1. BIRTH OF AN EXPANDING LANGUAGE
As languages are organic and dynamic, like the cultures that give birth
to them, it is not surprising that they share the fate of the societies
of which they form a part. A society that is robust with the resources
to develop economically, socially and culturally also gives rise to
an expanding language.
In an eloquent response, Diamond (1993) states that we should all care
about the fate of languages because of the connection between language
and culture. He argues that when a language is lost, much more than
the sounds and structure of that language are gone. Each language is
inextricably tied up with a unique view of the world, belief system,
and literature, regardless of whether the literature is written or not.
A language is the culmination of thousands of years of people's experience
and wisdom. Moreover, it is the vehicle that transmits and perpetuates
that wisdom.
2. NEWSPAPERS REVEAL THE CURRENT STYLE OF LANGUAGE
The newspaper press has become a powerful institution in the development
of western civilization; it is the medium for exchange of ideas, and
it facilitates the time-and space-binding activities of the society.
Newspapers of a particular period can show the language style, culture
and socio-economic structure of that particular period.
3. A BRIEF LISTING OF THE HISTORY OF MALAYALAM LANGUAGE
In Malayalam, the newspaper was initially started by the foreign missionaries
approximately during 1840s. In the real sense the early publications
could not be considered as newspapers, rather they fall under the categories
of periodicals for religious propagation. The first newspaper-like publication
in Malayalam was ra:jyasama:ca:ram, published in June 1847 by
Dr. Herman Gundert from the Illikkunnu press near Tallesseri, Kerala.
This magazine was published monthly and circulated free of cost because
it was mainly intended for religious propagation. Another monthly started
after this by Gundert was pascimo:dayam which got more popularity
and publicity than ra:jyasama:ca:ram. After these monthly publications
came jna:nanikse:pam (1854) and vidya:sangraham (1864).
The newspaper named ke:raLa pata:ka started in the year 1870
from Kochi. Subsequently in the year 1876 another newspaper named satyana:daka:haLam
also started its publication.
The first original newspaper in Malayalam was ke:raLa mitRam
started in the year 1881 from the Cochin city in Kerala by a Gujarati
man named Devji Bhimji. In the beginning it was published thrice in
a month and later once in a week. In the year 1886, another newspaper
named malaya:Li started its publication from Thiruvananthapuram.
In April 1887 the newspaper named nasRa:Ni di:pika started from
Kottayam. This newspaper continues to be in circulation since then and
its current name is di:pika.
Malayala Manorama's origin was a real turning point for the
Malayalam journalism. This newspaper started its publication in the
year 1890 March 22 from Kottayam district in Kerala. In the initial
stage, priority was given to literature but later on it became popular
as a newspaper of public interest.
In 1920 when Mahatma Gandhi became the leader of Indian National Congress,
to support the national agitation a number of newspapers sprout out,
among these some important ones are: lo:kama:nyan (1920 from
Trissur), svara:T (1921 from Kollam), ma:trubhu:mi (1923
from Kozhikode), etc. During freedom struggle and after that, so many
newspapers had come into existence. Among these, only very few got popularity.
In the present day a number of newspapers are in circulation. It is
needless to say that those which fulfill the public need can only survive
in this world of competition.
4. CHANGE OF STYLE WITHIN A NEWSPAPER IN ONE HUNDRED YEARS
In this article, the data collected from the Malayala Manorama
newspaper is analyzed to examine the language style change in media.
This particular newspaper is selected because it contains a column like
nu:Ru vaRsannaLkku munpu 'One hundred years ago,' where one can
get a clear picture of the language style used in those days.
Around 100 items were analyzed for the present study. Newspapers mirror
the society and therefore the newspapers will clearly show the customs
and life pattern of the people through their language of reporting.
While reading an old news item published around 100 or 150 years ago,
one can notice the script, phonological, morphological, lexical, and
syntactic variations of the language from the present time.
5. LOSS OF TERMS DUE TO IRRELEVANCE OF WORDS
Most of the terms and usages found in those items may have disappeared
from the language because of their irrelevance in the present situation.
For example, the terms like kalppiccu 'ordered (for the instruction
of the recipients or the recipients are thus taught, or instructed)'
mukham ka:Nikkuka 'to see' tirumanas, which were used
in relation to the monarch are absent in the present functional Malayalam.
The disappearance of these terms are due mainly to the change in governance.
Absence of these terms in the present vocabulary to some extent shows
the change in social hierarch and attitude. This word, kalppiccu,
in the present time is substituted with uttaraviTTu 'ordered.'
The word aNa used to represent 1/16th of a rupee has also vanished
because of its irrelevance in the present situation. In olden days,
to show respect the much-loaded words like avaRkaL 'a title of
honor added to a person's name, or Esquire' was suffixed along with
the name of most of the dignitaries like king, religious leaders, scholars,
etc., e.g. majistRe:TT parame:švaran piLLa avaRkaL , Do:kTaR
avaRkaL , vaisRo:yi avaRkaL, etc. (In the modern language
it is replaced with the adjective bahuma:nappeTTa, which is prefixed
to the corresponding noun. This goes in tune with the English usage
'honorable'.
Though the above term is archaic in nature, often it is observed that
it reflects on the invitation for certain religious and cultural functions
posted by those who prefer to retain the traditional conventions.
In addition to the above usage, other sets of honorific terms such
as ann∂, annunn∂, aviTutte etc., were used to reveal
the hierarchical usage with reference to caste. These terms were often
used by those who belong to lower castes while addressing the upper
caste people. See Girish (2003) (Castelect:
A Critical Study) for a set of words from this category.
The
absence of these terms in the current situation can be viewed with the
neutralization of caste hierarchy in the present social set up in Kerala.
Yet another example may be cited: the use of plural while referring
to a singular subject in order to express that the person referred to
was highly respectful. For example, in the following sentence tahasi:lda:R
ve:la:yudhan piLLa avaRkaLuTe putRikaLuTe ta:likeTTu aTiyantiram i:
ma:sam. 'The marriage ceremony of tahasildar Velayudhan Pillai's
daughter is celebrated this month.' The term putRikaLuTe is
referring to the daughter of Tahasildar. Here this usage is adopted
because Tahasildar is considered to be a highly respected person in
the society. In the same sentence we may also note that the usage ta:likeTTu
aTiyantiram 'marriage' is substituted by kalya:Nam or
viva:ham during the present time.
The following sentence can be taken as an example for the retention
of old lexical forms with different meanings in functional Malayalam
as opposed to the meaning attributed to the above words in the earlier
period. For example, ma:R di:vanna:syo:s metRa:ppo:litta: avaRkaLeyum
ma:R gRigo:Riyo:s metRa:ppo:litta: avaRkaLeyum kalinna veLLiya:lca pakal
mu:nnu maNikku vaLare ko:lahalama:yi kaviyu:R paLLiyile:kku koNDupo:ya
samayam etire:lppu pRama:Niccu 'at the time when Mar Divaneos metropolitan
and Mar Grigorios metropolitan were taken to Kaviyoor church on last
Friday 3 '0 clock with boisterous shouting owing to the reception……….'
The term ko:la:halama:yi is used in olden days to convey the
meaning of 'the boisterous shouting on auspicious occasions'. The same
word in the current vocabulary has got the meaning of 'uproar or commotion'.
In functional Malayalam the term ko:la:halama:yi with old
meaning is replaced with a:RppuviLi.
6. A HISTORICAL PROCESS
During the process of language development, according to the need of
the time, the Malayalam language has shifted the explanatory terminologies
used in the earlier period to more precise lexical terms often borrowed
from other languages such as Sanskrit, English, etc., where such terms
are used. The term veccuka:Nikkuka 'to show' in the following
sentence and the currently used term pRadaRsippikkuka 'to exhibit'
can be noted as examples for the above.
Here the Malayalam form is replaced with its Sanskrit counterpart.
This is an example for need based adoption where an explanatory term
is replaced with more simple and precise one. The particular sentence
runs like this. aTuttaya:NDil pa:ri:silveccu naTattuva:n po:kunna
eksibisanu iviTatte karakausala sa:layilninnum cila sa:ma:nannL ayaykka:n
niscayiccirikkunnu. pon, veLLi, dantam mutala:yatukoNDu uNDa:kkiyiTTuLLa
sa:ma:nannaL veccuka:Nikkunnatile:kka:yi vaisaRo:yi avaRkaLuTe abhipRa:yapRka:ram
. ' It is decided to send some items from the handicraft house
here to the exhibition which will be held in Paris next year. For the
purpose of exhibiting the items made out of gold, silver and ivory according
to the decision of viceroy .'
Yet another example for this need-based adoption is the replacement
of the Malaylam term paNTakasa:la with its English counterpart
godown or warehouse. Another remarkable feature noticed
in reporting practices followed earlier is the complexity of sentences
in the reporting style as opposed to modern writing where simplicity
was given priority.
For instance, the following sentence may be considered as an example,
kaLLaru:pakkaccavaTam 'business of fake note.'
Tirunakkara cantayil oru kaccavaTakka:ran oru cumaTTuka:ranRe kaivašam
uppu vanna:na:yi kuRe ru:pa koTuttayaccatil onnu avan eTuttukoNTu atinupakaram
rasam pu:šiya oru ru:pa iTTu uppupaNTakaša:layil koNTupo:yi koTuttata:yum
avaR i: vya:jam kaNTupiTiccu po:li:sil aRivu koTuttatina:l po:li:suka:R
kaccavaTakkaraneyum pRatice:Rttu onna:m kLa:su majistRe:TTu ko:Rttile:kku
ca:Rjju ceytu aviTe vista:ram naTannu varumnata:yum aRiyunnu.
'In the Thirunakkara market a businessman had given some money to a
coolie for buying salt. He in turn had taken one rupee from that and
replaced another rupee smeared with mercury and had given to the market
to buy salt. Having detected this fraud, the salt merchant had informed
the police. The police filed a suit in the first class magistrate court
against the merchant and the coolie making them as defendant and the
trial is going on there.'
7. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE ELABORATE STYLE OR STYLISTIC EXAGGERATION
This news came in the first edition of 1897 August. The language style
used in this reporting can be justified with the readership pattern
of yester years. The readers in olden days comprised of the elite upper
class educated group who considered scholarly writing is more appreciable.
During those days it was prestigious to write very long sentence in
a single stretch and it was believed that this type of writing showed
the scholarlship of the writer/reporter. The books inthose days were
also written in the same style. For example, Kerala Varma Valiyakoyi
Thampuran's translation of the novel 'Akbar,' which belongs to almost
the same period, contains sentences of extra length. Media accepted
the language style that was prevalent among the elites and through the
media this style became popular among the common people. In this sense
the change in language style was bi-directional.
Further analysis reveals that the language used in the past was more
creative or given to some stylistic exaggeration, as in this sentence,
eluttacchanRe daRsanatta:l gaya:šRa:ddham u:TTiya munsippu ko:Tati
vakki:l bhi:mattu ko:ppu me:no:nRe sLa:ghani:yama:ya šRamatta:l maDhattil
vaLare janannaL ku:Tiyirunnu ( a sentence from the edition of 1896
Oct, 31).
Most of the reporters one hundred years ago were from the elite educated
literate classes who did not see the need to "dilute" the
language and consequently they adopted more figurative and exaggerated
or elevated style of reporting as in the examples given below. na:Takam
laLita:vila:sini na:Takasabhakka:ra:l sahrudaya hrudaya:hLa:dakarama:m
vaNNam bhinayikkappeTu kayum ceytu. 'Drama was enacted by Lalithavilasini
drama group in such a way that it gave immense pleasure to the minds
of those having aesthetic sense to enjoy it.'
The examples analyzed so far for the present study show phonological,
morphological, lexical and syntactic variations from the present day
language, which are listed below.
8. PHONOLOGICAL VARIATIONS
The examples of phonological variations noticed in the data are:
|
Olden usage
|
Present form
|
Meaning
|
|
tirye
|
tirike
|
‘return’
|
|
simmana:ri
|
semina:ri
|
‘seminary’
|
|
šRi:nagaram
|
šRi:nagaR
|
‘Srinagar’
|
|
ceyka
|
ceyyuka
|
‘to do’
|
|
vecciTTuLLa
|
vacciTTuLLa
|
‘kept’
|
|
ke:Ruka
|
kayaRuka
|
‘to climb’
|
|
a:ppi:s
|
offi:s
|
‘office’
|
|
jeyil
|
jayil
|
‘prison’
|
|
majistRe:TT∂
|
majistRe:RR∂
|
‘magistrate’
|
|
varuttiiTTuND∂
|
varuttiyiTTuND∂
|
‘made’
|
|
ka:Nma:n
|
ka:Na:n
|
‘to see’
|
|
iyyiTa/ i: iTa
|
i:yiTe
|
‘recently’
|
|
tuTańńi:TTuLLa
|
tuTańńiyiTTuLLa
|
‘started’
|
|
paThike:NDum vişayańńaL
|
paThike:NDa vişayańńaL
|
‘subjects for study’
|
|
koTukka
|
koTukkuka
|
‘to give’
|
|
bişo:ppanma:R
|
bişappanma:R
|
‘bishops’
|
|
vidya:bhya:sam su:pRaNT∂
|
vidya:bhya:sa su:pRaNT∂
|
‘superintendent of education’
|
|
pLa:RRufo:Ram
|
PLa:RRfo:m
|
‘platform’
|
|
ayappa:n
|
ayaykka:n
|
‘for sending’
|
|
nampu:tiri
|
nambu:tiri
|
‘a caste name’
|
9. MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATIONS
In the morphological level, variations can be noticed in the usage
of adjectives, case markers and other suffixes. In the example, maha:bhayankara
agniba:dha 'very horrible fire mishap the double adjective maha:
and bhayankara is used to show the intensity of the happening ,
which is not common in the present-day reporting. The use of the plural
marker -kaL in pRa:Naha:nikaL 'life loss' is not seen
in the present-day writing. The accusative case marker -e was replaced
with -eekk∂, the marker which shows direction, in olden usages
as in the example ….gavaRmenRileekku aRivukoTuttirikkunnu…
'informed the Government....' This sentence will be like, gavaRmene
aRiyicciirikkunnu in the present-day reporting.
With some nouns, dative case marker was used instead of locative case
marker in those days as in the case of veLikku vannu instead
of veLiyil vannu 'came outside.' Use of accusative case markers
along with non-living things was common in those days as in the example
sa:dhanannaL-e koLLa ceytu 'looted the things', patte:ma:ri-ye
'ship.' Contrary to the present usage, in the past, the disjunctive
marker -o: was replaced with the suffix a:kaTTe. For example, .ikkollam
pe:skka:R sva:miya:kaTTe po:li:s su:pRaNT a:kaTTe illa:teyirunnatu oru
kuRavu tanneya:yirunnu 'In this year, the chief district administrator
Swami or the police superintendent was not present which was a deficiency.'
Examples of morphological variations are:
|
Olden usage
|
Present form
|
Meaning
|
|
koTukka:likaya:l
|
koTukka:ttatina:l
|
‘because of not giving’
|
|
ceyyukaya:l
|
ceytatina:l
|
‘because of doing’
|
|
vaRddhiccirikkakoNT∂
|
vaRdhiccirikkunnatina:l
|
‘because of increasing’
|
|
u:Rjitatto:Tuku:Ti
|
u:Rjitama:yi
|
‘actively’
|
|
pe:ra:yi
|
pe:ro:Te
|
‘with the name’
|
|
aTukkal
|
aTutt∂
|
‘near’
|
|
ape:ksicca:Re
|
apeksiccappo:L
|
‘when requested’
|
10. LEXICAL VARIATIONS
Lexical changes noticed are listed as given below:
|
Olden usage
|
Present form
|
Meaning
|
|
he:tuva:yiTT∂
|
ka:raNam
|
‘because of’
|
|
a:kappa:Te
|
a:ke
|
‘in total’
|
|
pRaka:ram
|
vidham
|
‘like that’
|
|
a:lcavaTTam
|
a:lca
|
‘week’
|
|
patte:ma:ri
|
kappal
|
‘ship’
|
|
me:la:l
|
ini mutal
|
‘next time onwards’
|
|
caTTam
|
niyamam
|
‘rule’
|
|
puttan
|
|
|
|
ve:la
|
joLi
|
‘work’
|
|
lakşyamuLLa
|
karutappeTunna
|
‘considering’
|
|
ancal
|
tapa:l
|
‘letters’
|
|
Tiya:nRe
|
adde:hattinRe
|
‘his’
|
|
mutaleTupp∂
|
va:Rşikavaruma:nam
|
‘annual income’
|
|
sa:ma:nańńaL
|
sa:dhanańńaL
|
‘items’
|
|
di:nam
|
ro:gam
|
‘disease’
|
|
pe: şka:R
|
jilla:bharaNa:dhika:ri
|
‘chief district administrator’
|
|
kambivaRttama:nam
|
kambisande: šam
|
‘telegraphic message’
|
|
sakalatte:kka:L
|
ella:ttinumupari
|
‘above all’
|
|
vaRttama:nańńaL
|
va:RttakaL
|
‘news’
|
|
pari:syanma:R
|
pari:saRtdhikaL
|
‘examinees’
|
|
parantari:s
|
fRenc∂
|
‘French’
|
|
pRasngam ceytu
|
pRsangiccu
|
‘gave a speech’
|
|
ve:lakka:R
|
jo:likka:R
|
‘workers’
|
|
pRavrutti
|
ville:j∂
|
‘village’
|
|
kaNDeluttukacce:ri
|
saRve office
|
‘survey office’
|
|
trušivape:ru:R
|
trišu:R
|
‘Thrissur’
|
|
šańkiccu
|
samšayiccu
|
‘doubted’
|
In the following sentence the lexical term kalinnupo:ya is
used to get the meaning of 'deceased.' Even though the term is conveying
the meaning, this term is not commonly used with animate nouns in the
present-day writing. In the current usage it will be replaced with divangatana:ya
or antaricca.
kalinnupo:ya munsi ra:makkuRuppavaRkaLuTe kuTTi kalkku gavaNmenRil
ninnum 5 ru:pa vi:tam sko:LaRsippu anuvadiccirikkunnu. 'The government
has sanctioned a scholarship amount of Rs.5 each for the children of
late munshi Ramakrishna Kurup.'
11. SYNTACTIC VARIATIONS
In the sentence level, the usage of causative sentences were common
in those days as in the example given below:
(1)…avaRkaLa:l inne: divasam naTattappeTTirikkunnu '…is caused to do
today by the gracious….' (2)….kaTattuto:Niyil a:L adhikam ke:Rukaya:l
toNi maRinnu….. 'a ferry boat tumble down due to over crowd..'
In sentence (1), causative form of the verb is used, which is not seen
in current reporting. Here the usage inne: divasam for 'today'
is also replaced with innu 'today' now. In the second example,
the adjective adhikam 'excessively' is used after the noun
a:L 'people'. This style is different from the present-day
writing style. The sentence can be written in the present-day style
as kaTattuto:Niyil dha:ra:Lam a:LukaL kayaRiyatina:l toNi maRinnu.
These examples listed above for phonological, morphological and syntactic
variations need to be analyzed further in order to identify more variations
in different linguistic levels.
Colophon
I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Sam Mohan Lal,
Reader cum Research Officer, Central Institute of Indian Languages for
his valuable comments.
REFERENCES
Allan Bell, 1991. The Language of
News Media. Basil Blackwell Ltd, Oxford.
Diamond, J.1993. Speaking with a single tongue. Discover.
pp. 78-85.
Girish, P. M. 2003. Castelect - A Critical Study. Language
in India, Aug 2003.
Perunna K.N. Nair, 1976. Malayalapathrathinte
katha. Mathrubhumi Press, Calicut.