The language of Hinduism in the US diaspora

Abstract

The use of English in rituals in the Hindu diaspora in the US is a major change for the religion, since English is excluded from Hindu rituals in India. This paper demonstrates that: (a) this change has impacted the structure of English and the system of Hinduism; (b) Hindu saints, the ‘authority’ in Hinduism, sanction this change; (c) the media further promotes it; and (d) it impacts the degree of functional load and transparency for the languages of rituals while creating di‐systems, or mixed codes with two systems of thought. The implications of this discussion for the theory of language change, maintenance and loss of language will be presented.

Functions of English vs. Other Languages in Sri Lankan Buddhist Rituals in the UK

“…The patterns of language with one's spouse were also sometimes wholly in Sinhala, at other times, in both Sinhala and English. However, unlike Pandharipande's (2013) study, no English was used at ritual events by Sri Lankans for purposes of chanting and prayers. These were always observed in Pali.…”

“…The only work that discusses a similar topic is Pandharipande (2013Pandharipande ( , 2010, who analyses the patterns of language use in religious rituals of the Hindu diasporic community in the US, where she observes English is a new code added to the Hindu Community's repertoire of languages of rituals in the US. A study of Sri Lankan Tamils in Melbourne by Fernandez and Clyne (2007) found that among Sri Lankan Hindu families, religious identity was extremely important in maintaining language.…”

“…As Buddhism is part of the identity of Sinhala Buddhists who have migrated to the UK, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how globalisation and the dominant influence of English have affected the language of Buddhist rituals among the Sinhala community in the UK. This study aims to complement Pandharipande's (2013Pandharipande's ( , 2010 work on language use in Hindu rituals in the US by describing and analysing a sample of language use in Buddhist rituals in the UK. It presents findings in the context of how language practices in Buddhism have undergone change to accommodate to the new socio-cultural climate.…”

“…It presents findings in the context of how language practices in Buddhism have undergone change to accommodate to the new socio-cultural climate. Following the framework used by Pandharipande (2013) this paper intends to answer the following research questions:…”

Re‐Englishing ‘flat‐world’ fiction

“…In a pithy statement, Pandharipande (, p. 417) notes that, ‘globalization is a powerful movement which conjoins and disjoins world communities.’ Embedded in this claim is a kernel outcome of the postcolonial condition – namely, the persistent ability of center‐controlled economic enterprises to (re)‐instigate retrenchments of old hierarchies and stratificational arrangements. What is also emerging in localized accounts of the effects of linguistic globalization is that it is, ‘a contested process and not a totalizing phenomena’ (Sonntag, , p. 223).…”