English, the Language, Reconquering Polyglot IndiaGuide word study I. Fill in the gaps with pre- and postpositions where necessary: 1. Working class urban fathers who speak it (English) a little are sending their children... school to learn to speak it fluently... the hope that better jobs will lift them... the middle class. 2. Schools are springing... everywhere and cannot seem to keep...... demand. 3. They say, "I'll cut...... only one meal a day to pay... it if you'll let my child... 4. Some point... that it (English) is still spoken... only 15 million... 20 million... the country's 700 million people. 5. The most trenchant discussions... what is going...... the country are carried...... the English news media. II. Match the following words with their definitions:
Comprehension III. Explain the following: a. Fluency in English greatly enhances the marriageability of middle-class daughters b....English is spoken the length and breadth of the land... c. Despite longstanding official attempts...
IV. Answer the questions: 1. What does the role of English in modern India consist in? 2. Why are parents interested in their children learning English at school? 3. For what reason might young girls and public transport users be encouraged to learn English? 4. What are the reasons for the upsurge of interest in English according to some authorities? 5 What are the visible perspectives for Hindi and English in India? Is it possible that one of the languages is going to be "driven out" by the other?
Follow-up activity V. Role-Play Work in pairs to act out the following situation: Two linguists are discussing the resurgence of English in India, its causes and consequences. Having opposite points of view on the problem they cannot arrive at a common conclusion on whether it is a bless or a curse.
Let's recast the spell Patricia Hughes argues that we should do ourselves a favor, go thru the English language and simplify the spellings. IN 1800, before the peak of imperial administration, Anne Lister of Yorkshire used words such as "honor" and "favorite". Yet dictionaries always list "honour" and "favourite". While at school in the 1950s I was taught that the former spellings were American and should therefore be avoided. The truth is that American English might just have made some improvements, though we are loath to admit it. The British are subject to a myth that English English never changes and never should change, though all languages do. Where did we get this myth of our unchanging language? It came from the same stable as the notion of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets. When the British Empire began to send missionaries around the world it became necessary to establish what belonged to the culture and what did not. Since almost all communication was by letter, spellings had to be formalised. To invoke respect the language had to be old and traditional. This meant a conscious invocation from Latin, ancient Greek and Norman French. Thus "honor" became "honour" in line with French "honneur". Shortened forms of words in common use such as tho','thru', 'thoro' (though, through, thorough) were deliberately lengthened and made more complicated to prove their archaic heritage. Grammar was also affected by the adoption of Latin rules superimposed on the Germanic framework of English. Verbs dependent on prepositions (to put off, to put by, to put up with) were judged to be vernacular or dialect. Whenever they were used, intricate rules based on Latin were followed to express disapproval, leading to oddities such as "Up with that I can no longer put!". I suggest that we continue to adapt our language to our present use, and for the sake of ease of spelling. In any case, if we don't it will go the way of Latin and become obsolete except in administrative use. We should divest English English of any over-complex spelling rules that relate to Norman, Latin or ancient Greek: • spell -our at the end of words with -or, (honor, favor); • drop -gue and -que at the end of words, (catalog, analog); • change -ous to -us (anomalus. deciduus, humorus); • change -Ie at the end of words to -el (russel. trifel, cycel); • change -ain at the end of words to -an (mountan, certan); • change -ph to -f(fenomenon, telefone. frase); In addition, simplification of the hardest spellings in the language is long overdue: though/tho; through/ thru; thorough/thoro; thought/ thort: their, there/ther. We should do this, first, by allowing a period of change; second, adjusting spellchecks of computers to the new spellings so people get used to seeing them in print; and third, printing dictionaries with old and new spellings. This would ensure that oldies like me can still write in their own way, but also would allow youngsters to loam logical spellings. Patricia Hughes teaches modern languages in a comprehensive school
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