Comments on: Tyranny of Poverty

By: khan

khan — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:49:09 +0000

and political power distribution in Pakistani society. Three) I will again draw here on the work of Bourdieu which help us understand the meaning of language in social context. I think it is not the proficiency of English language that makes the difference but the ‘linguistic habitus’

Heller, M (2006) Linguistic Minorities and Modernity, Continuum, New York.

Bourdieu, P (1991) Language and Symbolic Power, Polity Press, Cambridge.

By: khan

khan — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:34:01 +0000

gets the privilege and who gets marginalized? How such inequalities manifested at all levels are naturalized in the changing times. For your second point and suggestion of using the language of environment, I would like to suggest that the term ‘language of environment’ appears very simple and straightforward. It has certain assumptions on the linguistic capital possess by people in different parts of the country: 1) Majority of Pakistani in certain geographic settings share a common language without taking into account the dialectical variations and pervasive multilingual nature of the country. The term want us to reach an examined conclusion, that all Sindhi/ Punjabi speak a particular Sindhi and Punjabi. 2) As a student of Language and Education I really hesitate to make suggestions for language in education. I think school community, parents and pupils should be involved in the development of school language policy. What I stress in my classes is the issue of social, economic

By: khan

khan — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:06:34 +0000

Thanks zubeida Mustafa sahiba for your valuable contribution to the on-going discussion at Language-on-the-move. I agree with your first point in principal. However, I would like to link it once again to the massive transformation in social, economic and political sphere we as well as others are living through. The move from agrarian/ national industry to corporate/globalised economy, what Bourdieu calls ‘ market/ field/game’, calls for newer understanding and reflection on what is going around us. I see three large patterns, one is that of linguistic homogenization myth perpetuated by state. Second is linguistic marginalization which you pointed out. Third is the social institutions which serve to produce and reproduce as well as distribute the valued resources, hence leading to differences in social relations and social inequality ( Heller, 2006:5). I argue here once again that we need to focus on the central issue of poverty, social and economic inequality taking into account who

By: zubeida mustafa

zubeida mustafa — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:38:33 +0000

This is a really interesting debate, something I always wanted to have in Pakistan. Thank you Khan Sahib for starting this. Here I come with something more to give you food for thought. Some of you have raised these points about motivation to learn a language, what is the mother tongue and how multi cultural societies manage pretty well. I think three points are important; One; everyone should respect the other’s language and not show any contempt for it. Two, for education purposes what can be used is the language of the environment which is usually the màther tongue of the majority. The need to transition the minority language speakers into the language of the majority in the region needs to be recognised. Three, language should not be made into a tool to stratify society and economically disadvantage some classes. If you look at this reference you will understand what I mean. http://www.zubeidamustafa.com/something-more-on-english#more-1037

By: Alifar

Alifar — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:23:08 +0000

Thanks for this great read, Khan! Appreciate your work and waiting to read more from you actual PhD work findings.

Regards,
Alifar

By: Azhar Mahmood Nasir

Azhar Mahmood Nasir — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:18:22 +0000

….Not everyone speaks English well in Australia but at least everyone knows that much English which is sufficient for someone to deliver and discharge their duty, and that has been achieved with individual and collective efforts; and this is where nations progress when roles and responsibilities are delivered with individual’s best capabilities under the umbrella of a nice check and balance. Love to stay tuned, best regards.
Azhar
Brisbane, Australia.

By: Azhar Mahmood Nasir

Azhar Mahmood Nasir — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:16:18 +0000

Dear Ali,
got a chance today to look at your review and then cross comments, all sounds interesting and exciting. I would say a great effort from your end, however at the same time author has done a wonderful job too. I’m not sure how would such barriers be overcome, but what I know from my personal experience is that human brain and body has been granted extraordinary strength, stiffness, courage and motivation capability that such challenges can be taken on board, and as long as individual and collective efforts are made to train the nation it’s achievable. Having said Australia is a collection of almost all major languages including but not limited to English, French, Italian, German, Greece, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian, Russian but as a nation they have found ways to overcome the language barrier to establish a peaceful and progressive society. Their cutlural diversity policies and respect to individual’s school of thought keep them focussed to deliver best possible outcome……

By: saba

saba — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:57:35 +0000

Hi Khan,

Thanks for sending the copy of Tyranny of Language in Education across
and for writing this insightful review.I have not gone through the
whole book as yet but it is encouraging to
see Pakistani students engaged in the debate. I read the author’s
article with great interest when I am in Pakistan, however, the little
I have read her current work up till now, I find it very stimulating.
While reading the following lines
‘ The real challenge was for the Urdu speakers
who had for the last two-and-a-half decades made little attempt to
learn the language of the land that had welcomed them when they fled
their homes at the time of partition’ (p.28), I could not help
wondering whose voice is it that the author posits, the voice of
disadvantage or the voice of power brokers of the country? They
certainly have deafening echoes of the discourse of internal
colonialism which have always misguided the common ordinary citizens
of Pakistan from the central issues of poverty, killing and
insecurity.

By: Nasreen

Nasreen — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 01:34:26 +0000

… has been discussed. This research indicates he felt hesitation and do code switching. He clearly understand Jamaican Creole.

By: Nasreen

Nasreen — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 01:29:47 +0000

and lack of vocabularies. Most of the people consider mother tongue a language of prestigious than actual mother tongue. For example, if my parents speak Gujarati and I speak the language which is common in society i.e. Urdu then my mother tongue will be Urdu.
The researcher has discussed the effects of different varieties of language found in Britain. British born Caribbeans claim Creole as their mother tongue. People consider Creole as similar to English but Caribbeans do not accept it. The research shows that the adult of second generation are the speakers of Creole but it is also vary from place to place i.e. Guyanese Creole, Trinidadian Creole or Jamaican Creole which is widely spoken by young adult. But pre-adults are not much interested in London Jamaican because of limited competence. In the case of white people they acquire thus language through their peer and not from their parents.
In this article, a case of 16 years of boy of Jamaican background from South London (Cont…

By: Nasreen

Nasreen — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 01:28:42 +0000

The article of Mark Sebba from Lancaster University is based on a question “what is mother tongue”. The mother tongue is what a child’s medium of language in school and with friends, or his/ her mother’s language which is Gujarati or any other language. A child brought up in multilingual environment where he/ she acquire and learn languages for communication. The research shows that the schooling of child should be through medium of mother tongue because they understand best from it. In addition to this, most of the countries are following this notion i.e. England and Singapore. Jespersen said that a child who acquires language in natural setting is not their mother tongue. A child comes across with different language because of heterogeneous society and in a multilingual society there is a possibility of more than one language as a mother tongue. Skutnabb-Kangas indicates the data of bilingual individuals who learn Second language in their later life, found less understanding (Cont…

By: zaman

zaman — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:40:30 +0000

The role of economy and the role of education of a country together play a vital role in the progress and
prosperity of that very country. Pakistan is suffered from the problem of poverty as well as the issue of language in education.These topics have been discussed very beautifully in our socio-linguistic class. All discussion directly or indirectly show that these problems are the gifts of the policies of higher classes. When we talk of languages then we think about different types of languages i.e.’mother tongue’, first language, second language and foreign language.In this fast era it has become difficult to say what is a mother tongue.Because today a mother speaks a sentence in front of her child that is cosisted at least three languages. This is the condition at home and out of home a child faces different situations of language. Simply lanuages have become problems. They have become fassions. Especially English language has become a complete fashion.

By: Ishfaque Ahmed Abbasi

Ishfaque Ahmed Abbasi — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 03:21:33 +0000

The review by Mr. Khan under the title “Tyranny of Poverty” is very much thought provoking. His discussion about the inequalities that the local or regional langauges suffer in Pakistan provide the readers an opportunity to observe and analyse different minor daily life incidents to understand the tyranny of poverty.
Fortunately for me Mr. Khan is my teacher and we are having hot debates and discussions with him on the issue of Language in Education. This very issue of Tyranny of Poverty also remained the topic of dicscussion.The outcome of these discussions made me utter a new term(at least for me), keeping in view Pakistani political and feudal influence on language in education, “Language Feudalism”.
The term defines those people who almost go mad out of rage and jealousy when they listen to a poor parents’ child speaking English, considered as the language of “elite class”, fluently and accurately. This class control has given rise to Tyraany of Poverty.

By: sobooh Fatima

sobooh Fatima — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 23:18:27 +0000

The question ‘What is mother tongue?’ is the title of the article written by Mark Sebba. The author maintains that the question of ‘what is mother tongue’ is a very important question to ask especially when a child is exposed to different languages in the initial period of his/her life. It is more so important because at times educational, social and economical decisions are made on it. In other words, a child’s mother tongue chooses the path for him/her in all his/her life.
What I have learnt from my classes on language and Education is that the meaning of the term changes from individual to individual and from context to context. It is so because through this term one can trace the bi- and multilingualism of individuals which influence the concept of ‘mother tongue’ as well as throughout the generations of a migrant family.
The writer stresses that an individual of a certain group or community be a bi- or multilingual, however the primacy among these languages of that of mother tongue would depend on ethnicity, status and/or identity of the language traditionally identified as ‘mother tongue’. Moreover, the writer implies that the traditional definition of ‘mother tongue’ in terms of ‘traditional language’ or the language of the surrounding is largely a political construct and how it is often maintained to conserve the ethnicity and uniqueness of the language.
Sebba has tried to prove that how the term ‘mother tongue’ could be defined if an individual is a British-born Caribbean. The language spoken in Caribbean is known as Creole. However, the migrants to England’s second and third generations are fluent in London English. While, on the other hand, they claim they are well versed in Creole because it is their ‘mother tongue’. This variation of Creole is termed as ‘London Jamaican’.
The interview which the writer evaluates is a story of a boy identified as V, of a Jamaican-South London background. V has narrated the story in Jamaican Creole and often code-switches between Jamaican Creole and London English. The writer is of the opinion that this makes V’s narration poses a question as to whether his ‘mother tongue’ is not Creole but London English mixed with Creole.
The writer illustrates that the linguistic competence of V cannot be argued upon in context of the term ‘mother tongue’, rather the term ‘mother tongue’ itself defines the linguistic competence of the communities and how the language is received and conveyed. He further suggests that the term should be abandoned in consideration of more accurate and research-based description of the actual linguistic competencies of the speaker.

By: khan

khan — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 22:39:11 +0000

Thanks for your reply, Zubeida Mustafa sahiba, which I profoundly appreciate. In my last session on Language and Education which had a particular focus on politics of mother-tongue education in Pakistan and elsewhere, I gave three options to my students to choose from for writing their paper . And to my delight all of them opted for reviewing your work. Congratulations to you and to Ushba publishing.

Best wishes for your good works,

Khan

By: zubeida mustafa

zubeida mustafa — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 17:04:29 +0000

Thank you Mr Khan for your positive comments on my book and also for the additional information on languages. I am pleased that you grasped the objective of the book so correctly — namely to start a debate on the language in education issue because no one seemed to consider it important. Of course experts like you will have to take up the policy formulation and implementation aspect but I have noticed that lay people take notice only when someone from amongst them raises a hue and cry. Probably they are over-awed by the experts. I had to borrow something from the experts to make my arguments convincing otherwise the status quo would never change. But I have noticed that this is an issue on which everyone has an opinion. On my website http://www.zubeidamustafa.com I shall be posting a radio programme I had as well as a tv programme I participated in. Thank you all of you who have commented on my book.