Politeness and Collective Identity: A Case Study of Two Endangered Languages of Arunachal Pradesh
Keywords:
politeness, language endangerment, critical discourse analysis, metapragmatics, collective identity
Abstract
The study explores the phenomenon of politeness vis-à-vis collective identity in two indigenous languages of Arunachal Pradesh, India: Miju and Digaru. Through the differential use of discourse markers in various language settings, this paper examines politeness strategies used by the speakers of both languages to form inferences on the speakers’ worldview and social knowledge of their respective communities in different contexts. The intrinsic structure of the language of a community and its lucid usage construes politeness together with a society's socio-cultural principles. The socio-cultural characteristics fabricate the speakers' cognitive structure that formulates the phenomenon of politeness falling in with the language principles and boundaries. The current paper examines the production, projection and perception of politeness through discursive approach including inclusiveness/ exclusiveness strategies to understand natives’ perspective on collective identity as speakers of endangered languages themselves. Further, the study takes linguistic politeness as a meta-pragmatic entity and tries to explore this phenomenon in the Miju and Digaru languages from the native’s socio-cognitive understanding. In doing so, the paper appropriates Koller (2012), which, in introducing critical analytical parameters for analysing collective identity in discourse, talks about three levels of discourse – Macro-level, Meso-level, and Micro-level.
References
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Betholia, C. (2005). Politeness and power: An analysis of Meiteilon suffixes. Linguistics of Tibeto-Burman area, 28, 71-87. Retrieved from http://purl.org/sealang/betholia2005politeness.pdf
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Boro, K. (2012). Serialized verbs in Boro. North east Indian linguistics, 4, 83-103. https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9789382264521.007
Brown, N. (1837). Comparison of Indo-Chinese languages. Journal of the Asiatic society of Bengal, 6, 1023-1039. Retrieved from http://pahar.in/mountains/Books%20and%20Articles/Indian%20Subcontinent/1837%20Comparison%20of%20Indo-Chinese%20Languages%20by%20Brown%20from%20JASBv6pt2%20s.pdf
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. UK: Cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085
Choudhury, D. (2020). Multilingual education and the mother tongue: A survey of two endangered languages of Arunachal Pradesh. Language and language teaching, 8(18), 18-22. Retrieved from https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/pdf/Language-and-Language-Teaching-18-issue-july-2020.pdf
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Dey, L. (2016). Hruso: A linguistic and cultural overview. In G. K. Bera, K. Jose, G. Lazar & M. Antony (eds.), Endangered cultures and languages in North East India, 24-34. Guwahati & New Delhi: Spectrum Publications.
Errington, J. (2003). Getting language rights: The rhetorics of language endangerment and loss. American anthropologist, 105(4), 723-732. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2003.105.4.723
Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. London: Longman. Retrieved from https://www.worldcat.org/title/language-and-power/oclc/17321588.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Political correctness: The politics of culture and language. Discourse & society, 14(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926503014001927
Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. UK & USA: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315834368
Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. In van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction, 2. 258–284. London: Sage. Retrieved from http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Critical%20Discourse%20Analysis.pdf
Goffman, E. (1955). On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry, 18(3), 213-231. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1955.11023008
Grierson, G. A. (Ed.). (1909). Linguistic survey of India, 3. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing. Retrieved from https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/lsi/index.html
Ide, S. (1989). Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of universals of linguistic politeness. Multilingua: Journal of cross-cultural and interlanguage communication, 8(2-3), 223-248. https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.1989.8.2-3.223
Johnstone, B. (2002). Discourse analysi, 2-10. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Kádár, D. V., & Márquez-Reiter, R. (2015). (Im) politeness and (Im) morality: Insights from intervention. Journal of politeness research: Language, behavior, culture, 11(2), 239-260. https://doi.org/ 10.1515/pr-2015-0010
Koller, V. (2012). How to analyse collective identity in discourse-textual and contextual parameters. Critical approaches to discourse analysis across disciplines 5(2), 19-35. Retrieved from https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/journals/cadaad/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Volume-5_Koller.pdf
Koller, V. (2014). Applying social cognition research to critical discourse studies: The case of collective identities. Contemporary critical discourse studies. 149-167. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Retrieved from https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/73449
Kri, H. (2008). The Mishmis. Tinsukia: The City Press.
Kroskrity, P. V. (Ed.). (2000). Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities, and identities. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press. Retrieved from http://sarweb.org/index.php?sar_press_regimes_of_language
Kunda, Z. (1999). Social cognition: Making sense of people, 392. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6291.001.0001
Linguistic Politeness Research Group. (Eds.). (2011). Discursive approaches to politeness. Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110238679.19
Melucci, A. (1989). Nomads of the present: Social movement and identity needs in contemporary society. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA.
Mills, S. (2009). Impoliteness in a cultural context. Journal of Pragmatics, 41(5), 1047-1060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.10.014
Mills, S. (2011). Discursive approaches to politeness and impoliteness. Discursive approaches to politeness, 19-56. Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110238679.19
Polletta, F., & Jasper, J. M. (2001). Collective identity and social movements. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 283-305. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.2.283
Post, M. W., & Burling. R. (2017). The Tibeto-Burman languages of northeast India. The Sino-Tibetan languages 2, 213-242. London & New York: Routledge. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/21437
Pulu, J. 1991. A phrase book of Taraon language, 15-16. Itanagar, Arunachal Pradeshː Directorate of Research.
Rondo, J. (2016). Socio-cultural and religious activities of the Igu (priest) among the Idu Mishmi. In G. K. Bera, K. Jose, G. Lazar & M. Antony (Eds.), Endangered cultures and languages in north east India, 1-23. Guwahati & New Delhi: Spectrum Publications.
Sánchez, L. (2003). Quechua–Spanish bilingualism: Interference and convergence in functional categories. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.35
Snow, D. (2001). Collective identity and expressive forms. Center for the study of democracy. California Digital Library. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/04094-8
Tajfel, H. (1974). Social identity and intergroup behaviour. Social science information, 13 (2), 65–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847401300204
Terkourafi, M. (2001). Politeness in Cypriot Greek: A frame-based approach. Doctoral dissertation. University of Cambridge. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2142/9573
van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & society, 4(2), 249-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002006
van Dijk T.A. (2003). The Discourse-knowledge interface. In Weiss G., Wodak R. (Eds.) Critical discourse analysis, 85-109. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230514560_5
van Dijk, T. A. (2008). Discourse and power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-07299-3
van Dijk, T. A. (2009a). Society and discourse: How social contexts influence text and talk. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511575273
van Dijk, T. A. (2009b). Critical discourse studies: A socio-cognitive approach. Methods of critical discourse analysis, 2(1), 62-86. Retrieved from http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Critical%20Discourse%20Studies.pdf
van Dijk, T. A. (2014). Discourse and knowledge: A socio-cognitive approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107775404
Weiss, G., & Wodak, R. (Eds.). (2007). Critical discourse analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wendel, J., & Heinrich, P. (2012). A framework for language endangerment dynamics: The effects of contact and social change on language ecologies and language diversity. International journal of the sociology of language, 2012 (218), 145-166. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2012-0062
Wodak, R. (2002). Aspects of critical discourse analysis. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Linguistik, 36(10), 5-31. Retrieved from https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/aspects-of-critical-discourse-analysis(21c41cb5-af51-41cb-a427-8188a89c7991).html
Arundale, R. B. (2010). Constituting face in conversation: Face, facework, and interactional achievement. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(8), 2078-2105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.021
Baker, C. (1992). Attitudes and language. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters.
Barua, S. (forth/2021). Politeness and language. In R.K. Agnihotri and Rajesh Kumar (Eds.) Language, mind and society: A reader. Delhi, India: Orient Blackswan.
Baruah, T. (2015). Status of endangered languages in northeast India. In G.K. Bera and K. Jose SVD (Eds.), Endangered cultures and languages in India, 82-90. Guwahati & Delhi: Spectrum Publications.
Betholia, C. (2005). Politeness and power: An analysis of Meiteilon suffixes. Linguistics of Tibeto-Burman area, 28, 71-87. Retrieved from http://purl.org/sealang/betholia2005politeness.pdf
Blench, R. (2018, 28th February). Assessing the language situation in Arunachal Pradesh and policy for developing scripts and their use in education. Presented in Talk series in Itanagar Museum, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. Retrieved from http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/NEI/Mishmi/General/Ministry%2028%202%2018.pdf
Blench, R. (2017, 8-10th February). The Mishmi languages, Idu, Tawra and Kman: A mismatch between cultural and linguistic relations. Presented in International Consortium for Eastern Himalayan Ethnolinguistic Prehistory (ICEHEP) in LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/NEI/Mishmi/MisOP/Blench%20Mishmi%20Melbourne%202017.pdf
Boro, K. (2012). Serialized verbs in Boro. North east Indian linguistics, 4, 83-103. https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9789382264521.007
Brown, N. (1837). Comparison of Indo-Chinese languages. Journal of the Asiatic society of Bengal, 6, 1023-1039. Retrieved from http://pahar.in/mountains/Books%20and%20Articles/Indian%20Subcontinent/1837%20Comparison%20of%20Indo-Chinese%20Languages%20by%20Brown%20from%20JASBv6pt2%20s.pdf
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. UK: Cambridge university press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813085
Choudhury, D. (2020). Multilingual education and the mother tongue: A survey of two endangered languages of Arunachal Pradesh. Language and language teaching, 8(18), 18-22. Retrieved from https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/SitePages/pdf/Language-and-Language-Teaching-18-issue-july-2020.pdf
Das Gupta, K. (1977). A phrase book in Miju, 28-32. Shillong/ Arunachal Pradesh: The Director of Information and Public Relations. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/APhraseBookInMiju/page/n35/mode/2up?q=imperative.
Dey, L. (2016). Hruso: A linguistic and cultural overview. In G. K. Bera, K. Jose, G. Lazar & M. Antony (eds.), Endangered cultures and languages in North East India, 24-34. Guwahati & New Delhi: Spectrum Publications.
Errington, J. (2003). Getting language rights: The rhetorics of language endangerment and loss. American anthropologist, 105(4), 723-732. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2003.105.4.723
Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. London: Longman. Retrieved from https://www.worldcat.org/title/language-and-power/oclc/17321588.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Political correctness: The politics of culture and language. Discourse & society, 14(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926503014001927
Fairclough, N. (2013). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. UK & USA: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315834368
Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. In van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction, 2. 258–284. London: Sage. Retrieved from http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Critical%20Discourse%20Analysis.pdf
Goffman, E. (1955). On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry, 18(3), 213-231. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1955.11023008
Grierson, G. A. (Ed.). (1909). Linguistic survey of India, 3. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing. Retrieved from https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/lsi/index.html
Ide, S. (1989). Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of universals of linguistic politeness. Multilingua: Journal of cross-cultural and interlanguage communication, 8(2-3), 223-248. https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.1989.8.2-3.223
Johnstone, B. (2002). Discourse analysi, 2-10. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Kádár, D. V., & Márquez-Reiter, R. (2015). (Im) politeness and (Im) morality: Insights from intervention. Journal of politeness research: Language, behavior, culture, 11(2), 239-260. https://doi.org/ 10.1515/pr-2015-0010
Koller, V. (2012). How to analyse collective identity in discourse-textual and contextual parameters. Critical approaches to discourse analysis across disciplines 5(2), 19-35. Retrieved from https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/journals/cadaad/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Volume-5_Koller.pdf
Koller, V. (2014). Applying social cognition research to critical discourse studies: The case of collective identities. Contemporary critical discourse studies. 149-167. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Retrieved from https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/73449
Kri, H. (2008). The Mishmis. Tinsukia: The City Press.
Kroskrity, P. V. (Ed.). (2000). Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities, and identities. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press. Retrieved from http://sarweb.org/index.php?sar_press_regimes_of_language
Kunda, Z. (1999). Social cognition: Making sense of people, 392. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6291.001.0001
Linguistic Politeness Research Group. (Eds.). (2011). Discursive approaches to politeness. Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110238679.19
Melucci, A. (1989). Nomads of the present: Social movement and identity needs in contemporary society. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, Philadelphia, PA.
Mills, S. (2009). Impoliteness in a cultural context. Journal of Pragmatics, 41(5), 1047-1060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.10.014
Mills, S. (2011). Discursive approaches to politeness and impoliteness. Discursive approaches to politeness, 19-56. Germany: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110238679.19
Polletta, F., & Jasper, J. M. (2001). Collective identity and social movements. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 283-305. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.2.283
Post, M. W., & Burling. R. (2017). The Tibeto-Burman languages of northeast India. The Sino-Tibetan languages 2, 213-242. London & New York: Routledge. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/21437
Pulu, J. 1991. A phrase book of Taraon language, 15-16. Itanagar, Arunachal Pradeshː Directorate of Research.
Rondo, J. (2016). Socio-cultural and religious activities of the Igu (priest) among the Idu Mishmi. In G. K. Bera, K. Jose, G. Lazar & M. Antony (Eds.), Endangered cultures and languages in north east India, 1-23. Guwahati & New Delhi: Spectrum Publications.
Sánchez, L. (2003). Quechua–Spanish bilingualism: Interference and convergence in functional categories. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.35
Snow, D. (2001). Collective identity and expressive forms. Center for the study of democracy. California Digital Library. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/04094-8
Tajfel, H. (1974). Social identity and intergroup behaviour. Social science information, 13 (2), 65–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847401300204
Terkourafi, M. (2001). Politeness in Cypriot Greek: A frame-based approach. Doctoral dissertation. University of Cambridge. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2142/9573
van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & society, 4(2), 249-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926593004002006
van Dijk T.A. (2003). The Discourse-knowledge interface. In Weiss G., Wodak R. (Eds.) Critical discourse analysis, 85-109. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230514560_5
van Dijk, T. A. (2008). Discourse and power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-07299-3
van Dijk, T. A. (2009a). Society and discourse: How social contexts influence text and talk. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511575273
van Dijk, T. A. (2009b). Critical discourse studies: A socio-cognitive approach. Methods of critical discourse analysis, 2(1), 62-86. Retrieved from http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Critical%20Discourse%20Studies.pdf
van Dijk, T. A. (2014). Discourse and knowledge: A socio-cognitive approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107775404
Weiss, G., & Wodak, R. (Eds.). (2007). Critical discourse analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wendel, J., & Heinrich, P. (2012). A framework for language endangerment dynamics: The effects of contact and social change on language ecologies and language diversity. International journal of the sociology of language, 2012 (218), 145-166. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl-2012-0062
Wodak, R. (2002). Aspects of critical discourse analysis. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Linguistik, 36(10), 5-31. Retrieved from https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/aspects-of-critical-discourse-analysis(21c41cb5-af51-41cb-a427-8188a89c7991).html
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