INFOKARA RESEARCH ISSN NO: 1021-9056
Kanglish in Kannada News Channels: Is It Ruining or Renewing Kannada?
Manoj B A, Assistant Professor, Department of Media Studies, School of Arts and Humanities, Reva University, Kattigenahalli, Yelahanka, Bengaluru – 560064, INDIA [email protected]; [email protected] Abstract
Kannada is the one of the oldest languages in India and stands at 8th place among the highest number of native language speakers. There is a marginal decrease in the number of native speakers in 2011 (3.61%) compared to the 1991 (3.91%) census. It has undergone lot of changes in the last 2000 years of its history. Now, with the strong influence of English, many languages are undergoing structural change. Kannada has also endured some changes and perhaps has taken up a new form Kanglish, which is a mixture of both Kannada and English.
Several studies have shown that the television has the capacity to make people follow it has also an influence on the language used by the people. Hence, we have noticed the style of speaking Kannada has become Kanglish.
2018 BARC report has indicated that Kannadigas watch news more than any other states in South India. In fact, it is observed that most of the Kannada TV channels are now-a-days using Kanglish in their programmes. This results in the change in language structure and may have an impact on the native Kannada language speakers.
This study aims at find out the usage pattern of Kanglish in Kannada News Channels. The study will consider four top Kannada news channels’ prime time news between 7pm to 10pm. The study employs the qualitative content analysis method where in the content will be analyzed and interpreted.
Key Words: Kanglish, Kannada TV News Channels, Content Analysis
I. Introduction
Television is one of the fastest growing medium in India. As per the KPMG report,in FY18, television market size increased to Rs 651.90 billion (US$ 10.11 billion) from Rs 433.70 billion (US$ 7.17 billion) in FY14. In FY18, broadcasters subscription revenue was Rs 107.00 billion (US$ 1.66 billion) and is projected to reach Rs 224.00 billion (US$ 9.68 billion) in FY23 at a CAGR of 12.60%. As per the same report, as of 2017, nearly 31 per cent of TV households are in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala. Total viewership in these five states grew eight per cent year-on-year to reach 259 million in 2017.
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A. A Glance at News Channels in India
In 1995, the landmark verdict of Supreme Courtof India ‘Airwaves belong to public,’ paved way to the official entry of private television channels in India and thus ending the 40 years of monopoly of Doordarshan. A new era of television news channels started with NDTV launching its 24x7 English news television channelin 2004. Within a very short time hundreds of news channels flourished in various states and in different languages. South India became a prominent hub of news channels.
In south India, news channels stand in the third place with 7% of total viewership after General entertainment Channels (61%) and Movies Channels (17%). Kannada News Channels has grown exponentially with an increase of 32% growth in viewership from week 5 of 2018 to week 5 of 2019.
B. Kannada News Channels
Udaya News was the first kannada news channel and shut its operation in October 2017 after 19 years of airing news. TV9 Kannada is rated as number one channel since several years in terms of its viewershipwas started in 2006 and followed by Suvarna News in 2009; Kasthuri News 24x7 in 2011; Public TV in 2012 and News 18 Kannada in 2014. Today at least 12 news channels are actively telecasting news apart from many local news channels at district and taluk levels.
C. Kanglish
Now, with the strong influence of English, many languages are undergoing structural change. Kannada has also endured some changes and perhaps has taken up a new form Kanglish, which is a mixture of both Kannada and English. The usage of Kanglish is traced to 1993. But, in Kannada literature, the usage of Kanglish and a mixture of many languages is found in the plays of T P Kailasam as early as in 1940s and 1950s. According to Kailasam, he uses the real language of the common man, who uses it in his everyday life. (Raju:2017). The use of Kanglish is found to be more in urban areas. Because of the globalization and other various reasons, Kanglish is accepted by the general public.
Kanglish has also entered the media and Radio jockey’s made it more popular. ‘Pure Kannada without the mixing of English has become marked, and the code-switched variety, with almost half the words being in English, has become the unmarked way of speaking. This is very prominent in young adults who are working in Bengaluru….’ (Chaitra: 2015).
If one can keenly observe the Kannada channels, use of Kanglish is found in the programmes. ‘…Though these forms (Kanglish) influence the regional language used in rural areas, but the influence is much felt in urban areas. Popularity of regional movies and TV channels has contributed much towards the growth of such varieties...’ (Panda: 2014)
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II. Research Methodology A. Objective
The major objective of the study was to find out the usage pattern of Kanglish in Kannada News Channels. The study specifically aims to find out the frequency of the use of Kanglish and the analysis of the usage of Kanglish.
B. Methodology
The study employed the qualitative content analysis method where in the content was analyzed and interpreted.
C. Sample
For this study, four top Kannada news channels TV9 Kannada, Suvarna News 24x7, Public TV and News 18 Kannada were selected. These channels were selected based the BARC report for 29th Week i.e. 13th July to 19th July 2019. The prime time programmes between 6pm to 10pm was considered for the study. Each channel was observed for one hour in a day and totally 40hours of content in a span of 10 days was observed and only lead or intro part of four major stories in each channel was considered for analysis.
The content observed was almost political news. As during this time there was a lot of political tension, the Kannada news channels mainly covered political news.The parliament also focused on Karnataka’s political situation. Even the special magazine programmes focused only on political issues. Hence, the analysis involved more of Karnataka politics.
III. Analysis A. TV9 Kannada
Face App futurege problem - Wow, just one second ashte, one click gehegiddoruhegadrunodi. Futurenallinavuelruhangirtivihingirtivi anta khushipattiddepattiddu. future personality nodikhushiagtirodenonija. Adre be careful. Yakandrenimma future personality photo nimmafuturegekuttutarbahudu. Face App apaayadabagge FBI, CIA kottiveAlert. (Face App is problem for future – Wow, just one second that’s all, with one click see how they were and what they became. Everyone is happy assuming that they will look like this and that in future. Looking at the future personality people are feeling happy. But, be careful. As this future personality photo will bring jeopardy to your future. FBI, CIA have issued alert regarding the dangers of Face App).
This story is about the consequences of Face App – a mobile application which was popular during the period of this study. The entire story has 49 words and out of which 19 English words are used as it is and four words are used with Kannada suffixes. The four worded first sentence uses all English words. The second sentence started with three English words. Third and fourth sentences also started with an English word. Fifth sentence started with a Kannada word but has four English words out of the total nine words. In the last sentence there are five English wods out of total eight words. It is observed that four Kannada suffixes viz. future + ge = futurege, click + ge =
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clickge, future + alli = futurenalli, have been added to the English words. These suffixes have given a feel of Kannada to the English words.
The extensive use of English words and modification of English words certainly have changed the structure of the original Kannada language. In this story, unnecessary use of some English words is hindering the free flow of the message.
B. Suvarna News
Pakshetararigagi big fight – vidhanasoudadindakoogalatedooradallibadidata – Nitesh Apartment Security talliolanuggidakaryakartaru- PakshetarashasakaNagesh target – NageshKaredoyyalu circus (Big fight for the independents –clash happened within ear shot of vidhanasoudha – party workers barged in by pushing the security (guard) of the Nitesh apartment – Independent legislator Nagesh is the target – Circus to take Nagesh with them).
This story is about a fight that took place in front of an apartment to take control of an independent legislator where he was living. There are twenty words in total and six words are in English.
In the first sentence out of three words two are in English. Second sentence does not contain any English word while the third sentence has two out of six words. The third and fourth sentences end with an English word. The English words Fight, target, circus are used to highlight the action and to add more vigour to the story. When compared to the story by TV9 Kannada, the total number of English words used is very less but are apt to the story.
C. Public TV
Karnatakadalli kamala aralidaru high commandge tension. BJP high commandgekadtide reverse operation bheeti. Swalpaedavattadru congress sertarante BJP ya 10-12 shasakaru. BJP high command talupideguptacharailakheya secret report. (Even though the Lotus bloomed in Karnataka, high command is in tension. Reverse Operation fear is haunting the BJP High Command. A small mistake may make 10-12 BJP legislators to join congress. The secret report of the intelligence Department has reached the high command).
The story is about the challenges to be faced by the BJP high command after the swearing in of the new chief minister in Karnataka. The first sentence starts with three Kannada words and ends with three English words. The second sentence starts with an acronym followed by two English words and has two more English words in between. The third sentence does not contain any English word whereas the fourth sentence starts with an acronym followed by two eglish word and ends with two English words. The word high command has been repeated thrice in the four sentences and a suffix has been added twice command + ge = commandge. One more suffix ya is added to the acronym BJP which made BJPya.Eleven English words are used in this 28 word story. Since the phrase high command is in common usage the inclusion of this phrase does not affect it in a negative manner.
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D. News 18 Karnataka
Vishwasamatakke BSY ready. Kamaladavishwasakkilla number tension. Nalenadeyovishwasamatapareeksheyalli magic number galisi BSY pakka pass agtaare. BSY sarkaaara complete safe. (BSY is ready for trust vote. No tension of numbers for the trust of Lotus. BSY will definitely pass the trust vote test tomorrow by getting the magic number. BSY government will be completely safe).
This story is about winning the trust vote in the Assembly by the new Chief Minister. Out of the total 23 words 8 words are in English. The first sentence starts with Kannada and ends with an English word. The same is repeated in the second sentence also. While the third word in the first sentence is a short form of a politician’s name in English, the third word in second sentence is an English word. An eleven worded third sentence contains a name’s short form and three English words. In the fourth sentences there are four words out of which one is an acronym and the other word is Kannada. It is also observed that for the verb ‘pass’ another verb in Kannada ‘aagu’ has been added which is an unique usage pattern in all the regional languages including Kannada. In this story also the English words are compellingly used and are hindering the fluency. The Kannada words are connecting and matching with the English words.
It is also observed that the acronyms and the designations are written in English text on the screen. For ex: CM (Chief Minister), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), CIA (Central Investigation Agency) etc. Sometimes even the short forms of names are written in English. For ex: BSY (B S Yediyurappa), DKS (D K Shivakumar), HDK (H D Kumaraswamy).
During the observation, anEnglish word was found to be adapted to Kannada slang thus leading to a new kind of Kanglish. Mumbai allitensionnotension (High Tension in Mumbai) - The double usage of a word is often used in Kannada in order to stress the impact of something. The same technique is adopted with the word tension and a feel of Kannada is given to the entire phrase. Along with the English words Hindi words like Kamaal, Khatam, Pakka, talaash, khadak are also frequently used in the Kannada news channels.
IV. Conclusion
All the top four Kannada news channels are using Kanglish in an extensive manner. Especially during the prime time this is evident. The Kanglish is used freely in both written and spoken format on these TV channels. The usage of English verbs is modified. The Kannada suffixes have transformed and thus led to the localization of the English words. But the compelled use of English words in Kannada should be avoided which are spoiling the fluency of the language. Kannada has undergone lot of changes in its course of nearly 2000 years and Kanglish is one more form of it. Communication expert Dr. B K Ravi (2012) opines that use of Kanglish has all resulted in monoculture among the youth, not healthy for the diverse cultural fabric of India.
But, a language will be in use only if it adapts to the changing situations. Kanglish has become a very popular form of Kannada among urban youth irrespective of the native or non-native speakers. The Kannada news channels are
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only adopting the language that is already popular in the urban societies. The rural parts of Karnataka are not much familiar with this kind of Kannada. With nearly 53% of rural viewership for Kannada news channels, Kanglish will reachto the rural parts of Karnataka soon and is here to stay for a long time.
V. References 1. Chaitra, Shivaprasad. "The Optimal Grammar Of Code-Switching Between Kannada And English." Thesis Submitted for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics. Urbana Champaign: Graduate College of the University of Illinois, 2015.https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/78494 2. Ravi, B K. "Techno-lingual Ambiguities of India Media: A Critical Study." Academic Research International 3.2 (2012).
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