The Continual Evolution of English and Hindu - Essay Example

Language is basically a platform that facilitates expression in its easiest form. It helps to articulate our thoughts and express our feelings or forthat matter almost anything under the sun. Given the utility of language as a separate entity as well as a medium that eases out human life considerably, it does also act as a force to reckon with. Not only does language influence human lives to a large extent, it also influences other languages from time to time. Thus, there is not a mere speck of doubt that language also evolves along with every other thing in this universe and the evolution so taking place within the language is seldom not in congruence with the contemporary incidents of the world. Thus a language turns out to be a medium that is influenced by the factor of contemporaneity as well as in turn influences other languages as a medium of verbal expression being incumbent on the aspects that influence it. English as a language has also evolved from time to time to become what it is today. The best part of the language is that it has not only evolved but is also evolving. But what is even more startling in this regard is that apart from evolving itself from time to time in order to stay relevant to the culture at large that it gives verbal expression to, the English language also influences all other leading languages of the world, albeit mostly in a constructive manner. The continual evolution of English in the past has been based on various incidents as well as other developments held to be of paramount importance from the historical perspective. Baugh and Cable (1993) have noted that the English language we use today “reflects many centuries of development”. This has obvious references to the evolution of the language over the years. As for the major influences that English has had on itself, Baugh and Cable (1993) note that there are a few influences that are indeed towering compared to other minor influences. These are Latin, French and Norman influences. Coming to the impact that English in turn has had on other languages, this basically started with the process of successful colonialism and culminated with an empire to seriously reckon with. Thus English has indubitably become one of the most important languages in the entire world. This is again due to the fact that even in the post colonial era, English has been the lingua franca of many of the leading economies of the world. Also, populous nations like India have used this language extensively. That English has turned out to be the most widely used language in the world can be attributed to many reasons. Only military might, or in other terms, the factor of colonialism is not the sole reason due to which the English language has taken the whole world into its stride. Crystal (1997) notes that the international language dominance exhibited by English, has other reasons as well. He opines that though military strength may be one of the reasons that may have helped English to seep into the cultures that have been ruled by an English speaking nation, but in order to keep up with the demands of the language, a nation has to have economic might apart from having military powers. Thus, along with ruling the nations, the developments that have taken place in these nations or for that matter cultures, have also been incumbent on the developments in the fields of technology like the invention of new media of communication like telephone, telegraph etc. These facilitated the economies to operate on a global scale and these developments on the global scale have indeed culminated in the rise of multinational organizations (Crystal, 1997). The rise of the multinational firms have in turn given rise to other forms of usage of the language like advertising and marketing on the whole (Crystal, 1997). Crystal (1997) further notes that gradually the power of broadcasting media has only risen over the years and today it has crossed international boundaries. Furthermore, Crystal (1997) states that during the hay days of the colonial super power that Britain used to be, or its one time colony and subsequent super power America, at one point of time, America used to be the most productive economies of the world and had a vast population that surpassed the whole of Europe (Crystal, 1997). Again, Crystal quotes Randolph Quirk to mention that Britain as an imperial power had such a vast kingdom ‘where the sun never sets’. Thus, given the mighty colonial power Britain was, or for that matter, the length and breadth of the imperial kingdom of Britain it used to cover, it is imperative that the English language has spread to various parts of the world during that time. As mentioned before, this is one of the major reasons why English has become the most popular language in the world. So far as the influence English has on other languages, again the role of translation becomes very apparent. Crystal (1997) notes that translation has traditionally played a very important role in this regard and that too for thousands of years. However, in congruence with the evolution of cultures, communities have increasingly become bilingual. The combination of linguistics in various cultures has indeed been of great consideration in the process of evolution of cultures. As far as the combination of different languages is concerned, Crystal (1997) has noted that “the more a culture is linguistically mixed, the less it can rely on individuals to ensure communication between different groups”. In the context of English, various communities over the world have developed a typical language which enmeshes two languages in order to form a variant of language, mostly English, known as pidgin. Crystal (1997) comes up with the example of West African countries wherein the pidgin was developed basically as a facilitator for trading and thus combined the languages of both the communities. Crystal (1997) also mentions that in this case the success of the other community learning the language varies greatly and often is incumbent on the political, religious, as well as economic power that the super power is. As far as the happy intermingling of languages are concerned, as mentioned before, the most popular language as well as the most highly adapted one is undoubtedly English. The effects that English as a language to be adapted to be influenced by, has indeed had high impact on the other languages. Crystal has been of the opinion that the whole world at large has had a requirement of a common lingua franca and this is exactly what was formally conceived of in the 1950s when international bodies like UNO or for that matter, international organizations like UNESCO became increasingly relevant for all nations alike. As part of the increasing complexities in conversation as well as communications, slowly English has come a long way to become the lingua franca of the world. Nowadays, the advent of the internet has all the more reinforced the use of a single language irrespective of the nation one is in, the culture or community one belongs to or for that matter the language one prefers to speak in. This is due to the fact that the same mail is at times sent to people from different corners of the world thereby nullifying the need to communicate in different languages altogether. Among the nations that have picked up English and has subsequently enmeshed various tenets of English to form an organic whole is undoubtedly Hindi. India has been ruled by Britain for almost 200 years and this has had a significant impact on the language spoken by Indians at large. Hindi is the national language of India and the various words or phrases have become inextricably intermingled into Hindi over the years. Though various attempts have been made to thwart the rising importance of English into the various vernacular languages in India with particular emphasis on Hindi, the language has nevertheless seeped into these vernacular as well as regional languages in order to form an integral part of the languages (Mehrotra, 1998). The inclusion of English words in dictionaries of vernacular languages in India is a much more formal ratification of the influence that English language has had on Indian languages in general and on Hindi in particular. Mehrotra (1998) has further opined that the population that regarded English as their second language was of considerable size in the 1970s and people who regarded English as their first language amounted to well above 2 hundred thousand. Given that India is multilingual and has traditionally been known as a nation characterized by “unity in diversity” Narayan (1992) and thus the languages are also diverse and pretty much different from each other. Mehrotra (1998) further reports that though there are a vast multitude of languages in India, one startling fact is that the Constitution of India is written in English. Thus the impact of English on the Indian languages is clear especially in the light of the fact that Hindi has been chosen as the national language of the nation only because most number of people speak in Hindi (Mehrotra, 1998). McArthur (1992) has noted that Englishism is a concept that is often found in other languages and refers to use of an English language word in other languages and among the subjects he particularly mentions, one is Hindi. Also, he is of the opinion that these inclusions of English words often take the form of ‘internationalisms’, Europeanisms’, or even ‘Westernisms’ (McArthur, 1992). The other concept that also becomes relevant in this regard is that of “Englishise”. Englishise or Englishize, as McArthur (1992) puts it, is the inclusion of words, phrases and the like in order to make the language flow toward the English language. He further mentions that this is one particular aspect that reinforces the impact that English has had on other languages. Again, references to Hindi is made by the author. Given that the influence of the English language on Hindi is apparent from various authors as well as researches, it also needs to be seen that the degree of impact of English on Hindi has been beneficial to the language or not. Since it is already known that English has evolved and has only become richer with the inclusion of Latin, Norman as well as French words or those which have been included by Shakespeare, the effect of English on other languages in general and Hindi in particular needs to be assessed. Sadana (2012) has mentioned that English has mediated the literary realms of Hindi and Urdu and that this marks the transition of Hindi language from colonial to post colonial periods. She also mentions that the higher education sector in India is marked by literary colonialism. Thus, the impact of English on vernacular languages as well as Hindi is verily apparent since even lower grades have to prepare a student for higher studies. Sebeok (1970) has quoted various eminent researchers in order to comment upon the degree of impact of English on Hindi. The text includes findings of researchers who suggest that the Indian literary renaissance has taken cues from the English language. Also, Hindi, as a language, has had great potential to lexical borrowing from English and these borrowed words, phrases as well as expressions have become an integral part of the phonological system of the Hindi language. Various studies have also focused on the ‘translation equivalence’ of English and Hindi and that has increased the flow of words as well as other expressions from English to Hindi and other regional languages. Kachru (2006) has noted that the impact of English on Hindi has resulted in two types of styles – firstly the one wherein English is borrowed and incorporated into the Hindi language and secondly the ones in which English expressions are translated into Hindi. In the light of the deep impact that English language has had on Hindi as well as on many other languages in the world, as well as the various reasons that have facilitated the inclusion of English into other languages, it should also be found out if this hybridization of languages is considered good or bad. Though no researcher has ever come up with this issue directly, at most what has been captured by leading authors, linguistic experts or phoneticians is the process in which these inclusions are made into the languages. Higgins (2009) notes that hybridization of languages has become a common phenomenon in the wake of globalization linking all nations of the world together. In this context, however, a more recent phenomenon is that of the amalgamation of globalization and localization, as noted by Higgins (2009) wherein both the languages involved have their share of identity. So far as the influence of the English language being good or bad is concerned, it should be noted in this regard that as mentioned earlier, language has always been dependent on the advances in the cultures wherein they are spoken; thus the most important happenings of the modern times are also bound to influence the language spoken by cultures. Apart from the technological developments that have taken place in the world in recent times, the phenomenon of globalization is indeed not only one that has had vast impact on each and every sphere of the society at large but has also been facilitated by technological factors. Thus, with the advent of the internet, the force of globalization made more sense to the firms and our planet has ever since become a “borderless world” (Ohmae, 1989). Thus the language that needs to be spoken under such circumstances of one world is indeed one language. Obviously, as shown by major authorities on this area, the languages are slowly but surely moving toward this concept of one language and that in many cases, as mentioned above, English has indeed been acting like a mediator between two different languages. This act of mediating or for that matter emerging as a common platform for communication across the cultures, communities or nations across the border has indeed resulted in the increasing relevance as well as importance of the English language. The simplicity of the language, the less number of alphabets and many other factors make this language more of a practical choice for users all over the world. However, from the point of view of other languages they are gradually taking a turn toward the English language, the fear remains whether other regional as well as minor languages run the risk of losing their indigenousness or for that matter losing their individuality. Though mutual and peaceful co-existence is a feasible solution in this regard, the fear nonetheless remains. As for the good points in the influence of English on any other language in general and Hindi in particular, it indeed enriches the language, just as English language itself has taken in words, phrases from so many other languages including Hindi. Other than that, it is also going a step forward toward a global language wherein if not in entirety, then various tenets make varying languages converge on one focal point. However, this also pronounces an intangible hegemony of English over all other languages in the world. As mentioned before, inclusion of English words, phrases and expressions do make other languages risk their originality and thus their individuality is at risk. This apart, one should also note that the notion of one world, one language may sound impressive at first, but cannot be a practicable solution given the point of view of preservation of various cultures, languages as well as diversity in the human species around the world. Though various English words, phrases have made their way into the most sacrosanct of Hindi texts or for that matter any kind of media in recent times, this nevertheless is not seen as a threat to the Hindi language. On the contrary, the gradual inclusion of more and more English into Hindi coupled with the fact that English is becoming all the more relevant in all walks of human lives may result in Hindi taking a backseat altogether and subsequently may result in transforming into a dead language. Thus, a balance should obviously be struck. Though Hindi is spoken primarily in India only, the preservation of the indigenousness of the language not only from the perspective of its historical importance but also because of the importance it holds from the viewpoint of a separate discourse that has been used by such a large populace and is intermingled with the culture and communities of people it has served, makes it truly important for a balancing act in this regard. The balancing act, so undertaken should facilitate the mutual co-existence in its purest form so that both the languages can be preserved the way they should be as well as the intermingled among the languages in order to keep up with the recent developments around the world in order to stay contemporary. References Baugh, A & Cable, T 1993, ‘A History of the English Language’, London: Routledge Crystal, D 1997, ‘English as a Global Language’, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Mehrotra, R 1998, ‘Indian English: Texts and Interpretation’, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. Narayan, K 1992, ‘Storytellers, Saints and Scoundrels: Folk Narrative in Hindu Religious Teaching’, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania McArthur, T 1992, ‘Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language’, Oxford: Oxford University Press Sadana, R 2012, ‘English Heart, Hindi Heartland: The Political Life of Literature in India’, California: University of Berkeley Press Sebeok, T 1970, ‘Current Trends in Linguistics: Linguistics in South Asia’, Hague: Mouton Kachru, Y 2006, ‘Hindi’ Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. Ohmae, K 1989, ‘Managing a Borderless World’, Harvard Business Review, 53, May/June, p. 152-162. Higgins, C 2009, English as a local language" Pennycook: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Read More