Tariq Rahman

Language ideology, identity and the commodification of language in the call centers of Pakistan

This article relates the language ideologies of Pakistan in general, and its call centers in particular, with the language policies and practices of the latter. The specific policy focused upon is the commodification of English with a near-native (American or British) accent as linguistic capital. These accents are indexed to the desired foreign identities which the workers of call centers perform in telephonic interaction with clients as part of their sales strategy. This crossing over to native-speaker linguistic identities is not always successful. When successful, however, some workers in the call centers pass as native speakers in certain contexts and for certain purposes. Such practices and the policies upon which they are contingent are consequences of language ideologies that entail language discrimination against the workers of the call centers by the Pakistani English-using elite, and vice versa. (English, commodification of language, accent, linguistic capital, language policy, identity, passing, crossing, call centers, Pakistan)

English-Teaching Institutions in Pakistan

English is taught in several institutions in Pakistan. It is a medium of instruction in elitist, highly expensive, private schools as well as cadet colleges indirectly controlled and partly subsidised by the state. It is taught as a subject in the vernacular-medium, state-controlled schools where ordinary Pakistanis study. It is also taught, though to very few children, in the Islamic seminaries (madrassas). As it is the language of lucrative and powerful jobs, it is much in demand. Thus, a large number of private schools, charging high fees, have come up in all parts of Pakistani cities and towns. At the moment English is an elitist preserve and a stumbling block for all other Pakistanis. However, it is also the means of bringing a person into contact with the outside world and hence with liberal-humanist, democratic values. Thus, exposure to English might counteract the growing religious and cultural intolerance in Pakistan. It is suggested that English should no longer be a medium of instruction for the elite but it should be taught to all children so that it is spread out widely and evenly all over Pakistan. English will then function as an empowering device and a liberalising influence in the country.

The Medium of Instruction Controversy in Pakistan

Pakistan has five major indigenous languages Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Siraiki and Baluchi while the national language is Urdu. The language used in the domains of power (like the higher bured the officer corps of the armed forces)is English, as it was during British rule. This paper traces the controversy about the medium of instruction in Pakistan, beginning with the use of Englt education in pre-partition days. This policy was meant to consolidate the empire because the English-educated Anglicised elite would support British rule in its own interest. The masses weret the lower levels, in the vernacular which was taken to be Urdu in all the provinces except Sind, where Sindhi was used. This policy produced office workers in subordinate positions at low coy Pakistan, too, the elite are educated in expensive English-medium schools, whereas Urdu is used in most other schools, including those of urban Sind which have majorities of mother-tongue Ur. This medium of instruction policy is opposed by the indigeno...

The Urdu-English Controversy in Pakistan

Pakistan is an ideologically inspired state and Urdu was a part of this ideology. During the development of Muslim separatism in British India it had become a symbol of Muslim identity and was the chief rival of Hindi, the symbol of Hindu identity (Brass, 1974: 119–81. Thus, after partition it was not surprising that the Muslim polemical and methodologically unreliable books. Some of them are, indeed, part of the pro-Urdu campaign by such official institutions as the National Language Authority, because of which they articulate only the official language policy (Kamran, 1992). Other books, especially by supporters of Urdu, invoke simplistic conspiracy theories for explaining the opposition to Urdu. One of them is that the elitist supporters of English have always conspired to protect it in their self-interest; the other that ethno-nationalists, supported by foreign governments, communists and anti-state agents, oppose Urdu (Abdullah, 1976; Barelvi 1987). While such assertions may be partly true, the defect of the publications is that no proof is offered in support of them.

Denizens of alien worlds: A survey of students and teachers at Pakistan's Urdu and English language-medium schools, and madrassas

This Research Note surveys the major types of schools in Pakistan. These are Urdu language-medium schools, madrassas (Islamic seminaries) and elite English language-medium schools (both cadet colleges and private institutions). These schools are divided according to the medium of instruction and curriculum, as well as on the basis of socio-economic class. While the English language-medium schools cater for the middle, upper-middle and upper classes, the Urdu language-medium schools are aimed at the lower-middle and working classes, and the madrassas provide education for poor, marginalized or very religious people. The expenditure by society and the state on these institutions perpetuates class divisions in Pakistan. Alarmingly, the world view of the students of these institutions, especially the madrassas and private English language-medium schools, is so polarized on issues of militancy (regarding Kashmir) and tolerance (of religious minorities and women) that they seem to inhabit different, and violently opposed, worlds. In the future, this may be a source of social instability, internal conflict and violence in Pakistan.

Language and Ethnicity in Pakistan

through the Bengali language movements (bhasha andolan) of 1948 and 1952. How could this have happened so quickly after Bengal had enthusiastically supported the idea of Pakistan? The Muslims of Bengal had called themselves Muslims first, but at independence they insisted upon the primacy of their Bengali identity. The West Pakistan press, official figures, and politicians declared that Hindus and communists had created the Bengali language movement and that it was a conspiracy to break up Pakistan. But such an explanation can hardly satisfy any student of recent history. Ethnicity has not vanished, as liberals fondly imagined, with the coming of modernity. Indeed, identity politics is considered a major contemporary phenomenon, and one with the potential to leave the world a more polarized and insecure place. This is true not only for the obvious case of Bosnia, where ethnic conflict has been dramatized through a savage war but also in Pakistan, where it threatens to destroy the state as it now exists. This article will be concerned only with language-based expressions of ethnicity. This rules out the war that led to the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 and events leading to government military action against Baloch tribes in 1958, 1962-66, and 1973-76. Even so, there remain the Bengali, Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto, Siraiki, and Punjabi language movements to reckon with. First, however, the relationship among language, ethnicity, and identity will be addressed. Identity is an elusive category. A person might define himself or herself in terms of sex (male or female); family role (son, daughter, wife); occupation

TRANSFORMING THE COLONIAL LEGACY The future of the Pakistani University

Abstract The universities of Pakistan were established by the colonial British government in 1858 so as to produce educated Indians to serve in the expanding bureaucracy. As government and security were the major concerns of the colonial government they made the bureaucracy (ICS) and the military prestigious and efficient institutions while higher education remained subordinate, government-controlled and poor. Being unattractive, the universities could not attract the most competent students and remained medieval teaching institutions with almost no research. This continues in Pakistan because the ruling elites of Pakistan continue to govern the country in the colonial tradition of the past. In the last section certain changes are suggested to make the universities more academically competent.

Linguistic Deviation as a Stylistic Device in Pakistani English Fiction

The idea of literary language, especially poetic language, being somehow deviant from the language of discursive prose forms the basis of some recent contemporary stylistic theories. This deviant language is said to make the work, or parts of it, stand out foregrounds it and this in itself is artistically significant since, according to Shklovsky, the quality of literariness is related to being different, being strange as it were, and capable of evoking other than stereotyped or simplistic responses.’ Leech has given a taxonomy of the stylistic devices used by poets to create deviance and some of them can be usefully applied to the study of literature, especially twentiethcentury literature which privileges the deviant rather than the norm more than most other literary eras.’ The aim of this article is to throw some light on the way Pakistani creative writers use deviant English as a stylistic device in their fiction. For this purpose I shall first touch upon the mesolect, i.e. that form of Pakistani English which deviates from standard English because of interference from the indigenous languages without aiming at a literary effect. Then I shall go on to consider the works of those who

Pakistan's policies and practices towards the religious minorities

The religious minorities of Pakistan suffer gross human rights abuses because the state has increasingly moved to the right in a bid to seek legitimacy and cohesiveness by using Islamic symbols and rhetoric in support of its rule. Thus, there are laws which discriminate against non-Muslim citizens exposing them to legal prosecution and extrajudicial persecution by their fellow citizens. As radical Islamic groups gain strength in the country, the non-Muslims find the society getting increasingly intolerant.

The Punjabi movement in Pakistan

The Punjabi language movement is the aspiration ofcertain Punjabi intellectuals to increase the use of the Punjabi language in the domains ofpower in place of Urdu and English. It is an urban phenomenon which started soon after the emergence of Pakistan but has never become either populist or powerful. The activists of the movement have, however, created some modern terminology in Punjabi and they publish some Journals and books. The movement is a reaction of intellectuals who feel that the Punjabi eilte dominates the country by using the integrative Symbols of Islam and Urdu, which is the national language of the country despite being the mother tongue ofabout 8 percent people, whereas Punjabi is the mother tongue of more than 48 percent people. They feel that the neglect of their mother tongue is too great a price to pay for suppressing language-based ethnic movements in the other provinces of Pakistan andhence retaining hegemony over the whole country.