If there is one principle of criminal justice systems that stands deeply rooted in all countries, it is that of fair trials. And a fair trial, especially for refugees entering the West from Syria and Afghanistan, demands a fair process of interpreting from their native language to English. It is Read more…
Northeast India has always been regarded as a treasure hold for researchers from different fields due to its linguistic and cultural diversity. It is home to more than 70% of the total languages of India and we find four language families in this area, namely, Indo-Aryan, Austro-Asiatic, Tai-Kadai and Tibeto-Burman. Read more…
Amrita Pritam, the famous poet who fled Pakistan after the partition of 1947, writes in her famous poem ‘Ajj Aakhaan Waris Shaah Nu ’ – “Lost is the flute, which once, blew sounds of the heartRanjha’s brothers, today, no longer know this art…” On the eve of the partition of the Read more…
“Birth is painful! They say, when a mother gives birth to a child, she undergoes through a pain equivalent to fracturing 20 bones altogether. Imagine the birth of a Nation – imagine the birth of Bangladesh. Imagine its pain” – Abhi Sanghani December 2021, marks half a century of the bloody Read more…
Linguistic profiling is the act of denying available goods or services to an individual based on their language or accent, creating roots for racial profiling and racism. This kind of profiling and prejudices are not limited to the preference of the English language over other languages. They extend to prejudices Read more…
Adorned with numerous tribal communities and races, Papua New Guinea stands out in terms of its social and ethnic assortments. The country has another feather on its cap, the official title of being the country with maximum languages. Though the country recognizes only 4 official languages, there are around 839 Read more…
Human languages play a predominant role in the social life of people as they are the most effective means of communication and cultural expression. In a multilingual country like India most often the dominant languages come to the forefront for extended use of language beyond oral discourse. The dominant languages Read more…
This article is a policy analysis of The Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Bill, 2020, wherein the authors examine the constitutionality of the amendment and the practical implications of the same. Introduction: What the Amendment Says The Haryana government caused a bit of stir by introducing the Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Read more…
I personally believe in the importance of diversity in this world, and this includes linguistic diversity. Diversity, however, should be accompanied by equality, at least as much as is reasonably possible. This hardly ever happens – some languages are prestigious and important, some others are not, and obviously, this has Read more…
Colonialism leaves a lasting impact on the socio-cultural, ideological and emotional fabric, even decades since its end in a place once subjected to colonial rule. One such marker of this colonial legacy is encoded in the language of the place, both in terms of languages which have gained a status Read more…