ABSTRACT

Throughout its history, the Indian subcontinent has been a place for many languages that are historically unrelated, but have interacted in geographical space.The political relationships among them did not remain constant, but the shaping of their interrelationships through policies formulated and implemented by rulers is a phenomenon of the modern period beginning with colonial rule. The recent history of the politics of language has been marked by changes in language policy, but with some continuity across the colonial and postcolonial periods as well as within each period.The factors that motivate policy changes are multiple, encompassing both the goals of government and perceptions of people concerning their interests, which include economic opportunities, social advancement, and cultural security. Language policies concern both the choice of languages that will be used in public domains, most importantly in government and education, by the state, and in private domains such as kin networks, recreational activities, and cultural practices, including religious practices by the people. A third domain, which overlaps the public and the private, is the market. This chapter is about language policy and language

behavior in public domains, covering the historical period of colonial formation and its consolidation, as well as the transition to independence and social transformation in the new nation.The constant amidst change is the maintenance of some social, economic, and political relationships among languages. But changes in language policies are continually redefining these relationships. The continuously contested relationship of English with other languages,concerning its role in political control and socioeconomic transformation through the phases of its emergence, containment, and reemergence in the Indian political scene, provides a vantage point to survey also the relationship among all the languages of the country.