Language in contact and literatures in conflict: text, context, and pedagogy

Abstract

When readers fail to relate to the cultural context of writers, gross misunderstanding results. When professional readers whose first language is English fail to enter the discourse of profes- sional literary writers or authors who are bi- or multi-lingual and use English for literary creativity, blame is laid on the writers' 'poor' linguistic competence. By focusing on a specific instance of the reactions of two eminent Canadian scholars to Rohinton Mistry's literary language, this paper examines relationships of dialect and register and considers the language of Mistry as a socio-semiotic effect. The paper further argues for a pedagogy that builds on a theoretical framework which recognizes that literary language communicates at levels that are syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic. The concept of the dignity of the human person - a concept that gets lost in the presence of stereotypes and generalization - while not essentially linguistic or literary is nevertheless an aspect of both disciplines. Any analytical methodology would thus have to consider the structural as well as the ideological makings of (con)text to avoid privileging the 'norm' and berating the 'deviant'. The paper demonstrates how an awareness of dialect and register gives way to critique that is sensitive to the power structures of literary discourse.