The English-Vernacular Divide

by Ramanathan, Vaidehi

• ISBN13: 9781853597701
• ISBN10: 1853597708
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-01
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters Ltd

Summary

This book offers a critical exploration of the role of English in postcolonial communities such as India. Specifically, it focuses on some local ways in which the language falls along the lines of a class-based divide (with ancillary ones of gender and caste as well). The book argues that issues of inequality, subordination and unequal value seem to revolve directly around the general positioning of English in relation to vernacular languages. The author was raised and schooled in the Indian educational system.

Author Biography

Vaidehi Ramanathan is an Associate Professor in the Linguistics Department at the University of California, Davis.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
1 Introduction: Situating the Vernacular in a Divisive Postcolonial Landscape	1	(20)
2 Divisive Postcolonial Ideologies, Language Policies and Social Practices	21	(19)
3 Divisive and Divergent Pedagogical Tools for Vernacular-and English-medium Students	40	(22)
4 The Divisive Politics of Divergent Pedagogical Practices	62	(29)
5 The Divisive Politics of Tracking	91	(20)
6 Gulfs and Bridges Revisited: Hybridization, Nativization and Other Loose Ends	111	(9)
Afterword	120	(2)
Appendices	122	(9)
References	131	(7)
Index	138