Introduction
As a mother tongue English is the second most spoken language in the world. Chinese is the first, but English is far more widely spoken around the world. ‘Today English is spoken or written, with varying levels of fluency, by a third of the world's population’ (Crystal, Reference Crystal2010: 8). It has been accepted as the most common means for international communication worldwide. Hence, it occupies a special position as the international language of communication in almost all the countries of the world. Before 1971 in Bangladesh, English was used as a second language. It was first introduced when the country was a part of India when British imperialists mandated the teaching of English in 1835 throughout India. After its introduction in the curriculum, English consolidated its position as the language of the ruling class. It became the most important subject of study in the curriculum. Its dominance increased when it replaced Persian as the official and court language in 1837 and even further in 1844 when Lord Harding announced that Indians who had received an education in English would receive preference in all government appointments. However, towards the end of the British rule, a reaction arose against English education and the use of English generally. With the departure of the British rulers in 1947, English lost its earlier prominence and prestige. During the Pakistan period, when Bangladesh became a part of Pakistan (1947–1971), English retained its position as an essential subject of study. Learning English was still considered indispensable for social, intercultural and international communication, educational advancement, professional success and progress in life. In independent Bangladesh, English occupies the place of being the most important foreign language. It is taught and learned as a compulsory subject alongside Bangla, the first language, from the primary level up to the highest level of study.
In his book An Inquiry into Bangla Language and Literature, Sowmitra Shakahar (2011: 82) argues that loanwords constitute 4.55% of the total Bangla lexicon. These loanwords have come from various languages, such as Sanskrit, Greek, Arabic, French, Turkish, Gujarati, Burmese, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and French, but mostly from English. (Sanskrit is included here because although it is the language from which Bangla derives historically, it is also the source of conscious neologisms when scholars wish to coin new technical terms.) These loanwords have been accepted and used as part of the mother tongue for a long time; hence most people in Bangladesh do not know of their ‘foreign’ origin. It is not surprising that since the period of British rule began in 1757, it is mainly English loanwords that have entered Bangla. The portmanteau term Banglish has been coined to characterize the rampant use of English words in Bangla. (Speaking Bangla in a Western accent, along with a lot of use of English words, is referred to as Banglish (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R22-jZzwuCI>). Bangla words typed in English but pronounced in Bangla are referred to as Banglish (<http://www.ba-forums.com/showthread.php?t=136).) This word is basically a net users' formation. In Bangladesh, while using Yahoo Messenger, YouTube, Facebook, email etc., people type Bangla words using English letters frequently and thus the term is coined. WebCorp (an online corpus) successfully accessed 50 web pages and generated 256 concordances of Banglish. Anisuzzaman (Reference Anisuzzaman2008: 324) argues that there are many English loanwords which are changed or modified slightly from the original English pronunciation, and are now used as Bangla words. Some examples are istishon from ‘station’, hashpatal from ‘hospital’, baksho from ‘box’ etc. He notes that there are many English loanwords used in their original English form, such as bag, bank, football, novel, pencil, etc. In this paper, we will discuss the English loanwords according to their thematic categories, and then evaluate their impact, both positive and negative, on the Bangla language, as well as on English used as a second language.
All the loanwords are gathered from different Bangla short stories, novellas, daily newspapers and oral discourse, such as talk shows, interviews and news broadcasts on TV and radio. We wrote down several loanwords whenever we heard them in daily conversation in university, bank, company, shopping centre etc. We did this for around six months. The basic problem was we did not come across any useful corpus, readily producing each loanword in specific sentences along with their contexts.
Categorizing English loanwords
The term ‘Banglish’ is applied in some contexts to modern Bangla because of the enormous number of words borrowed in recent decades from English. The word Banglish was coined on the same principle as Japlish (Japanese + English), Singlish (Singaporean + English), Spanglish (Spanish + English), and both Germlish (German + English) and Deutschlisch (Deutsch + English). However, while Singlish, for example, denotes a variety of colloquial English characteristic of Singapore, Banglish is a variety of Bangla used in formal as well as informal contexts. According to David Graddol (Reference Graddol1997: 4), English is closely associated with the following: the international economy; global scientific, technological and cultural development; economic rationalism; and a bilingual future. Thus while English loanwords are used in everyday communication in Bangla, their use increases in academic, commercial, bureaucratic, political and social settings. These uses are shown under the following thematic headings: Food and drink; Clothing, accessories and cosmetics; Dwellings and buildings; Sports and games; School life; Politics and social; Science and technology; Entertainment; Jobs and business; Time and calendar; Medical; Miscellaneous.
We have come across many English loanwords in Bangla, of which 500 words will be discussed below. Since these loanwords are integrated into Bangla, they are naturally pronounced with a Bangla accent. Thus, English native speakers might not be able to recognize or understand these words. Some examples of such English loanwords are identified below, categorized under the above thematic headings.
• Food and drink:chocolate, lollipop, ice-cream, choc-bar, burger, sandwich, pizza, pastry, cake, coke, cream-roll, roll, biscuit, toast, coffee, apple, etc.
• Clothing, accessories and cosmetics:shirt, pants, coat, tie, suit, silk, pocket, money bag, sunglasses, shoe, sandals, bracelet, lip-gel, cream, powder, face wash, make up, makeup box, clip, chain, nail polish, lotion, toothpaste, brush, shave, vanity bag, purse, etc.
• Dwellings and buildings:building, flat, hotel, motel, chamber, office, garage, canteen, mess, pillar, beauty parlour, saloon, school, college, university, court, theatre, hospital, bank, post office, press, studio, mill, cinema hall, etc.
• Sports and games:football, cricket, volleyball, hockey, bat, ball, stamp, score, series, point, wicket, bail, wicket-keeper, hand ball, final, semifinal, match, coach, man of the match, sports, game, run, stadium, player, innings, etc.
• Education and school life:class, common room, period, chair, table, desk, bench, blackboard, duster, tiffin, roll number, book list, guide (book), serial number, pencil, pen, pencil box, box, scale, pass, fail, sir, madam, master, file, course, result, SSC, HSC, final (exam) fee, dictionary, degree, BA, MA, MMBS, BBA, MBA, law, registration, seat, certificate, scholarship, internee, training etc.
• Politics and social:vote, voter, MP, chairman, member, train station, train, bus stand, fire service, card, sofa, case, greenhouse, union, club, meeting, committee, etc.
• Science and technology:radio, television, computer, mobile, telephone, phone, camera, battery, charger, switch, volume, channel, dish antenna, dish line, cassette, photocopy machine, remote, fan, calculator, light, wireless, robot, iron, regulator (fan), network, SIM card, memory card, internet, website, massage, fax, bus, truck, bicycle, train, van, tempo, plane, motor cycle, CNG, jeep, town service, minibus, cylinder, tap, handle steamer, engine, pressure cooker, rice cooker, inch, feet, lamp, hotpot, bomb, email, hardware, software, etc.
• Entertainment:cinema, disco, concert, cartoon, band show, fashion show, magazine, game (computer), Facebook, album, park, circus, talk show etc.
• Jobs and business:army, police, BDR, CID, engineer, professor, driver, night guard, security, lodging master, nurse, doctor, supervisor, major, commissioner, pilot, major general, colonel, staff, officer, manager, inspector, magistrate, hacker, cash memo, money laundering, loan, bonus, share market, passport, insurance, company, parcel, money order, market, enterprise, traders, stock, military, secretary, exchange, promotion, contactor, judge, check, permanent (job), coin, vat etc.
• Time and calendar:second, minute, calendar, first year, second year, third year, final year, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December etc.
• Medical:medical college, oxygen, injection, antibiotics, test tube, calorie, prescription, dispensary, ultrasonograph, cabin, bed (hospital), clinic, treatment, operation, heart attack, syrup, tablet, diarrhoea, diabetic, cancer, AIDS, tumour, thermometer, vitamin, pneumonia, treatment etc.
• Miscellaneous:glass, mug, dinner set, packet, file, mile, report, gas, decorator, training, diary, petrol, diesel, octane, photocopy, helper (bus), cup, plate, polish, garnish, carpet, state, tin, pin, tram, deck, dozen, steel, cement, dangerous, fine (adj.), smart (adj.), area, common (adj.), coil, frame, original, border, signal, technique, available, flight, pot, bottle, brain, design, target, ticket counter, shopping, head office, visit, map, cigarette, size, readymade, kg, metre, litre, switch, dressing table, competition, local, fashion, dining table, dustbin, homemade, alcohol, magic etc.
These are the more common loanwords used by the general people in Bangladesh. More specific words occur in the professions, but it is not possible to list them here. From these lists it can be seen that loanwords fill partial gaps in the areas of technology, insofar as they allow for more specialized meanings of ordinary terms (for example cake allows for a differentiation not possible previously from the Bangla term pitha (whose ingredients are rice powder and treacle fried in oil, sometimes steamed but never baked). Some loanwords allow for modernization and to create a new modern image. Thus some TV channels of Bangladesh use English words for their own names, perhaps to increase their world-wide recognition. Loanwords can sometimes have euphemistic value, making it easier to talk about certain topics. An example comes from the word bathroom which is used as a decent term to mean ‘toilet’. Using the Bangla equivalent to mean toilet would sound harsh to Bangladeshi people in more formal and educated contexts. Insertion of English loans into a Bangla text can have special effects of contrast and gaining the reader's attention. In some ways it is the era of globalization that is swamping Bangladeshis with the slogans of big foreign companies (Coca Cola, Macdonalds etc.), the mushrooming terminology of the internet and the entrancing world of satellite television and Hollywood films.
Characteristics of English loanwords in Bangla
Most English loanwords used in Bangla are nouns. But some are verbs, such as serve, disturb etc; among conjunctions only but is used. In the lists cited in the previous section nouns predominate; in fact all but the last miscellaneous category comprise nouns only. Surprisingly absent from the lists are adverbs. More grammatical elements like pronouns, conjunctions, articles and the like do not feature.
In Bangladeshi sentences, loanwords are usually recognizable because they are placed according to grammatical function as in: ‘তুমি কি lunch করেছ?’ (Have you had lunch?) English loanwords are usually used in the following three ways (Chowdhury and Chowdhury, Reference Chowdhury and Chowdhury1996: 5, 6).
(a) Mostly native-like pronunciation:
A comparison of RP and Bangla pronunciation
(b) With changed or modified pronunciation:
Some loanwords veer closer to Bangla pronunciation, i.e. are nativized even further.
A comparison of RP and Bangla pronunciation
(c) Hybrid compounds:
Some loanwords are used in combination with Bangla nouns to form hybrid compounds or loanblends. Both forms of the compound sometimes mean the same thing, e.g. master-shahev for ‘teacher’ in which Bangla shahev means ‘teacher’ (as does the English first element master). This blend appears to emphasize the concept and imbue it with respect. Others combine with Bangla words to form compounds, e.g. doctor-babu ‘physician’ (lit. doctor + young man), head-moulovi ‘chief religious teacher’, head-pondit ‘chief language teacher’ (where moulovi means ‘religious teacher’ and pondit means ‘language teacher’). Sometimes the meanings are not quite as transparent: doctor-khana ‘doctor’ + ‘room’ refers to a dispensary, not like boythok-khana ‘drawing room’. Christabdo refers to the year according to the Christian calendar (from Christ + abdo).
Loanword phonology: Some English vowels which do not exist in Bangla are represented systematically by the nearest Bangla equivalents; for example, the unstressed vowel schwa is replaced by such Bangla vowels as /a/ or /ʌ/. Examples of phonological changes of English vowels in Bangla are: /'paʊdʌr/ for ‘powder’ and /mɑ:stʌr/ for ‘master’ (with /ʌ/ replacing /ə/ and the following /r/ being sounded in both words) and in the case of consonants sounds /telɪvɪʃn/ for ‘television’ (with the voiced /ʒ/ sound being replaced by its voiceless counterpart /ʃ/); and words beginning with the cluster /s/ + /p t k/ may be broken up by the addition of an initial vowel /i/: hence /isku:l/ for ‘school’.
Loanwords: linguistic pollination or pollution?
Effectiveness and acceptance of a loanword depends on practical as well as symbolic considerations. The English loanwords were adopted and spread easily as ‘native’ equivalents because necessary terms in Bangla had frequently not existed or been coined. Koscielecki's (Reference Koscielecki2006: 28) comments on ‘Japanized English’ are also applicable to Banglish: ‘Some of the processes involved in the acceptability of foreign terms are made at a societal level in a rather conscious way, in order to make sure that the foreign lexical item fits appropriate local cultural behavior. Sociolinguistically, this is a good example of elaboration that takes people's attitudes into account.’ For example, bag is considered such a word. The Bangla equivalent of the word bag is ‘shopping bag’, but it cannot express the full range of meanings of the English word as it variously applies to a purse, a school bag or a vanity bag. We observed a class at a private university, in which the teacher used five English words while explaining a topic in Bangla. However, the teacher was using mainly English technical terms as there simply were no Bangla synonyms for those terms. Even if one were to try to explain such terms in ‘pure’ Bangla, it would be difficult to capture their exact senses in the pupils' mother tongue. At the same time, it would be a contrived and laborious process to create Bangla equivalents appropriately. So many existing loanwords do not need to be changed in any way.
English loanwords are used both in written and spoken discourse. In many Bangladeshi books, English loanwords are common. Even books published by the Education Board use them frequently. In Secondary Bangla Anthology, a book used in class IX and X at secondary level, there is an essay entitled ‘Reading books’ by Promoth Chawdhury (Reference Chawdhury2010: 33). In this essay, there is a line which contains four English loanwords:
“আমাদের মনে হয় এদেশে লাইব্রেরীর সার্থকতা হাসপাতালের চাইতে কিছু কম নয় এবং স্কুল কলেজের চাইতে একটু বেশি” ৷
Translation: ‘We think libraries are no less important than hospitals and are a bit more important than schools and colleges in our country.’
Beside these, there are many other English loanwords in this essay, such as democracy, law, report, infantile, registry, pass, master, note, etc.
Another example is taken from ‘The story of 21st February’, by Jahir Raihan, in the book Higher Secondary Bangla Anthology (Reference Raihan2008: 105).
দুটো সু্যটকেস, একটা বইয়ের ট্রাঙ্ক, আর একটা বেডিং৷
Two suitcases, a trunkof books and bedding.
Here, three English words, suitcases, trunk, bedding, are used.
Rabindranath Tagore, in his short story ‘My childhood’ (Secondary Bangla Anthology Reference Tagore2010: 29), also used such words as mad, bad, and school, but the word school is used in the Bangla form given above, /isku:l/.
From time to time, the issue of the suitability of all these foreign words as they are used by some Bangladeshis is debated in the press and in public broadcasting. Debates revolve around the suitability of a given loanword or acronym in daily Bangladeshi use. For example, FA (for First Art) was banned from Bangladeshi usage. It referred to the higher secondary school qualification in Bangladesh, but now this is known as an HSC (‘Higher Secondary Certificate’), another English acronym.
Although Bangla synonyms of the most used words such as telephone, telegraph, television, radio, satellite etc. are unnecessary, we cannot ignore the ‘linguistic pollution’ that may be promoted by an overuse of loan words. Bangladeshis are not alone in the world in fearing that their language is being diluted by overexuberant adoption of English terms in areas outside science, technology and academia. We wish to argue that while phonological integration is essential for a word to pass as Bangla, this may have unexpected consequences for the acquisition of English by these very speakers (or their descendants). To illustrate such potential difficulties for the development of both listening and speaking skills in English, take the word /'ʌfim/ in place of /'əʊpiəm/ (‘opium’). As this pronunciation is acquired unconsciously when Bangla is learnt in childhood, we also use it in English contexts. This retards our speaking skill in English as native speakers cannot understand us easily. On the other hand the pronunciation of native speakers of English can then be unfathomable for us. Thus, almost farcically, we sometimes have to ‘translate’ or restate real English words into their ‘properly’ pronounced Banglish forms in order to make them intelligible in the local context. While the linguist may marvel at the power of loanword phonology, the ordinary learner of English has lost an opportunity of familiarity with the Inner circle norms of the UK or USA.
Another example is found in a national newspaper in Bangladesh, Prothom Alo (5 October, 2010) where the word education is spelt in Bangla as the equivalent of /edukeɪ∫n/.
Thus readers are increasingly exposed to neither the appropriate Bangla word, shikkha, nor the appropriate English pronunciation /edʒu'keɪʃn/.
There are many English loanwords preferred in Bangladesh even though Bangla equivalents are readily available. The following is a case in point taken from the internet.
Recently, a Bangla lecturer of an English course in a private university was unable to translate nogorayan – a Bangla word meaning ‘urbanization’ – in a class when a student asked her help. The teacher proudly said that she could not translate the word, since she was more familiar with English, had forgotten many Bangla words and felt more at home with English. This is a common scenario for Bangladeshis, from lecturers to rickshaw drivers; they feel proud to learn English and wish to forget their mother language of Bangla.
(Gomes, Reference Gomes2009).
Introducing new concepts or ideas not available in the Bangla language should be the role of English loanwords, not using loanwords to replace perfectly serviceable native Bangla words. Nowadays, the spread of popular culture by means of songs and movies is probably one of the greatest contributing sources for both linguistic innovation and pollution. The news broadcast on Bangladeshi television channels rarely uses English loanwords, but we find them frequently in modern dramas or other TV shows, where English loanwords come to be used in a Bangladeshi way. Consequently, the number of Bangla words is decreasing commensurately.
Conclusion
English loanwords have greatly contributed to cross-cultural communication. Some people claim that the English language is the only means of modernization in Bangladesh. Such modernization does not, however, necessarily mean the westernization of Bangladeshi culture. English is an international language, and, as Bangladeshi people use it, they participate in the processes of internationalization and globalization. In the post-war period, English not only influenced Bangladesh but also had the same impact on other countries, both industrialized and developing. However, the reaction in other countries to such English proliferation and penetration into the vocabulary of the national language was often apprehension, as in the cases of both France and Indonesia. Nowadays, Bangla, Japanese, German, French, Danish and Polish are among the most English-affected languages in the world, a fact which endorses their internationality. However, knowing English should not lead one to forget or discard one's native language. Bangladesh's neighbour, India, is an example: many Indian people speak English frequently, but not to the detriment of their mother tongues.■
MASSRURA MOSTAFA has a Master's degree in English Language from the University of Fukui, Japan and a BA (Hons) in English from Khulna University, Bangladesh. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Northern University Bangladesh. Her research interests include applied linguistics, discourse analysis and stylistics. Email: massrura12@yahoo.com
MARIUM JAMILA has an MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT and BA (Hons) in English from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is Lecturer (English), Department of Languages, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Her research interests include phonetics and phonology, syllabus designing and materials development in ELT. Email: jamila_nub@yahoo.com
