LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 17:11 November 2017
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
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         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
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         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
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Location of Identity in Language Contact and Replacement:
A Case of Hindi-ized Magahi and Magahi

Chandan Kumar, Ph.D. Research Scholar

Abstract

The paper tries to trace the location of linguistic identity in the course of language change or replacement. Language is one of the components which take part in the formation of identity. Linguistic identity is rather a short-term and easily dissoluble object. Therefore, in this paper, we shall talk about the ‘identity’ and language as an important component of it. However, language is not the only deciding factor in the formation of identity. This paper presents linguistic evidence through which we shall be able to see how Magahi speakers are changing their linguistic identity gradually. The changing form of Magahi is termed as Hindi-ized Magahi. In the course of Hindi-ized Magahi, various features of Hindi are adopted, and linguistic features of Magahi are dropped, e.g., the adoption of grammatical gender particularly in progressive aspect, auxiliary, pronoun, honorific features, etc., and loss of discourse/ pragmatic marker ‘-w?’, dropping of ‘re/ ge’ addressing features, etc. Such processes show the degree of changes. The paper is of the view that Magahi speakers at the first place cannot claim that their linguistic identity is entirely associated with the language or dialect of the region. So, there is already an ambiguity which is always vulnerable to the out-group cultural situation and other factors such as globalization. The paper has attempted to see how (linguistic) identity gets dislocated through the convergence of linguistic behaviour. The paper has also tried to understand the importance or centrality of language in the formation of self: individual as well as collective. It presents how language represents one’s belonging and, in turn, gives some sense of ‘self’, and at the same time it is vulnerable also to these factors.

Keywords: Linguistic-identity, Hindi-ized Magahi, speech community, dialect levelling, ‘self’, ‘other’, globalization.

1. Introduction

Language, when seen as the only medium of social segregation, doesn’t serve the purpose alone. Nevertheless, language consciously or unconsciously plays a very decisive role in the segregation of the society. Other than socially constructed categories which play a fundamental role in the categorization of society, language, however, being the social phenomenon too can be understood as one of the offstage factors which are less studied in the Indian context. The use of sounds, lexeme, tones, registers, etc., as symbols of communication, stratify the society in a certain pattern, if not very strictly. In a society, the function of a language is limitless; it would be no exaggeration to say that the study of language indeed reveals the structured pattern of a speech community, i.e., the social class can be understood based on the use of the above-mentioned linguistic features of the language. It is true that language and society interact with each other all the time in almost all domains and it would be interesting to see how the two (language & society) contribute to the formation of social being, and, in turn, placing themselves in the social hierarchy. Cultural or social identity must follow the question of linguistic identity, as the relation between language, culture and identity is shown by many theorists, e.g., K. Bhabha 1994, Clarke 2008, Buchlotz and Hall 2004a, 2005. However, the real question is about the centrality of the role of language in identity formation, if at all, identity is seen as the representation of one ‘self’. There are certain components which participate in the formation of identity, even if when we talk about kinds of identities like gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, linguistic, etc. We cannot perceive identity as the cultural product only if at all we are concerned with the individual ‘self’. The question of defining the ‘self’ in relation to society always brings the point of consideration of the elements of self. It (identity) is a complex amalgam of cultural entities and psychodynamic factors ( Clarke 2008). The question of self, however, is always dependent on and draws its existence from the very existence of ‘others’; this is one of the central remarks in understanding the formation of identity.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Chandan Kumar, Ph.D. Research Scholar, JNU
Room No: 230 Extn., Brahmaputra Hostel
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi-110067
India
chandajnudelhi@gmail.com

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