The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Language should be culture-centric

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Monday, Jul 28, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Language should be culture-centric

Photo: K. Ananthan

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COIMBATORE: He speaks chaste English; but, uses the language as a medium to extol the virtues and nuances of the Tamil language. He has a masters’ degree in Tamil and a Ph.D. in Linguistics. But, like the contrastive linguistics he teaches, he manages to balance the contrasts in both the languages in his teaching profession.

An expert in the 24 Dravidian languages, K. Karunakaran is known to many as the former Vice-Chancellor of Tamil University, Thanjavur. He has been in the field of linguistics, Tamil and comparative literature for the past 44 years.

Other than his three years as Vice-Chancellor, he has been researching and teaching linguistics and still continues to do so at the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan, the U.S. He was also the founder professor of the Department of Linguistics at the Bharathiar University.

When doing his final year B.Sc. mathematics at PSG College of Arts and Science in the late 1950’s, the young Karunakuran did not have any inkling about a future in linguistics. But, a chance encounter with a linguist from Annamalai University led him to a post-graduate course in linguistics. Since then he has not stopped crusading for the cause of teaching the correct structure of the Tamil language.

He is one with many publications to his credit. He spoke to Amutha Kannan on his many pursuits in creating material for understanding and using Tamil in a correct manner. “Language is needed for many purposes. Nowadays, people give the least importance to language. Humanities and language are considered non-utility courses. But, language plays the most important role in every kind of communication. It is vital to understand the structure of the language for actual use,” Mr. Karunakaran said.

Competence in structure would only ensure that language was used in the correct socio-cultural context. This could be done effectively by a linguist. “It should not be thought that linguists do not have scope. There are scores of people required to do translations, work as interpreters, writers, editors, etc. Such jobs can be handled by linguistics with élan.”

Every year new terms were being introduced. Such terms needed to be translated in the right cultural context, he said. “Language should always go with culture. If language is not context-restricted, it can be used in the wrong manner. Universal structure of all languages is the same. Only the surface structure is different. Hence, the manifestation should be done in the right manner.”

He, however, strongly felt that socio-culturalism should be taught in the families. It should be carried forward from there, he asserted.

He has brought out a pedagogical English to Tamil dictionary for teaching Tamil as a secondary language. He is working on a standardised Tamil dictionary to include at least 10,000 words in four dialects.

Another current muse of his is the “Communicative Approach to Language Teaching” model that he was getting ready to be used by college students. “The Japanese, Chinese and the British have teaching models. But, we do not have any model that includes a set of communication skills. The existing models only consist of the basic skills like reading, writing, listening and comprehension,” he lamented. However, the project that was close to his heart was the on-going one on “Politeness and Address Terms in Dravidian Languages”. His observation of youth failing to communicate respectfully and address politely led him to work on such a compilation.

He expressed regret at the impact other cultures had on youth that led to their own being pushed to the back burner.

“There are a lot of terms that our children do not use and have also forgotten to use. We should feel free as elders to communicate with children in the right way. If we fail, then they will fail as human beings unable to exist in an international society.”

Though teaching and research are his passion, Mr. Karunakaran yearned to make his research relevant to society. “I am ready to work on any project with any of the universities. I would like to be associated with the New Linguistic Survey of India that is proposed to be set up by the Central Government. I hope my expertise will be put to good use there if given a chance,” he hoped.

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