The colonial construction of Hindustani 1800-1947
Considerable research has been done on the impact of English in India but despite the fact that, for a century and a half, almost all British civil and military officers had to learn Hindustani, almost nothing has been written on its importance to the colonial state. The small amount of literature has focused on a few particular aspects, either the very early Gilchrist years or specifically on the textbooks themselves. This study uses a wide range of archival materials relating to the British learning of the Hindustani, together with the textbooks and grammars they produced and memoirs of those who had to learn the language, both to tell the story of the British Hindustani âenterpriseâ comprehensively, and to reveal its relationship to colonial state power. The initial premise was that Hindustani was the âcementâ which held the empire together. As to be expected, however, over such a long time frame the evidence revealed considerable changes in the perceived importance of Hindustani to the colonial state and links made by many scholars between language and colonial power are in this particular case, shown to be dubious. The study, in looking at an area hitherto unresearched, contributes to the knowledge
Safadi, Alison
Linguistics of Other Asian Languages ; British History ; Indian History
The colonial construction of Hindustani 1800-1947. Considerable research has been done on the impact of English in India but despite the fact that, for a century and a half, almost all British civil and military officers had to learn Hindustani, almost nothing has been written on its importance to the colonial state. The small amount of literature has focused on a few particular aspects, either the very early Gilchrist years or specifically on the textbooks themselves. This study uses a wide range of archival materials relating to the British learning of the Hindustani, together with the textbooks and grammars they produced and memoirs of those who had to learn the language, both to tell the story of the British Hindustani âenterpriseâ comprehensively, and to reveal its relationship to colonial state power. The initial premise was that Hindustani was the âcementâ which held the empire together. As to be expected, however, over such a long time frame the evidence revealed considerable changes in the perceived importance of Hindustani to the colonial state and links made by many scholars between language and colonial power are in this particular case, shown to be dubious. The study, in looking at an area hitherto unresearched, contributes to the knowledge
colonial construction considerable_impact english india despite_fact almost british civil military officer learn almost nothing write importance colonial_state small_amount literature focus particular_aspect either early year specifically textbooks themselves study use wide_range archival_material relate british learning together textbooks grammar produce memoir learn_language tell_story british enterprise comprehensively reveal relationship colonial_state power initial premise hold empire together expect however long_time frame evidence reveal considerable_change perceive importance colonial_state link make many_scholar language colonial_power particular_case show dubious study_look area hitherto unresearched contributes knowledge