Soft Power: Indianisation of the English language

Pakistani belligerence from Pathankot to Uri, nationalism debates, the re-election of Amma and Didi, surgical strikes, Donald Trump, cricket victories, demonetisation, the end of the Jayalalitha era – 2016 was a year of unusual happenings. As it draws to a close, we remember those we miss the most. On July 29, one of my teachers, Braj Behari Kachru, Professor of Linguistics, Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Center for Advanced Study Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, passed away.

In 1984, when I was pursuing a PhD in English at the same university, Professor Kachru published an important book called The Indianization of English. It was a book that changed the way we understand the English language in India. Then Chair Professor of the Department of Linguistics, Professor Kachru was not only an eminent linguist, but also one of the most vibrant and visible presences on campus. In this path-breaking book, he argued that Indian English had, over two hundred years, developed distinctive features that could be identified and demonstrated at all levels of linguistic analysis —  phonetic, grammatical, lexical, and semantic.  

Braj-ji, as he was known to both friends and admirers, questioned the linguistic “sacred cow” of Standard English. Such a view considered non-native varieties of a language as inferior or plain erroneous. There used to be — still is — a whole industry exploiting this difference and trying to improve the English of non-native speakers. The whole racket of certification, accent training, and standardised language tests is based on such an imperialistic and exploitative archetype of linguistic competence.  

Braj-ji developed a more complex and realistic model of how English actually operates in the world — as the first language of native speakers in the British Isles, North America, Australasia, and South Africa; as a second language in large parts of the colonized world including the Indian subcontinent, Africa, Asia, and as a growing presence in other parts of the world as the preferred international language. Popularised as the “three circles” paradigm of World Englishes, this was one of Braj-ji’s lasting contributions to the decolonisation and contextualisation of what is arguably the most powerful planetary language.

Using the stylistic tools of linguists such as Roman Jacobson and HG Widdowson, Braj-ji argued that non-native Englishes were not “wrong,” so much as rule-governed deviations from the norm. He used examples from famous literary texts to show how Indian English, Nigerian English, Singapore, Filipino English and so on, were highly creative systems of signification, distinct varieties with their own historical contexts, evolutionary processes, and cultural identities. No wonder, he became the leading authority in “World Englishes,” starting a journal by that name, and launching the careers of several of his students. Besides writing or editing over twenty-five books, Braj-ji also founded the South Asian Languages Analysis (SALA), an association that met regularly and created a network of scholars.

Braj-ji was one of the important influences in my life during my graduate studies. What a great teacher he was, so lively, full of knowledge and passion, one of the most intelligent, well-informed, and perceptive scholars of India in half-a-century. As a linguist, he had few equals. He trained several generations of students, not stopping at giving them PhDs, but seeing them through to tenured appointments in various parts of the world. His influence and impact in the field were unrivalled.

I did three courses with him, learning most of what I know of linguistics, though that was not my field. Knowing that fully well, he assigned me the toughest job in his Sociolinguists Seminar, to map the languages of the then Soviet Union. It was one of the most challenging and, as it turned out, rewarding of the papers I did. His classes and personality were riveting. There was never a dull moment in his presence. His eyes twinkled with mischief and delight as a new idea bristled in his mind.

Though he was trained in the UK and lived in the United States, he was a great patriot, a great Indian, a great Hindu, and a great Kashmiri Pandit. He never gave up his Indian citizenship; right till the end, he was deeply engaged with all aspects of India, its politics, society, and culture, and not just linguistics. Through his academic work and life, he raised India higher in the estimation of the world, bringing prestige to us in far off lands. He also had great skills in people management. He got his way in the complicated world of US academics; he was not only admired but also feared. He inspired loyalty amongst his friends and students and he, in turn, never let them down.

After I left the US for India in early 1986, Braj-ji and I continued to keep in touch. In his own way, he respected my decision. I remember him saying, “Once you’ve made up your mind, don’t look back. It’ll work out fine for you.”

We would meet right up to the last few years, till Yamuna-ji’s demise, after which he stopped his annual visits to India. What conversations we had, without any warming up! He would simply toss something my way, a thought, an opinion, a comment, or observation. And I never understood how time flew after that.

Braj B Kachru is sorely missed. There will never be another like him. With his passing away, not only a man, but an institution has come to an end. Along with him, let us remember other great teachers and thought leaders who are no longer in our midst but made a huge difference to our lives.

The author is a poet and professor at JNU, New Delhi