It's the perfect subterfuge for the "subjects" of this multi-century colonialist project, an empire upon which -- for a very long time -- the sun never set. When finally it did, many of the former colonies found themselves torn apart by internal forces, sometimes with the "help" of ill-considered partitions such as those between Ireland and Northern Ireland, or India and Pakistan. One of the most persistent aspects of this old imperial grasp has in fact been the English language itself; in every country its fall from dominance played out differently. In Jamaica, English morphed into "Patwah," a version of English which re-arranges subject and object pronouns, elides initial and terminal consonants, and has even developed its own system of verb conjugations. Throughout the Caribbean, different such versions developed, once wrongly characterized as mere "dialects," but now recognized as Englishes in their own right, part of what the Trinidadian-Canadian poet Marlene Nourbese Philip calls the "Caribbean demotic." A similar evolution occurred in the former English colonies in West Africa, as well as on the Indian subcontinent, and even in Hong Kong and Singapore. The English of Singapore -- dubbed "Singlish" -- is a phenomenon all in itself.
So this week, we'll be reading -- and listening to -- a few brief works from a variety of these cultures. We'll start with Philip's “Discourse on the Logic of Language," part of her larger collection She Tries Her Tongue: Her Silence Slowly Breaks. After that, we'll read an essay by the late Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola, originally written for a collection I was editing, “My Vernacular.” We'll also read two poems by the Jamaican poet Louise Bennett: “Jamaica Language” and “Colonization in Reverse." Lastly, we'll listen to two powerful pieces by the dub poets Smiley Culture (“Cockney Translation") and Ranking Ann (“Kill de Police Bill”). I'd note that this last track was a protest against a proposed policing and crime bill in the UK Parliament, a response to the Brixton "Riots" of 1981 (like the L.A. "Riots" of 1992, they were seen by many poor and Black people as more of an uprising than a riot). In an added irony, the recording of Ranking Ann's song was financed by her local County Council (these were later to be dissolved under Margaret Thatcher's conservative government).
p.s. I've added a few notes on "Cockney Translation"
As soon as I started reading "Discourse on the Logic of Language," I was so intrigued. I started by reading it silently, as I do most of my reading, but immediately went back to the beginning to read it aloud. The twists and turns of the words reminded me of today's 'slam poetry.' I think that this is something that must be carefully read out loud to get the full effect. I read the pages as they were laid out for me, but then went back and just read the poem, then the edicts.
ReplyDeleteThe father tongue section reminded me of the rules of Black children following the course of their enslaved mothers: a rule that was changed once sexual enslavement became so prominent. Before this time, children followed the path (either freedom or enslavement) of their fathers. Once sexual enslavement became so widely practiced, the "one drop rule" and the practice of having children follow the social standings of their mothers was introduced. English, as the author writes, is their father's tongue, and therefore foreign.
The edicts along the sides of the poem were something that I originally (admittedly) did not read in time with the poem, but rather once I had completed the rest of the reading. The second edict speaks to the removal of a person's tongue were they to be heard speaking their native language. This speaks to the "anguish" of the language, this time the father AND mother's languages. However, in the first edict, it is noted that enslavers should make an attempt to not let anyone be able to communicate with each other-- these two are hypocritical. The "lan lan lang/ language/ l/anguish/ anguish/ a foreign anguish" lines really resonated with these inclusions.
‘Discourse on the Logic of Language’ is meant to overwhelm you. Its bold, graphic, and unapologetic polyphony of narratives wants you to question the implications of the English language, to remember that it is not apolitical. Language has always been a tool and a weapon, author Marlene NourbeSe Philip reminds you. Although Philip moved to Canada for university, she was born in the Carribean island of Tobago, and at age eight moved to nearby Trinidad. Her upbringing was heavily impacted by British colonialism, and she grew up speaking English, a source of a disconnect between herself and her pre-colonial identity. This poem gives more than a glimpse of Philip’s alienation from her roots, and of English’s ability to reinforce structures of power. Philip constructs her poem out of four narratives, each displaying a different perspective on language. There is an all-caps narrative, describing a mother’s tongue caring for her child. The tongue, the language, cares for and protects the next generation. It connects one to one’s past. There is a historical point of view, a reminder of edicts that once existed to forbid slaves from speaking their native languages. Colonizers knew that language unites communities, so they demanded silence.
ReplyDeleteIn the “Discourse on the Logic of Language” I feel the poem describes a slave expressing that he has no “mother tongue” as he was never able to learn what language from their original people. It is mentioned that they have a “father tongue” being English and how it is considered his “father tongue” because it is a foreign language of a people that is not their own. The term “mother tongue” is also described as how a mother would use her tongue to clean her child, a sense of comfort and love that a child experiences from their mother. However, they didn’t have that experience, “I have no mother tongue, no tongue to mother, to mother tongue me” (lines 23, 25-28). With the absence of a “mother tongue,” they claim that they are therefore, dumb or unintelligent. A brief explanation of the regions of the brain responsible for speech describes that one of the doctors during the 19th century studying this part of the brain, Dr. Boca. He had the ridiculous notion that the larger the more intelligent a person is and came up with his bias that white male brains are, “larger brains than, and were, therefore, superior to, women, Blacks and other peoples of colour” (Discourse). Safe to say that in today’s world, Dr. Boca is wrong and I feel like he would come up with bias like that because of the time period, in which white males had access to education and were not oppressed like the women and people of color during that time. It wasn’t because their brains were smaller and weren’t intelligent, it was because they didn’t have the equal opportunity to pursue an education. Today, there is a great diversity of people now educated and throughout history that proves Dr. Boca’s bias to be very wrong. Unfortunately for this time period as the poem goes on, the slave will not have that opportunity to learn their “mother tongue” or the comfort of their mother. Rather they are forced to live in a world where they are considered less human and less intelligent while never knowing where they truly come from.
ReplyDeleteAgustin Custer
Reading the poem "Discourse on the Logic of Language" helped me to see the world in a different point of view. I can feel the distress, sadness, and hopeless feeling of being a slave during this time. The author expresses the anguish felt due to being born into slavery, and how frustrating it is to step into premade customs. Her differentiation of the "father" and "mother" tongue show the connections she has made with the world. She feels that her "mother" tongue is the only true connection she has, while her "father" tongue is a foreign, complicated aspect of her life. She seems that she is eager to learn more about her native language (mother tongue), rather than the English language she is forced to learn (father tongue). Also, other parts in the poem that I noticed were the descriptions of normal slave life, which included being separated from family members, inability to communicate with others, no chance of rebellion, and in general living with absolutely no freedom.
ReplyDeleteAs I read “Discourse on the Logic of Language,” the middle columns on pages one and three reminded me of a slam poetry session as Philip experiments with the phrase “mother tongue” and the word “language.” The edicts of slavery and Doctor Broca’s hypothesis of white superiority over blacks also provide a commentary on where the writer is coming from.
ReplyDeleteI found Amos Tutuola’s “My Vernacular” intriguing as I myself did not grow up in a bilingual household, let alone in a country where one spoke one’s “mother tongue” at home and to neighbors but spoke English for formal situations (schooling, business and trade, etc.). I agree that while learning two languages simultaneously, they begin to combine into something new. The term “Spanglish” (Spanish-English) comes to mind when I think about bilingual households in America, and how children will combine words or fill in the gaps of one language with the other in order to get their point across. Of course, Tutuola does not combine words or use any Yoruba in his essay, but he admits how Yoruba has greatly influenced his writings in English regardless. He speaks and writes in his own way, reflecting his identity and using English as the tool to express it.
- Spock Nardone
A thoughtful comment! The other issue for Tutuola is that he knew that writing in English could gain him an international audience, whereas writing in Yoruba would have limited his audience to Yoruba speakers. It a bind that many postcolonial writers have found themselves in.
DeleteBeing from Dominican Republic and my first language being Spanish I can relate to this text. When I came here, I had to adjust to a whole new language while trying to also adjust to my new surroundings. The only place I felt comfortable was when I was at home speaking my native tongue with my family members. Although, speaking Spanish is now a tool I use to my advantage at my hospital job and everywhere that I go. I can't imagine what it must've been like to be an uneducated slave being deprived of a decent life and an education where you don't understand anyone around you.
ReplyDelete“Discourse on the Logic of Language” by Marlene NourbeSe Philip is a striking piece on the ability of the English language to reinforce structures of power. Philip grew up speaking English due to colonialism after moving to nearby Trinidad, but is a native of the island of Tobago in the Caribbean. The piece has four poems that each display a different perspective on language. One of them is “mother tongue” which is seen as the language that describes a mother’s tongue, which in essence is considered a group of people's native language, and cares for and protects the next generation. The metaphor is also literal, as the mother would use her tongue to clean her child but the narrator expresses this loss, stating “I have no mother tongue, no tongue to mother, to mother tongue me” (lines 23, 25-28). “Mother tongue” definitely symbolizes freedom in a way, as there were laws that prohibited slaves from speaking their native languages. The whole point of colonizing is to make money - and by stripping the native people of their culture (food, language, religion, etc.,) - they not only disenfranchise them of their freedom, but also of their sense of selves. They cannot unite and rebel if they are forced to speak a language the colonizers understand and use to control them mentally.
ReplyDeleteJess Panichas