“Identity Confusion.”

2011

My research studies the relationship of language and national identity in postcolonial India, with a particular emphasis on the English language. Language politics in India has historically been polarizing, and is already the focus of a significant body of work. Research has focused especially on the trajectory and ramifications of the Hindi-Urdu (or Hindi-Urdu-Hindustani) controversy of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which interwove the discourse of nation and linguistic nationalism with that of religion and authentic “Indian-ness.” Discourses of language community and of resistance to linguistic hegemony have been the other major focal point of the existing repertoire, especially with respect to Tamil in south India. This theme has also been analyzed extensively in the context of the linguistic reorganization of states, where the question of national (dis)integration and the potential threat of separatism inherent in the official recognition of geographic and cultural bou...

Language is "the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way" (Oxford Concise Dictionary). Identity means "the fact of being who or what a person or thing is" (Oxford Concise Dictionary). In this paper an attempt is made to explain how identity of different social groups in general and of North-East India in particular is associated with their linguistic aspects. Here, the spoken form is under consideration as it differs in case of even speakers of the same language.

2016

Nationalism and national consciousness are integral to a country's formation. As a political ideology, it forms the binding factor between citizens of a nation. Sports have always encouraged nationalism. Be it football or cricket, citizens come together and support their team and their country with heightened patriotic feelings. This paper looks at the game of cricket, as seen in Ashutosh Gowariker's Academy Award nominated film Lagaan, and examines the role played by the game to foster the spirit of national consciousness in preindependent India.

Pragmatics, 2008

This study investigates the discursive construction of Hindu identity in the late nineteenth century in North India. Analyzing historical data from a language ideological debate, I show that the construction of the Hindi language and script as perfect and the Urdu language and script as defective were part of the construction of Hindu identity. The metalinguistic debate on Hindi and Urdu often transgressed from linguistic into sociocultural realms by establishing links between language, ethics, morality, and authenticity. The Urdu language and script were argued to be foreign, fraudulent, and prejudiced, in contrast to the Hindi language and script, which were projected as indigenous, honest, and impartial. Drawing on a language ideological theoretical framework , I show the actual workings of the semiotic processes of iconization, fractal recursivity, and erasure in this language debate. I also demonstrate that a major outcome of this debate was that Hindi and Urdu began to index Hindu and Muslim identity, respectively. 1164 1 The British used Hindustani to refer to the Urdu language. Earlier names of Urdu also include Hindi, Hindavi, Rekhta, etc. See Faruqi (2001) for a detailed account of the various names that have been used for Urdu at different points in time.

There is a strong link between cricket and Indian national consciousness which requires detailed analysis. Coming to a clearer understanding of the relationship between the two can demonstrate and provide insights on how these elements of Indian identity can become more relevant.

This article focuses on the issues and debates surrounding the introduction of English in India, its progress through the ages in the face of cultural resistance and the role it has played/not played in India's identity formation through education. Whatever the nature of his rhetoric, Macaulay's final purpose was to make Indians independent and autonomous through English education. However Indian attitude towards the language has been unhelpful all along. English was accepted on the surface but resisted at the cultural and psychological levels. Consequently, English has never become the language of emotional makeup. It failed to make inroads into popular cultural forms such as drama, films and music and thus remained an 'alien' language. It is still largely confined to the functional domains. Ideological and political opposition to English on the ground that it carries colonial baggage, that it is an intrinsically divisive language building artificial walls between those who know it and those who do not, and that it is an instrument of linguistic imperialism, has rendered things even more difficult. Advocates of mother tongue based education objected to the spread of English education by constantly voicing their fears about the harm English has supposedly done to the languages of India. Given all these challenges, and given the many inadequacies and shortcomings inherent in the Indian education system itself, English Language Teaching in India today faces an uphill task. This article therefore argues that cultural, ideological and identity issues should be resolved even as ELT is strengthened by means of improved methods and techniques. It is further suggested that the Indian ELT experience has valuable lessons to offer to nations across the postcolonial world.

Locating ‘‘nation’’ not on the center but on its borders, this study seeks to shift the study of nation from an analysis centered on its origins or its substantive and foundational aspects to an investigation focused on its mode of boundary construction. This article reverses the debate over whether nations grow out of some presumed ethnic, linguistic, or religious foundations to argue that these foundations themselves are given shape by a sociocognitive frame of total closure that informs the national system. Taking a close look at the formation of India and Pakistan as nations, the article shows how Hindi and Urdu were separated as two distinct national languages out of the same dialect—Khari Boli—under the pressure of conflicting national aspirations of nineteenth-century South Asia. To exaggerate differences, Hindi was developed as a Sanskritized version of Khari Boli, while Urdu matured as its Persianized form. Devnagari and Persian scripts respectively gave them their distinc- tive looks.

Journal of Pragmatics, 2008

This study investigates the discursive construction of Hindu identity in the late nineteenth century in North India. Analyzing historical data from a language ideological debate, I show that the construction of the Hindi language and script as perfect and the Urdu language and script as defective were part of the construction of Hindu identity. The metalinguistic debate on Hindi and Urdu often transgressed from linguistic into sociocultural realms by establishing links between language, ethics, morality, and authenticity. The Urdu language and script were argued to be foreign, fraudulent, and prejudiced, in contrast to the Hindi language and script, which were projected as indigenous, honest, and impartial. Drawing on a language ideological theoretical framework , I show the actual workings of the semiotic processes of iconization, fractal recursivity, and erasure in this language debate. I also demonstrate that a major outcome of this debate was that Hindi and Urdu began to index Hindu and Muslim identity, respectively. 1164 1 The British used Hindustani to refer to the Urdu language. Earlier names of Urdu also include Hindi, Hindavi, Rekhta, etc. See Faruqi (2001) for a detailed account of the various names that have been used for Urdu at different points in time.

Language and the Making of Modern India, 2020

I have carried the early versions of this book with me as I have moved across the world and made my home in many different localities. And through these journeys, this book has been fed by numerous conversations and friendships. The book began its life as a PhD dissertation at the University of Minnesota. Under Ajay Skaria's guidance, an incredible mix of kindness and intellectual challenge, I learned to hone in on my central conceptual concerns for this project. Simona Sawhney's generous mentorship pushed me to find my academic voice. Her insightful yet cryptic questions have often shown me the promise of my own work when I failed to see it myself. I am also indebted to the

How did these linkages between a ‘game originally of western origin’ and idea of ‘nation’ unfold in the years immediately succeeding India’s independence? If ‘cricket’ increasingly came to be associated with ‘Indian nationalism’ in the first half of twentieth century, then how did this association between ‘cricket’ and ‘nation’ survive after the departure of ‘colonial masters’?