WE all speak a language or two, perhaps even more. I would say Fiji is indeed blessed to have multilingual speakers. With many races of people living together as neighbours and sharing each other’s emotions and feelings, language is the pivotal tool which is making us outshine at the international level.
Most of us were born with our mother tongue and English was taught to us, thus becoming our second language. Almost all of us in this era speak several varieties of English. To define varieties of English in layman’s language, it is the different variety of English spoken in different countries. For example, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English, American English, Singaporean English and off course our own Fijiglish.
More importantly, as you are reading this article, I would like to ask, do you know how English came to exist and be the world “language”.
This article will tell you how English language came into existence. Many of us tend to treat this language as a fashionable materialistic item, however fashionable it is, but do you know where the source of the English language?
We all consume things but are uninterested to know how it is made. But when we do come to know how it is made, we tend to be fascinated by it. Some people might oppose this statement and apply the idiomatic expression of aam khaao gutli mat gino. Nonetheless, things would feel better and would make more sense if one will know the roots of its existence.
Well! Here is some information about it. English is a member of the Germanic family of languages. Germanic is a branch of the Indo-European language family. The history of the English started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the fifth century AD. These tribes were Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes who crossed the Northern Seas from what today is Denmark and northern Germany.
At that time, the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. Celtic language is a language family in the Indo-European languages. There are six types of celtic languages. These are; Breton, Cornish, Welsh, Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.
Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders mainly into what now is Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from “Englaland” and their language was called “Englisc” from which the words “England” and “English” are derived.
Moreover, Britain used to be a leading sea nation in the world. After Christopher Columbus had discovered America, British explorers, such as Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh, led expeditions to, for example, South America and the Caribbean.
These explorers looked for valuable goods, and to assure trade they formed colonies.
The first successful English colony in America was Jamestown (Virginia) in 1607. Soon, thousands of people left their home countries for America in search of freedom and a better life. The British also had colonies in the Far East. In India, for example, they found tea, salt, silk and spices. Australia was turned into a penal colony for English prisoners. Most of them settled in the country after serving their time. From then the Englanders never stopped exploiting the countries of the world.
From 1822 onwards, the English people started coming to Fiji bringing their ways of doing things. People went through a lot of atrocities and ill-treatment. Ratu Epenisa Seru Cakobau, a chief of Bau, ceded Fiji to Great Britain when he was not in a position to look after the people of Fiji.
The British then started to have their way in running the country. As such, in the year 1879 the first set of indentured labourers’ from India were brought in to work on the sugarcane farms. Because the Englishmen were already present in India, it was easy for them to lure people to go and work in Fiji.
Upon the arrival of the English people, a lot of things were introduced to Fiji. These included education, trade and commerce, law and order to name a few.
Wherever they went, they induced and seduced people to follow their ways. The native people were forced to speak English; in most of the cases they wanted people to speak English for economic reasons, because they knew that all those countries which they have annexed had abundance of valuable resources.
In India, English became a lingua franca, used for communication between people with different first languages. Back then India was known as “the Golden Bird”. British imperialism lasted for more than three centuries, and in the 19th century, the British Empire stretched across the whole world and on all continents.
Later, these colonies became independent nations, but many former colonies made English their official language. Fiji also gained her independence on October 10, 1970. For Fiji, English also became the official language.
Further, the remarkable aspect of English being the world language is quite evident.
In most European countries English is used as an internal lingua franca. Although, it is not treated as an official language in countries such as Netherlands, Norway, Sweden to name a few, if one visits these countries you will be in a far better position to communicate to them with ease in English.
The other statistics are also startling. For example, English is used in over 90 countries who consider it either as an official or semi-official language. She is the working language for Asian trade group ASEAN. More so, English is the de-facto working language for 98 per cent international research.
In summation, the emergence of English language did not come to be the language of the world just anyhow. If today English is being used by many, then it is used for a reason.
As the world advances in terms of technology, research, medicine to name a few, the need for this lingua franca is also escalating to get the most alluring result. English will continue to perpetuate its present status as world medium in international, economic, education and scientific relations. For Fiji, it would be pretty difficult to maintain the standard form of English because of the effect of technology. The crucial need for all of us here is to continue indulging ourselves in advancing the four macro skills of English to attain absolute perfection in the language.
* Ravnil Narayan is a lecturer in language and communications at the Fiji National University. The views expressed are his and not of this newspaper.
