Pixel International Conferences

Expanding on the common knowledge that many colonised nations have adopted the language of their colonisers as prominent means of  communication — the author delves into aspects of post-colonial knowledge propagation from the point of view of India. The positions of power held as traders and eventually administrators by the few British residents of India, has affected how the language itself has been perceived locally, over  generations. As a direct result of lineage, economic background and social standing, the author among numerous others has been raised with a revering mindset towards English. Despite her unease with the colonial history of the language, the author acknowledges that the impact of English in India, as a language and script, should not be perceived as all bad — it is a very important means of communication for the country as often English is the only common language between people from different parts of the country. This aspect of the colonial language is often omitted from post colonial linguistic discourse. As we walk this tightrope, our post-colonial knowledge propagation and production has been a curious one — about 1-2% of the Indian population is fluent in English more than other local  languages, these few now take pride in the standardisation through knowledge and seek to run a Nation of many languages. Not just the language, but the script too has evolved into a symbol acquired through privileges of family and/or education. As a counter, the author has developed a pseudo script, Setu– bridging the gap between some local scripts with the Roman alphabet. One can read about it on https://muditapasari.com/portfolio/setu-a-pseudo-script/ .
The constructed script is a representation of everyday experiences being navigated by many Indians. The paper unpacks how a diverse nation correlates its methods of knowledge propagation and dissemination, with a colonial language as a vehicle of exchange. The author believes languages and scripts hold the power to change perspectives and hopes to raise awareness about the bizarre by creating something bizarre. This paper outlines the morphology of the Setu script and the impact such an exercise can have on native – post colonial knowledge structures.

Keywords: post-colonial, navigating languages, knowledge creation, linguistic discourse.

References:

• Bianco, J. (2014). Domesticating the Foreign: Globalization's Effects on the Place/s of Languages. The Modern Language Journal, 98(1), 312-325. Retrieved
  from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43651760
• Dei, G. (2011). CHAPTER ONE: Revisiting the Question of the 'Indigenous'. Counterpoints, 379, 21-33. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42980882
  DeVereaux, C. (2018). Observations on Language, Identity, and the Post-Colonial. Arts Management Quarterly, 29(June), 7–11.
• Errington, J. (2001). Colonial Linguistics. Annual Review of Anthropology, 30, 19-39. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3069207