About:
The preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity in today’s world is a major concern to scientists, governments, community leaders, and advocates of linguistic human rights. More than half of the 7000 languages currently spoken in the world are estimated to be in danger of disappearing during the 21st century and India which speaks 780 tongues (Devy, 2014), is leading the list of the countries in terms of disappearance of minority languages (Moseley, 2012). Language policies, whether institutional or otherwise, play a significant role in this process. Early language policy in this geopolitical domain centred mostly on resolving the language “problems” through developing macro-level frameworks for educational language policies drawing on the pre-established colonial framework. According to many commentators (see Khubchandani, 2011; Sen Gupta, 2018), these policies were developed primarily to resolve “conflicts” between dominant and minority language(s). Policy rhetoric in India although contests “one language – one nation” ideologies by conferring constitutional recognition to their respective regional languages, in practice, governmental policymakers perceived as stakeholders of language governance, have often been criticised for endorsing the interests of dominant social groups, marginalising minority languages and attempting to perpetuate systems of socio-lingual inequality through laissez-faire policies (Nandi et al., 2022). This lecture undertakes a comparative analysis of multiple case studies pertaining to analogous policy discourses across India, with the aim of elucidating issues related to language-induced anxiety. Central to this discussion is the concept of linguistic violence, defined as the employment of derogatory, humiliating, and discriminatory verbal expressions intended to inflict harm, stigmatize, or marginalize individuals. The intention is also to reveal the implementational spaces within these policies causing many minority-language-speaking children suffer from anxiety, alienation and difficulties establishing lasting friendships beyond their ethnic and linguistic group due to their cultural and linguistic differences with their peers.
References:
Devy, G. N. (2014). The Being of Bhasha: A General Introduction. Hyderabad: Orient BlackSwan.
Khubchandani, L. (2011). Living together in a multilingual world. Holistic approach to promoting lesser-used languages: Tackling endangered languages. In J. Cru and L. Khubchandani (eds.) Linguapax Review 2010, (pp. 53-67). Barcelona: Centre UNESCO de Catalunya.
Moseley, C. (2012). The UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger: Context and Process.
Nandi, A.; Manterola, I.; Reyna-Muniain, F. and Kasares, P. (2022). Effective family language policies and intergenerational transmission of minority languages: Parental language management from autochthonous and diasporic contexts. In M. Hornsby and W. Mcleod (Eds.), Transmitting minority languages: Complementary reversing language shift strategies, pp 305-329. London: Palgrave.
Sen Gupta, P. (2018). Language as Identity in Colonial India. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
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