CULTURE FOR SOCIETIES
Two dominant paradigms view the world from different perspectives. From the perspective of dominant monolingualism multiplicity is inconvenient, uneconomic, burdensome and a handicap. Planning must aim at reducing the number of languages, religions, ethnicities and even the people. In its logical extension it leads to uniformity in thinking, behaviour and cultural expression. The pluralistic model survives through an approach of complementation and respect for the different. This requires a cultural rootedness on the part of the individual and self imposed austerity on the part of groups. The western laissez-faire democracy emphasizes rights. The traditional Indian society emphasizes duties. In fact recently the Indian Constitution was amended to add a section on duties. Both are not exclusive. Rights entail duties and duties entail rights. Over emphasis on one makes people under perceive the other. If we forget that one's freedom to move one's hand is circumscribed by the proximity of the nose of the other then it is bound to bring ruination to both.
No matter what one does, it is impossible to get rid of majority and majority. It is like playing a game with 15 dots in a board with 16 squares. If justifications are sought in terms of majority right, then the logic of the argument would lead to total annihilation of humanity. Take for example, India. In the State of Karnataka 64j per cent of the population speak Kannada as their mother tongue and 36 per cent speak a language other than Kannada as their mother tongue. If the right of these 36 per cent are ignored and the majority language is imposed, then the Kannadigas who form 4 per cent of the total population of the country could also be ignored at the national level. This argument can be carried to the international arena with devastating effects.
In the same of language planning languages are planned out. Standardisation is not considered a range, but a point. Language pedagogy of the first generation learners, and the socially handicapped has not received the attention of socio-linguistics. The language of religious communication is important for the whole world. And yet this has been totally ignored. In India 99 per cent of the population has returned one or the other religion. No linguist has taken up any research. 2/3rd of the world communicate orally. We have very little by the way of comparative study of oral and written codes and the impact of one or the other made on the social processes.
Both majorities and minorities have the same language right, the right to access to languages of information, knowledge, education, administration including administration of justice and mass communication. They must have the language of access to their cultural past and coping ability to deal with the unknown and uncertain future. It is only when such rights are usurped whether by a majority or dominant minority that conflict arises. For example, in Bolivia the 95 per cent Guarani speakers are colonised by the Spanish, in Jammu and Kashmir in India the majority Kashmiri language speakers are subjected to administration through Urdu and all over the countries having a colonised past, the dominant minority colonised languages wield greater power than all the languages taken together in their respective countries.
The search for egalitarianism is not the prerogative of the Blacks and the Browns. The Blacks, the Browns, the Yellows and the Whites must join hands if an egalitarian society is to be ushered in. Abraham Lincoln once said "I don't want to be a master as I don't want to be a slave. It is time that the exploiters and the exploited take a pledge that we don't want to be exploiters and we don't want to be exploited. The present life style of the exploiters cannot continue for long when large mass of humanity is not only below the poverty line but remains culturally underperceived".
The first world contains in itself the third world, as the third contains the first. This accentuates and magnifies differences.
Only voluntary austerity on the part of those engaged in conspicuous consumption can ensure a peaceful transition from inequality to equality. Language, then only will be a tool of conviviality and creative expression. Language processes then will be ally of social processes.