LINGUISTIC IMPERIALISM

The heart of any communication activity is language-the medium which transfuses data between a sender and a receiver. This data can be in the shape of meaningful words or even feelings catered either verbally as in talking or non-verbally as in written or e-mails, or even by sign languages. English being a de facto language of world capitalism and world domination has developed over ages since 450AD. Throughout these years English has been refined and remixed by several dialects and cultures, which influenced the language at several steps. It is for this reason that English is an amalgamation of several German dialects, Norse dialects along with Norman and French. All this while, the dynamic change in the language of English has been due to casual and causal exchange of culture. But in the age of globalization, where technology poked in, communicating via technology occupies a unique middle ground between using spoken and written language for communication. Electronic discourse, as used in e-mails, text messages, or Internet chatting, often resembles writing that reads as if it were being spoken. Some researchers have termed this form of language as written speech or spoken writing. It is so lively that it can even highlight the temperament or loudness of an expression by using of emoticons (such as smiley) or distorted spellings to reflect their illocutionary force (such as grrrrrr or muahaha) rather than using the standard ones. The actual spellings are often shortened to a high degree and sometimes even represented in alphanumeric form (ex: great=gr8 or before=b4). It is due to the necessary brevity, immediacy and compactness of the new media, that there emerges English that subverts letters and numbers to produce ultra-concise words and sentiments known as textese. Since SMS service provides a word limit of 160, therefore one uses a shortened version of the language. These textese are grammatically incorrect following no capitalization and full of abbreviation, omission of punctuation, articles and parts of speech. It is said that the concept of condensed message form emerges since the advent of telegram, where each letters were charged. Technologies today are so vastly accepted that it finds its use in almost every nook and corner of life. Take for example, the changing pattern of education in India and all over the world, which is being reshaped from traditional books to digital devices, from library rooms to internet chat roomscreating a global education system giving rise to a Global English language! Global English usage, as Phillipson argues, is an evidence of linguistic imperialism and dominance which according to him is a sub-type of cultural imperialism. The use of this Global English language is not only having adverse effects on the language and literacy, but also is ambiguous and has no noted standards. It is informal and often referred as slang. It often widens the communication gap as not everyone can decode the language. It is often misleading. However experts of English language and linguists think it as a transition phase as they identify the shift from formal Shakespearean English to a more informal version we speak today. They also say that the newer forms of communication will demand the attendant acquisition of appropriate linguistic skills.

-KINKINI BHADRA