LANGUAGE IN INDIA

SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND, LANGUAGE ATTITUDES, AND MOTIVATION OF THE STUDENTS WHO PREFER TO PURSUE POSTGRADUATE STUDIES IN A LANGUAGE IN PUNJAB
Sukhdev Singh, Ph.D

INTRODUCTION

The study of language attitudes is a complex phenomenon (Saville-Taroike1989; Baker1992; Garnett et. al. 1999) originated in social psychology as a discipline. The issue of language attitudes has become important in view of the regular formation and growth of multi-lingual societies. The individuals are under constant pressure to learn more than one language because of pragmatic/cultural/political reasons. The languages in such situations compete and often generate linguistic controversies about the relevance and/or primacy or supremacy of one language over the other.

The individuals undergoing the process of socialization develop positive, negative or mixed attitudes toward one or more language(s). But more interesting are the cases of contradictory positions of condemning a language in which one has acquired or has a desire to acquire a very high level of proficiency. For example, a Caribbean writer, Jamaica Kincaid, indicts the colonial rule and English as an instrument of colonization. "For isn't it odd that the only language I have in which to speak of this crime is the language of the criminal who committed the crime? And what can that really mean? For the language of the criminal can contain only the goodness of the criminal's deed… (Kincaid1988 quoted in Bailey 1996:41).

NO EFFORT TO ACQUIRE PROFICIENCY?

On the other hand, it is possible that individuals, in spite of their positive attitudes toward a language, make no effort to acquire proficiency in that language because the target language lacks social and/or instrumental value. For example, some studies have shown that a great number of people in Ireland hold strong positive attitudes towards Gaelic language, yet very few of them show high proficiency in that language (O'Raigain and O'Gliasain1984,1994). Some people wish to relate themselves to their culture, roots and people but at the same time don't want to be left behind in the race achieving economic benefits, social prestige and positions of power. The relationship between language attitudes and power is an important socio-linguistic issue (Fishman 1971; Labov 1966, 1972; Trudgill 1974; St. Clair 1982; Smith 1985; Carranza 1982; Bourshis 1982; Phillpson 1992; Pennycook 1994; Cargile et al 1994; Krishnaswamy and Burde 1998; Annamalai 2001 etc.).

SOCIAL AND INSTRUMENTAL VALUES IN ATTAINING PROFICIENCY

Another case of great interest is where a language hold social as well as instrumental value and people wish to gain proficiency in it but can not fulfill their wish because of their socio-economic background, improper training and learning and living environment. In these situations, individuals make decisions about not only which language to learn but also which language to use; they must choose between the opportunity to gain social mobility and prestige by adopting the language of power and dominance or to maintain the group identity by preserving their own language. Many people develop ambivalent language attitudes under the cultural, pragmatic, and socio-economic pressures. The similar linguistic situation obtains in Punjab: every literate Punjabi by default is multilingual because he has to learn Punjabi as mother language, Hindi as national language and English link language. The present paper is the study of sociolinguistic situation and social psychology of language learning in Punjab.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the motivating factors responsible for students' decision to graduate for the degree of M.A. in English or Punjabi or Hindi.

1. To explore if there exists any relationship between students' socio economic background (social variables) and their decision (motivation and attitudes) to graduate in one rather than the other of English, Punjabi or Hindi languages.
2. To investigate if there is any significant relationship between the claimed proficiency in different languages and their choice of graduating for the degree of M.A. in a particular language.

PROCEDURE

A detailed questionnaire comprising social background, language use, language attitude and motivation for choice of a language for the degree of M.A. was administered on 253 students of M.A. English (94), M.A. Punjabi (98) and M.A. Hindi (61) at the three universities in Punjab. The first section of the questionnaire contained the questions related to the name of the respondent, name of the course, sex, mother tongue, area of residence, previous education which included medium of instruction at school, location and educational standard of the school where the respondent studied, education and occupation of a respondents' mother and father, linguistic skills of mother, father and his/her own self in English, Hindi and Punjabi.

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Sukhdev Singh

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