In her paper, the author presents the term ‘Auntie Tongue’ Syndrome, coined by Probal Dasgupta in 1993, to examine how relevant it is in present-day India, two decades after the publication of Dasgupta’s thesis. To contextualise her argument, she outlines the history of the English language in the Indian subcontinent, from its arrival with the East India Company in the 17th century, to colonial times, the Indian struggle for independence, and, finally, to the postcolonial era. Among the issues addressed here are the role that English has played in the Indian educational system, the ways in which Indians used it on their way to independence, and the functions it performs today as one of India’s official languages and as a ‘global language’. By contrasting various sociolinguistic approaches, the author argues that no single label can aptly describe the complex phenomena into which Indian English has evolved, ‘auntie tongue’ being an outdated concept with regard to the outpouring of Indian literature in English and the expansion of transnational call centres based in Indian metropolises.
The emancipation of the Silesian ethnolect in critical discourse: The legal and political plane, the socio-political plane and the personal one At the beginning of the 21st century, there were some attempts at making the Silesian ethnolect an independent variety and at elevating its status to the status of a regional language. Those attempts are part of greater linguistic emancipation processes occurring in present-day Europe. Despite the numerous attempts, the Silesian ethnolect still has the status of a dialect and therefore it is still deemed to be part of the Polish language. The failure of those emancipation attempts results from the opposition of the Polish national authorities, the political elites and the most influential scholarly circles. Questioning the attempts at making the Silesian language independent occurs on the legal and political plane, the socio-political plane, the scientific (linguistic) plane as well as on a personal one. The independent Silesian language is viewed as a threat to the Polish state and national unity. Additionally, it is also thought that its functioning could lead to the outburst of social conflicts in the country. Finally, the emancipation processes are repudiated because, as it is sometimes maintained, they are forced through by totally incompetent people. A detailed analysis of the argumentation shows that there are no objective, scientific foundations for questioning the attempts at elevating the status of the Silesian ethnolect to that of a regional language. The arguments put forward on the legal and political, socio-political and personal planes are, in the majority, easy to invalidate. They are based on scientifically unverifiable, ideologised foundations or on old-fashioned research methodologies. It seems that the emancipation of the Silesian ethnolect will be possible, provided that there is a proper political atmosphere in the country and provided that the Silesian people themselves systematically act for the benefit of elevating their speech to the status of a regional language.
BA
Kritika pokušaja osamostaljenja šleskog jezičkog varijeteta. Pravno-ustavni, društveno-politički i personalni nivo Pokušaji osamostaljenja šleskog jezičkog varijeteta preduzimani na početku XX vijeka, kao i zvaničnog promovisanja ovog koda u rang regionalnog jezika su dio širih jezičkih emancipacionih procesa koji se održavaju u savremenoj Evropi. Iako se u posljednjim godinama mnogo puta probalo podići šleski jezički varijetet u rang samostalnog jezika on i dalje zvanično funkcioniše kao dijalekat poljskog jezika. Neuspeh emancipacionih pokušaja u ovom slučaju proizlazi iz činjenice da se samostalnosti šleskog varijeteta protive kako poljska vlada, političke elite, tako i najuticajniji poljski naučni krugovi. Smisao postojanja samostalnog šleskog jezičkog varijeteta osporava se pomoću pravno-ustavnih, društveno-političkih i personalnih argumenata. Funkcionisanje novog regionalnog jezika u okviru poljske države smatra se opasnim po državno i nacionalno jedinstvo Poljske. Tvrdi se takođe da osamostaljenje šleskog jezika može dovesti do izbijanja nacionalno-društvenih konflikata u državi. Naposljetku, emancipacioni procesi vezani uz šleski varijetet osporavaju se zbog toga što su njegovi glavni ideolozi (navodno) diletanti i nestručnjaci. Detaljna analiza kritičkog diskursa dovodi, ipak, do zaključka da ne postoje stručni, lingvistički argumenti koji bi neosporno dokazivali pogrešnost ideje samostalnog, šleskog regionalnog jezika. Predstavljeni argumenti zasnivaju se najčešće na zastarjelim istraživačkim metodologijama ili su opterećeni određenim političko-ideološkim uticajima. Samostalni šleski jezik je ideja koja se može u budućnosti ostvariti — sve, ipak, zavisi od političkih prilika u državi i od toga da li će Šlezijci i dalje istrajati u odluci da se šleski jezički varijetet podigne u rang samostalnog jezika.
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