Language Loss and Marginalisation in India
Migration, Caste, and the Waddar Speech Community
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Beschreibung
This book examines how caste, poverty, migration, and education contribute to language loss in India through the case of the Waddar community, a semi-nomadic De-notified Tribe whose ancestral Dravidian language, Waddari, is endangered. It combines sociolinguistics, ethnography, and political economy to explain why marginalized communities experience rapid language shift. Across its chapters, the book traces the historical legacy of colonial criminalisation, caste-based exclusion, labour migration, and state language and education policies that weaken intergenerational language transmission. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with Waddar speakers across generations, it explores changing language use, bilingualism, identity, and aspirations for social mobility. Situating the Waddar experience within broader debates on language endangerment, linguistic justice, and multilingual education, the book offers insights relevant to India and the Global South. It will appeal to researchers and students of sociolinguistics, anthropology, education, caste studies, and language policy.
Includes rare, in-depth interviews conducted with members of the Waddar speech community in Maharashtra Centres caste as the primary axis of linguistic marginalisation Goes beyond diagnosis to propose community-informed strategies, linking scholarship with social impact
Autor*in
Digambar M. Ghodke
Themen in »Language Loss and Marginalisation in India«
Waddar community Migration and identity De-notified tribes Indigenous language rights language loss Minority languages Linguistic marginalisation South Asian linguistics