The Alchemy of English

1
The Alchemy of English

• by Braj B. Kachru
• A Presentation by Christy Tatum
• English 409
• March 2005

Mr. Braj B. Kachru
2
The Life of Braj B. Kachru

• Professor Braj B. Kachru is the Director of the
  Centre for Advanced Study at the University of
  Illinois. He is said to be the world's leading
  scholar in the field of world Englishes he has
  pioneered, shaped, and defined the linguistic,
  socio-cultural and pedagogical dimensions of
  cross-cultural diffusion of English.
• Professor Kachru has more than 25 authored and
  edited volumes and more than 100 research papers,
  review articles, and reviews. He wrote a book
  from which our essay is excperted called The
  Alchemy of English The Spread, Functions and
  Models of Non-Native Englishes, associate editor
  of the acclaimed The Oxford Companion to the
  English Language and Contributor to the Cambridge
  History of the English Language. Kachru sits on
  the editorial boards of 8 scholarly journals, and
  is founder and co-editor of the journal World
  Englishes. He has chaired many national and
  international committees and led several
  organizations, including the American Association
  for Applied Linguistics. Among his many awards is
  the Duke of Edinburgh Award (1987) for The
  Alchemy of English.
• He holds joint appointments with the College of
  Education, Program in Comparative and World
  Literature, and Division of English as an
  International Language. He headed the Department
  of Linguistics (1968-79), directed the Division
  of English as an International Language
  (1985-91), and was director of the Center for
  Advanced Study (June 1996-January 2000). He was
  director of the Linguistic Institute of the
  Linguistic Society of America (1978), president
  of American Association of Applied Linguistics
  (1984), and president of the International
  Association for World Englishes (1997-99). He was
  named Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and
  Sciences at UIUC in 1992 Sir Edward Youde
  Memorial Fund Visiting Professor at Hong Kong
  University in 1998 and honorary fellow of the
  Central Institute of English and Foreign
  Languages, Hyderabad, India, in 2001.
• In October 2002 UIUC hosted the International
  Association for World Englishes annual
  conference, which included a one-day symposium
  titled "World Englishes Perspective on the
  21st-Century" dedicated to Professor Kachru. In
  2003 he was selected a member of the editorial
  boards of Journal of Multilingual and
  Multicultural Development and Linguistics and the
  Human Sciences. His recently authored and
  coedited volumes include Asian Englishes Beyond
  the Canon (2004), World Englishes Critical
  Concepts (6 vols., 2005), and The Handbook of
  World Englishes (2005).

3
English as a language of power

• The power of english is of a worldly nature which
  is termed the vehicular load of a language.
  English is considered as the primary medium for
  20th century science and technology.
• Important Markers of English power demographic
  distribution, native non-native users across
  all cultures, use in world forums, and its rich
  literary tradition.
• Power resides in its uses, the roles users can
  play, its percieved importance in that English
  exceeds other languages on all counts.
• The spread of English was not forseen as shown
  through the poetry Kachru includes by Samual
  Daniel.
• The Elizabethan period was the glory of the
  English period due to William Shakespeare and Ben
  Jonson.

4
English as a language of power (continued)

• In the beginning there was a lot of cynicism
  towards the spread of the English language,
  however, it was short lived and the visions
  Samual Daniel addressed in his poems have been
  seen.
• The English language is a tool of power,
  dominance, communication and elitist identity
  across the world.
• Due to Imperialism English has become an integral
  part of a complex sociolinguistic setting.
• Colonial Englishes became non-native second
  languages and have the same status today.
• The non-nativeness of the varieties is signifcant
  attitudinally, linguistically, and
  socio-linguistically.

5
English as a colonial language

• Due to the political power of the British in the
  India and the Americans in the Philippines and
  Puerto Rico, the colonists had to adopt a pose
  fitting their new status. English became a
  marker of power.
• India likes gods. And Englishmen like posing as
  gods.
• Because English was clearly a powerful language
  the Natives tried to adopt the language and pose
  the same status as the colonists. This made the
  colonists uncomfortable.
• Thus the term non-native English is coined. It
  is the transplanted varieties of English that are
  acquired as a second language.
• English is used as a tool of power to connect
  those with similar cultures and norms as the
  politically elite.
• At almost the same time America, another
  English-speaking nation, was doing its best to
  Americanize Puerto Rico.

6
English as a colonial language (continued)

• In 1898 Americas power spread to the Philippines
  and President McKinley considered it the
  Americans duty to educate, civilize, and
  Christianize the Filipinos so that they would be
  fitting of citizenship.
• Throughout South Asia the same was true, many
  English speakers were trying to Christianize and
  change the natives.
• English has become a tool of civilization and
  light. Use of said tool is considered to the
  colonists contribution and duty.
• English also became the medium for understanding
  technology and scientific developments.
• In India, the installed language had socially and
  administratively dominant roles and thus the
  national media, legal and other important
  professions were conducted in English.

7
English as a colonial language (continued)

• Eventually the Indians (as well as Filipinos or
  Africans) who did become skilled in professional
  roles were called Westernized or to be more
  neutral modernized.
• English acquired a strong non-native base and
  local languages lost their prestige and power.
• In time the elite language was used against the
  Englishmen and their roles and intentions it
  became the language of a resurging nationalism
  and political awakening.
• The linguistic and cultural pluralism in Africa
  and South Asia aided with the spread of English
  and thus fostered staying power for the language.
• By the 1920s English had become the language of
  politics, intranational administration, law, and
  was associated with liberal thinking. Even after
  the colonial period ended English maintained its
  power over local language.

8
Acquiring Domains of Power

• Acquiring power is not necessarily linked to the
  number of people speaking the language. The
  power is acquired through the prestige of the
  professions those who speak the language posses.
  Thus others seek emulation.
• English serves at least two purposes for
  Governments it provides a linguistic tool for
  administrative cohesiveness of a country and it
  provides a language of wider communication on a
  global scale.
• Enthusiasm for English is not unanimous or
  widespread. One disadvantage is very obvious in
  that due to use of an external language the
  culture suffers.
• English does have one clear advantage in that
  attitundinally and linguistically it is neutral.
  It does not have implications of caste like the
  native languages of India does. English is not
  associated with any religious or ethnic faction
  like the other languages of India are either.
• Although English does have some limitations it
  has been seen as the language of power and
  opportunity.

9
Attitudinal neutrality and power

• In early studies it was shown that in code-mixing
  English is used to neutralize identities that one
  is reluctant to express through native languages
  or dialects. Code-mixing refers to the use of
  lexical items or phrases from one code in the
  stream of discourse of another.
• Neutralization is a linguistic strategy used to
  unload a linguistic item from its traditional,
  cultural, and emotional meanings by avoiding its
  use and choosing something from another code.
  The borrowed code has no cultural connotations.
• The power of neutralization is associated with
  English in two ways first, it provides an
  additional code that doesnt have a cultural tone
  or connotation and second, its use develops new
  code-mixing varieties of language.

10
Post-colonial period

• Even after independence the controversy over
  English exists but in new forms. Now, people
  question whether or not English is truly a
  non-native or alien language for India, Africa,
  and South East Asia
• The new power bases have been accepted in Africa
  and Asia. The new varieties have their own
  linguistic and cultural ecologies as well as
  sociocultural contexts, thus, due to the
  adaptation of these new ecologies non-native
  Englishes have new identities.
• Unfortunately, for India, despite warnings that
  perpetuating English as part of Indian culture
  was diminishing the Indian languages in the
  1960s this became reality in the 1980s.

11
Post-colonial period (continued)

• The implications from the change in the ecology
  of world Englishes is very significant. The new
  varieties have developed localized norms and
  standards. To purists this is a big problem but
  others reject a monomodel of English saying it
  isnt applicable or realistic.
• The spread of English and its alchemy (ability
  to change) has raised serious theoretical
  questions which dont lie in the power of
  English but in language analysis and description.
  The idea of the monolingual native speaker is
  being questioned and new perspectives are being
  explored.
• English does not just have one defining context
  but many spread across the world through many
  cultures. The same is true within literature,
  perhaps it is time that literature in English
  be incorporated as a category with the already
  existing American Literature and English
  Literature.

12
Implications

• The alchemy of English does not only provide
  social status, but also gives access to
  attitudinally and materially desirable domains of
  power and knowledge. English is a powerful
  linguistic tool for manipulation and control.
• In addition, the alchemy of English has left a
  deep impression on the languages and literature
  of the Non-Western world. It has caused a
  transformation of languages equipping them for
  new societal, scientific, and technological
  demands.
• Never has so much control lied in the power of
  one language. The power of English is so
  dominant that it has developed across all
  cultures and languages.
• For now English doesnt appear to be losing any
  power and only seems to be getting deeper roots
  in different cultures.
• The view of English as a truly international
  language is tarnished by the misuse of English to
  prevent economic, sociopolitical, and cultural
  advancement for those who dont possess the
  ability to speak English.

13
Implications (continued)

• In many countries, including India, English is
  viewed as the language of oppression. It is
  considered another way to exclude large
  populations and has been called a language
  bar. In regions in which people are already
  trying to fight against a caste bar or tribal
  bar this can be oppressive.
• It seems as though there is a sort of linguistic
  schizophrenia in that people are fighting against
  English but at the same time fighting for their
  loved ones ability to use the language. Thus a
  policy has risen in which those who are
  anti-English have different expectations for home
  and outside.
• In conclusion, the fact remains that the power of
  English is in its vehicular load, in the
  attitude toward the language, and in the
  increasing belief in its power of linguistic
  alchemy in which it transmutes an individual and
  a speech community.