16.1787, Review: Politics of Lang/Lang Policy:Krishnaswamy&Burde

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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1787. Mon Jun 06 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1787, Review: Politics of Lang/Lang Policy:Krishnaswamy&Burde

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1)
Date: 06-Jun-2005
From: Chandra Shekar < chandras at csufresno.edu >
Subject: The Politics of Indians' English 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2005 22:56:32
From: Chandra Shekar < chandras at csufresno.edu >
Subject: The Politics of Indians' English 
 

AUTHORS: Krishnaswamy, N.; Burde, Archana S.
TITLE: The Politics of Indians' English
SUBTITLE: Linguistic Colonialism and the Expanding English Empire 
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2004 (Hardback edition, 1998)
Announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/9/9-1767.html


Chandra Shekar, California State University, Fresno

DESCRIPTION

Linguists in India and abroad have been engaged, from time to time, in 
the discussion of the nature of Indian English, a variety of English 
much like Caribbean English, Singapore English, Australian English, 
American English, Black English Vernacular etc. and the sociological 
and political status of English in India vis-à-vis other Indian languages. 
Krishnaswamy and Burde's book adds a new dimension to this 
debate. The authors forcefully argue that the explanation and the 
description of Indian English and English in India is rather inadequate 
and offer a historical and socio-political explanation to characterize 
the nature of Indian English/English in India. The writers relate the 
characteristics of present day Indian English and the role of English in 
India to the history of English in the sub-continent that correlates with 
the political history of British rule in India. Highlight of this book is the 
empirical evidence in the form of archival material of English written by 
Indians dating back to 1600 and other specimens used extensively to 
support their argument.

The book includes five chapters, with each chapter introduced by an 
epigraph. It also includes a table of contents, preface, extensive 
appendix, bibliography and index.

SYNOPSIS

The first chapter, English in India: Problematics of Perception, reviews 
the description of views expressed in the literature on Indian English 
and English in India. The authors quote extensively from major 
sources the different descriptions of Indian English/English in India 
and point out the ambivalence, confusion and contradictions inherent 
in these works. The authors conclude this chapter by highlighting the 
attitude of people towards the role of English language and its future 
in the subcontinent.

In chapter two, Krishnaswamy and Burde examine the research done 
on 'Indian English' and 'English in India' by various researchers and 
scholars in the field. The authors point out the confusion that has 
resulted from using the terminology 'Indian English' synonymously 
with 'English in India'. While making an attempt to sort out the 
difference between the two, they critically evaluate the works that 
treat 'Indian English' only as a variety of English with unique lexical, 
morphological, phonological, and syntactic properties and those that 
talk about the perception and status of English language use in India 
and the creative writing in English by Indian authors or authors of 
Indian descent.

The authors begin chapter three by introducing the notion of 'power' 
and how 'language' is used as a tool of power to bring in socio-
cultural, economic, political and technological changes in a society in 
which it is in circulation. They argue that any discussion on the role of 
English in every day life in India should be done within the framework 
of 'power structure' of languages of India. English in Indian context, 
authors claim, is primarily a language of money and power, language 
of the urban elite, language of the feudalistic society, a language of 
bureaucracy, a language that has divided the society into 'haves' 
and 'have nots'. The power differential between English and other 
languages of India, the authors claim, has 'coerced' the 'weak' who 
speak a vernacular, to 'learn' English as a 'survival' strategy. English 
used by the 'weak' as a survival strategy, Krishnaswamy and Burde 
argue, in essence, captures not only the linguistic nuances of this 
variety, but also gives us a glimpse of the role of English in India. This 
social reality, as the authors point out, has not been taken into 
consideration by scholars currently working on the study of English in 
India. 

Chapter four introduces the history of English language use in India. 
The authors have divided the history of English in India into five 
phases: 
i) 1600-1813 -- the pre-transportation phase, 
ii) 1813-1857 -- the transportation phase, 
iii) 1857-1904 -- the dissemination phase, 
iv) 1904-1947 -- the institutionalization phase, and 
v) 1947-1990 -- the identity phase. 

The authors show that each phase in the development of English in 
India correlates with the economical and political objectives of the 
people who were/are at the helm of the power structure. English 
education and bureaucracy emerged at the same time, one serving 
the interest of the other. In order to prove their argument, they provide 
data from the written documents written by the people during the 
respective phases. What is remarkably interesting is that the data 
suggests the 'domain restrictedness' of the English language use in 
India through out its history. English was primarily used in print-media, 
education, bureaucracy, but not in the discussion of 
native 'religion', 'culture', music, and fine arts. In other words, the 
authors point out that the English language use in India was restricted 
to specific domains. This 'domain' restrictedness, they claim is 
the 'unique' feature of 'Indians' English' or Indian English.

In chapter five, a brief summary of the major thrust of the authors' 
arguments in characterizing 'Indian English' and 'English in India' is 
given. Krishnaswamy and Burde conclude this book claiming that 
there is no such a thing as *indianness* in 'Indian English', but English 
in India simply reflects a complex web of socio-political and historical 
realities of a geographical area that has come to be known as 'India'.

EVALUATION

Krishnaswamy and Burde's book is worth reading for policy makers, 
educationalists, linguists and other scholars who are interested in 
postcolonial studies, language-in-education policy, sociolinguistics, 
bilingualism, and multilingualism. It is a very well written book with 
some forceful arguments worth considering in the discussion of the 
status of English in India. This book is well researched, provides 
helpful data to support the claims made and an extensive appendix 
and bibliography which curious readers can follow up. A major 
drawback of this book is there are too many quotations used by 
various authors and scholars throughout the book that distract the 
reader's focus. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Chandra Shekar teaches in the Linguistics department at 
California State University, Fresno, California. His courses include 
Introduction to Linguistics, Language, Culture and Society, 
Bilingualism, and Syntax. His research interests are in Syntactic 
Theory, Dravidian Syntax, Bilingualism, language and gender, 
language and politics, Language Acquisition and Language Teaching.





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