The Language of Empire
- Episode aired Nov 2003
IMDb RATING
8.2/10
10
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The British Empire changes the nature of English with its interactions in Asia and Africa.The British Empire changes the nature of English with its interactions in Asia and Africa.The British Empire changes the nature of English with its interactions in Asia and Africa.
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The Imperial Adventure.
Lately I've heard an expression used in the sense of approval. "Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick." It comes to us from the English used hundreds of years ago by the lower-class British prisoners that were sent to Australia. They adopted some words from the local aborigines ("boomerang") but mostly the distinctive quality of Australian speech is criminal in its origins. "Chum," "swag," "lark," "stow it." In the familiar lyric, "You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me," a "swag man" or drifter sings. A Matilda is a bag of one's personal effects, waltzing means walking along a road, and it was written in 1895. All of that is news to me.
This episode deals with the spread of English through India, the Caribbean, and Australia and illustrates the way English and native languages traded words, grammar, and expressions. From the various languages of India we get "bungalow," "khaki," "calico", and "mogul." Not much from the Caribbean because the settlers quickly disposed of them and brought in slaves from Africa to harvest the sugar cane. Yet, we still have "canoe", "hammock," and a few others.
Each place the English ruled, the language was considered correct and the use of local languages discouraged, sometimes bullied out of existence. In Wales, the law required the exclusive use of English in classrooms. Students caught speaking Welsh were punished, and pupils were encouraged to squeal on one another, which is where our expression "to Welsh on" comes from. You didn't have to be born an Englishman to force the preferred language into someone else's throat. I've spoken to elderly Tlingit Indians in Alaska who'd had their mouths washed with soap for speaking their own language in class.
The episode gives us a picture of a kind of imperial adventure in history. Now, that particular history is over. English is established in the former colonies but exists side by side, sometimes uneasily, with "la parole." Of course, English is about as close to a universal language as the world has, but changes continue.
Language, regrettably, is also a tribal symbol. Sometimes people don't get along because they speak different languages, even though they share the same national identity, and sometimes the clash turns violent -- the English and French in Quebec, the French and Flemish in Belgium. It's strange how some people can use speech sounds as a peg on which to hang murder.
This episode deals with the spread of English through India, the Caribbean, and Australia and illustrates the way English and native languages traded words, grammar, and expressions. From the various languages of India we get "bungalow," "khaki," "calico", and "mogul." Not much from the Caribbean because the settlers quickly disposed of them and brought in slaves from Africa to harvest the sugar cane. Yet, we still have "canoe", "hammock," and a few others.
Each place the English ruled, the language was considered correct and the use of local languages discouraged, sometimes bullied out of existence. In Wales, the law required the exclusive use of English in classrooms. Students caught speaking Welsh were punished, and pupils were encouraged to squeal on one another, which is where our expression "to Welsh on" comes from. You didn't have to be born an Englishman to force the preferred language into someone else's throat. I've spoken to elderly Tlingit Indians in Alaska who'd had their mouths washed with soap for speaking their own language in class.
The episode gives us a picture of a kind of imperial adventure in history. Now, that particular history is over. English is established in the former colonies but exists side by side, sometimes uneasily, with "la parole." Of course, English is about as close to a universal language as the world has, but changes continue.
Language, regrettably, is also a tribal symbol. Sometimes people don't get along because they speak different languages, even though they share the same national identity, and sometimes the clash turns violent -- the English and French in Quebec, the French and Flemish in Belgium. It's strange how some people can use speech sounds as a peg on which to hang murder.
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- rmax304823
- Feb 7, 2015
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