Exploring linguistic landscape: The study of lascari in Amitav Ghosh’s sea of poppies

Abstract

The research paper explores the linguistic aspects depicted in Sea of Poppies (2008), the first volume of the Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh (1956). It analyzes how Ghosh through the Trilogy recreates and vividly portrays the mixed society of nineteenth-century British India. Ghosh is well known for his inclination towards the weaker section of the society. Pidgin like the subjugated section of the society was overlooked and overshadowed. And the author did not hesitate from shedding light on yet another marginalized phenomenon by employing the use of language as a recurrent theme in the Trilogy. Ghosh also sheds light on the lives led by the sailors belonging to the nations and princely states around the Indian Ocean, also known as Lascars, a part of varied faiths and cultures who spoke different languages such as Malay, Portuguese, English, Arabic, Hindusthani and Malayalam. Ghosh by deciding to write upon the Lascari language brought it back to life. With centuries passing, the language was dying if it were not already dead. The study focuses on semblance between the Lascari speech and the messaging language used in the contemporary times with reference to the enunciation of a word in a particular language.