“The pronunciation of the word pronunciation is not pronounciation but pr-nun-see-ayshun”, so would quip the smart-ass in our class. It was sometime in the high school that I heard this first.
Conversing in English was rare in my school or college days. We could read and write decent English, but whether you studied in English medium or Malayalam medium, spoken English wasn’t that easy for the urban – impossible for the rural – Malayalee children of the 60s and 70s. In those days there wasn’t any school that would punish students if they talked in any language other than English while at school. BBC and News in English from AIR were the only way we could listen to good spoken English; and of course the occasional English movies.
One of the reasons for the oft ridiculed ‘Mallu- English’, is the emphasis on clear enunciation in Malayalam. Clarity and accentuation of syllables is very important in good Malayalam; this is why most non-Malayalis say that Malayalam is the most difficult language to learn. With Sanskrit as the root of grammatical Malayalam literature and Tamil as the root of spoken Malayalam, the potpourri of Malayalam vocabulary and the diction is beyond the ken of aliens.
But it pains to listen to Malayalam TV newsreaders and anchors. For example they’d pronounce Bhaarya as Baarya or Khedam as Kedam. Worse are the young things with fake anglicized Malayalam accent and the snobbish Valluvanadan ( Trichur and beyond till Palakkad) accents.
I personally have difficulties with the subtleties of ‘O’. God, dog. Love, cloak, poke, spot, sport, joke, rock, mock - K has often tried to correct me, but in vain. And the more I am conscious of my ‘O’, the worse it turns out to be!
Therefore all I could do to console myself was to – write a poem!
O, dear!
“Mind your Ps and Qs!”
But I always had a mind of my own!
I never did get my Os all right,
My phonetics was always trite.
The O in love, like O in lost? Or O in loath?
Like O in loin? Or O in lonely?
LOud? LOusy? Or lOnging in the heart?
I never got the hang of love at all.
My Ts were quite all right.
Like the T in trust.
Like the T in true,
Trundling along, trudging alone.
Never did I ever, fuck up my Fs.
The F in faith, F in freedom,
F in fair and fun.
Weren’t I a fool, though, to let the girl go?
******************* Trivandrum 09.09.2004
Balachandran V, Trivandrum, 11-06-2011
15 comments:
A poetic take on the English language.
I have always admired Malayalam. The way the words are pronounced. Its poetic I think, at the same time difficult for a non-Mallu as mentioned in my recent post - the rhythm and the tone that comes along with it.
And yeah, each of us carry our vernacular influence with us when it comes to spoken English. I recall ony of my teacher would always say "roll your r's and bite your v's". Some of us learnt, many didnt
the poem captures what you wanted to convey in a humorous way Balan :)
You just called my accent(???) as snobbish! Why? Trichur and Palakkad are quite different spoken Malayalam. I think Palakaadan is the closest to written Malayalam. Correct me if I am wrong. :)
Nice post with such a 'meanigful'poem.
What I feel horrible about is the news readers and reporters always repeating'vidyabhyasam' instead of vidyaabhyaasam.
But one thing I have noticed is that,the so called real Malayalam lovers in Kerala always has a tendency to ridicule other languages like 'gosayi' and all..One of my room mates used to even fight with me for listening hindi songs like a routine.
On thrissur-palakkad slang,it's all dramatic presentation of the same by film makers that did the mistake I think.During my Trivandrum days,whenever I travel in an auto,the drivers used to confirm their anxiety if am a Thrissurite.That was never coz of the valluvanadan mechanical' or made up slang,the original thrissur usages like 'tta' in almost everything we say.To sum up,most of our popular media's like films and televisions have won in 'made up' language versions.
Lovely take.
It might yet be possible to trace in reverse the genesis of the native language in the manner a native language speaker will speak or pronounce another language.
Literature is the key to ensuring that languages survive the depradations of globalisation.
@Insignia: Though slightly humorous on the surface, the poem has has tragic undertones of lost love. 'Love', Lost, lonely, loathe etc are indicative.
@Juxta: The 'fake' Trichur Hindu ( upper caste/ Menon) accent has been raised to snobbish levels by, as Melange pointed out, the cine makers and actresses. They tout it as the 'aristocratic' accent. It is funny to listen to actors from other parts of Kerala struggling to imitate the 'Trichur Hindu' accent.
I have been married to one from Trichur side. And the way her relatives mock other accents such as Trivandrum as kind of uncultured and barbaric - believe me, I know, because I have lived all over Kerala and can speak in most of the varieties except maybe deep north.
I would say, from my experience, the most beautiful Malayalam to listen to are Palakkadan and Onattukara ( Mavelikkara, Kayamkulam), which are polite and kind. I am in no way demeaning Trichur Hindu accent; only pointing out that all those 'Illya, atheyo, ttuo' etc have been touted baselessly as the 'best' accent.
And J, please don't be offended by what I said. Each to his/her language. Only, one should respect others'.
@Melange: You said it!
Loved the poem :)I never noticed your Os before .This time i will when we talk .lol.
Have a great Sunday.
@Anil P: In the last two centuries, the development of education in Kerala had a major contribution from British missionaries, many of them from Scotland. A few years ago I watched an English movie based on a Scottish background and was amazed to note the similarities between Scottish accent and Malayalam English. The rolling of 'R's and the open mouthed 'a' in hAppy were so reminiscent of Central Kerala English.
He he... No offense taken. Infact I am smiling! I am from Palakkad. :)
"The 'fake' Trichur Hindu ( upper caste/ Menon) accent has been raised to snobbish levels ..."? I liked and agree the observation. Great literary men like M.T.Vasudevan Nair are responsible for this state. Palghat/Trichur Malayalm is certainly regional-ised expressions. And as you observed the chaste simple Malayalam is from the central Travancore.No offence meant.
I guess Trichur malayalam is like Geoff Boycott speaking English.
All said and done , the unforgivable ones are those mallus' with preference for the Anglican language and deriding their mother tongue. The fact is such ones are neither proficient in Malayalam or in English.
Both "kurachu kurachu..."
Balan , ha I forgot to mention,'interesting poem'.
ha ha..
that was excellent
expecting the next one on the 'numbers'
Anil,
such unforgivable ones are there everywhere - esp in southern india.
I can relate with you very much about words with 'o' like joke, hole/hall etc. I can't find what is exactly wrong in my pronunciation of these words even after multiple corrections from my husband :(
ha ha..some one said..the chaste accent is cental travencore..kottaaym etc? the speak Phaarya for Bharya? hmmnn..i dont know why many people have a problem with our valluvanaadan language which is humble and filled with love.I can agree on anything except on Kottayam oolan slang is chaste.
The Valluvanadan accent spreads from juts a wee bit beyond Trichur (on the Shoranur road) to a wee bit beyond Ottappalam (upto Mankara (on the Palakkad road). In the case of the former, the Trichur lilt vanishes and accents get regularised and less musical, and in the cas eof the latter, just after this town, Tamil words start creeping in (like 'Kooda' for 'Kotta' meaning Basket, and 'PooLa' (as in pooLAkazhangu) starts to mean something rude) changes to Marichini.
Westwards from Shoranur, the Valluvanadan accent extends beyond Pattambi upto Shukapuram, Edappal, and especially on both sides of the NiLa river, MT's hometown included. The seashores are not Valluvanadan. On the north, the Thootha river is considered the historical boundary of Vallunvanadan bhasha.
My take!
A great blog, by the way!
I remember one of my colleagues from Kottayam, who insisted that his Malayalam was the most chaste, and was closest to the AIR-bhasha.
He also insisted that Kottayam was the geographical centre of Kerala, which I argued, (succesfully by showing him a map) only belonged to Ottappalam.
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