The ideas of this paper have appeared in Malayalam in presentations made in many institutions, interviews, and periodicals in Kerala during the last several years, and in the U.S.A. in Janani, E.Malayalee, etc.

    This paper is written in English to reach out to wider circles of influence and authority in order to trigger financial and other supports to institutions in Kerala to promote Malayalam literature and culture.  Other papers I have been publishing on Kerala have the same goals.


Language and Culture

    Language is an integral part of culture.  The origin and process of language in its linguistic region can only be understood in relation to culture and the process of culture.

    Culture is generally understood to be a belief system, including religion, people's attitude toward life, and dominant individual personality characteristics towards behavior.  Scientifically, these factors can only be understood by looking into the formation and other processes of culture.     

    Anthropology has proved that the nature of a region's economy creates the nature of that region's culture (See Harris, Marvin Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture, 1979).  Economy is formed from the people's access to and interaction with technology and science.

Cultural Evolution and Stages

    Thus, we find radical changes in the nature of society and culture itself between different cultural stages like those of hunting and gathering, agrarian and industrial.  In the agrarian cultural economy, production was practiced through the technology of the plow and the wheel.  All the equipments were made by hand, usually using natural ecological materials.  People lived in small groups, known as villages.  Even when the society was highly stratified in the agrarian culture, with feudalism in Europe and the caste system in India, between those who owned the land and the deprived groups who depended upon the landowners, there were very high degrees of community consciousness and social concern within each class and to some extent between classes (see Fried, Morton H. The Evolution of Political Society: an Essay in Political Anthropology. New York: Random House. 1967).

    When we moved from agrarian to industrial culture, created by the use of high technology, the joint family became nuclear and social consciousness changed into individual self-centeredness.  A major change has been in the socialization and educational system which became science and technology focused.  Thus, education in liberal arts and humanities, especially literature and arts, diminished drastically.  The use of language has been diminishing, especially through the increasing use of the computer and word processing.
   

Necessity of Economic Independence for Survival of Mother Tongue

    An important historical phenomenon which has emerged is that of the necessity of a country being economically self-dependent for its language and culture to remain honored.  The best example is Iceland, as well as the Scandinavian nations.  From the early 1980s I have presented papers in Malayalam at the Language Institute, Kerala University, Mahatma Gandhi University etc. explaining that for the sustaining of any regional language (especially Malayalam) the linguistic region concerned should be economically self-dependent as opposed to the people using a foreign language for livelihood.  In the case of Kerala, even native schools have been teaching in English medium, and neglecting the mother tongue Malayalam for higher education in science and technology needed to get a good job abroad.  Consequently, growing numbers of Keralites do not know how to read and write Malayalam.  The foreign born children of Keralites are in the worst condition.

    The countries, such as Denmark, Netherlands, Finland and Scandinavian nations as a whole, while small in population like Kerala, have been successful in maintaining their language even while being technologically advanced, because of their self-dependency in the economic system.  In these nations higher education including in science and technology, is offered even for foreign students in one's native language.  The Western European nations had the advantage of wealth exploited through colonialism.  The so-called Third World nations being victims of colonialism have lost their riches to colonial nations.  Further, English language originally imposed through colonialist means has made inroads into the hearts and souls of Third World societies. The post-colonial world is essentially one of neocolonialism. The colonial countries draw the human resources from Third World nations besides raw materials.  Further, they have been culturally alienating through the corporate capitalistic system's effect to create markets in Third World nations.  The orientation in Third World nations for development has been through heavy industries, usually financed by international corporations, not only neglecting but even destroying the native ecology and culture.

    Kerala and the Philippines provide excellent case studies of this situation.  In the Philippines the native language is mutilated and Spanish has been made the official language by Spanish colonialists.

    In the above context we have to explore ways and means to save regional languages of the Third World. 



Understanding Linguistics as Total and

Integrated Science for the Development of Regional Languages

    Linguistics as a discipline has developed originally from the philosophical assumptions of Sir William Jones (1746-1794 ) to literary confinements that include grammar, phonetics, and morphology, which have been revolutionized by Noam Chomsky's scientific analysis that languages are held by rationally identifiable structures.  The rules of these structures give rise to grammatically balanced word order, which Chomsky calls 'transformations,' giving rise to grammatically identifiable word order (see Chomsky, Noam Syntactic Structures 1957 and Reflections on Language 1975).  As Chomsky opened up the hidden dimensions of language, his theories have been followed, especially in academic fields. 

    Anthropologists have been trying to analyze the totalistic functioning of the language in cultural relationships (please see Pike, K.L Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behavior, 2nd ed. The Hague: Mouton 1967; Mascia-Lees, Frances E. & Lees, Susan H. and Whitley, Peter and others Language Ideologies, Rights, and Choices: Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Loss, Retention, and Revitalization in American Anthropologist, Volume 105, Number 4, December 2003).  Without knowing the language one cannot understand and appreciate fully the cultural components whether the culture of the life is of natural ecology or historical monuments. 

    In my long range of research I have identified self-identity and cultural identity as central to human development and humanization. 

    Language is the medium of self-identity and cultural identity of a people. 



Self-Identity and Cultural Identity through the

Acquisition of Language toward Personality Development

    This writer identifies self-identity and cultural identity, both inter-related, constituting necessary foundations for the making of the healthy personality.  Self-identity is explained as a person's consciousness, of one's personal potentialities and associated strengths including those drawn from familial, social and cultural relationships.  Cultural identity means identification with the positive aspects of one's culture and includes personal developmental characteristics, an affinity with the cultural environment, and social values.  For example, the people of Kerala have an intense affinity for Kerala's natural ecology and its traditional diet characterized by many healthy spicy food items. Self-identity and cultural identity contribute to a person's patriotic spirit and empowerment.  Presently both of these identities have been wrecked by the mechanical and legalistic culture of industrial society, leading to self-alienation and cultural alienation in both developed and developing nations.  Self-alienation is the process by which one is severed from self-identity, and cultural alienation the similar split from cultural identity the result of which has been people losing many positive relationships.  Life becomes mechanical and legalistic, and loses even the capacity for profound emotion.  Life is confined to the physical and materialist pressures imposed by corporations, goods and services.  Hence, theoretically I call the industrial culture one of sensual materialism and of similar developing societies those of neo-sensual materialism, adding the suffix 'Syndrome' to express the personal and social disorders widespread today.

    At least in infancy and childhood a person has cultural identity since the ego identifies with the mother and father and family as a whole and even with some cultural factors such as the tools and places of play as well as the friends and environment.  Similarly, cultural identity takes shape in the learning process.

   

Psyche and Acquisition of Mother Tongue and Culture

    In relation to the above explanation we have to dive into the process of the nature of the psyche and its acquisition of linguistic potentialities and culture.

    At first biology, anthropology, and neuroscience dictate that at birth one's psyche is neutral; what one learns from the culture, good or bad, or mixed, makes one's psychological constitution.  This we call 'informal socialization.'  The infant learns visions and words from the mother and others who take care of it.  The infant learns the words that it hears frequently.  Modern medical science points out that the adults around have to speak to an infant for the infant to speak.  Many infants, especially in industrial societies, develop speech problems because they are not exposed to people speaking to them.  My spouse and I, as developmental psychotherapists, have identified that an effective remedy for delayed speech or lack of speech in an infant is having the adults who take care of it to speak to it often, preferably with physical contact and joyous manners.

    The infant learns from its mother and others through images and associated words.  Along with that, it learns the grammatical structures of the mother tongue and so the infant speaks, even if in incomplete sentences, in grammatical terms.  I have found through research work of many years that the infant's mental structure of knowing the surroundings cognitively takes shape as a result of this process; hence, the mother tongue is necessary for cognitive and mental development.  Good mothering takes place when the mother meets the natural needs of the infant joyously.  Good mothering is necessary for the mental health of the infant in its initial growth and also in its growth towards healthy adulthood, as has been proven by psychoanalysis (see Guntrip, Harry Psychoanalytic Theory, Therapy, and the Self 1973).  If an  infant is not exposed to good mothering, including joyous speech and emotional fulfillment, the infant will suffer from serious psychological disorders throughout life, as evidenced and observed in many persons in contemporary industrial society.

    Being socialized in the mother tongue, an infant will develop the mental structure and linguistic structure which enables a child to learn a foreign language most effectively; on the contrary, imposing on an infant a foreign language such as English in Third World countries, especially when the native speakers are incapable of correct English, results in intellectual and psychological fragmentation.  In this context we should examine the infant socialization by parents who migrated to English speaking countries.  There the infant is exposed to English and the mother tongue.  English becomes refined at school, and usually the use of the mother tongue gradually disappears.  Herein also I want to point out that a child can easily learn two languages, as can be observed among the immigrant children in the United States.  It is always better to teach the infant in the mother tongue, and then gradually expose English so that the child can relate to English through the cognitive structure gained from the mother tongue.

    The United States officially encourages the study of the mother tongue.  Most foreign languages, including Malayalam, are recognized for accredited study in higher education.  A growing problem in Third World countries including Kerala is that most parents, because of their interest that their children, when they reach adulthood, qualify for a job, especially one in a foreign country, teach English and sacrifice the mother tongue.  It's important that parents are made aware of the need to teach the infant the mother tongue for the benefit of its intellectual and psychological development and health.  This socialization will be of great support to the parents.

   

Personality Developmental Linguistics

    Some years ago I explored in a lecture at the Linguistics department of Kerala University the concept of Personality Developmental Linguistics.  This conceptual framework details that according to an infant's growth into adulthood and thereafter she/he acquires a wide variety of linguistic forms that are used according to the contextual needs that present themselves.  Equally or more important is the process by which language usage becomes refined and sophisticated according to the cultural acquisition of a person.



Malayalam: In New and Old Dimensions

    As noted earlier, those who can read and write Malayalam have been decreasing.  Most of the children of parents who live abroad will lose the ability to handle Malayalam in their adult lives.

    Kerala recently made Malayalam its official language.  Education in Malayalam at both the elementary and high school levels has not been enforced, probably because parents still want to send their children to English medium schools.  Since the 1980s I have recommended early Malayalam education exclusively, with the gradual inclusion of English, so that it's even easier for the student to learn English.  Malayalam should be the medium of teaching for all humanities throughout high school and bachelor degree courses.  English classics and the best of world literature should be taught in English.  The study of Malayalam language and literature should be made compulsory, along with the cultural history of India and Kerala, including the Dravidian and Indo-European integration.  This will expose the students to the relationship of Malayalam with Tamil as well as Sanskrit.  This structure of education will provide the students with a good command of Malayalam and English as well as Hindi, the national language of India, which should be taught from junior high school onwards.  Further, it will endow students with a great degree of the empowering factors of self-identity and cultural identity.  It's unfortunate that many persons who have completed a bachelor's degree in Kerala do not have an understanding of either Indian culture or Kerala culture.  A new syllabus has to be drawn which includes the process of cultural evolution in Kerala as well as globally, complementing historical study.  A travel study of Kerala's rich natural ecology should be part of the syllabus, both in high school and college.  Such travel study would be of great educational value, including language and culture to children of Keralites abroad.

    In Kerala's educational system there should be at least one compulsory paper in Malayalam for students of technology and science, for Master's, PhD, and medical degrees.  The papers should relate how science and technology can be adapted to Malayalam language and culture; the Japanese have succeeded in these attempts.  For foreign medical students in Kerala it is absolutely necessary to include Ayurveda (traditional organic medical system), yoga, and meditation, the last two of which are increasingly taught in many schools and colleges in the United States and practiced by growing numbers of people all over the world.  Yoga and meditation are used in many systems of therapy and mental health, especially for psychological illnesses.  'Mindfulness,' increasingly widespread in the U.S.A. today, is only one example. 

    The advancement of Malayalam language and literature is the goal, and this goal has been vigorously carried out by the Language Institute Sahithya Akademy, a globally outstanding library movement, and many institutes such as the N. Krishna Pillai Foundation and local and national writers' organizations.  Malayalam publishers, especially D.C. Books, play an important role.  The most populist is the Malayalam media, composed of Malayalam newspapers and periodicals, which together constitute the largest in the world in ratio to the Malayalam population.  There are many broadcasting stations, at least one of which reaches each Malayalee.  The new Malayalam University, as well as many new institutions such as the Malayalam Research Institute (Malayalam Patana Gaveshana Kendram) in Trichur have been founded and function with the sacrifices of Malayalam writers, intellectuals, and other concerned persons.  They offer training towards Bachelor and Master's degrees, online or by post.  The Trichur Research Institute has published 28 scholarly books in Malayalam during the last two years and does excellent work.  But we should hereby understand that persons who are interested to get Malayalam degrees and read scholarly books are already involved deeply with Malayalam.  Our need is to reach out to parents and children who do not care for Malayalam, and who even function against it, for which a new strategy is needed, which I call 'Reaching Out.'





Call for 'Reaching Out'

    My suggestion is that universities, colleges and other institutions that are committed to Malayalam appoint Field Staff, paid or voluntary including student-interns to go to families to orient them to how the study of the mother tongue increases intellectual, cognitive, and cultural abilities, which are helpful and even necessary for professional advancement and for personal health and wellbeing.  Seminars and group sessions can be conducted in libraries, educational institutions etc. The Field Staff can also identify and aid the adults, especially those Malayalees abroad who come to Kerala and who are interested to study Malayalam.

    Another group to reach out to is non-Malayalees who work in various institutions in Kerala, including Information Technology and other businesses.

    I should point out that the 'Reaching Out' program requires a substantial financial commitment, which the government and concerned individuals from the public will need to provide.  University research programs should also be directed towards establishing 'Reaching Out' projects.  An effective method of 'reaching out' is to integrate life enhancing contents to 'reaching out,' such as subjects of adult education, cultural literacy, health care etc.

    Persons, especially children, who strive to speak and write Malayalam, should not be ridiculed for their inadequacy, but encouraged.

    To repeat what I stated earlier, any mother tongue, including Malayalam, can only be advanced if its speakers and learners can find jobs in their own native land.  Therefore, Kerala has to become economically independent for its mother tongue to advance.  The development of Kerala, economically and culturally, is the only effective way for Malayalam to survive.  To accomplish this goal, Kerala is rich in natural and human resources.

    This is also the functional pathway for Kerala as well as India as a whole, and similarly all the Third World nations, to become totally free from the ongoing grip of colonialism and neocolonialism, and become self-conscious, independent people.


The Teaching and Learning of Malayalam in the U.S.A.

    Intellectuals as well as the public at large in Kerala will be wonderstruck when they learn the extent to which the Malayalam language is taught and learned in America, as well as at the existence of many literary discussion groups and a lively Malayalam media.  Malayalam is taught by many regional Kerala associations, churches, and temples.  Many churches and temples conduct their rituals in Malayalam, and Malayalam religious songs are widely sung in both Hindu and Christian institutions drawing young people.  Gurukulan Malayalam School and Library in New York have been rendering outstanding services for the last many years.  There are several widely read Malayalam print periodicals, such as Kerala Express, Sangamom, Achavattom, and Malayalee Pathramo as well as the periodical publication of souvenirs for conventions.  E.Malayalee and Joychen Puthukulan are widely read among online publications.  E. Malayalee has made history with the publication of creative writings by numerous writers, and by giving awards and recognition to writers. This writer is also an awardee of a Lifetime Achievement Award.  Janani is a first-rate Malayalam monthly, having been published for the last many years.  Its contents include the best of Malayalam writings, both from Kerala, and the U.S.A., and even other countries.  There is a widespread saying among American Malayalees, that there are more Malayalam writers than readers in America.  Television channels from Kerala such as Asianet, Kairali, AmritaTV, etc. and the native Pravasi channel are outstanding sponsors of Malayalam.  Malayalam is extensively used in theatrical performances too, and Malayalam drama continues to take shape.

    The continuation of Malayalam in America becomes threatened when the Malayalees born in America do not get much involved in Malayalam or Kerala culture, and because the level of immigration from Kerala to the U.S. has been declining.  Even then, there are many new untapped potentialities for the advancement of Malayalam in the U.S.A. and other nations abroad.  The Malayalees in Gulf nations are immersed in Malayalam and Kerala culture, something I have experienced in Oman, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.  In Germany and England there are concerned Malayalees as well.

    There are large numbers of Malayalees all over India, with Kerala Associations in many cities.  Malayalam is taught in many universities, especially of Tamil Nadu and Karuntka.  Many universities in the U.S.A., such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Columbia University have been teaching Malayalam for years.   

    Rebuilding the presently wrecked natural ecology and adaptive cultural components such as a healthy traditional diet and life-enriching theatrical arts requires political self-centeredness to be dispensed with by both the governing and opposition parties and in its place to implement a commonly agreed upon Developmental Plan and set of Procedures.  An important task is to integrate the resources of Keralites abroad to Kerala Development, which itself needs specific planning and functions.  Planning should include the return to Kerala of productive jobs, as well as the repatriation of those who labor like slaves abroad, especially in the Gulf nations.      Financially, intellectually, and technologically, Keralites abroad constitute an incredible, creative force.

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Dr. A.K.B. Pillai, MA, MPhil, P.hD (Columbia University, NY)
drakbconsultancy@gmail.com


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