Nativisation Of English | Poetry | Linguistics

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Ravinder Gargesh Dept. of Linguistics Univ. of Delhi, Delhi 1.0 Background: The use of English for poetic purposes is not a recent phenomenon. In fact in the 1 9th and early 20th centuries it was the dominant form, though it had echoes of the British Romantic and ictorian traditions. traditions. It is only after the 19!0"s, i.e., after independence that it #egan to ac$uire a distinct Indian %oice through greater inno%ations and creati%ity. The inno%ations it must #e ac&nowledged ha%e #een present in fiction from the 19'0"s. The choice of English, an (associate official language", or at #est a second language, as a medium for creati%e purposes has distur#ed many. B. Ra)an *1992+ 9- feels that English is a language imposed upon India rather than nourished #y its soil/ while there are at least 1! ma)or nati%e Indian languages nourished #y the soil. In fact, Buddhade%a Bose was the first to emphatically state that in postindependence India there is no place for creati%e writing in English. hat distur#s Bose the most is that while Indian poets composing in English in 19th century tried to #ecome English poets in e%ery sense of the term/, the contemporary oets insist that they are Indians writing in English/ *193'+ 4-. 5e finds this preposterous for English is not an Indian #ut a foreign language which is unsuita#le for poetic e6pression. 7a%id 8cutchion too holds a similar %iew and percei%es the use of English as a #arrier against real insights into the Indian mind and circumstances/ *19'+ 1!-. :nother accusation is that Indian writers in English write to suit a foreign audience. :n ideological twist is also gi%en #y some who are apprehensi%e of the position of power of the English language, or some who consider it solely as a language for intellectual discourse. :nyhow, in order to refute Buddhade# Bose, . ;al had sent a $uestionnaire to hundreds of practising poets in India writing in English. The large num#er of responses recei%ed has #een pu#lished #y ;al in his 8odern Indian oetry in English+ :n :nthology :nthology and a redo. The responses pro%ed at least that su#stantial creati%e wor& was going on in English in India. 5owe%er, most creati%e writers in English emphasi- wrote  ?one has to con%ey in a language not one"s own the spirit that is one"s own @ English is not really an alien language to us. It is the language of our intellectual ma&e up @ li&e Aans&rit and ersian were #efore, #ut not of our emotional ma&e up. e cannot write li&e the English, we should not. e can write only as Indians./ The parallel with ersian is apt. e Indians ha%e #een $uite good at adapting the language of our intellectual ma&e up for e6pressi%e purposes as well, #ut in the process the language gets nati%i'+'- %iews Indiani-, in his Indian oetry in English Today declares that English is a language of our own, yes, an Indian language, in which we can feel deeply, create create and con%ey e6periences and responses typically Indian./  : poet poet li&e =amla =amla 7as in her (Introduction" (Introduction" to The Cld layhouse layhouse and other oems oems *19'- is conscious conscious of Indian #ilingualism, for she says+ I spea& three languages, write in Two, dream in one. Ahe answers another o#)ection+ 7on"t write in English, they said English is not your mother tongue, The language I spea& Becomes mine, its distortions, its $ueerness  :ll mine, mine alone, it is halfEnglish, halfIndian, funny perhaps, #ut it is honest. It is human as I am human It %oices my )oys, my longing my hopes. *=amala 7as+ (Introduction"- In fact the situation is $uite parado6ical, that IE poetry did not seriously #egin to e6ist till after the withdrawal of the British from India. It is only after independence that Indians #egan to ta&e greater freedom with the language and # egan shaping it into an effecti%e instrument to gi%e e6pression to their nati%e e6perience. :lso, another fact that needs to #e &ept in mind is that #efore independence the IE was not considered as part of the mainstream languages, #ut in the postindependence period its e6istence for creati%e purposes has #egun to #e recogni3+ 6iii- not on ly percei%es A:E as an additional linguistic arm/ in the culture of creati%ity, #ut also that the Aouth :sian creati%e writers showed a need for nati%i3+ 1-. 5e #elie%es that ati%i3+ 21-. The resultant %ariety of English is considered as an interference/ %ariety, since, in the second language %ariety used, there is a clear linguistic and cultural interference/ from the first language and culture of the users *i#id.+ 19-. The conte6tual inno%ations can #e identified at #oth descripti%e and pragmatic le%els. hile at the le%el of descripti%e analysis phonetic, phonological, le6ical, collocational and grammatical features can #e identified, at the pragmatic le%el occur historical and functional styles. Aince the user of the nonnati%e %ariety is a # ilingual, creati%ity is manifested in different &inds of (mi6ing", (switching", (alteration" and (transcreation" of codes. The nati%i3+ 131-. This is similar to Thum#oo"s *193+ i6- assertion that language is remade, where necessary, #y ad)usting the interior landscape of words in order to e6plore and mediate the permutations of another culture and en%ironment./ ".0 ativi!ation in #$ %oetr&: It is #elie%ed that Indian poets composing in English in ostindependence India ha%e tried to esta#lish the Indianness of English through their attempts to portray Indian realities. This in%ol%es a demonstration of their control and de6terity in using the language and in the process foregrounding English. The foregrounded language re%eals the inno%ation and creati%ity of the poets. The remaining part of this paper attempts to focus on the creati%e elements in Indian English poetry of the post independence period. It needs to #e pointed out in the #eginning that languages are part and parcel of the cultural semiotic whose signification pro%ide a distinct identity to a speech community. Their use of the language is intimately tied up with their sociocultural #eliefs and aspirations. R. arthasarthy, li&e all other Indian English poets is also acutely conscious of this and aptly states in his poetic idiom + That language is a tree loses its color  under another s&y *R. arthasarthy + (E6ile"- In the process of nati%i9. )ollected 'oems *+,-*+..  .7elhi + C6ford Kni%ersity ress. anguly, 7r. :.B. ed. 19>4. %ndian 'oetry in "nglish # n uthology  7elhi + :tama Ram L Aons. upta, R.and =.=apoor eds. 1991. "nglish in %ndia # %ssues and 'roblems. 7elhi + :cademic Goundation. =achru, B. B. 19>. ;e6ical inno%ations in Aouth :sian English. In R. 8ohan ed. 19> + >0100. =achru, B.B. 19>'. The %ndiani/ation of "nglish # the "nglish language in %ndia. ew 7elhi + C6ford Kni%ersity ress. =achru, B.B. 19>3. =achru, B.B. 1990 =achru, B.B. 199. =achru, B.B. 2001. =achru, H. 199. =achru, H. =iong, T..etal =ulshrestha, .*ed.-19>0 + The alchemy of "nglish # the spread$ functions$ and models (f non-native "nglishes. 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