English as Lingua Franker
By JUG SURAIYA The Times of India | FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2005 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1117229.cms Only connect, even if it ain't correct Who decides what is English as she should be spoke? According to the Cambridge-educated Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, the answer would be the custodians of the Queen's English. And Lee might add that the question itself was incorrectly phrased � idiomatic usage be blowed � and ought to have read: Who decides what is English as it ought to be spoken? At the launch of Singapore's 'Speak Good English' campaign, Lee urged his compatriots to clean up their English by cutting out local colloquialisms and syntactical idiosyncrasies. "It is important for all of us to speak good English, because English has become the lingua franca of international commerce;(it) is our bridge to the world", he said. If, as Lee observed, Singapore has an Anglophone advantage over many other nations, India arguably has an even greater edge, what with its guesstimated 30 million regular speakers of English. Thanks to globalisation and outsourcing, 'Angrezi hatao' has given way to 'Angrezi bachao'. But whose Angrezi? The Queen's? Or our own mirch-masala boli? Should we be lingual conservatives or libertarians? Lee is obviously on the side of conservatism. In order to be understood by, and to understand, the rest of the world we must learn to speak, and write, like them. We must make language as standardised as sliced bread. This is the most practical � and profitable � approach. Libertarians, however, would argue that language, any language, is not about correctness but about communication. And often you can communicate more effectively by bending, or breaking, rules of grammar and vocabulary. For instance, the anti-litter 'Don't rubbish Hong Kong' campaign was hugely successful; it was bad English, but good communication. Language is a double-edged instrument, one edge being grammatical rules and the other being emotion. Without rules and logic, language can't work. But without the resonance of emotion, language won't work. This is why Esperanto, a great idea in theory, never caught on. Would you want to read Shakespeare, or Rabindranath, or Tolstoy, in Esperanto? Those who are in favour of a rigidly conservative use of English are in fact going against the grain of the language, arguably the most eclectic and self-renewing in the world. This linguistic laissez-faire is English's greatest strength against such tight-corseted would-be competitors like French, in which changes and neologisms must win the nod of the august Academie Francaise. English, on the other hand, makes herself up, like a neverending story, as she goes along. Chaucerian English is different from contemporary English. Which, with its increasingly American popular orientation all over the world, including Britain, should probably be renamed Amlish, for American English. But if there are many Englishes � Amlish, Indlish, Jamlish (Jamaican English), and so on � won't we become lingually ghettoised and unable to communicate with each other? Not if we adopt a free market approach to language, which like water finds its own level. Take the case of SMS English, a creation of cellphone technology. This variant of English is widely used and understood across generations and continents. Geeks and bloggers have their own argot, as do scientists, accountants and business managers. This doesn't mean there can't be intercommunication between such subspecies. The twin forces of globalisation and specialisation are ensuring that all of us become multilingual � even when we think we are being monolingual. For instance, in the course of a single day a middle-class Indian urbanite might use several types of English: listening to Indlish pop, watching an American TV sitcom, chatting on the Net with a pal in Australia, attending an MNC business meeting, relaxing with friends and family for an evening of gup-shup. As a people, Indians tend to be multilingual. Thanks to internal migration, many, if not most, Indians can speak, if not also read and write, more than one language. In conversation, Indians often switch from one language to another, sometimes in mid-sentence and often without realising it. This polyglottal exchange forms the basis of the Great Indian Bazar, taken in its broadest sense to mean a common market of goods, services and discourse. If we add English to this tower of babble, we don't just get Indlish. We get Punjlish, or Punjabi English, Bonglish, or Bengali English, Tamlish, or Tamil English, and so on. All living, and communicating, with each other in gainful coexistence. India is in fact a crucible of English as a means of transcultural negotiation. Lee Hsien Loong was only partly right when he said that English was the language of international commerce. Language is commerce. It is a free trade agreement of ideas and feelings. The fewer official restrictions on this trade, the greater the benefits for all. So who decides what is English as it ought to be spoken, or as she should be spoke? You do. Every day, when you say, or write, or read something in English. Including this article. Lee's lingua franca or a free-for-all lingua franker? It's up to you to choose which you like. And which you want to rubbish � in preference to Hong Kong. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? 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