Promoting Political Correctness

One eminent English writer George Bernard Shaw wrote a play entitled Pygmalion, which says Professor Higgins taught a flower-selling girl named Elizabeth Doolittle to speak English just like a duchess. This was a marvelous achievement of the professor who could change a street girl into a decent lady who earlier spoke cockney dialect, and now she would have a chance to be a duchess if only elegant language could significantly change one’s life. Whereas Prof. Higgins boasted of being a successful professor in teaching a cockney speaker to become an eloquent speaker of standard British English, the student, on the other hand, vehemently opposed what the professor did to her. What she objected to was that he changed her linguistically, which did not mean she became a duchess who could marry a duke of high socio-economic position. 

This incident, if it happened in real life, not in drama alone, has left us with a multimillion-dollar question – does language essentially improve society? There are two schools of linguists on the issue of the language-power relationship. Linguists who belong to the first school assert that language is simply a means of communication having no power to alter the world. Those belonging to the second school, however, argue that language can control the thought process. Linguists are thus divided on the question of what language does and whether language can alter society.

Intrinsic power

I would rather like to belong to the group of the second opinion in a relative sense. In my view, language can somewhat influence the way we think. It may not have intrinsic power, but it does have the potential for power to influence the world. Unconvincing though it might look to many, language can make things happen or unmake them happen.

Language is used for conveying a message. Any message – serious or flippant – has an essence, something that is to be followed by the listener or to be denied if undesirable. Some words have the power to convey a message that can lead or mislead the audience that can persuade or dissuade them from doing something. Some words have so much power that they can leave indelible marks on our life, especially on children’s minds when they are of early age. They have thus the illocutionary force to have effects on the listeners. In this sense, language has ample potential to influence us in one way or the other. 

If a language has the potential for power, it can be used or misused by the people of power. George Orwell (1946), in his infamous essay “Politics and the English Language,” claims that politicians have corrupted the English language by abusing it to serve their vile interests. Further, he claims that language can be abused by totalitarian powers to prevent democratic and progressive thoughts and impose conservative and stereotypical thoughts, which impede social change.

Orwell’s strong political views can also be found at the community level. Ours is an unequal society with powerful and powerless groups. The powerful groups have full control over the resources which are used for subjugating the powerless groups. In addition to other means of domination and subjugation, powerful groups can dominate powerless groups by means of language. The people of a powerful community, such as whites, elitists, and males, would like to use derogatory terms to demean the people of the powerless community, such as blacks, the underprivileged, and the females. The European white settlers in America, for instance, would like to use the terms like negro to the people of African origin and Paki to mean the nonwhites of South Asia. 

Likewise, the people of the privileged class – landlords and capitalists – like to label the underprivileged as poor or any other demeaning words. Similarly, the males use derogatory terms to address women treating them as inferior. Such words are common across cultures and have nuances of meanings in different situations. This situation not only reflects the unequal society but it helps promote discrimination through language. The implication of the second argument about the power of language, as stated earlier, entails yet another question if individuals can choose to use language differently and, by so doing, create a different kind of society. 

Ample attempts have been made in this regard. Some language activists are beginning to discuss the possibility of creating an egalitarian society through different types of words to address the people of minority groups with respect. The campaign to use honorific terms to bring about social change has been called political correctness. This has drawn considerable attention from different groups of people, mostly politicians, who would like to show that they are democratic and would champion equality through language. 

In Nepal, too, several attempts have been made by linguists, media people, and politicians to use the language of political correctness. For instance, the so-called ‘achhuts’ are now called ‘dalits’, ‘nirdhan’ or ‘poor’ as ‘underprivileged’, ‘aimai’ as ‘mahila’. 

Scrutiny by law

The attempts made in connection are largely socio-cultural. Since language is a carrier of culture, it can influence social change to some extent. Societies across the world are fast changing in terms of language use. No powerful person can use offensive language to the powerless these days. If one does, they are subject to scrutiny by law. 

This is not enough, however. There might be counterarguments about the significance of political correctness. One might debate whether the honorific terms to address the powerless people of minority groups can really bring about social equality. There is no denying that powerless groups cannot be uplifted by raising them socio-culturally unless they are uplifted politically and economically. Therefore, the political, economic, and cultural aspects should go together for a complete change. Yet the language of political correctness can also help people to live with respect through the sincere use of honorific terms. Better little than naught. 

(The author is the chairman of Molung Foundation. bhupadhamala@gmail.com)