LANGUAGE IN INDIA

GLOBALIZATION, ENGLISH AND LANGUAGE ECOLOGY
Sukhdev Singh, Ph.D.

GLOBALIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON LANGUAGES

1. by explaining the processes of hybridization and emergence of new languages or
2. by charting out the new functions of languages and their development or
3. by explaining the roles of languages in the bi (multi) lingual contexts and the sociolinguistic issues of languages shift/ attrition etc.

When languages come into contact socially, they do not remain unchanged like physical objects in contact, but undergo change like chemical objects. The changes may be either in the function or in the form of languages concerned or in both (Annamalai, 2001: 208).

Although the three answers are interdependent, the relative priorities of the researchers would differ. The present paper deals with the last problem i.e., sociolinguistic explanation of the interrelations between languages in the already bilingual contexts. The explanation is of greater concern to the countries, which have been colonies in the recent past.

This paper will deal with the probabilities of language shift or language attrition and language maintenance in India. This discussion is significant for language planning and policy.

NOT MERELY AN ECONOMIC AGENDA

Globalization is most often understood purely as economic agenda whereas it is, in fact a package of economic interests and socio-political ideologies seeking to re-enact colonialism. Now that the post-industrial markets are packed with not only buffer stock of material goods but also with nonmaterial products, what were socio-cultural practices are now marketable commodities. Globalization is thus the world wide distribution (sale) of material goods, some institutions, of cultural products such as movies, music, toys, videos, news, media, dressing and food habits, communication skills and languages, of some services such as transport, hospitality, accountancy, consultancy, so on and so forth.

Globalization is the packaged politics of breaking national and political boundaries to the advantage of the powerful part of the globe: the ideologically loaded discourse of globalization is the colonial story of "white man's burden".

GLOBALIZATION AND ALIENATION - THE ROLE OF ENGLISH

Globalization encourages the individuals to alienate themselves from their local domains and nationalistic feelings and opt for global products (brands including English as a global language).

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SUKHDEV SINGH

A Review of CARIBBEAN INDIAN FOLKTALES - A Fascinating Collection, Transliteration and Translation by Kumar Mahabir | A Review of KEY WORDS OF A KINSHIP - An Interesting Exploration of Historical Relationship Between the English and the Tamils by R. M. Paulraj | Englishes in India | A Study of the Skills of Reading Comprehension in English Developed by Students of Standard IX in the Schools in Tuticorin District, Tamilnadu | POWER 7 - POWER TO ACT CIVILIZED | Globalization, English and Language Ecology | Computational Analysis of Sanskrit Language | Applications of Artificial Intelligence & Mnemonics in Learning Foreign Vocabulary | Practicing Literary Translation - A Symposium by Mail - Round Seven | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR