Ape Thaleta Ingirisi Igenaganimu

By Gayathri Hewagama

Ingrisi ape vidiyata katha karamu, is a slogan which is in the limelight these days, with these cricket stars, film stars, and singing stars preaching it noon and night; the most conspicuous symbol being the substitution of the customary (apparently non-Sri Lankan) sword (with the underlying British power), with a knife-implement of an obviously and uniquely Sri Lankan character.
The measure is a positive start, for many amongst us who feel intimidated, shy, unconfident in speaking English contextualized into a Sri Lankan reality. Albeit this notion of Lankan English had been thought of years back by Sri Lankan professors of English, it is at least fair that the movement of tolerance and acceptance of linguistic diversity is learnt at least at this later stage.

Democratize

Whatever said and done, it is crucial that this concept of Lankan English be diffused amongst the Lankans in its ‘proper’ sense. By ‘proper’ sense, I mean, the theoretical knowledge behind the measure to democratize English, if at all it can be democratized. For instance, the acceptance of varieties of English existing in the world is done on the basis of careful studies of the ‘legitimate’ distinctive differences between them; pronounciation, expressions unique to a certain reality, interjections, tone and rhythm of speech etc. This concept, therefore does not allow basic - level grammatical mistakes as legitimate simply because it is the ‘way we speak’. Simply, in the name of ape Ingrisi, a Lankan cannot speak ungrammatical English. The speaker should be aware of what is allowed and what cannot be allowed in the name of diversity.

Lankan English

Then, though the construction, ‘This bag is so nice, no?’ can be allowed as a legitimate distinction in the variety called Lankan English, the formulation ‘He wents to the market’is not only ungrammatical but also a ‘mistake’ that should not be made. As it is, there is a great difference between clamouring for the freedom of speaking a language ‘my way’ and howling for the right of speaking it with ‘all the mistakes that I want to make’.
Yet, this constant statement, ‘Ingrisi ape basawak nemei’ is in fact a self-defeating argument as far as the entire measure of linguistic democratization is concerned. There is an apparent contradiction as the two clauses clash; ‘Ingrisi ape vidiyata katha karamu’, with ‘Ingrisi ape basawak nemei’. While the former posits the idea that there in fact is a Lankan kind of English, the latter establishes a sense of linguistic estrangement. There is therefore a simultaneous articulation of ‘Mine’ and ‘Not Mine’.
Perhaps, the presence of the English language in Sri Lanka from the 1800’s, or, in other words, the more than two centuries of internal exposure to English is not enough to make the language part and parcel of Sri Lanka! This narrow-minded chauvinism is surely not the right attitude with which a language should be learnt. Success lies in the acceptance that the very idea of speaking English ‘our way’ precisely suggests an attempt to ‘make the language ours’ as well. In fact, there is no need to make ‘it ours’; it has been a part of Sri Lankan linguistic reality since the language was introduced to the island more than two hundred years back. And it is us fools who had put upon ourselves the attitude that we should speak like the Queen. As it is, look closer. It is not the British who tell us that our accent is not posh enough. It is a section of us Sri Lankans residing in high-class posh circles who look down on our own selves and declare that ‘not-pot’ case with the larger ‘O’ is somehow far superior than that of the smaller ‘o’.