07-31-2008, 01:43 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Language Shift in the Tamil Communities of Malaysia and Singapore: the Paradox of Egalitarian Language Policy.
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/ha...x/sparadox.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Summary and Conclusions:
The Tamil language is still alive in Malaysia and Singapore and will probably survive into the twenty-first century, perhaps only in isolated rural pockets, or as the language of a marginalized urban underclass. When all is said and done, it is less the overt language policies (as enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution, and in Singapore educational policy) that will determine this outcome, than the socio-economic history and present conditions of the Tamil communities there. Tamil has no economic value in the area, and is therefore maintained by the socio-economically destitute only as a last vestige of primordial ethnicity. The two language policies thus seem paradoxical---the Malaysian policy penalizes Tamil maintenance, but Tamil survives in spite of it; the Singapore policy rewards Tamil maintenance, but speakers are shifting away, apparently in spite of it. In fact, however, we must see the overt policies as almost irrelevant; if there is a paradox, it is in the social conditions and social history of the South Asian communities in the area. One might almost say that Tamils brought a language policy with them from South Asia,
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/ha...x/sparadox.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/ha...x/sparadox.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Summary and Conclusions:
The Tamil language is still alive in Malaysia and Singapore and will probably survive into the twenty-first century, perhaps only in isolated rural pockets, or as the language of a marginalized urban underclass. When all is said and done, it is less the overt language policies (as enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution, and in Singapore educational policy) that will determine this outcome, than the socio-economic history and present conditions of the Tamil communities there. Tamil has no economic value in the area, and is therefore maintained by the socio-economically destitute only as a last vestige of primordial ethnicity. The two language policies thus seem paradoxical---the Malaysian policy penalizes Tamil maintenance, but Tamil survives in spite of it; the Singapore policy rewards Tamil maintenance, but speakers are shifting away, apparently in spite of it. In fact, however, we must see the overt policies as almost irrelevant; if there is a paradox, it is in the social conditions and social history of the South Asian communities in the area. One might almost say that Tamils brought a language policy with them from South Asia,
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/ha...x/sparadox.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->