Mend your language
If someone asks me what drove me to study linguistics, I may mention
that it was my passion towards languages. But that passion has various
causes. Some are serious and some are utterly absurd such as my craze to
watch Mind Your Language on television. I was endlessly laughing on
linguistics mistakes done by Mr Brown's students, without knowing that I
laugh apparently on myself or rather on the mass whose mother tongue is
not English.
As the programme's history says, it was premiered in late 1977 until
1979 in British television but cancelled after close consideration of
stereotyping offensive of different linguistic and cultural societies.
The humor of the show is derived from the students misunderstanding
English words or terminology and plays heavily on the cultural
stereotype of their individual nation of origin.
In early 80s a word emerges to the field of political linguistics
called 'Political Correctness' and ever since scenarios such as Mind
Your Language were considered under that framework.
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A
scene from Mind Your Language |
What is it exactly that people mean when they say something is
'politically correct'? Noam Chomsky once described it as a 'healthy
expansion of moral concern while Michael Barnard viewed it as a 'new
strain of ideological virus. Political correctness is something to do
with choosing correct words to prevent people being offended. It is to
compel everyone to avoid using words or behavior that may upset a
certain group of people. That group may be varied according to the socio
cultural setting of a country. As a country which suffered a long term
ethnic conflict Sri Lankans are forced to concern of their linguistic
behavior. Some sensitive subjects have been intentionally removed from
the general discourse. Australia openly declares her as Multicultural
and therefore Australians always try to be politically correct towards
non-whites. And of course USA was almost politically corrected when
Barak Obama became its first black president.
On the other hand people are not only discriminated on their ethnic
background, but sometime the language we use towards people who have
certain impairments can cause issues. Preventing using words like blind
or deaf, it is fairer to use visually or auditory impaired. People who
have mental and physical disabilities are no more disable, they are
people with special needs.
Some consider political correctness as a brainwashing program and as
simple good manners; and they examine the interaction of political
correctness inspired relabeling initiatives with notions of taboo and
censoring. Because it is politically driven, political correctness will
obviously attract more attention, and certainly more hostility, than
most acts of linguistic censoring. Some people as assume that
politically correct language reflects, and also seeks to enforce, social
change. Nonetheless, speakers typically dislike being told to change
their linguistic habits, which they see as an attempt to manipulate
their thinking.
Recently there was a rumor said that some British schools banned the
nursery rhyme 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' due to its racial indications. And
we have some own experiences such as banning Nanda Malini's song, Me
Sinhala Apage Ratayi as it implies that Sri Lanka is the country of
Sinhalese, not Sri Lankans. The admirers of political correctness points
out Canada's Quebec as a linguistic utopia. Sometimes we feel like
Canadian Frenchmen seem luckier than France's Frenchmen.
Most of all political correctness is a crucial live wire of political
power. And mostly interpreted according to the political wing where the
a country's leaders belong. The best ever solution for the politically
correct language is just to mind our language.
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