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Readiness
to adapt to the emerging needs and linguistic openness are
the essential prerequisites of a living language. English,
being the language of global opportunity, had plentiful of
these attributes all along. In its global sweep, it impacted
several languages and in turn, had also been immensely impacted.
English borrowed vocabulary extensively from languages the
world over and augmented its word stock. It is estimated that
its stock of `native' words is no larger than 20%, while its
borrowings measure up to over 80%. Rather than being ossified,
English is a language which renews itself, and is found in
its myriad incarnations all over the world, in the name of
`Englishes'. We have the American variety, the Australian
variety, the West Indian variety and plentiful Indian varieties,
including, `Hinglish,' `Tinglish' and so on. All these varieties
gain respectability eventually. These developments inevitably
impact the way English is taught and learnt in the far-flung
English knowing communities. In this issue, there are three
papers dealing with the matters related to English language;
the process of syllabus design, the impact of examinations
on teaching/learning and the status of `Hinglish'.
Noel
Joseph Irudayaraj and C Isaac Jebastine, in the paper, "The
Process, Purposes, Levels and Contents of Syllabus Drafting",
attempt to present the process of designing a syllabus which
involves two stages: the drafting of the syllabus inventory,
and revision and refinement of the inventory into a syllabus.
Evangeline Sabina Rajasekar, in her paper, "Impact of
Examinations on the Teaching and Learning of English",
based on the copious data collected by her through a questionnaire
survey she conducted in schools in Chennai, argues that the
goals of curriculum remain merely goals, while the demands
of the examinations continue to be met. Gajendra S Chauhan,
in his interesting paper, "Hinglish on a Platter: A Toast
to New Global Bhasha", shows how English in its
urge to meet the emerging needs of communication allows for
code-switching and code-mixing, during its contact with Hindi.
The
predicament of inheritors of bicultural legacy is ever confusing
and the children of racial mix have problems of adjustment,
which are explored by Lakshmi Sistla in her paper, "Towards
Integration: Childhood in Ashok Banker's Byculla Boy".
Neilkant Jhaveri, child of Anglo-Indian mother and Hindu father,
is rejected by both father and mother, as well as by both
the religions, but slowly he tries to integrate himself with
his bicultural heritage and succeeds partly. The symbiotic
relationship between Nature and humans and the hazards resulting
from the non-realization of such intrinsic bond is examined
by S Kumaran in his paper, "Eco-Consciousness in H S
Shivaprakash's The Bride". In the play by H S
Shivaprakash, the bridegroom, overwhelmed by his passion for
his bride, forsakes the warning given by Nature and unwittingly
kills his own bride. The author shows that the playwright
does not use nature as merely a background; rather trees act
as characters and even commentators on human folly, making
the perception of Nature by the playwright relevant to the
present environmental hazards and destruction of world's natural
resources.
Seema
Miglani, in the paper, "The Clash of Cultures and Races
in Manohar Malgonkar's Combat of Shadows", discusses
the conflict arising from the global spread of western style
industrial culture and the consequent suppression of unique
traits of indigenous culture, as presented by Malgonkar in
this novel. The conflict further leads to confusion and a
kind of cultural enslavement and the inevitable resistance.
At the end, the novelist appears to believe that when it comes
to real values of life, East and West not only reconcile and
resolve, but out of their coming together, a new culture incorporating
the laudable in both the cultures, emerges. The psychological
trauma experienced by a highly sensitive woman, in conjugal
relationship with an unimaginative husband, is studied by
Rashmi Gupta in her paper, "Anita Desai's Cry, the
Peacock: A Psychoanalytical Study". Anita Desai,
the author argues, does not limit herself to the presentation
of the exterior actuality, but ex(im-)plores instead the internal
recesses of the protagonist, Maya.
Intertextual
reading, which closely studies the implications of a text
and tries to relate it to other texts of a future time, is
an approach, which encourages continuity of concerns, based
on race, religion or gender. Megha Trivedi, in her paper,
"Bertha, the Traditional Mad Woman in Attic versus Bertha,
the Victim: An Intertextual Reading of Jane Eyre and
Wide Sargasso Sea", adopts this approach to examine
the use of novel as a medium through which the suppressed
voice of female finds release and articulation. Examining
the underlying relationship between Charlotte Bronte's novel
and Jean Rhys' novel, the author shows that in the latter
novel, the much neglected Bertha of the earlier novel, has
been recreated and represented with a new shape and a new
context. Rhys looks into the inner consciousness of the female
psyche and explores the position of women in the power structure
created by the patriarchal society. The principle of relativity
in human relationships, suggested by Walter Pater, the aesthetician,
has been studied by Jyoti George in the paper, "Mrs.
Dalloway: Isolation and Connectivity Paradigm." Virginia
Wolf identifies herself with the principle that there is no
universal scale of values and highlights in her novel the
relativistic fictional technique. She sensitively presents
the conflict between conventionality and unconventionality,
between communication and privacy, between loneliness and
love, and between progression and regression of time. The
author of the paper shows that the novelist uses the famous
technique of stream of consciousness to connect the thoughts
of individuals in a way that transcends their alienation and
also suggests the irreconcilable opposition between individuality
and universality, when the major character like Mrs. Dalloway
and Septimus are connected and isolated in their social milieu.
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S S Prabhakar Rao
Consulting Editor |
