CLASS, ETHNICITY, AND LANGUAGE RIGHTS: AN ANALYSIS OF BRITISH COLONIAL POLICY IN LESOTHO AND SRI LANKA AND SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR LANGUAGE POLICY

Janina Brutt-Griffler

Kristen LeeCanagarajah 597F

Spread of English: a threat?

English spread from past makes English an inseparable reality now for many places

A threat? : “global spread of English” --Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) “ecology of language” --Phillipson (1999)

Problematic assumption from the language rights Why research colonial era to help us figure it all out?

“colonial inheritance” (Phillipson, 1992) How the ideological imperatives of empire building and

the justification of English on the world from the colonial period, still permeate in the world today.

Isn’t it interesting how a lot of fields (example applied linguistics) has taken up a “green” approach with its terminology?

Isn’t it interesting how a lot of fields (example applied linguistics) has taken up a “green” approach with its terminology?

Lesotho (Basutoland) Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

1868Home to the Sesotho-speaking Sotho peepsThe mining industry of South AfricaRecruitment techniques for manual labor:“native reserves”/”labor reserves”Educational Philosophy of colonial administration: Book learning makes bad workersLearning to suit one’s “environment” Purpose of education: so Sotho people had few chances to leave the role of manual laborer Language policy: Economic language: variety of Zulu with a mix of Dutch and EnglishValue of English education for Africans = higher social stratumEducation: Industrial training in mother tongue (Sestho)Even as education attendance rates rose, the LOI was in Sestho, and the higher classes (LOI in English) left for the few

1796Sinhalese majority and Tamil (different languages)Agricultural production--88% in agricultureBifurcated labor force (urban/rural)--the key was to keep the rural rural.General education was “unfit” for laborersEnglish is “unsuitable education” English = clerical position life of labor = ruralPOV of colonial admin: English education creates “half-educated idlers” who think they’re too good for ‘honest work’Value of English knowledge = work outside of agricultureEducation design: two-tiered system“English as the elite”/emphasis on mother tongue educationPrimary school: vernacular/ secondary school: EnglishEnglish schools vs. vernacular schoolLanguage difference “Bilingual English” “mother tongue”No. of schools availableDiffering quality of education

Why these two?

- former British colonies

- representative of larger British Africa/Asia

- size

Why these two?

- former British colonies

- representative of larger British Africa/Asia

- size

To note:

According to the colonizers English valued higher: a language for the civilized and cultivated which the other language did not have.

English was “the accomplishment of the few”

How it should be viewed:

English here is like university level “at home”

To note:

According to the colonizers English valued higher: a language for the civilized and cultivated which the other language did not have.

English was “the accomplishment of the few”

How it should be viewed:

English here is like university level “at home”

Mother tongue education here was problematic because it didn’t necessarily mean the pupil’s mother tongue, just an avoidance of teaching English

Mother tongue education here was problematic because it didn’t necessarily mean the pupil’s mother tongue, just an avoidance of teaching English

English as a Killer?

English wasn’t spread, it was restricted Economics: supply and demand -->result:

exploitation Through language policy, they were able to

maintain socioeconomic stratification Ecological effects in Basutoland

Implications: whose fault Adaptive response (move to mountain = people in

colonial rule to seek access to English) Hegemonic powers saying:

“In the name of ------”

I wonder…

Adaptive response is questionable… because what isn’t focused on is WHY they had to adapt..

JBG says it was taken on the Basuto’s own initiative…

I wonder…

Adaptive response is questionable… because what isn’t focused on is WHY they had to adapt..

JBG says it was taken on the Basuto’s own initiative…

My 2 cents in understanding whose “fault” it is…

The idea of “forcing” a group; reluctance of group to choose a certain action

My 2 cents in understanding whose “fault” it is…

The idea of “forcing” a group; reluctance of group to choose a certain action

Making Linguistics “Green”

Endangered language list? Ecological crisis in the “access to the mother

tongue(s)” and with it, a “language-related identity” (SKG, 2000) Analysis is universalistic language (“we”) All-encompassing solutions (mother-tongue education) No reference to particular conditions Identifiable villains/victims

Question: so can the “man” assure you of your linguistic rights?

Going medical: “Language rights treat symptoms and not causes”… need to look at underlying context of spreading English

Question:

Is linguistic diversity as “necessary for the existence of our planet as biodiversity”?

Is the linguistic adaptive response off Basuto (access to English) to the socioeconomic oppression within the world economy really relevant for the natural environment?

Question:

Is linguistic diversity as “necessary for the existence of our planet as biodiversity”?

Is the linguistic adaptive response off Basuto (access to English) to the socioeconomic oppression within the world economy really relevant for the natural environment?

Brutt-Griffler says watch out:

Sometimes, the language rights group have identifiable groups, and other times use “we”… well he questions, we who?

B-G notices that when there is a clear language used, (a versus b), it’s always when dealing with the problem, but when it comes to the solution, it turns to “we”, the dominators

Brutt-Griffler says watch out:

Sometimes, the language rights group have identifiable groups, and other times use “we”… well he questions, we who?

B-G notices that when there is a clear language used, (a versus b), it’s always when dealing with the problem, but when it comes to the solution, it turns to “we”, the dominators

Who’s responsible for maintaining and promoting of linguistic diversity?

Who’s responsible for maintaining and promoting of linguistic diversity?

Identity--part of language policy equation Collective identity (ethnic, national) or

individual identity Interest in relation to identity

Dependent on unit of analysis Ethnic identity: interest in maintaining their

mother tongue language Class identity: interest in accessing dominant

languages Is language policy a class thing or a

ethnic thing?

The politics behind “rights”

“uninformed assumption” What do you do when parents still are adamant about their

uninformed assumption? Do they have the right to, even though it may have negative consequences to linguistic diversity?

Problematizing the notion of “English to equality” Regardless of whether or not English is your mother tongue,

should you have the rights to English, not just as a ESL? Linguistic rights based on “natural collective rights” of ethnicity

(“mother tongue”) and language groups How can this notion from the language rights answer to

multilingualism? TSK “forced into multilingualism” vs.. JBG “forced into

monolingualism” due to socioeconomic state

Concluding remarks

Lightly held promise of access to dominant language and mother tongue rights Actuality: unlimited right to mother tongue, right to access to

English, conditional The policy of excluding English on behalf of maintaining mother tongue

Perpetuation of making English accessible to high class Solution: Since it is the case that English is a factor in

material/symbolic access… Universal rights to language choice and the right to an education in

any language spoken within a given nation (regardless of official/unofficial)

Emphasize the need for bilingual education for all Language policy be looked at from the POV of “potentially

differential impact on disempowered socioeconomic groups.. and sociopolitical categorizations applied within ‘language groups’” (230)

Your opinion:

Is access to any language a universal right?

Somewhat of an ethical question:

If minority languages have a right due to preservation, could there stand a right for dominant language based on preservation as well? Since according to JBG, this whole idea of “mother tongue” language is based upon ethnicity, should then that apply as well to those who are “ethnically” a part of the dominant language? (this is following JBG’s idea of what TSK’s line of thought is)

Your opinion:

Is access to any language a universal right?

Somewhat of an ethical question:

If minority languages have a right due to preservation, could there stand a right for dominant language based on preservation as well? Since according to JBG, this whole idea of “mother tongue” language is based upon ethnicity, should then that apply as well to those who are “ethnically” a part of the dominant language? (this is following JBG’s idea of what TSK’s line of thought is)

“Do not cut my tongue, let me live and die with my language.” A comment on English and other languages in relation to linguistic human rights

Tove Skutnabb-Kangas

JBG’s misrepresentation

Other languages as additive not subtractive

“unqualified access to English” --JBG Not a question of learning English, but the right to be a bilingual (mother tongue and official language)

JBG: either/or claims Both/and stance

Multidisciplinary

Looking at things through a different lens

Poverty as “capability deprivation” To solve big gaps in equity --> education If we are concerned with enhancing capability,

then one must look at the best method for cognitive, intellectual development

Role of English-- medium of instruction False explanations.. “Moving on up with

English” the real: the “contextual factors which

constitute the phenomena of deprivation and poverty” (Misra & Mohanty, 2000)

Deviating just a little bit. What do you believe concerning this issue:

IS it just a figment of our imagination that English is a prerequisite for upward mobility?

Would using English as the LOI mean abandoning the mother tongue?

Deviating just a little bit. What do you believe concerning this issue:

IS it just a figment of our imagination that English is a prerequisite for upward mobility?

Would using English as the LOI mean abandoning the mother tongue?

Another question:

What if one of these contextual factors IS not knowing English?

Another question:

What if one of these contextual factors IS not knowing English?

Promoting Bilingualism

In terms of cognitive and intellectual skills, metalinguistic and metacognitive task performance and educational achievement, bilinguals did better than monolinguals (Mohanty 2000 research on Kond children)

Mother-tongue bilingual education improves human capabilities Case in India: when socio-economic conditions are constant,

kids from regional medium schools did better in cognitive and language-related tasks better than children from English-medium schools

Brings about the cognitive skills to be aware of their poverty situation

Not a question of the “right to English”; rather the issue is the failure to access symbolic/material because they of the refusal to give those that use nonstandard or mother tongue rights.

Concluding remark

My question: Access to English: is it a right?

TSK: English-medium instruction is not a right (at least for people whose mother tongue isn’t it), but access to a good knowledge of the English language “is from the human rights perspective similar to access to other important school subjects which one ought to know” (Skutnabb-Kangas, 2004)

In your opinion, is this a satisfactory answer?

In your opinion, is this a satisfactory answer?

The Sound of Retreat: the linguistic imperialist camp in disarray

Janina Brutt-Griffler’s response to TSK

Theoretical Retreat

Shift from colonial to postcolonial Now linguistic imperialism --> postcolonial policy If spreading one’s culture and language is an

innate yearning, why is there a spread of English post WWII

Going against initial idea of “colonial inheritance” Shift from killer to a “friend”

Access to English should only be for Europeans, and seen as a danger to everyone else

OR- support for promoting English around the world

Is it really a shift? Here’s a thought: could we say that even in postcolonial policy, the ideologies of linguistic imperialism still exist?

Does post- really mean that it’s a past thing? Why should it be contained only within the colonial era?

Is it really a shift? Here’s a thought: could we say that even in postcolonial policy, the ideologies of linguistic imperialism still exist?

Does post- really mean that it’s a past thing? Why should it be contained only within the colonial era?

Question:

Why does JBG give such an emphasis on the Brits? Couldn’t a contributing factor to this spread of English post-WWII be a reaction to the past inaccessibility of English?

Question:

Why does JBG give such an emphasis on the Brits? Couldn’t a contributing factor to this spread of English post-WWII be a reaction to the past inaccessibility of English?

Contradiction?

The “good” in English Principle versus practice

Ex. US and abolition of slavery Human rights perspective--Medium vs..

Access Voices heard, validated

Bilingualism Linguistic imperialism is rooted upon the

belief of English as an “either/or”

Question:

Do you agree with JBG here? Is TKG focusing on linguistic medium in order to get away from answering the question of accessibility to a language?

Question:

Do you agree with JBG here? Is TKG focusing on linguistic medium in order to get away from answering the question of accessibility to a language?