Language Policy in India
McGill
Poli 322 Final Paper
A Game Theoretic Explanation of Indian Language Policy Outcome
“India has been a crucible for the drama of language conflict” (Laitin, 415).
Exploring language policy in India is both a complex and interesting task. Contrary to other empires that went through state consolidation, it is clear that India is quite the linguistic mosaic (Laitin, 415). Not only is there no single language for official exchange, but citizens of India have developed complex language repertoires in order to interact with servants, family, merchants, colleagues and officials. Language needs are so onerous that many parents with sufficient resources seek to equip their children with different repertoires in order to hedge their linguist bets. This situation has led sensitive observers of India to forecast dangerous decades of language conflict” (Laitin, 415). Although in the past there has been significant controversy surrounding language policy in India (and even a history of violence) the present system that exists is quite stable. The current policy in India can be described as a 3+/- 1 language outcome (Laitin, 415). The explanation that this paper seeks to offer is to make clear why, when Indian Congress attempted to create a single domestic language for the purpose of official communication did they receive greater opposition than rulers who consolidated earlier on? More importantly, common explanations on this matter at the current time seem to be inadequate and are often based on “special attributes of Indian culture and history” (Laitin, 415). In the place of the standard explanations it is clear that a game theoretic analysis of political strategy is better suited to understand why India faced greater opposition to a single language than other states. A game theoretic analysis not only gives a collective understanding of the Indian language policy in place, it helps to specify the outcome of the policy through the factor of historical state
Poli 322 Final Paper
A Game Theoretic Explanation of Indian Language Policy Outcome
“India has been a crucible for the drama of language conflict” (Laitin, 415).
Exploring language policy in India is both a complex and interesting task. Contrary to other empires that went through state consolidation, it is clear that India is quite the linguistic mosaic (Laitin, 415). Not only is there no single language for official exchange, but citizens of India have developed complex language repertoires in order to interact with servants, family, merchants, colleagues and officials. Language needs are so onerous that many parents with sufficient resources seek to equip their children with different repertoires in order to hedge their linguist bets. This situation has led sensitive observers of India to forecast dangerous decades of language conflict” (Laitin, 415). Although in the past there has been significant controversy surrounding language policy in India (and even a history of violence) the present system that exists is quite stable. The current policy in India can be described as a 3+/- 1 language outcome (Laitin, 415). The explanation that this paper seeks to offer is to make clear why, when Indian Congress attempted to create a single domestic language for the purpose of official communication did they receive greater opposition than rulers who consolidated earlier on? More importantly, common explanations on this matter at the current time seem to be inadequate and are often based on “special attributes of Indian culture and history” (Laitin, 415). In the place of the standard explanations it is clear that a game theoretic analysis of political strategy is better suited to understand why India faced greater opposition to a single language than other states. A game theoretic analysis not only gives a collective understanding of the Indian language policy in place, it helps to specify the outcome of the policy through the factor of historical state
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