Linguists learn to fight ‘killer’ English for survival

Professor Geoffery Davis,chairman of the European branch of Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS),said,“Though it is a lingua franca there,aboriginal communities of Australia think English devours. They think it is a killer language. There are only 3,00,000 aborigines left in Australia.”

Similarly,the Maori community is also shrinking,threatening the existence of Maori language. “Out of the population of four million,there are only 4,50,000 Maori people in New Zealand. Roughly,25 per cent of the total population speak Maori,” said Dr Peter Keegan,senior lecturer who teaches Maori language at the Faculty of Education,University of Auckland.

So why is English so dominant? “English has enormous print capital,whereas a number of other languages exist as just oral traditions. For a language to survive longer,it should have some bases like a dictionary and this requires a language to have print form,which majority of the languages of the world do not have,” Prof Nemade said.

Prof Davis listed other reasons. “American culture is dominant because of economical,scientific and historical reasons,” he said.

Keegan echoed his views. “Maoris are migrating to cities and preferring to send their children to English-medium schools. They think English would help children build better careers. However,this understanding is not right,” said the lecturer who has done extensive research on Maori language.

Most of the language experts,including Prof Davis,feel it is very difficult to challenge the dominance of English language and escape its influence. “It’s a fact English is dominating other languages of the world and eroding cultures. It is very difficult to stop this. The solution is to create a mix of cultures and learn from one another.”

Expressing similar ideas,K K Chakravarty,Chancellor of National University of Education Planning and Administration,New Delhi,and former director of Indira Gandhi National Museum of Mankind,Bhopal,said,“Globalisation is leading to erosion of cultures. However,do we want to museumise communities? They will have to modernise. But modernisation and Westernisation are not equal. Modernisation does not mean Westernisation.”

Prof Nemade also agreed that the marginalised groups will have to open up to forces of modernity and develop on all fronts.

He suggested that possible approach could be the one adopted by New Zealand and South Africa. “In New Zealand,Maori Language Commission set up by government promotes the language among masses,” he said,adding it has produced positive results.

Dr Keegan agreed to Prof Davis. “There are many parents in New Zealand whose mother tongue is English but they are sending their children to Maroi schools so that they can better understand the culture,” the lecturer said,adding the commission also runs adult learning programmes in Maori.