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Interactional strategies in South Asian languages: Their implications for teaching English internationally
Abstract
This paper examines interactional strategies in several South Asian languages and shows that the norms that effect politeness in South Asian languages are very different from those that operate in native English. The implications of these differences for the teaching of English in South Asia are explored in the context of the relationship between language and ‘grammar of culture.’ It is claimed that communicative competence can only be achieved when there is a fit between language and grammar of culture. This must be kept in mind when English is taught internationally because in countries in which English has been institutionalized speakers have adapted English to fit in with their grammar of culture. These speakers of English have communicative competence in their variety of English, and the need for them to develop native-like competence is debatable.
... However, it needs to be mentioned again that topic continuity is a common function of topicalization in all varieties. The high frequency of tokens which create topic continuity in IndE may be explained by the intensity of contact and related frequency effects as well as a distinctly South Asian 'grammar of culture', as outlined by d 'Souza (1988), Subbarao et al. (1991), andLange (2012a). A culture of discernment entails that linguistic structures such as topicalization are employed to show politeness and shape the discourse in accordance with the presumed needs of the hearer or hearers and to put the discourse contribution of the interlocutor(s) before the speaker's own input. ...
This monograph is the first comprehensive study of topicalization in Asian second-language varieties of English and provides an in-depth analysis of the forms, functions, and frequencies of topicalization in four Asian Englishes. Topicalization, that is, the sentence-initial placement of constituents other than the subject, has been found to occur frequently in the English spoken by many Asians, but so far the possible reasons for this have never been scrutinized. This book closes this research gap by taking into account the structures of the major contact languages, the roles of second-language acquisition and politeness as well as other factors in order to explain why topicalization is highly frequent in some varieties such as Indian English and much less frequent in other varieties such as Hong Kong English. In addition to exploring major and minor forces involved in explaining the frequency of topicalization, the forms and functions of the feature are assessed. Central questions addressed in this regard are the following: Which syntactic constituents tend to be topicalized the most and the least frequently? Which discourse effects does topicalization achieve? How can we approach topicalization methodologically? And, lastly, which influence do language processing and production have on topicalization?
... Particularly for IndE, a variety that has been continuously investigated as a prime example for the concept of a 'grammar of culture', politeness as a factor that spreads across the different forces listed by Schmid (2016) is highly influential. Grammar of culture is described by d' Souza (1988) as […] the acceptable possibilities of behaviour within a particular culture. This includes notions of the kind of behaviour that is appropriate or expected in a given context. ...
Topicalization refers to the sentence-initial placement of constituents other than the subject (see, e.g., Lambrecht 1994; Birner & Ward 2009) and has recently gained more attention in particular with regard to its frequency, forms, and functions in L2 and learner varieties of English (cf. Lange 2012; Winkle 2015; Leuckert 2017). Specific interactional needs, such as the intention of establishing topic continuity in the discourse, may motivate speakers to deviate from the canonical SVX pattern of English sentences. Furthermore, speakers may choose to emphasize or contrast information which has not previously been mentioned in the discourse. Therefore, this paper argues that cognitive, pragmatic, emotiveaffective, and social factors (cf. Schmid 2016) all play an important role for topicalization, but certain communicative goals may lead to speakers ignoring the cognitive status of information by topicalizing brand-new or unused information. Furthermore, it is shown in this paper that topicalized constituents which serve to create topic continuity (and are, therefore, highly salient in the discourse) tend to persist longer in the subsequent discourse than topicalized constituents which serve other discourse functions.
... again, topic continuity is created by repeating the topic nP just mentioned. The functional overlap between these three syntactic constructions with quite different 'canonical' discourse functions provides striking evidence for a shared South asian 'grammar of culture' (d 'Souza 1988) which has become the norm in conversational interactions in inde. i doubt, however, that the potential for syntactic and discourse-pragmatic innovations, deriving from this 'grammar of culture', will also become apparent in the written mode. ...
The notion of a 'standard' variety of English has been the subject of a considerable body of research. Studies have tended to focus on the standard features of British and American English. However, more recently interest has turned to the other varieties of English that have developed around the world and the ways in which these have also been standardised. This volume provides the first book-length exploration of 'standard Englishes', with chapters on areas as diverse as Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. This is a timely and important topic, edited by a well-known scholar in the field, with contributions by the leading experts on each major variety of English discussed. The book presents in full the criteria for defining a standard variety, and each chapter compares standards in both spoken and written English and explores the notion of register within standard varieties.
The notion of a 'standard' variety of English has been the subject of a considerable body of research. Studies have tended to focus on the standard features of British and American English. However, more recently interest has turned to the other varieties of English that have developed around the world and the ways in which these have also been standardised. This volume provides the first book-length exploration of 'standard Englishes', with chapters on areas as diverse as Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. This is a timely and important topic, edited by a well-known scholar in the field, with contributions by the leading experts on each major variety of English discussed. The book presents in full the criteria for defining a standard variety, and each chapter compares standards in both spoken and written English and explores the notion of register within standard varieties.
The paper considers the complex interplay of sociolinguistic variables and developing dialectal features in a transient community of Indian university students located in Heidelberg, Germany. Embracing a sociolinguistically- oriented approach for the description of Indian English migrant varieties, the paper investigates language complexity along with the concomitant emergence of speakers’ linguistic consciousness. Through semi-structured recorded interviews, language attitudes of Indian English speakers were analysed in regard to stereotypical local variants. Reported results demonstrate that the transient aspect of the community is a valuable sociolinguistic factor in the fostering of in-group affiliations and distances and that a held folk belief in the community affects the social identities and linguistic performances of a specific in-group.
Drawing on the concepts of the ‘context of situation’ of J. R. Firth and the Hallidayan meaning of ‘linguistic performance’, the early works of Braj Kachru presented a sociologically oriented linguistic model to the study of Indian English. Giving Indianness ‘functional relevance and formal “manifestation”’, Kachru laid the foundation for contextualizing world Englishes within a sociolinguistic framework. This paper revisits the early cultural wars of language, and Kachru's efforts to explain language variation in the multilingual, multicultural contexts of English around the world within the scope of ‘pragmatism and linguistic realism’ (Kachru, 1986, p. 32). This paper examines the research, studies and insights of scholars who have contributed to furthering the functional and pragmatic contexts in which world Englishes are used.
This study investigates to what extent greetings on a social network site popular with South Asians are associated with the degree of interpersonal closeness of the users, educated middle class Bengalis in the United States. Computer-mediated discourse analysis, face-to-face interviews, and participant observation were employed to analyze the textual comments exchanged in 79 Bengali dyads. The analyses reveal a relationship between degree of social distance and frequencies of Bangla greetings when type of greeting (regular vs. ritualistic) and manner of expression (unmarked vs. intensified) are taken into account. However, some aspects of the interplay between interpersonal closeness and greetings can only be understood if cultural nuances and medium factors are taken into consideration.
The label ‘South Asian English’ is a cover term for English in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. For the purpose of the present chapter a singular reference – South Asian English – is used for a number of reasons (contrast this with the chapter on South-East Asian Englishes). The region of South Asia consists of geographically contiguous countries or islands near these. The colonial past of all, except Nepal and Bhutan, is similar. Furthermore, in the opinion of many scholars South Asia can be treated as a (socio-)linguistic area in which phonological, syntactic, lexical and stylistic features are shared to a large extent (Braj Kachru, personal communication).The seven countries just mentioned already encompass nearly 1.5 billion people which represents slightly less than one quarter of the population of the world (McArthur 2002: 309). The dominance of English in the public lives of five of these seven nations (Nepal and Bhutan were not part of the empire, though Burma/Myanmar, which is not considered here, was) is a legacy of British colonialism with its administration and the establishment of English in their educational systems. The indigenous languages of these nations belong to two large families, Indo-European and Dravidian (see section 1.6 ‘Indigenous languages’ below). The former covers most of the north of South Asia, up as far as the border with China and the Turk-speaking central Asian republics. © Cambridge University Press 2004 and Cambridge University Press, 2009.
The work of Braj Kachru and Yamuna Kachru has inspired generations of scholars to take a socially realistic view of the global spread of English. It is the work of Yamuna Kachru, however, who argues that taking an integrative sociocultural approach to the study of world Englishes to examine linguistic interaction expresses not only the bilingual's creativity but also provides valuable methodological and theoretical insights into the discoursal structure in world Englishes. Adopting the sociocultural linguistic approach, this paper examines how speakers construct gender in Indian English discourse. Using examples from naturally occurring spoken conversations, this paper shows that the interplay between language and identity is rooted in the cultural beliefs and values of speakers. The socially realistic approach contextualizes the culture of language to explain language variation in the Outer Circle.
Indian English has been the subject of study since colonial times, with several works written over the years describing its linguistic features. Considerable attention has been paid to the lexis, morphology and syntactic constructions, as also the sound system. Yet, the investigation is far from over, nor is there agreement on issues. Recent work has moved in the direction of corpus-based studies, enabling the establishment of tendencies and grammaticalised forms in a quantified manner. Acoustic phonetic studies are increasingly the norm. These empirically verified conclusions either negate or confirm earlier intuition-based and impressionistic descriptions. Together, these works help to establish what makes up the national variety, the standard and variation. Two theoretical debates emerge in this scenario. The first is the nature and extent of substrate influence and its intersection with L2 universals. The second is a debate on the phase to which Indian English belongs in Schneider’s dynamic model of evolution for New Englishes: phase 3 of nativisation or phase 4 of endonormative stabilisation.
The realization that there are today more nonnative speakers than native speakers of English in the world with institutionalized and nativized varieties as well as their own specific communicative, cultural and pragmatic competencies has led to the rethinking of present-day practices in teaching, teacher preparation, and the writing of textbooks. Jenkins' publications (2000, 2003) dealing with the phonology of English and material for teaching English as an international language along with her book English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) (2007) call for the disengagement of the language from Anglo-American native speaker norms. This line of research presents serious questions for Applied Linguistics (AL) and English Language Teaching (ELT) that will, if implemented, entail major changes in that endeavor. The winds of change may indeed be beneficial for some and a threat to others. I argue in this paper for an open mindset with respect to the issues and to the new state of affairs in this globalized world today.
Braj B. Kachru is a Professor of Linguistics, of Comparative Literature, of English as an International xLanguage and of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana, IL, USA. He was head of the Department of Linguistics (1968–79) and director of the Division of English as an International Language (1985–91) at the same University. He has published extensively on World Englishes, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, and Kashmiri language and literature. He is co-editor of World Englishes, editor of the series ‘English in the Global Context’ (University of Illinois Press), and associate editor of The Oxford Companion to the English Language (forthcoming).
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This paper will consider the relationship between discourse analysis and creativity and elucidate the ways in which a discourse analytical approach to creativity might be distinguished from the ‘language and creativity’ approaches which currently dominate applied linguistics and sociolinguistics. In the ‘discourse and creativity’ approach I will be describing, creativity is located not in language per se, but in the strategic ways people use language in concrete situations in order to stimulate social change. I will explore how aspects of this approach are reflected in work carried out within the paradigm of world Englishes.
Relatively recently, Quirk (1990) discussed non-native varieties of English, such as Indian English and Nigerian English, as ‘locally acquired deviations from the standard language’ and argued that the standard (British) English is the only pedagogically acceptable model for teaching of English in these non-native contexts. This paper, first critiques some fundamental assumptions of Quirk's (1990) argument by presenting the logic of Indian English and then discusses the implications of using world Englishes as pedagogical models in the classroom. The main argument of this paper is that successful English language teaching in normative contexts must address the relationship between the forms that English manifests and its speakers’ perception of reality and the nature of their cultural institutions. Implicit in this argument is the premise that language use is constrained both by the ‘grammar of culture’(Bright, 1968; D'souza, 1988) and ‘cognitive economy’(Sridhar, 1992; Hancin-Bhatt and Bhatt, 1992). Selected aspects of phonology and syntax of Indian English are discussed to develop the argument.
IntroductionColonial Contact and the Sacred ImaginedCommunityPost - Colonial Identity, Agency, and AwarenessPost - Colonial Identity and Linguistic Acts of ResistanceConclusions
References
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
Different kinds of predicate-nominal, adjectival, verbal etc.-may behave differently under predicate agreement when there is a difference between underlying and superficial subject. Data from a number of languages (Slavic, Romance, Modern Greek) concerning predicate agreement with the polite plural (semantically singular, but plural in surface structure) suggest that more verb-like predicates tend to agree with features of the surface subject, while more noun-like predicates tend to agree with the underlying subject. The pattern that emerges across languages is of a continuum from VERB to NOUN, with individual languages having different specific categories along this continuum. Other possible solutions, more traditional within transformational theory, are examined-the view that adjectives are verbs; feature analysis of major categories; rule-ordering-but these prove unable to characterize adequately the kind of data under discussion.
The use of interpersonal verbal routines such as greetings and thanks is examined as a universal phenomenon of human languages, related in some way to the widespread ‘greeting’ behavior of other animals. Examples from Syrian Arabic, American English, and other languages are used to show differing patterns of structure and use, susceptible of grammatical and sociolinguistic analysis. Features of diachronic change and children's acquisition are briefly treated. Call is made for better description and analysis of politeness formulas in grammars of languages and in ethnographics of communication. (Ritual, politeness, language change, language acquisition.)
Grice's analysis of conversational maxims and implicatures is examined in the light of Malagasy language and ways of speaking. A cultural contrast in primary assumptions is described. Grician analysis retains usefulness but within the perspective of a comparative typology in which locally valid systems may differ strikingly in what is marked and unmarked. An ethnographic base and ethnological comparison are required. The situation somewhat resembles the situation with regard to grammatical categories addressed by Boas (1911) and Sapir (1921). (Conversational postulates, ways of speaking; English (US), Malagasy (Madagascar)). (DH)
Historical linguistic theory and practice contains a great number of different 'layers' which have been accepted in the course of time and have acquired a permanency of their own. These range from neogrammarian conceptualizations of sound change and analogy to present-day ideas on rule change and language mixture. To get a full grasp of the principles of historical linguistics it is therefore necessary to understand the nature and justifications (or shortcomings) of each of these 'layers', not just to look for a single 'overarching' theory. The major purpose of the book is to provide in up-to-date form such an understanding of the principles of historical linguistics and the related fields of comparative linguistics and linguistic reconstruction. In addition, the book provides a very broad exemplification of the principles of historical linguistics.
Thesis (Ph. D. in Anthropology)--University of California, Berkeley, Dec. 1977. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 623-635).
Doctoral dissertation
- D' Jean
- Souza
Universities of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
- K Surendra
- Gambhir
Politeness and speech act analysis. Paper presented at the Seminar on Politeness Hierarchy in Indian Languages
- Kashyap Mankodi
Strategies of politeness hierarchy in inter-caste communication
- K Rao
- Rama
Indirect speech acts in Bengali
- Sharmin Khan
Doctoral dissertation
- Stephen Levinson
Doctoral dissertation
- Maurice Chishimba
Politeness hierarchy: a comparative study of Rabha and Bengali. Paper presented at the Seminar on Politeness Hierarchy in Indian Languages
- Prasad Syama
- Datta
Doctoral dissertation
- Dhanesh Jain
A study of some politeness expressions in Oriya in relation to social change
- B N Patnaik
The expression of power and solidarity in the English of India: some examples from the literature
- Ellen K Zimmerman