1. INTRODUCTION
Language is a material medium in which people interact in society. The most elementary thing to observe is that language is of its nature involved with power devices because it deals with man in society. Power as a kind of domination is often thought to be right and legitimate; however, domination has also been described as a form of repression. In day-to-day life, we have to deal with other persons and agencies that attempt to exercise power over us, making us do things that they want us to do. The study of relationship between language and power is a new branch of linguistics, which emerged in the early eighties. It is known as critical language study/critical linguistics. The language of politics is one of the study areas of critical language study. The language of politics expresses vividly the power structure in a society.
This paper aims to study how the different political parties, which wish to gain power and those who wish to retain the power they already achieved, use language in Kerala. The registers of major political parties such as Congress, Communist Parties, Muslim League and the BJP, are analyzed in this paper to verify their political identity. The linguistic variables such as words, metaphor and metonymy are observed.
2. CRITICAL LANGUAGE STUDY
Critical Language Study (CLS) mainly concentrates on language and power. According to Furlough (1989), Critical Language Study would place aboard the conception of the social study of language at the core of language study. CLS analyzez social interactions in a way that focuses upon their generally hidden determinants in the system of social relationships, as well as hidden effects they may have upon the system. This original intent is now widened, and the area has become wider than earlier concepts. The present paper focuses on the theoretical aspects of Foucault, Scott A. Reid, and Sik Hung Ng.
Power, generally, is the possibility of imposing one's will upon the behavior of other persons. Socio-linguists do have different opinions as regards the definition, description, structure, and function of power. Here are some:
- Power is the probability that one actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his own will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests.
- There is another definition about the power and it is slightly different from Weber's concept. By power is meant that opportunity existing within a social relationship which permits one to carry out one's own will even against resistance and regardless of the basis on which this opportunity rests. (Secher, 1962). It means that social stratification does have a prominent role to play.
3. POLITICS
In the Webster's Dictionary (1913), there are two types of definition about politics:
- The science of government; that part of ethics which has to do with the regulation and government of a nation or state, the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity, the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals.
The Management of a political party; the conduct and contest of parties with reference to political measures or the administration of public affairs; the advancement of candidates to office; in a bad sense, artful or dishonest management to secure the success of political candidates or parties; political trickery.Political parties attempt to gain the support of the broad mass of the population. In addition, the parties also aim to have the following qualities or features (Best, 2002-11).
- Strong leadership
- A central administration which supervises the party
- A grass roots organization which mobilizes people locally
- An organization of members in Parliament
- An organization which links the party in parliament with the party members up and down the country
- An annual conference that gives members a chance to have their say.
The present paper focuses on the second definition, which I consider to be very relevant in Kerala politics. Political parties are determining factors in establishing various types of government. Each party does have their own identity. Ideology and language are used to make political identity.
4. POLITICS - LANGUAGE AND POWER
One of the most basic ways in which language and politics react is through the fact that a verbal communication system of some sort is associated with every system, which we would call government (Beaour, 1970 : 4). Beaur says that there are at least three important categories of relations between language and politics.
- Those situations in which governments intervene and attempt to control the communication system itself.
- Those in which language factors intervene and thus affect the processes of government and politics.
- Those in which language and politics are in mutual interaction, feeding back upon one another.
The mutual interaction between politics and language depends upon power and its structures. It means different political parties develop their own language to domain over other party, since the relationship between language and power are dynamic and multifaceted. When we examine language in social context, it becomes clear that power is not always given; on the contrary, it is the basis for argument; it is created, re-created, subverted, and hidden using language. Language, however, is not simply a medium for turning a power resource into influence. It has certain ways to exercise and generate power. Here are some:
- Language reflects power. This can be seen when the prestige of a language rises or falls with the power of its users. At the micro level of social interactions, a speaker's power or powerlessness is reflected in the content or style of language, and the style of language reflects upon group membership. As we have intimated, research on language style has focused attention upon features of language that characterize and describe low- but not high-power forms, and has done so without due recourse to the inter-group relationships that underpin style differences in the first instance. On the contrary, in doing so, this prioritizes the low- over the high-power form, thus obscuring processes that might enable the powerless to become powerful.
- Language creates power: Control over the direction and outcome of conversation is determined by the ability to win conversational turns, and the ability to gain turns is a function of both the interactive nature of conversation, and the social context in which conversation takes place.
- Language de-politicizes power: Attempts at gaining influence and power are often covered up and/or justified through the strategic use of social categorizations, or stereotypes.
- Language re-utilizes power. The political or social dominance of one country or one group over another is often accompanied by linguistic dominance, in which the more dominant party imposes its own language on the population at large as the standard language to use.
All these points can also been seen in the domain of Kerala politics and language use.
The present paper focuses on some main language variables, namely, metaphor, metonymy and common words with special reference to Kerala politics.
5. KERALA POLITICS AND LANGUAGE OF POWER
Kerala is the home of Malayalam language. Kerala state in India is linguistically the most homogeneous state among all the different states in India. Generally, each society has its own system of stratification. It may be class or caste. The social stratification of a society exists only with relation to the power structure of the society. Class is associated mainly with the economic status of an individual or society. On the other hand, caste distinctions are rather inherited. The other features such as sex, age, education, occupation, etc., also contribute to social stratification.
Politics is in the blood of every Malayalee. The thirty Malayalam dailies and numbers other periodicals, excite and sustain the public interest in the political affairs of the state. Most of the newspapers are run on party lines and ideology and they are quick to perceive an incident or news to be pressed in the service of the party of their own choice.
The political parties in Kerala can also be sub-divided into two, such as right wing and left wing. These words originated in a metonymic use, from French politics just before the French revolution. In the Estate General, those who supported the king politics sat on the right, while his opponents sat on the left. They were known as the right and left groups. Later on, the word left has come to refer to socialist or radical groups, the word right to conservative and nationalist groups (Beard, 2000:6).
In Kerala the alliance led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the left wing, is generally known as Edathu pakasha Janadhy pathya Munnani. It means, Leftist Democratic Front. The alliance includes parties such as CPM, CPI, J.D.(S), Kerala Congress(J) N.C.P, R.S.P and I.N.L. The alliance led by the Congress, right wing, is known as Aikya Janadhipathya Munnani. It means, United Democratic Front and it includes Congress(I), Muslim League, Kerala Congress (M), J.S.S., R.S.P. and C.M.P. Both the alliances include parties that have their support base only in the community for which they try to be representatives. For example, the Muslim League seeks to represent mainly the Muslims. And this party is attached to the Congress alliance. The BJP is also emerging slowly in the political scenario of Kerala. It does not have any stronghold in Kerala at present. The present paper mainly concentrates on the Marxist Party and the Congress Party, leaders of the alliances. It also touches some of the language elements of other parties like the Muslim League and the BJP for reference.
Metaphor, Metonymy and some other words are used widely in politics. The use of these makes a peculiar political register. The range of vocabulary, spoken by people of different political parties, or professional contexts, is known as political register. The register of the political parties expresses their political identity and power.
6. METAPHOR
Metaphor is frequently used in the language of politics as a standpoint of power. The concept of metaphor is often used to express ideas that are inexpressible through literal language. The traditional views of figurative language insist that metaphors are often used to describe something new by referring to something familiar. But in the political domain it does have various other implications and meanings. Metaphor refers to something or some one when a word or a phrase is used which establishes a comparison between one idea and another. Two common sources of metaphor in politics are sports and war, both involve physical contests of some sort (Beard, 2000 : 21). Both politician and media person (those who report politics) use these metaphors. There are some examples given below:
Sport: Chathurangam - (chess) Political play
Self-goal - Do something against own party workers.
War: Poorkuthira - (War house) young and dynamic member or leader.
Munnanni poorali- (Captain of the war)
Patakkuthira (War house)
Poorkalam (Battle field)
Ethiraali, Shthru (Enemy)
Nerituka (fight against)Metaphor can also be seen related to domains of common life. Examples are given below:
Karinkaali- Black leg- One who betrays his friend or party, one with no principles
Murachi Capitalist
Piniyaal Procure political ideology
Mukkuka To thrash out the enimies
Othukuaka To eradicate political rivals
Manushychangala/ Manushya Mathilukal Human chain against political corruption7. METONYMY
Metonymy involves replacing the name of something with the name of something else that is connected to it. For example, in Kerala, the chief minister's official residence is known as Cliff House. The Marxist Party's official center is known as AKG Center. This building contains their entire official wing whereas the Congress official center is known as Indira Bhavan. The Muslim League's center is League House. The names and the buildings stand as the symbols of the power and political ideology of these political parties.
8. WORDS
- Used as nouns to describe government. (eg. Janadhypathya Sarker - Democratic government)
- Used as nouns to describe opponents of those in power
- Used as nouns to describe the attitude of political parties to political issues.
9. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF POLITICAL REGISTER
Like literature, politics also has its own diction. It differs from common language.
There are notable differences in the type of language used by different political parties in Kerala. Here are some words:
Manthri sabha ---- Ministry
Anikal ---- Party workers
Ghataka kakshi ---- Member of the alliance
Sathya pradinha ---- Oath
Bharanakakshi ---- Ruling party
Prathipaksham ---- Opposition
Niyamsabha ---- Assembly
Bench ---- Bench
Rashtriya Arakshithaavastha ---- Political uncertainty
Sameellanam ---- Conference
Bhranayanthram ---- Political machinery
Adiyanthraavasatha ---- Emergency period
Nayam ---- Diplomacy
Jaadha ---- Procession
Sanghatanaa pravarthanam ---- Party works
Prakatanam ---- Demonstration
Samaram ---- Strike
Pani mudakku ---- Strike
Pothu sameellanam ---- Public conference
Aaroopanam ---- Blame
Adhykshepam ---- Condemn
Chakkitu pitutham ---- Influence politically
Kalu mattam ---- Political cheating
Kurumaattam ---- Unethical political party changing
Submission ---- Submission
Charccha ---- Discussion
Rastriya thantram ---- Political strategy
Prsnadhishtitha pinthunna ---- Party's support in the problematic situation
Neuna paksham ---- Minority
Bhoori paksham ---- Majority
Vargeeyatha ---- Communal
Preenanam ---- Political pleasing
Pinthuna ---- Support
Skhya kashki ---- Alliance memberApart from these words each party does have its own register to keep power identity. The registers of the political parties are described below.
10. MARXIST PARTIES
In Kerala, there are at least five parties those keep Marxist ideology such as CPM (I), CPM, CMP and CPI (ML) (two groups). They are considered as Marxist party since they have a single political terminology and ideology. But their political approaches are different from each other.
Lal salaam "Red Salute," is the common salutation among the Marxist party workers. Their main slogan, a short phrase that is easy to remember used by political parties is Engilab Zindabad! "Long Live the Revolution!." It is used by some of other political parties also.
It seems that the word samoohika, meaning "social" is the most frequently word in their register. There are several words that are related to samoohika. Some examples are given below:
Samoohika sambhavam ---- Social issue
Samoohika Prasthanam ---- Social movements
Samoohika poroogathi---- Social progress
Samoohika mattam ---- Social change
Samoohika bendham ---- Social realtion
Samoohika prathibhaasam ---- Social phenomenaOther parties that may be described non-Marxist also use these words. As for the Marxists, this term and its derivatives listed above are very important and crucial for the elucidation of their political theory because these words are closed related to three core points of Marxism: progress, construction, and peace. These are the structural elements of socialism.
Prathya saasthram (ideology)
This is another key word of the Marxist party. Prathyasaasthram is defined in several ways. Vargam (Class) is a basic word in their ideology. Although caste is the basic factor of social stratification in Kerala, the Marxist party, for various analytic and philosophic reasons, focuses on vargam. Class is a form of social stratification based primarily on the possession of money or material, and the consequential power over production. Karl Marx said that social class depends on a single factor - the means of production - the tool, factories, land and investment capital used to produce wealth (1966). There words are used in relation to vargam in the Marxist vocabulary.
Here are some examples:
Adisthanavargam (common people)
thozhilalivargam(working class)
daridra vargam(poor class).The Marxixt party refers to any groups as vargam, which means class. Vairudhyathmaka vairudhya vadam is another key word of them. It refers to the Marxist concept "dialectical materialism." Marxist theory proposes that political and historical events are due to the conflict of social forces caused by man's material needs.
Recently the Marxists coined some other words also, to show their power over ruling party in the Center, such as Manysya mathilukal and Manushya changala. These words are coined to express their strong vision against corruption and malpractices. Their political discourse is full of words and phrases which effectively condemn their opponent party, especially the right wing. In fact they influence their party power over others by using these words.
Here are some examples:
Muthalatham (capatalism)
Kuthaka (monopoloy)
Adhinivesam (Immigration)
Aadhipathyam (conquer)
Murachi (capatists)
Karinkali (Balck leg- one who betrays his friend or party, one with no principles)
burshaw (bourgeois)
samrajathuam (Imperialism)
Aagollavalkaranam (Globalisation)
Arajakavadi (Anarchist)
Vargiya vadi (Communalist)
Mathabhrath (Religious Fanaticism)
Rastriya pappratham (political illetracy) and
Prthiloma (Anti-social).11. THE CONGRESS PARTY
The Congress party was the revolutionary party before independence in the eyes of the people, but it came to occupy the conservative platform (George 2001 : 28). An essential feature of the Congress party is its assumption that as a party member the political nature of man alone should come into play. He must function as a citizen of our country. He must cease to have anything to do with any personal group, or communal politics. In other words, he must be a patriot and public servant first, and, afterwards, a representative of his community (2002 : 223).
There are certain words used to show the political identity of Congressmen.
Ahimsa ---- non-violence
Akhantatha ---- Integrity
Desyothgrathanam ---- National Integration
Desya eikkyam ---- National unity
Mathetharathuvam ---- Secularism
Nissahakranam ---- Non Cooperation
Vimochana Samaram ---- Strike for liberty
Sathagraham ---- Strike (Widely used)12. PARTY POSTS, SLOGANS, ETC.
High Command, or the group of leaders wielding power through the Congress Working Committee is the center of the Congress Committee. In recent months certain proposals in the re-structuring of the Congress have been implemented, and this would result in change of names for the power structure. The supreme body of the Marxist party is called Polit Bureau.
Jai Hind is the slogan of the Congress Party, whereas for the Marxist party it is laal salaam. BJP uses Vandematharam and the members of BJP start their meetings with the slogan Bharat Mata Kee Jai. The Muslim League has its greetings Asalam Malaikkum. Marxists start their meetings by addressing Sakhakkale (Comrades), whereas the leaders of the Muslim league do have Janabe to call their party workers. Manya Mahajanagale (dear public) or Suhuruthukkale (Friends) is the public address term of Congress in Kerala. Each one of these terms of address reveals the underlying political ideology and the way the worldview of the members is developed within the framework of various political ideologies.
The BJP does have a lexicon of its own. It contains a lot of words like Morcha (association), Karseva, (Volunatry service, for temple construction), Karivahak (office-bearer) Padasanchalam (Expedition), Karyavahi (Party office-bearer), etc. BJP is keenly interested in promoting Sanskrit words, especially archaic forms. It may be a part of its revivalism stand. The RSS, a very influential forerunner and ideologue entity of BJP, does have shaaka (drill), offering training in martial arts and body fitness. It can be sub-dived into two other groups such as Mandalam and Thaaluk. Shaka's Master is known as Mukhy shikshak . And the assistant is named as upamukhya pramukh. The student leader is known as Baalapramukh.. The Muslim League, as a political party, became very prominent after the Malabar rebellion in Kerala. The majority of Muslims live in the Malabar region. Janabe is the term of address used by the Muslims. They depend Urdu and Arabic words to supplement their vocabulary to elucidate their political discourse and sustain their political identity.
13. ELECTION CAMPAIGNS
Successful and experienced politicians know what language strategies should be used for their political campaigns. In political campaigns, language is used for a clear and central purpose. The language of political campaigns is designed to persuade people to vote in certain ways. For example, forthcoming election A.B. Vajpai appealed to the Muslims that they vote for BJP and their rights will be preserved: Muslingal bhayapedathe BJPkku vote cheyyanam (Muslims should vote for BJP without any fear that the BJP will put them through hardships, etc.) But the Muslim League M.P. E.Ahammed opposed it strongly and said -Ithu muslim Preenama aannu. (This is only a political gimmick of BJP to woo the Muslim votes to win the coming election. After the elections Muslims' rights will be infringed.) Now Congress concentrates on either Priyanka's or Rahul's live presence in their politics. They also know how to exploit the favorable sentiments of the people for Mrs. Indira Gandhi. For instance, they say Priynaka: "She is like Indira," and describes her like "Polite, sober, serious, level headed."* The emotional appeal will bring in the votes. Similar political devices can also be seen used in other states.
14. CONCLUSION
It is very clear that some of the power concepts of Foucault, a postmodern thinker, are relevant in the present context. Foucault's concept is taken here to analyze the sample data.
Foucault's central concern is with how human being are turned into subjects with in a society. He used certain organizing principles to explain how individual human beings become subjects -- dividing practices, scientific classification and subjectification.
Dividing Practices involve the exclusion of people who are viewed as a threat to the community. All the political parties try to exclude and discriminate their opponents. Language is used as a tool to discriminate their enemies. For instance, the Marxist party uses words such as murachi. Petty bourgeoisie, feudalists and yanki.
Subjectification is concerned with the process of self-formation, self-understanding and the way in which conformity is achieved, Foucault is concerned with what it means to have a self and how we as individuals, create ourselves. Individuals define themselves as normal in relation to several factors. It is the power of the norm. Normal people could regard themselves as members of homogeneous social body - society. Politics is nucleus of a society. People are expected to behave in political domain. Political language plays a key role to make people as different 'Subjects'. Political members are expected to carry their party's ideology; it means power.
Scientific classification means that the period of Enlightenment brought with it a number of new sciences that were concerned with the understanding of the 'nature' of individuals. In addition, these new sciences defined what is normal so that the abnormal could be treated. In Foucault's work, power relationships are based upon surveillance and need not be based upon physical punishment. The party members receive political thoughts that emerge newly.
The present paper is an outline of the political register and its power relations. It focuses on the right-wing and left-wing political parties in Kerala. Political language is different from common language. All political parties do have a lot of strategies to sustain their power over others. Language can also be used as one of the devices to perpetuate power hierarchy.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Best, Shaun. 2002. Introduction to Politics and Society, New Delhi: Sage Publication.Beard, Adrian. 2000. The Language of Politics, UK: Routledge.
Foucault, M. 1977. Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison, New York: Pantheon.
George, K. M. 2000. Malayalees. New Delhi, Sage Publication.
Scott, 1999. Journal of Social Issues, Spring.
The Week, 2004. Vol.22. No 10.
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