression to which speakers of English system, business, newspapers, creative writing as an international language will be exposed, and [8]. which will constitute their repertoire.

The fact that English has acquired multiple Cheshire points out that sociolinguistic analyses identities and a broad spectrum of cross-cultural can contribute to English language teaching interactional contexts of use is, according to issues by ensuring that descriptions of world Kachru, "a purists' and pedagogues' nightmare varieties of English have a sounder empirical and a variationists' blessing". As a consequence of base. Current descriptions are all too often given the spread of English, there are "various semiotic as lists of assorted departures from southern systems, several linguistic conventions and British Standard English or American Standard numerous cultural traditions: English absorbs English with no attempt at determining the and unfolds meanings and values from diverse extent to which the local linguistic features cultures" [6]. Kachru points out that the contexts function as part of an autonomous system of diversification of English are not just (1991:7). deficiencies, but that there are deeper sociological, linguistic and cultural reasons. The Measuring Language Attitudes diversification often, then, is symbolic of "subtle What is Language Attitude? sociolinguistic messages" (ibid, 218). Some language attitudes studies are strictly Crystal points out that while, on one hand, limited to attitudes toward the language itself. English-speaking communities are striving to However, most often the concept of language nativize the language to reflect their own attitudes includes attitudes towards speakers of a experiences, on the other hand many are of the particular language; if the definition is even view that a universally intelligible, more or less further broadened, it can allow all kinds of standardized medium would be desirable [32]. Not behavior concerning language to be treated (e.g. the least because "British English is now, attitudes toward language maintenance and numerically speaking, a minority dialect, planning efforts) [14]. compared with American, or even Indian English" (ibid, 10). Attitudes are crucial in language growth or decay, restoration or destruction: the status and Samuel Ahulu suggests that the concept of importance of a language in society and within an Standard English be redefined. According to his individual derives largely from adopted or learnt view, Standard English is usually associated with attitudes. An attitude is individual, but it has British and/or American English. English, origins in collective behaviour. Attitude is however, as an international language, has something an individual has which defines or developed, and continues to develop forms or promotes certain behaviours. Although an features divergent from British and/or American attitude is a hypothetical psychological construct, English. As arguments that any divergence from it touches the reality of language life. Baker British or American English is an error appear stresses the importance of attitudes in the unrealistic, Standard English, in Ahulu's view, discussion of bilingualism. Attitudes are learned should accommodate to the developments of new predispositions, not inherited, and are likely to be Englishes. The variability of non-native Englishes relatively stable; they have a tendency to persist. should, ideally, be seen as styles of speech or However, attitudes are affected by experience; expression which makes a part of the speakers' thus, attitude change is an important notion in repertoire; they should not be thought of as bilingualism. Attitudes vary from favourability to errors. English lacks standard codification which unfavourability. Attitudes are complex constructs; would reflect its international character e.g. there may be both positive and negative adequately. Thus, one of the major problems with feelings attached to, e.g. a language situation [35]. new Englishes appears to be the issue of codification [34]. According to Lambert (1967), attitudes consist of three components: the cognitive, affective and The variation manifested in the use of English as conative components [36] The cognitive an international language should be subsumed component refers to an individual's belief within the concept of "Standard English", and the structure, the affective to emotional reactions and divergent forms should be recognised as standard the conative component comprehends the practice or styles of Standard English; styles of tendency to behave in a certain way towards the attitude [37].

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The major dimensions along which views about place when the social values of the models change languages can vary are social status and group and the behaviour of the speech community also solidarity. changes (ibid, 172).

The distinction of standard/nonstandard reflects When studying language attitudes, the concept of the relative social status or power of the groups of motives is important. Two basic motives are speakers, and the forces held responsible for called instrumental and integrative motives. If L2 vitality of a language can be contributed to the acquisition is considered as instrumental, the solidarity value of it. Another dimension, called knowledge in a language is considered as a ingroup solidarity or language loyalty, reflects the "passport to prestige and success". The social pressures to maintain languages/language speaker/learner considers the speaking/learning varieties, even one without social prestige [38]. of English as functional [41]. On the other hand, if a learner wishes to identify with the target Fishman and Agheyisi [40] have suggested that community; to learn the language and the culture there is a mentalist and behaviourist viewpoint to of the speakers of that language in order to language attitudes. According to the mentalist perhaps be able to become a member of the group, view, attitudes are a "mental and neutral state of the motivation is called integrative. In generally, readiness which cannot be observed directly, but research has proved the integrative motivation to must be inferred from the subject's introspection". have been more beneficial for the learning of Difficulties arising from this viewpoint include another language [42]. On the other hand, the question that from what data can attitudes be Gardner & Lambert, for instance, have found out derived, and in what way are they quantifiable. that where the L2 functions as a second language According to behaviourism, attitudes are a (i.e. it is used widely in the society), instrumental dependent variable that can be statistically motivation seems to be more effective. Moreover, determined by observing actual behaviour in motivation derived from a sense of academic or social situations. This also causes problems; it can communicative success is more likely to motivate be questioned whether attitudes can be defined one to speak a foreign/second language [41]. entirely in terms of the observable data [36]. Measurement Techniques Fasold suggests that attitudes toward a language are often the reflection of attitudes towards There are three assessment techniques relevant members of various ethnic groups [14], people's to the study of language attitudes: content reactions to language varieties reveal much of analysis of societal treatment, direct their perception of the speakers of these varieties measurement and indirect measurement [43]. [38]. In the content analysis of societal treatment, Many studies have demonstrated that judgements language maintenance and shift are examined on of the quality and prestige of language varieties the basis of analyses of laws and policies depend on knowledge of the social connotations regarding language use in the public domain. An which they possess. Thus, for instance, the use of example of this type of language attitude study dialects and accents would be expressions of social could be Fishman's [40] Language Loyalty in the preference, which reflect an awareness of the United States. These kind of studies provide the status and prestige accorded to the speakers of basis for descriptions of the standard language, as these varieties. A prestige standard form of a well as of language change (Ibid, 7). language has no inherent aesthetic or linguistic Another important method is the direct advantage over nonstandard varieties. The measurement technique, which observes language prestige is usually the product of culture-bound attitudes by the use of questionnaires (either in stereotypes passed on from one generation to the written form or in individual interviews). other (ibid., 21). Frequently asked questions concern language Le Page and Tabouret-Keller (1985) stress the evaluation, language preference, desirability and importance of the nature of intergroup relations reasons for learning a particular language, in the discussion of language attitudes and uses: evaluation of social groups who use a particular they vary as the nature of intergroup relations variety, self-reports concerning language use, changes. When relations change, status desirability of bilingualism and bilingual relationships, and therefore perceptions, attitudes education, and opinions concerning shifting or and uses, change. Speakers select their code from maintaining language policies. The method tends a variety of socially marked models. Change takes to focus upon beliefs (ibid, 7).

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In a totally indirect method the subjects are not community, the low variety, enjoys less social aware that it is their language attitudes that are prestige: it is the language of informal being studied. Indirect language attitude interactions (such as ones family life). The high techniques comprise speaker evaluation studies, varieties, in its turn, are used in formal and such as matched-guise studies, in which hearers outgroup situations [43]. The low variety is have to evaluate different varieties of a language typically acquired at home as a mother tongue, spoken by the same speakers. Speaker evaluation the high variety, on the other hand, is learned studies form the basis of the socio-psychological later, normally at school, never at home. It is a perspective on language attitudes (Ibid, 8). language of institutions outside the home [44].

Speech Repertoires in Multilingual Fishman distinguished in 1971 between a high Settings and low language, where the high language corresponds to status, high culture, strong Various Codes of a Community aspirations toward upward social mobility, Pandit (1979) has given an example of how a whereas the low language is more associated with multilingual speaker might use the different solidarity, comradeship and intimacy by its codes in his repertoire. He describes an Indian speakers [45]. businessman living in a suburb of Bombay. His mother tongue and home language is a dialect of Carranza has come to the conclusion that the Gujarati; in the market he uses a familiar variety level of prestige which languages/language of Marathi, the state language; at the railway varieties enjoy is influenced by two factors: social station he speaks the pan-Indian lingua franca, structure and cultural value systems: the social Hindustani; the language of work is Kachi, the structure is an important determinant of how a code of the spice trade; in the evening he will language is regarded by members of the society. watch a film in Hindi or in English and listen to a Cultural values, on the other hand, are important cricket-match commentary on the radio in especially in the case of a less prestigious English. One can ask: what roles does each of language for it to be maintained: it must be these different languages and varieties perform in associated with positive values with which its the community and the individual (Ibid, 172-173)? speakers can identify themselves (ibid).

In a multilingual speech community a whole Domain Analysis range of languages, or repertoire, is available to Joshua Fishman has introduced domain analysis speakers, who choose to use some of them in their which describes the use of languages in various linguistic interaction to perform particular social institutional contexts in a multilingual society. roles. Repertoire applies at two different levels to Fishman suggests that one language is more both the community and the individual. A speaker likely to be appropriate in some specific contexts does not usually control the whole range of the than another [14]. codes of a community's repertoire continuum but only a number of these [44]. Proper usage indicates that only one of the theoretically co-available languages or varieties Diglossia will be chosen by particular classes or The various codes in a multilingual speech interlocutors on particular kinds of occasions to community usually fulfill complementary discuss particular kinds of topics [40]. functions. They are used differentially according to the interlocutor, domain, topic and role, and the Domains are defined in terms of institutional choice of one rather than the other involves an act contexts or socio-ecological co-occurrences. They of identity. on the part of the speaker. Diglossia is attempt to designate the major clusters of at hand if different varieties or languages co-occur interaction situations that occur in particular throughout a speech community, each with a multilingual settings. Domains enable us to distinct range of social functions in understand that language choice and complementary distribution [44]. topic…are…related to widespread socio-cultural norms and expectations [40]. Ferguson first introduced the term diglossia in 1959 to refer to a relationship between varieties of According to Fishman, there is no invariant set of the same language, but nowadays the term covers domains applicable to all multilingual settings, as also relationships between different languages language behavior reflects the socio-cultural used in a society (ibid, 33-35). The variant patterning. Domains can thus be defined reserved for informal uses within a speech intuitively, theoretically or empirically. They, too,

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 29 Available online at: www.ijassh.com can differ in terms of socio-psychological and Methodology societal-institutional level. Socio-psychological analysis distinguishes intimate, informal, formal Hypothesis and intergroup domains. These domains can then My hypothesis is that English and one's mother be identified with domains at the societal- tongue are used in different domains and for institutional level (such as home, school, etc.): different purposes in India. The status of English which coincide with which activities (ibid, 19-20). in India is high among the élite by which it is Barker claims (ibid, 29) that domains are as real used mostly in the formal domains (such as as the very social institutions of a speech education, government and employment); more community and they show a marked paralleling informal domains (such as the family, friendship with such major institutions (Ibid, 22). and neighbourhood) are reserved for the mother tongue. Still, the use of English as a medium for In a research of the Puerto Rican community in creative self-expression is also on the increase; New York (in 1971), Fishman, Cooper and Ma and English has become nativized in the Indian arrived at a list of five domains: family, environment. friendship, religion, employment and education (Romaine 1995: 30). Anju Saghal, on the other According to my hypothesis, instrumental hand, in her study on language use in India, motivation can be mentioned as the most described the language use in India in the three important kind of motivation for the use of domains of Family, Friendship and Institution [7]. English in India. Hindi has more cultural symbolic value than English: English is spoken Görlach [46] points out that in countries in which because it is useful to a person, or even, in a English is a native language, societies have used sense, obligatory to know to advance, while Hindi English for various functions, whereas in is in the cultural sense closer to people and easier countries, such as India, in which English has to be identified with. been a second language, a foreign language, it has been restricted to the domains of administration, I assume, too, that even though English is law and parts of education, and the media, some acquiring new identities in new cultural contexts, forms of literature, other uses of language being such as in India (which in itself should be a reserved to the mother tongue. natural phenomenon), often the new Englishes are considered as deviations of the standard Bayer describes, as a deciding factor for the British or American English norm, and Indian development of different status and functions of people, too, are quite ambivalent about their languages, a hierarchy of identities which can be variety of the language. Thus, I think that to my found in all multilingual societies: identities are question about the suitable norm for the English stressed differing degrees of attachment, primary in India, many people will answer: RP (Received attachment being stressed to one identity. Pronunciation: BBC English; Standard English in Languages are allocated specific roles and they Britain) or General American English. are used in different contexts: the use of the mother tongue, for instance, is generally A Description of the Study restricted to the home and in-group interaction, whereas the dominant language of the The study was conducted with the help of internet environment is the language of administration, and e-mail. The group of informants was collected education and mass communication. Thus by announcing at home pages of Indian language acts as a "token of cultural identity of universities for people interested in taking part in individuals and groups" [47]. the study about Indian multilingualism. The surveys were e-mailed to the informants, who Bonvillain states, too, that one language is filled it in and e-mailed it back to me. This usually having greater prestige than others in a method of collecting the data worked smoothly: e- society. Factors such as the social status of native mail was a fast way to correspond with the speakers and economic, political and social informants. contexts of contact contribute to this [17]. Bailey [3] quotes Matthews (1908) who claims that the The informants were asked to fill in a survey success of the spread of a language and its general about multilingualism in India. It was not acceptance depend very little upon the qualities of specified that the attitudes towards the use of the language, but is very much dependent on the English were being studied. The first part of the qualities of the race that has it as a mother survey included statements related to domains tongue, and on the position the race holds in the such as family, friendship, neighborhood, society. Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 30 Available online at: www.ijassh.com transactions, education, government and and computer sciences), and these institutions employment. The informants' duty was to fill in most probably are male-dominated; thus there is the language he most often uses for each occasion. simply a greater possibility of finding male The aim was to do a domain analysis of the use of informants. One informant was pursuing her PhD English in India to find out which language(s) studies in psychology and one has a Master's does an Indian person use in which situations. degree in Philosophy. All the informants have Bachelor’s, Master's or PhD degree (11 Bachelors', The second part of the study comprised of 35 17 Masters', 2 Ph.Ds'). statements related to attitudes towards English and other languages of India. The third part of The informants come from nine different states in the was related to the model of English: the India. This made the study more interesting but, respondents had to give their opinion as to which on the other hand, one cannot draw too far- model of English would suit India best. reaching conclusions, for instance, about the attitudes of people who live in Maharastra on the Domain analysis and a study of language basis of just two informants. That is, also, one attitudes are strongly interlinked: the attitudes, reason why I have not concentrated so much on which develop in a society during a course of time the states where the informants come from. Nine can determine the domains in which a particular of them are from , seven from language is used in a society. They determine the Tamil Nadu, six from , two from place a language holds in a society. By including a and another two from Maharastra. There domain analysis in the study, it is possible to get is, too, one informant from each of the following a better, and probably a more realistic idea of the states: , and . language situation in India. Consequently, domain analysis is an effective method to find out In India, the state where one comes from is about the use of different languages in different important, for some of the states are more pro- domains of life. English or pro-Hindi, or pro-regional language than others. Traditionally, the opposition of Hindi The third part of the study, the question about the has been the most fervent in the south (such as in model for Indian English is also connected with Tamil Nadu, for instance). One reason to this may attitudes: it shows the preference for either the be that Hindi belongs to a different language domestic Indian variety, or the "foreign" one (such group than the Dravidian languages which are as RP or American English). native to the south of India, and it is thought of as unfair to have such an unfamiliar language as an With the three separate parts I wanted to ensure official language. Sometimes, however, the use of that (the three parts, although separate, are still Hindi is opposed simply because people do not very closely connected) it would be harder for want to appoint any special role to Hindi. They do people to try to give "politically correct" answers not see why Hindi would be more special than any (or answers which an informant might think other language. would be expected to be given by him) because there is a bigger possibility that they will be The mother tongues of the informants vary; noticed in other parts of the study. In my opinion, mostly following the states' borders (which is not also, the inclusion of such a big number of surprising, for, in India, states are divided along questions (the number of which no informant linguistic lines). Only three people out of the actually complained about) made the study more thirty informants reported as having Hindi as reliable. I think that had I had a smaller number their mother tongue (the informants from of questions, the treatment of the topic would Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh). Thus, in have been considerably narrower. my study, about 10 percent had Hindi as their mother tongue: in the whole of India the The Informants percentage is, however, 20 percent (180 million). The total number of informants was thirty, which, The other informants speak the following in my opinion, proved to be an adequate number. languages: Only two of the informants are female, all the  Andhra Pradesh: Telugu others are males. One of the reasons to the small number of female informants may be that most of  Tamil Nadu: Tamil (plus one Marathi, one the universities where the informants are Telugu) studying/have studied are institutions of technology (28 had studied/were currently  West Bengal: Bengali studying technical subjects, such as engineering

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 Kerala: Malayalam home (for 87% of the informants). English was the second most common reported language (English  Maharastra: Telugu, Marathi 3%, En/L1 10%). It was, perhaps surprisingly, most popular (17%) when "discussing a personal  Jammu and Kashmir: Kashmiri matter/problem", although even then L1 was far more popular, with 79%. Discussions with family Telugu is thus spoken by the majority (37%), members at dinner are usually carried out in the Bengali comes next (20%), Tamil follows with mother tongue (90%). 17%, Hindi 10%, Malayalam and Marathi (10% both) and Kashmiri (3%). Among West Bengalis, L1 was reserved, almost exclusively, for the family domain. Tamils, on the All the informants speak at least three languages other hand, mentioned English most often (even (English included); some claim to speak even up though as a secondary option after the L1) thus, to six languages. One informant reports that he here, too, we can see the preference of the people writes only in English, another one that she only of Tamil Nadu to English, rather than Hindi. speaks her mother tongue, but does not write in Hindi is mentioned only once in groups other than it. for which it is a mother tongue, when "commenting on a TV program which is in your One informant claims she has spoken English mother tongue/Hindi". Probably then, too, the since she learnt to speak, so it is almost like a reason was that one of the options given for the mother tongue for her. 19 informants report that medium of the TV program was Hindi; perhaps it they started to learn English when they were feels natural to comment on a TV program in the between two to six years old (in kindergarten/at same language as it is in. It was interesting to school). The rest of the people do not mention any note, however, that the use of Hindi did not specific age (only saying, for instance, that they increase (in general) even though it was the learnt English at school or "very young"). One medium of a TV program: mother tongue was also says he started learning English when he was then the most popular option. Hindi was eight. The majority of the people have had their mentioned as an option in very few papers. education in the medium of English (most of them since kindergarten). Hindi does not seem to be very popular among Tamils. The reason to this is fairly obvious, since Attitudes towards the Use of English in Hindi has traditionally not been very popular in India: Survey the south; Hindi is not one of the languages Domain Analysis spoken in the area. Tamils, in general, support the use of English. Their reasons for favouring The survey included statements related to English have been explained earlier on in the domains such as family, friendship, neighborhood, study. transactions, education, government and employment. The informants' duty was to fill in Bengalis are not too keen supporters of Hindi, the language he/she most often uses for each either. They are very proud of their own language; occasion (grading the frequency of use from one to many think that it would have the same right as four, four indicating the highest frequency). The Hindi has to be the official language of the aim was to analyze the use of English in India in country (it is surprising, however, that Hindi is different domains. reported as the second most common language used at home by a West Bengali (perhaps, for The domains used in the study could be divided instance, one of the family members of the into formal and informal domains: education, informant speaks Hindi as his/her mother employment and government are formal; family, tongue)). The Bengalis were supporting English friendship, neighborhood and transactions more for the same reason during the Anglicist- informal domains. Orientalist controversy in the beginning of the 19th century. The Family Domain Although some informants seem to be quite Friendship Domain polyglots, even in the family domain (such as In this domain, the responses are divided more Ker1, who reported the use of English and mother evenly between different languages than in the tongue just as common, Tamil1, Mah1, and few family domain, and many, too, reported use of others), all in all, mother tongue was, as could be several different languages in the same situation. expected, the most common language used at English was clearly quite popular (41% of all the

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 32 Available online at: www.ijassh.com situations). If you include the answers in which Education English was mentioned together with Hindi or L1, the percentage will be even higher (65%). As a In education, English is the most common comparison, L1 was used 27% of the time, and medium (87% of all the situations). At school, Hindi 5 % of the time. Hindi does not seem to friends who spoke the same language usually work as a lingua franca, or a link language talked in L1 (45%), although English comes next equivalent of English, in India. (25%), and Hindi third (14%). English was considered the best medium of communication in Over half of all personal letters are written in the instances in which the languages of the English (62%). People are also introduced to each parties in question differed (75%; Hindi 14%). other most often in English (L1 29%, Hindi:6%). People who have not met before, too, prefer Government English as the common language of conversation English dominates in the domain of government, (40%; L1 33%, Hindi 6%). both when it comes to writing letters (93% are Personal problems are not talked about in English written in English) and also as a general language (21%), but usually in L1 (31%). On the other of the domain (70%; Hindi 7%). But, when hand, many informants report several different meeting government officials, there is more languages; combinations such as L1/E (17%) and division: English is still the most common L1/E/H (14%) are quite common. Maybe this is language (37%), but L1 is also used quite often due to the fact that many have friends and (23%), as well as Hindi (10%) and a regional acquaintances with a different language from language (10%). them (considering how many different languages there are in India). General topics are usually Employment conversed in English (33%), after which come L1 As well as job interviews are without exception (27%) and E/L1 (17%). Hindi is not popular here, carried out in English (100%), so are also business either. 11.1.3 9.1.3 neighbourhood. In 67% of the letters written in English. If one's and one's boss's cases, English is reported as the most commonly languages differ, the common language will most used language when conversing with neighbours. often (97%) be English. E/H comes second (3%). Hindi and E/H (both 13%) come next, followed by When it comes to talking to one's colleagues who L1 and regional language (both 3%). come from different parts of India, 67% of the In case the mother tongues of the neighbours time one would resort to English (Hindi 17%, E/H differ, English serves as the link language most of 17%, H/L1/E 3%). the time (67%). Hindi and H/E are reported second most common languages (13% both). If, Attitude Survey however, the mother tongues of the neighbours There were 35 questions related to attitudes are same, only one informant claims to resort to towards different languages of India. I also English, others report that they would use it wanted to include questions related to languages together with Hindi (3%) or L1 (7%). other than English to have a wider perspective of the position and status of English in India. The Transactions informants were asked to grade the statements L1 and Hindi are most commonly used languages from one to four, depending on how much one of transaction in this study. This is not agrees/disagrees with a given statement. unexpected, for many common Indian people do The attitudes of Indian informants towards the not speak English much at all (in India English is, use of English (and other languages) are studied as mentioned earlier, the language of the élite and from mainly two different perspectives: the educated). a) Affective/integrative dimension The informants reported that they most often use L1 when in shops, at the railway station etc. b) Pragmatic/instrumental dimension (29%). Hindi comes next (25%), after which English (18%). In the market place L1 is more I have also reserved one perspective for (3) the clearly the most commonly used language (with attitudes towards Hindi and other native 50%; Hindi 18%). L1/H/E and regional language languages (although those attitudes will be both 7%. If combinations such as L1/H/E, L1/E commented upon in other dimensions, as well. and E/H are counted together, English is used at There is, too, a fourth dimension; other findings of the market place 20% of the time. the study (under which those attitudes have been Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 33 Available online at: www.ijassh.com placed which could not appropriately be included Statement 1 2 3 4 anywhere else). "Speaking English is an -- 2 10 18 advantage" Affective/Integrative Dimension Statement 3 ("I like speaking English"), 10 ("I Statements number 11 and 12 had to do with the identify myself with British and the Anglo- role of English with employment opportunities. American culture") and 14 ("English provides a Most of the people admitted (93%) that it is useful range of aesthetic experiences in literature") are to know English when looking for a job. Only two related to affective/integrative dimension. people strongly disagreed with the statement.

(1=strongly disagrees, 2=disagrees, 3=agrees, Statement 1 2 3 4 4=strongly agrees with the statement.) "English offers advantages in seeking 2 -- 6 22 Statement 1 2 3 4 good job opportunities." "I like speaking 1 5 10 14 English." People are, too, fairly convinced that without the 80% of the informants like speaking English; 20% knowledge of English their job opportunities report not to. Those 20% seem to consider would be relatively limited; 76% thinks that speaking English not as a matter of option or without the knowledge of English they could not willingness; it is just plain reality. get a job at all (53% strongly agreeing). However, still 23% of the informants, almost one fourth, The informants do not identify themselves with disagreed with the statement (13% strongly). One British and Anglo-American culture (83%); only interesting ambivalence must be noted: some one reports that he/she identifies him/herself informants, claiming that English is not needed strongly with the culture, and 13% said that they when looking for a job, reported, however, in the somewhat identified themselves with it. Indian domain analysis very frequent use of English in values seem to be still important to the the domain of employment. Thus, it can be informants; 73% of the informants do not identify concluded that the informants perhaps wanted to themselves with western values (only two people answer to these questions in the way which, for say they identify themselves with western instance, show loyalty towards a certain values). language, or in the way the situation ideally (in his view) would look like. Statement 1 2 3 4 "I identify myself with Statement 1 2 3 4 British "Without the knowledge of 18 7 4 1 and Anglo-American English 4 3 7 16 culture." I could not get a job."

However, English does provide a range of 87% of the informants think of English as one way aesthetic experiences in literature for over half of securing one's chances to get a good job (53%) of the informants; for 47% it does not (with (although, as one informant put it, "It depends on 7% strongly disagreeing). what kind of job"). Hindi is, in general, too, perceived as “less useful to know as English" Statement 1 2 3 4 (57%). 41% disagree with this, though. One "English provides a range of informant did not give his/her answer to this aesthetic experiences in 2 12 10 6 question at all. literature" Statement 1 2 3 4 "Hindi is less useful to know 5 7 10 7 Pragmatic/Instrumental Dimension than English."

Speaking English is considered an advantage by The great majority (97%) of the informants think 93% of the informants (with 60% strongly agree). that even if they did not know Hindi, they still The informants strongly disagreeing with the would get a job. Only one informant claimed that statement included one person with Hindi as he/she could not get a job without the knowledge his/her mother tongue and one ardent supporter of Hindi (one informant did not answer in the of Bengali. question).

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Why should I use it? Why is Hindi special? Why Statement 1 2 3 4 not Bengali or Tamil or Malayalam, or any of the "Without the knowledge of Hindi wonderful Indian languages?" 15 13 -- 1 I could not get a job." Statement 1 2 3 4 The informants seem to support the role of "I prefer using Hindi in all English as an associate official language, for 62% situations, 5 15 7 3 of them say that "to be admitted to a public post, whenever possible." one should be able to speak English". One informant did not give his/her answer. The maintenance of Hindi is perceived as important for the development of India in 33% of Statement 1 2 3 4 the responses. 64% disagrees with the statement "To be admitted to a public post, (27% strongly). Three of the four informants who one should be able -- 11 9 9 strongly agreed with the statement speak Hindi to speak English." as their mother tongue; one person who also strongly agreed comes from Jammu and Kashmir. Most (94%) of the informants think all children Perhaps as one reason for her ardent support for should learn English at school (however, some Hindi (his/her mother tongue is Kashmir) could be acknowledged the illusion of that given that she would quite clearly like to be statement:"Wish, but I don't think it's possible"). identified with the Hindi-speaking rather than Only two people disagree with the statement. with the Urdu-speaking population (and the Also, English would be chosen as the medium of culture) in the area. Language is, after all, an instruction in the majority of cases (93%). important marker of identity.

Only 24% (10% strongly agreeing) think that Statement 1 2 3 4 children resent having to learn English (67% of "I think it's important to maintain 8 11 7 4 the people strongly agreeing come from West Hindi to enable India to develop." Bengal). Two informants did not answer this question. It can be mentioned, too, that, quite surprisingly, two Tamils and one West Bengali also agreed that Statement 1 2 3 4 Hindi is indeed important for the development of "Most children resent 11 11 3 3 India. One who disagreed with the statement having to learn English." wrote:"You should not bias a multicultural, Attitudes towards Hindi and Other multiethnic country by favouring one native language over the other. It leads to domination of Native Languages other regions by one region". The informants would prefer using their mother tongue in most situations, whenever possible 44% of the informants think that they owe it to (83%; 53% strongly agreeing). 16% disagree with their forefathers to preserve Hindi, whereas 55% the statement, however (maybe because they use disagree with the statement (with remarks such different languages according to the situation and as "Well I believe in the survival of the fittest" the people they are with). and India is a multilingual country and each region has its own predominant linguistic Statement 1 2 3 4 loyalties". One Bengali wrote:"I owe it to my "I prefer using my mother forefathers to preserve BENGALI. A person tongue whose mother tongue is Hindi owes it to HIS 1 4 9 16 in most situations, forefathers to preserve his language!"). Again, the whenever possible." ones who strongly agree are the ones mentioned in connection with the previous statement. One Hindi was not quite as popular: only 10% of the person did not give his answer to this question. informants (all of whom actually speak Hindi as their L1) would like to speak Hindi whenever Statement 1 2 3 4 "We owe it to our forefathers possible. 67% disagreed with the statement (17% 8 11 7 4 strongly). Most (72%) of the people who disagreed to preserve Hindi." with the statement come from either Tamil Nadu of West Bengal. One informant argued:"Hindi is People do feel that they owe it to their forefathers someone else's regional language, it's not mine. to try to preserve the mother tongue of their

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 35 Available online at: www.ijassh.com people: 83% agrees with the statement (55% informant would like to educate his child rather strongly). 17% disagree on this one; one comment in the medium of English because of was quite straightforward:"If most people can "globalization".) communicate in a language then I don't think other languages need to be preserved as antique Statement 1 2 3 4 items". One person did not give his view of the "I think the use of Hindi matter. should really be encouraged 5 4 13 8 throughout India as a whole." Statement 1 2 3 4 "We owe it to our forefathers A little more than half of the informants (60%) to try to preserve the mother 2 3 8 16 would like to see Hindi as the official language of tongue India also in the future. of our people." Statement 1 2 3 4 The statement "I strongly identify myself with my "Hindi should always remain mother tongue and the group that speaks it" is as the official language of 4 8 9 9 maybe the most important one for this section. India." 72% claims identification with their mother tongue and the group that speaks it. Still, 21% of Most (67%) of the informants feel proud to speak the informants claim they do not identify with the the language and consider it a big part of their mother tongue at all. Most identified themselves culture and identity (although 13% of them more with the mother tongue and the group that strongly disagreed with the statement: one speaks it than British and Anglo-American informant added:"I assume "our" implies North culture; only two informants claimed the opposite. India" and one Bengali commented:"It is a Two informants claimed no identification with regional language. It is no greater or less than neither. BENGALI". One person from Tamil Nadu explained the linguistic situation in the south as Statement 1 2 3 4 follows: "Hindi is not at all prevalent in the "I strongly identify myself Southern states, especially Tamil Nadu...so in the with my mother tongue and 6 2 11 10 Southern states, English is more often the the group that speaks it." common language if people of different languages meet"). A little over half of the informants (60%) thought that creative writing can be done in a foreign Statement 1 2 3 4 language; the language does not matter, as long "I feel proud to say as the person is a skilled writer: "It depends on I can speak Hindi: personal skills" and "You can be comfortable with it is such a big part of our 6 4 11 9 many languages, it depends on the individual". culture, Still, 40% of the people are of the opinion that heritage and identity. I could creative writing should preferably be done in one's almost say, it symbolizes those." mother tongue, 17% were strongly agreeing (one informant wrote: "I feel so as I cannot express my A little more than half of the informants feelings as I want in English".) disagreed with the statement "by speaking Hindi I show commitment to my country" (one added Statement 1 2 3 4 "and I show commitment to my soul"). Two people "I think it is better for did not answer. an Indian person to write creative writing (e.g. books, Statement 1 2 3 4 poems) 3 15 7 5 "By speaking Hindi in his/her mother tongue, I show commitment to my 7 9 8 4 rather than in English. country." In English, it seems so artificial." Hindi is clearly associated with Indian culture: In most of the informants' views (70%), the use of most (74%) of the informants think they would Hindi should be encouraged throughout India. miss out on many enjoyable parts of the culture, One informant stated further: "At least till higher such as folk music and literature, without the literacy rate is obtained". (Yet, the same knowledge of Hindi. It is surprising that one of

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 36 Available online at: www.ijassh.com the informants who disagreed with the statement notices and adverts, always." speaks Hindi as his/her mother tongue! All informants of the Andhra Pradesh group agreed According to the majority of the informants (63%), with the statement, all the other Hindi-speakers, English carries higher status than Hindi in India. as well as the person from Jammu and Kashmir agree (as expected), almost all (75%) informants Statement 1 2 3 4 from Kerala and Maharastra groups agree (with "The status of Hindi is higher 7 12 8 3 Mah2 strongly disagreeing), in the Tamil group than that of English in India." 57% agree with the statement. The West Bengalis most strongly disagree with the statement (with English is perceived, on the whole, advantageous 67%; of which 75% strongly disagreeing). to the country. As much as 93% think this way,

with the exception of one informant from Tamil Statement 1 2 3 4 Nadu and another from West Bengal. "Without the knowledge of Hindi, Statement 1 2 3 4 I would miss out on many rewarding 5 3 11 11 "On the whole, I can say that and enjoyable parts of culture, English has been and continues 2 -- 13 15 such as folk music and to be an advantage to India." indigenous literature." English, on the other hand, in the informants' Other Findings opinion (74%), does not make up a significant part The clear majority of the informants consider of the country's history and identity: only 23% (3% speaking both Hindi and English an advantage. strongly) think it does. Two informants did not Although both the languages are thus considered give their answers. important, they are important in different domains and for different purposes. Statement 1 2 3 4 "English makes up a significant Statement 1 2 3 4 part 11 11 5 1 of our history and identity." "Speaking both Hindi and 1 -- 9 20 English is an advantage." The belief that Indian people most often use English is considered important to India as a English with other Indians is also confirmed in whole. Only 10% disagreed somewhat with the the study. One third uses English most often with statement (two Tamils and one West Bengali). foreigners. One person did not answer to this question.

Statement 1 2 3 4 Statement 1 2 3 4 "English is important to India -- 3 14 13 as a whole." "When I use English, it is most often

with native speakers or 5 15 7 2 Most informants do not feel the need for more TV foreigners, and radio programs available in English. 44% of not with Indian people." the informants, however, would like to have more broadcasting in English. The Model for English in India -- The Informants' Views Statement 1 2 3 4 At the end of the survey, there were additional "There should be more TV questions dealing with the preferred model for and radio programs available in -- 17 8 5 Indian English. The informants had to state the English." model of English they aim for, and which, in their The majority (80%) would like to see English opinion, would best be suited for India. always on public signs, notices and ads, although, as one informant add: "along with regional Earlier on in the study, Saghal stated that languages". educated Indian English variety close to the native standard would be favoured as a model for Statement 1 2 3 4 Indian English by the general consensus [7]. In "English should be used on this study it turned out, however, that in fact the 2 4 15 9 public signs, majority of the informants (70%) felt that RP

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(Received Pronunciation: BBC English; Standard English...I think American English suits us well." English in Britain) would serve as the best model for Indian English, 10 % thought General In support of uniformity (and an international American English would be better, and 17% standard) in English around the world, some of preferred the Indian variety of English. the informants argued:

The reason to the result may be that most of the a) "I think RP would be a reference which informants do not seem to acknowledge their own, everyone can follow. Otherwise different states Indian, variety of English, but automatically and regions in India would develop different assume that the model has to come from outside; usages, which may not be desirable…the basic people somehow feel compelled to refer to an language structure shouldn't be changed outside variety. Crystal thus seemed to be right in irreversibly." pointing out that when, on one hand, the English- speaking communities do acknowledge a language b) "All of us cannot speak with the same accent should reflect their own experiences; on the other but I think there should be uniformity as far as hand many are of the view that there should be spelling of words is concerned...we should one, universally intelligible, more or less definitely give importance to spelling, grammar standardized medium [32]. In the following, a and the likes which I think forms the basis of a sample of answers will be presented. language. I think British English should be the role model." The informants gave reasons for the preference of RP as follows: c) "...though there may be local versions of English there should be a definite and fixed a) "The English in India has a British form of English to be followed for formal and background...Standard English in India has inter-nation exchanges wherever possible." strong influence on Indian English and I think that is best for India." Some people claimed they had both RP and the Indianized variety as the model, depending on the b) "Why not follow the standards set by, say, situation: Oxford, to have uniformity? We are still taught colonial English at school and a good lot of us a) "I would consider RP as my model in all still prefer J.R.R. Tolkien to Jeffrey Archer." official, business transactions, but everywhere But, also some people supported the Indian else the Indian variety goes...most people stick variety: to RP for official work and the Indian variety for informal conversation." a) "I would think that the Indian kind of English with a generous use of Indian slangs thrown in b) "One should adopt the King's English which is the one that is mostly used and I do not see can be well understood throughout the world. any problem in continuing it....formal written At the same time Indian English works English has also been Indianized to a large extremely well within the country." extent and I would prefer it that way." In support of variation in a language: b) "For a general Indian, I think Indian variety of a) "...it is natural that language develops. But it English is best suited since it is understood would be nice if there was a body to properly by a huge number". standardize it the world over (so that we don't c) "Indian English - cause locals more comfortable have some people speaking one version and the with it. Also leads to better creativity and self- others some other version). Again, pride, expression..." cultural influences and some other things make it impossible to force one version on Supporters of General American English argued others. My personal opinion is that, as long as that: you can get your message across effectively, it does not matter what version you use (I "I guess till a decade ago, people wanted to follow presume languages were developed for the sole British English. But you know, after this software purpose of communication and expression." boom, and the opportunities in the USA for Indian professionals, this changed the situation and now b) "There is so much of variation that it's quite the younger generation aims at General American difficult to make a generalized statement which can qualify as fair."

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 38 Available online at: www.ijassh.com c) "Non-native Englishes are NOT deviant… standard and orthodox type still I think it They add richness to the original language, would be difficult to get the accent. Indians help it to grow, and are VERY NATURAL - this have been good in vocabulary and grammar (as is NOT my mother tongue. My mother tongue good as the British sometimes), the only WILL dominate." difference being that all good writers might not be so good in spoken English and even if they d) "Well…if anybody has any problem with coping are good they may not follow the accent up with so many accents of English…they exactly." probably don't approve of their ancestors who sailed thousands of miles across the globe One explained the nature of English in India: spreading the language in the first place!" "Here we express only ideas in English, not emotions. Our English here is more for ideas and e) "I do not think RP has any relevance anymore official communication than for expressing our as far as the growth and acceptance of the feeling." language is concerned. The richness and fun that diversity brings along is tremendous!" Possible Problems and Value of Attitude Surveys f) "I like the little different English versions Cheshire stresses that language attitude surveys which could be more close to the culture than are important to language planning, teaching and one standard. But I don't like them to be too the status of a language in public life generally different which make life tough for new comer." [5]. g) "…in this dynamic world, a language gets Baker has listed some possible difficulties richer by absorbing different words from connected with measuring an individual's different languages to describe a phenomenon attitudes. The most relevant for my study are that more convincingly...there should not be a people may, consciously or unconsciously, give snobbish restriction on the variation of socially desirable answers, or, for instance, the English." purpose of the research may affect them [35]. To eliminate this, I have used a questionnaire which The idea of correctness of a variety over others consists of three parts, all of which are was also expressed: independent, though closely interconnected. With this I wanted to ensure that it would be more a) "I can understand English customed to India difficult to try to give, for instance, "politically quite well but I think that it would be correct" answers. Also, to eliminate the effect of preferable for us to use the correct phonetics knowing the purpose of the research, it was not and grammar, which I think the awareness of, specified to the informants that their attitudes is growing." towards English were being studied. b) "BBC English is easy and... taught in schools in Although attitude scores are imperfect India… I personally feel a language should be representations of individuals' attitudes, if the taught in purest form... it is better to follow attitude test has been constructed well, its' results single English." can be relatively reliable. Baker believes in attitude tests, claiming that "in attitude change c) "…the English which the new generation lies one hope for language life and resurrection". speaks has American slangs and they want to Attitudes, once recognized, can be turned into follow the Western culture. This was not the action (Ibid, 141). case during our fathers' college days (say 60's) wherein they learnt the RP correctly and had In Fasold's view, even the question of one's better English." mother tongue may present the first problem in attitude surveys in multilingual countries: an Some people also expressed in their view that Indian person's answer to the question can be Indian English is somehow deviant: based on the desire to be associated with a a) "With the increased exposure to the particular language, to appear patriotic, or to international media I'm sure some accent show belonging to a local ethnic group [14]. corrections will take place…" The study was, indeed not wholly unproblematic: b) "I would prefer the Indian variety… Though some people clearly wanted to give socially the English in the BBC would be of a more desirable answers, the kind of answers they

Jayaraj J. et. al.| Jan. 2015|Vol.3|Issue 01|15-42 39 Available online at: www.ijassh.com thought would be expected from them, or maybe people's languages differ. Thus, the usefulness of the kind of answers they ideally would like the Hindi as a lingua franca seems to be regionally language use to be like. In my opinion, however, limited, as Spolsky has claimed [15]. In the domain analysis helped to minimize this problem, domains of education, government and because ambivalences in people's language use in employment English shows itself, without doubt, different domains and their claimed attitudes as the most preferred medium. could be compared with each other. Some informants, argued, for instance, that English was In the domain of transactions, L1 is used more not at all important to them when, e.g. looking for often than English at both the market place and a job: in the domain analysis, however, it turned in shops and at the railway station. This is quite out that the same people claimed very high natural when one is reminded that English is, frequencies for the use of English in that really, a language of the educated: quite possibly particular situation [47-55]. the people selling goods and food in the market place do not often know a word of English. Conclusion Attitudes about a language are important, for According to the present study, different they more or less determine its place in the languages are definitely being allocated different multilingualism of a country. English has roles in India; languages are used differently traditionally been the language of the government according to the domain in question. I was and other domains with prestige, and still today it especially interested in the role of English, but as carries more prestige than Hindi in India and it languages cannot exist in a vacuum, also the uses is, too, considered important and an advantage to of other languages in the society have to be taken the country as a whole. into account. People's motives for supporting English are English in India has, indeed, come far from its mostly instrumental: the results of the study original uses in the colonial times when it was reveal that English is perceived as a useful mostly used as the language of the government. language to know mostly because of job Nowadays, English has spread into many new opportunities: English is considered necessary domains, also the more personal ones, such as the would one want to have a job. On the other hand, family and friendship. English has, also, acquired Hindi is not perceived important when it comes to new functions, including the self-expressive or getting a job: only one informant claimed he/she innovative function. Today, in fact, it is hard, could not get a job without the knowledge of almost impossible to think of English as it is used Hindi. The informants, too, support the role of in India only simply as another foreign language. English as an associate official language, for 62% of them require a person to be able to speak English in India is a diglossically high language. English to be admitted to a public post. Education The reasons for this lie in the colonial times when is an important proof of the status of a language the power was attributed to English, the language in a society, and if this is true, in the case of of the Raj. From then on, English became a English its status seems quite secure: over 90% of symbol of political power, the position of which it the informants are of the opinion that all children holds, still: English, today, represents the should learn English at school. scientific knowledge, modernization and development. Whereas English was considered important to India in most of the responses (90%), Hindi is The use of English clearly increases in the more perceived important for the development of the formal domains. Also, the more formal the country only by 33% of them. situation is, the bigger the number of languages possible for each occasion. In the domains of The informants strongly identified themselves education, government and employment it is, with their mother tongue and the group that without doubt, the most preferred medium. It is, speaks it; this is important for the maintenance of however, making its way to more informal the native languages of the country: especially in domains, as well: about 40% of the informants the case of varieties with less official claim to speak English with friends, and people acknowledgement group solidarity becomes very get introduced to each other most often in important. The maintenance of a group's language English. Over half of all personal letters, too, are makes one part of it. written in English. In the neighborhood domain English is the most preferred option when

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Integrative motivation seems to be very important Indian English has definitely emerged as a for maintaining Hindi as the official language of variety of its own in the eyes of the Indian people India. It is, also, beneficial for the maintenance of themselves. Although many acknowledged RP a language to be associated with positive cultural (Received Pronunciation: BBC English; Standard values; especially when a less prestigious English in Britain) as the best model for Indians language is in question. Although, as mentioned to strive for, almost as many supported variety in earlier, English is clearly perceived as a more a language arguing that because of linguistic and useful language to know, people on the other hand cultural reasons, Indian English is naturally can identify themselves more easily with Hindi different from, say, the British standard variety of (only 17% said they identified themselves with English. Some people, though, expressed their British and Anglo-American culture, whereas view of Indian variety as somehow "deviant" by about 67% of the informants feel proud to speak talking about corrections which should take place the language and consider it a big part of their in the variety, and also by comparing Indian culture and identity). Most of the informants English to the more standard and orthodox type of would like the use of Hindi to be encouraged in standard variety of English as used in Britain. India, as well as they would like to see it as the People, indeed, seem to be somewhat ambivalent official language also in future. Most of them about Indian English and its features. Some thought, too, that they would miss out on many people would even divide the use of English so enjoyable parts of culture could they not speak that RP would be reserved for more formal uses, Hindi. whereas "Indian English" (whatever one understands with it) is considered suitable for, as Although Spolsky has claimed that people rarely one informant puts it, "informal conversation". know any other language other than their own, this was clearly not the case in my study: people As we can see from the results of the study, reported, on average, four different languages. English has become more nativized in the Indian The usefulness of Hindi as a lingua franca, environment: it seems that English now belongs however, appeared to be regionally limited, as in to India's linguistic repertoire in a very natural some areas few people know it or they dislike way. English, however, is still clearly a language speaking it. 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