The Dhaka Review

Isabel White Language and identity - people divided by a common language Those of you who know me will know that I am a mongrel from a mongrel nation. An island race that spent several centuries being invaded, who then invaded a quarter of the globe has absorbed a legacy of language and culture that is one of the richest in the world. All that was, for a time, in mortal danger. Because, like so many societies, we have a ruling class that for most of its existence has been pre-occupied with devising ever more fiendish ways of holding on to power, our language has been one of the weapons used against the rest of us proletarians to keep us in our place.

From the moment that man first put stylus to clay, writing has been the most powerful weapon of division and oppression, as well as the greatest tool for emancipation and unanimity. So, when the Catholic Church arrived in Britain, it was not long before it acquired a monopoly on the written word. This meant that anyone who wanted to better themselves had to master Latin alongside their native tongue. During the 17th century, French began to usurp Latin as the pre-eminent language of diplomacy and international relations (the ‘lingua franca’). It remained so until it was marginalised by the combined influences of the British Empire and the rise of the United States as the dominant global power after the first World War, with English as the dominant language.

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