Linguistic Foundations of Identity: Readings in Language, Literature and Contemporary Cultures

372 Pages·2020·2.215 MB·

by  Om Prakash, Rajesh Kumar

Linguistic Foundations of Identity
Readings in Language, Literature and
Contemporary Cultures

Linguistic Foundations of Identity
Readings in Language, Literature and
Contemporary Cultures
(cid:7)(cid:141)(cid:146)(cid:157)(cid:142)(cid:141)(cid:561)(cid:139)(cid:162)
Om Prakash
Rajesh Kumar
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Om Prakash & Rajesh Kumar;
individual chapters, the contributors; and Aakar Books
The right of Om Prakash & Rajesh Kumar to be identified as the authors
of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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explanation without intent to infringe.
Co-published with Aakar Books, New Delhi. Print edition not for sale in
South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Bhutan)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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ISBN: 978-0-367-61841-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-10680-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Palatino
by Arpit Printographers, New Delhi 110092
Contents
Foreword 9
Introduction 13
Om Prakash & Rajesh Kumar
1. From a Symbol of Culture to a Marker of Identity:
The Trajectory of Urdu in Colonial India 31
Irfanullah Farooqi
2. Symbolic Acts, Implied Character: Constructing
the Peer Identity 48
Suranjana Barua
3. Echoes of Language in Cultural Domains 63
N. Subhadra Chari
4. Politics of Language and Countering Colonialism:
A Study of Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines 68
Man Singh & Rashmi Gaur
5. Negotiated Culture and Negotiated Identity in
Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke 79
Sukanya Mondal & Rashmi Gaur
6. English and Postcolonial Subjectivity in Indian
Literature 91
Bipasha Som
7. Language Identity in India and Canada:
A Comparative Study 100
Abdul Matin, S.N. Fatmi and Mohammad Swalehin
8. Remapping Identity via Race and Language:
A Reading of Philip Roth’s The Human Stain 112
Averi Mukhopadhyay & Rashmi Gaur
6 Linguistic Foundations of Identity
9. Reconstructing Identity: African American Women,
Language, and Their Portrayal in Literature 123
Manjri Suman & Om Prakash
10. ‘Trans-creating’ Identity: Issues of Identity Projected by
Different Texts 134
Ramanjaney Kumar Upadhyay
11. Coexisting in Conflicting Togetherness: A
Sociolinguistic Perspective on English and
Identity in India 146
Riya Raj & Om Prakash
12. Syntactic Innovations in Kiran Desai’s The
Inheritance of Loss 157
Bablu Ray
13. Globalisation and Identity: Interventions during
Adolescence in School Education 168
Shraddha Dhiwal & Vinod K. Shanwal
14. Understanding Language and Politics of Identity and
Mass Persuasion in India: A case of Telangana 180
Rachana Chippa
15. Politeness in Santali: Implicit Social Aspects 192
Tanima Bagchi
16. The Construction of Gender Identity in the Novels of
Manju Kapur 202
Reena Chauhan
17. National Literature: A Morass 214
Shuchita Chandhok
18. From Honey Singh’s ‘Bomb Figure’ to Jennifer Lopez’s
‘Booty’: Culture Industry, Language and Identity of
Women amidst ‘Spicy’ Lyrics 225
Babli Mallick
19. “Who is/are Seth’s Suitable Boy(s)?”: Reading Desirable
Masculine Identity of Post-independent India in Vikram
Seth’s A Suitable Boy 242
Suraj Gunwant & Rashmi Gaur
Contents 7
20. Reconstructing Femininity; Commercially and
Ideologically: A Critical Discourse Study of the
Editor’s Notes to the first issue of Femina and
Woman’s Era 255
Shraddha Rai Sharma
21. The Sense of Place and Search for Identity: The Case of
Refugees from Myanmar in India 276
Subhasis Bhadra & Phobe
22. Role of Language in Identity Formation: An Analysis
of Influence of Sanskrit on Identity Formation 289
Varanasi Ramabrahmam
23. Code-mixing, Digital Media and Negotiated
Identity of the Urban Youth in India 304
Om Prakash & Akansha Kapoor
24. Can We Step Outside Language?: Language and
Identity in Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye 318
Vijayraj Kumawat & Rashmi Gaur
25. ‘Angikan’ Identity: A Socio-linguistic and Socio-
cultural Perspective 327
Khushbu Kumari
26. Language as Real as Magic Realism: Many worlds and
beyond in One Hundred Years of Solitude 341
Isha Tyagi
27. Instrumentality of Language: How Dravidian
Politicians Use Language 352
Arun Balaji, T.
About the Editors 362
About the Contributors 364
Praise for the Book 370

Foreword
Hai rang-e-laalaa-o-gul-o-nasreen, judaa judaa
Har rang main bahaar kaa isbaat chaahiye
‘Tulip or primrose, they have to speak in their colors.
Everyone answers the spring in his own dialect1’
Just as each blossom that answers the call of springs is curiously
unique in itself being born out of a distinct hue and fragrance
and texture and rustle melting together so is the collection of
papers in this book that brings together researchers working in
paradoxes and complexities of cultural identities through uses
of language and literature from varied perspectives, yet each
paper emerges and sustains itself through a rationale so singular
which is clearly demonstrated from the title Linguistic
Foundations of Identity: Readings in Language, Literature and
Contemporary Cultures.
Indeed advances in human rights in the 20th century laced
with the rise of secularism, age of globalization and revolution
in information technology contributed towards the erosion of
traditional institutions that prevented social mobility cutting
across the class, gender, ethnicity and racism.Whenever the
centre is not able to hold and bring stability on account of
weakening of the traditional institutions, the preoccupation with
stability, structure and function has been questioned. Paradigm
shift is decidedly marked in the conception of identity, which
now foregrounds the aspirations, the trials and tribulations of
individuals and primes the individual agency. The paradigm