Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > English

Condition of English in Bangladesh

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shibli:
But make no mistake, there are people who will disagree with me on this, and are looking for a purification of English and the abolishment of every deviation present. Perhaps these pedants would take the same stand as this motto ”Language is the universal whore, that I must make into a virgin”. The effort will however prove futile, it is impossible to bring back the “original standard English” as a standard. Although the pedants would surely find comfort in the previously mentioned slogan, and find a soulmate in Karl Kraus. Kraus was an extreme purist when it came to language. Language was to Kraus the most important tell-tale for the wrongs of the world. I am sure most people will join me in amusement of an eccentric like Kraus. He was also an Austrian, like Adolf Hitler, and the Norwegian article, The end of Babel?, plays with the scenario of what would have happened if the British had surrendered or “made a deal” with the Nazi regime? Let us all be exceptionally happy that we had a Britain with a lion’s heart, and a bulldog in Winston Churchill, and together they roared and barked out the impeccable strengths of the British, thus proving once again that English, which has been and still is a triumphant inspiration for so many individuals, will always survive, because it is the world’s most adaptive and kindly subversive language.

shamsi:
I think these posts will be helpful for the teachers who teach History of English Language...The concept of standard English has been changed indeed.The speech of Britain is no longer regarded as the norm by which all others must be judged.Any educated speech delivered by any non-native speaker of English is now considered 'Standard',if it does not create any misunderstanding although there are some people still,who expect our policy makers to be flawless as they represent our country...


Shamsi Ara Huda
Department of English 

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