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Language, Identity and the

Survival of Culture

Jennifer Cole, Ph.D.University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Language reflects cultureLanguage reflects culture

In the English-speaking

community, time is a commodity.

You can…

invest time save time

lose time waste time

manage time gain time

keep time give time

make time win time…

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Language reflects culture

In Sindhi, time is not possessed.

Time passes, time happens, and

time can be faced…

ajju na subhaarne ‘sooner or later’

derii thii vaii ‘it got late’

lit.‘lateness happened’

vaktu guzirii vayo ‘time passed by’

WhatWhat’’s the link s the link

between between

language language

and and

culture?culture?

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Language ~ Culture

Can culture can survive language loss?

Maybe, if culture can be effectively

translated across languages.

Maybe not, if language defines the

cultural concepts.

The patterns of the language we speak largely

determine the patterns of our thoughts, and

ultimately our culture.

-- Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956)

“Linguistic Determinism”

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Language is the instrument of thought

Are not thought and speech the same, with

this exception that what is called thought is

the unuttered conversation of the soul?

-- Plato (429-327 bce)

The limits of my language mean the limits of

my world.

-- Ludwig Wittgenstein (1921)

Every language expresses the character of the

people that speak it.

-- E. Bonnot de Condillac (1746)

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Languages differ in the thoughts they

afford us.

Language is the instrument of thought

Culture is the collective, shared ‘thought’ of

the community.

Therefore…

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IF Languages differ in the thoughts they

afford us.

THEN Languages differ in the culture

they afford us.

If language determines the way you

perceive the world, then…

A shift from one language to another

entails the possibility of a shift in world view,

a shift in culture

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Language shift

When a community shifts from using

their native language to using another

language, usually the language of a

dominant or economically powerful

community.

Urdu

Hindi

English

Sindhi

Language shift

When a community shifts from using

their native language to using another

language, usually the language of a

dominant or economically powerful

community.

Urdu

Hindi

English

SindhiUrdu

Hindi

English

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Is language shift unavoidable?

Language shift promotes economic

development.

…a necessary sacrifice?

People voluntarily shift to the

dominant language, to reap social

benefits.

Language shift never occurs by

choice, but by loss of choice.

Language and identity

To choose a language is an act of

identity.

“Languages are the pedigrees of

nations”

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Language and identity

The notion of “1 Language - 1 State”

is based on the European model,

imposed during 19th c. colonialism, and

is not a natural state for most of the

world.

“We have room for but one language.”

--President Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

Language shift, Language loss

Signs of endangerment:

Fewer speakers,

Fewer domains of language use,

Structural simplifications,

Language not learned by children as

a mother tongue.

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The social connection

Only the speakers of a language

can keep it alive.

A social function for language is

necessary for its survival.

Sindhi in Pakistan

• Sindhi as mother tongue: 20.5 million (1998)– Population of Pakistan: 145.5 million

– Sindhi as mother tongue: 14.10%

• Sindhi as mother tongue in Sindh1941: 82%

1981: 52%

1998: 60%

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Sindhi in Pakistan (2)

Rural vs. Urban Sindhi (1998)Rural population: 92% Sindhi mother tongue

Urban population: 26% Sindhi mother tongue

• Number of Sindhi speakers increasing along with population growth

• Increasing urbanization – For Pakistan: 17.8% in 1951 � 32.5% in 1998

Sindhi in Pakistan (3)

• Urbanization brings increased

literacy in Sindh– 31.45% in 1981 � 45.29% in 1998

– For all groups: male/female, rural/urban

– Literacy in any language

• # of Sindhi medium schools: 36,000– 20% of the total number of schools in

Pakistan

– Equal to number of English-medium schools

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Shifting patterns of language use

1941 1951 1981 1998

Sindhi 82% 73.8% 52.40% 59.7%

Urdu --- 9.7% 22.64% 21%

Others 19% 16.5% 24.96% 19.3%

[Bughio 2001]

Sindhi in Pakistan (4)

• Putting it together… we find increases in:

# of Sindhi speakers

Literate Sindh residents

----------------------------------

Urban Sindhi speakers

Multi-lingual Sindhi speakers

Language contact

Strengthening

factors

Weakening

factors

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Sindhi in the Diaspora

• 2.5 million speakers (conservative

estimate) in India

• UK, USA, Middle East and East/SE Asia.

Declining literacy

Declining fluency

Declining use

among youth

Summing up:

1. Language shift

� Language loss

� Culture loss

2. Evidence of language shift in

Sindhi communities, in Sindh and

abroad.

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Fact: Bilingualism is the norm for

most of the world, and a model for

language preservation efforts.

There is room for both the local

and the global language…. If the

local language is supported in the

home, schools, and community.

May your boats cross!

… happy landings

bberaaii paari!

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May it be always spring!

… a new beginning

sadaa bahaari!