Sacred Language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas Of C... __TOP__

The determined Madison had for several years insatiably studied history and political theory searching for a solution to the political and economic dilemmas he saw plaguing America. The Virginian's labors convinced him of the futility and weakness of confederacies of independent states. America's own government under the Articles of Confederation, Madison was convinced, had to be replaced. In force since 1781, established as a "league of friendship" and a constitution for the 13 sovereign and independent states after the Revolution, the articles seemed to Madison woefully inadequate. With the states retaining considerable power, the central government, he believed, had insufficient power to regulate commerce. It could not tax and was generally impotent in setting commercial policy it could not effectively support a war effort. It had little power to settle quarrels between states. Saddled with this weak government, the states were on the brink of economic disaster. The evidence was overwhelming. Congress was attempting to function with a depleted treasury; paper money was flooding the country, creating extraordinary inflation--a pound of tea in some areas could be purchased for a tidy $100; and the depressed condition of business was taking its toll on many small farmers. Some of them were being thrown in jail for debt, and numerous farms were being confiscated and sold for taxes.

Sacred Language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of C...

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I have often reflected on the predatory and promiscuous nature of a language that has now served two global imperial powers. But until recently I had paid less attention to its democratic nature. In the past few weeks I have been talking to British journalists, subeditors and writers (mostly at the Guardian) and I have asked them who or what defines correct usage in English. Who has authority? Almost invariably they respond that "time" is the ultimate authority. Once a usage becomes prevalent, it must be, and is, accepted as the correct one. I have also been going through readers' letters (thanks to the open-door policy of the Guardian) and most of them seem to share that view - even when they complain about this or that incorrect usage. I find this attitude to the English language quite democratic. This is in contrast to the linguistic situation in the Arab world, which I have been studying for the past decade. In Egypt (where I did my fieldwork) subeditors and writers told me only the Koran provides linguistic authority for classical Arabic. Since many people consider the Koran to be the word of God, the authority that ultimately determines correct usage is therefore divine. Classical Arabic is one of the most beautiful and powerful languages in the world. That view is shared by most Arabs, whether Muslim or not, as well as by non-Arab Muslims. But it is a language with no native speakers. No one speaks it as a mother tongue. Different groups of Arabs speak various vernacular forms of Arabic that are quite different from their written language. A rough parallel would be to suppose that Latin remained to this day the language of education and of all writing across the whole of Europe. Suppose you had to read the Guardian in Latin. Would you have bothered buying it? Who would have authority to define correct usage in the paper? What would be the political and religious implications? A mother tongue is something we own; we are its masters, so to speak. A language that neither we nor anyone else speaks as a mother tongue, a language, furthermore, that is considered sacred by its users, does not have owners - only custodians. Arabs are the custodians of their official language but not its owners. That has a surprising number of consequences. In Egypt, the mother tongue of the majority is Egyptian Arabic. Classical Arabic - the language of bureaucracy, education and almost all that is published, from newspapers to books of fiction and non-fiction - is sufficiently different from Egyptian Arabic that one can only learn it by going to school. That is the situation throughout the Arab world. Although Egyptians love their language and use it for all purposes, they are also brought up to denigrate it, convinced that their mother tongue could not possibly serve the serious functions that are fulfilled by classical Arabic. Several people told me that when they were going to school their teachers would say things such as "My ears don't allow the language of donkeys," in order to discourage them from speaking in Egyptian Arabic. Since the 19th century, Arab scholars and writers have sought to modernise classical Arabic in order to render it more suitable to the contemporary world of its users. But modernisation presents not so much a linguistic problem as a social and political one. How can a language be both sacred and modern at the same time? Modernising a language is not just about simplifying grammatical structure or updating vocabulary - both of which have actually happened in classical Arabic. Only when custodians become owners of a language can they really turn it into something modern. The fact that classical Arabic also became the language of pan-Arabism provides a further complication. Although pan-Arabism failed to achieve most of its social and political aims, the ideology has helped to maintain classical Arabic as the official language of the whole Arab world. In this way the language has become utterly central to the political project of Arab unity. If all else failed, at least the language of unity survived. Today many in the Arab world are talking about the lack of democracy in their region. But there is little debate about a linguistic situation that makes it hard for political pluralism to flourish. No one except the Arabs themselves can bring democracy to their societies. And for that to happen, there is an urgent need for a language that facilitates open debate and questioning - not least about language itself. But the minority of Arabs who are proficient in classical Arabic continue to claim that everyone understands the language and so there are no problems. An inclusive and accessible language is essential to freedom of speech. Otherwise, we continue to spin. Niloofar Haeri is professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her most recent book is Sacred Language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture and Politics in Egypt (Palgrave Macmillan, 13.99). 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