Scripting the border: script practices and territorial imagination among Santali speakers in eastern India

• Choksi, Nishaant ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

     University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

     City of Ann Arbor, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: International journal of the sociology of language, ISSN 0165-2516, Nº. 227, 2014 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Languages and Borders: International Perspectives), págs. 47-63
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This article examines the role of ``borders'' in the writing practices of Santali speakers, who are spread across the states of Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam in eastern India. A tension between a ``trans-border'' linguistic homogeneity and a ``bordered'' linguistic heterogeneity occurs in discussions around script. Santali is written in the various ``official'' scripts. Together with regional scripts, there is a recently invented script, called Ol Chiki (`writing symbol') in circulation as well as a Roman script invented by Christian missionaries. This article examines the alternating use of Ol Chiki, Roman and regional scripts in Santali language media. I argue that these media simultaneously posit a linguistically homogenous future while at the same time affirming a present that is deeply influenced by differing linguistic environments.