Before going ahead on this factor, it must be mentioned that there are two different kinds of languages. May be there are other kinds of classification, however for the current purpose, the classification may be on the basis of what one may call the presence of feudal content and absence of feudal content.
Languages like English can be said to be of the second kind; that is, have an absence of feudal content.
Other languages, such as Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and other languages of India, Asia and possibly of Africa and South America are feudal languages. That is, they contain different levels of words for such words as You, He, She, They, We, Your, His, Her, Hers, Theirs, Ours etc. Some languages do even have different levels of words for even verbs.
It is possible that at least some of the languages of Europe may also have this feudal affliction. As to English having words like My Lord, My Lady, Your Majesty, Thee, Thou, Your Honour and such, are not the words that I am talking about when feudal content is mentioned in this context. What is being mentioned and discussed is different.
It may be mentioned here that feudal languages all have the essential component of respect and disparagement encrypted into them. Here the word respect does not have the same meaning that it has in English and similar languages. In feudal languages, the word respect has a very active sense, in that it comes with the requirement of placing the respected person high on the indicant word scale. It is not a mental feeling of sensing some kind of refinement or superior knowledge or information in a person as one would do in English. For example, in English one may have respect for another person due to his exemplary civility, politeness, good manners, knowledge and learning and such. In feudal languages, respect is not what one may feel inside, but what one has to exhibit externally. For example, even if one is of the confirmed opinion that a specific person is of deficient civility, politeness, good manners and also of meagre knowledge and learning, he still has to be extended very evident poses of respect which can extend even to obsequious bowing, if he is a rich man, a teacher, professor, government official etc.
At the same time, if the other man is a non-entity in terms of not being a rich man, a teacher, a professor, a government official etc., but is a man of quiet refinement, honest, courageous, polite, and learned, and compassionate to others, he is by words and usages, disparaged. In other words, feudal languages have a very menacing and evil side, which can really gnaw on the composure of a person of refinement. And at the same time, such languages stand as powerful props for persons of evil superiority.��
Common uses of language, and its complex side
Language is used by human beings to convey information, ideas and thoughts, tell things, speak and do such other things. It is used in making songs, singing them and writing, making a speech, teaching, asking, answering and other similar things. However this is only a very simplified understanding of what language is and what it can do.
The complexity of what language really implies can only be understood when it is studied in a comparative manner, comparing such languages as English with such languages as Indian or Asian feudal languages.
Each language has different manners of arranging information. For example, I have read that there is a language among the aborigines of Australia, in which plural is made by repeating the word twice. Even though this information may seem simple, there could be powerful codes connecting to this, which may have powerful influence on many other words that connect to this; and also to the ways and manner of the society that speaks this language.
What I want to say here is that a language can create a specific picture of what it is trying to convey. When it is trying to visualise the local society, it can create a particular pattern by which the society is designed. When the society speaks that particular language, the society is more or less patterned into that design. Even though, it may seem a simple thing, the fact is that the design is powerful, and it is difficult to maintain or develop a social system that does not conform to that design; when a social group speaks that language.
What the software encases
Languages are software. They contain words which are either codes in themselves, or else codes that are powerfully connected to other complicated codes or groups of codes. So that certain words may not simply convey a specific simple meaning, but may also enforce or convey a particular social design.�
I think I can explain this fact by a simple illustration. There is a language called Malayalam, spoken by the people of Kerala, which is a small state in the southern end of India. It is a terribly feudal language. The people more or less live in a state of mental enslavement, but do not much feel it, for they are used to it not only from childhood, but also trained to find enjoyment in it by the public educational system.
The hint of the spectrum or array of indicant words
In Malayalam, You is: Nee (lowest), Ningal (middle), Thangal (highest), Sar (highest).
He is: Avan (oan) (lowest), Ayaal (middle), Adheham (highest), Avar (highest), Sar (highest)
She is: Aval (oal) (lowest), Avar (highest), Sar, Madam etc. (highest).
Depending on the dialect, there can be many other in-between words.
Now to place the idea in very clear perspective, let me use a very silly example:
A person arrives by bus: He is Avan.
He arrives by autorickshaw: He is Ayaal.
He arrives by car: He is avar.
This is a basic idea, but then many other inputs like a persons dressing standards, his looks of prosperity and otherwise, he coming with an adjutant or not, and many other frill elements can also interfere with the wordings. But the basic philosophy of the indicant word selection is based on such a type of evaluation.
The idea can be dealt again like this:
A man with two coconut trees is an Avan (lowest he), when introduced. A man with a hundred coconut trees is an Ayaal (middle he), when introduced. A man with a thousand coconut trees is an Avar (highest he). This typical type of introductions was common many years back, when village folks introduced a person as per his financial acumen.
Another illustration:
A man approaches a police station for any service. He says that he is a close relative of the District Superintendant of Police (SP). The words of address by the police Sub Inspector would be Sar (higher word for You, He etc.) Tea and a bite are immediately offered.
Instead, he says that he is something like a teacher or a social somebody, the addressing can be more or less Ningal. Tea and bite may not be on offer, but a seat might be offered.
If instead of this, the man says that he is something like a casual worker, taxi driver or some such thing, the words of address can very fast go down to Nee (lowest You). If he has entered without any patron to support him, and he is insistent in his demands, abusive words can be expected. Once the addressing turns to Nee, even a slap or a snapping word, are really imminent.
Shifting individuality towards extreme ends
The southern version of Malayalam is quite different from the northern dialect. The word She is translated as Aval, Pulli, Pullikkari, ayaal, Avar etc. in the south. All these words are of different social standing, with the first one being the lowest, and the last one being the highest.
In the north, She is translated as Oal (Aval) and Oar (Avar). The other in-between levels are absent.
Again, in the south, the word You is translated as Nee, Thaan, Eyaal, Ningal, Thangal, Sar etc.
While in the north, the word You is translated as Nee(lowest you)and Ningal (highest you).
In the south, generally ordinary women who are of the working class get a more average level of words to be referred to or for being addressed.� Women do enjoy a more comfortable social existence over there. A non-entity suddenly getting a slightly higher social standing like getting a teachers job, doesnt effect a major change in personality.
However in the north, a woman can only exist in two vastly different word codes. That of Oal (Aval) and that of Oar (Avar). And for You, she can be either addressed as Nee or Ningal. The first words are of the lowest level, while the last words are of the highest level. That is, they exist at extremely opposite social and mental positions. The first one signifies a lowly social existence, while the last word defines a higher social standing.
An ordinary woman who comes to the village market gets addressed as Nee, and she is an Oal. She has to exhibit a meek, lowly, subservient physical posture and individuality.� The words define this personality. Her social mobility is severely crippled. If she is not willing to adjust to the definitions of the words, then she may seem to be an upstart, impertinent or even a person with sharp mental instability. However, if her parents or other relatives manage to collect a few lakh (hundred thousand) rupees and pay that amount to a govt aided school management, she becomes a teacher.
Now, she is a Ningal, and an Oar (Avar). Her personality has to change. For people need to show respect to her. She finds terrific freedom in social movement. People would not speak disparagingly about an Oar (Avar).
The powerful embedded links, compulsions & parameters and standards of behaviour
Now, what needs to be mentioned here is that the different words that I have mentioned here, that is, the Nee, Ningal, Avar etc. are not standalone words. They are all imperceptibly, yet powerfully connected and linked to a lot of many other words, social understandings and compelling social requirements.�
Each language has a different social design. Human actions and behaviour are very much influenced and controlled by the designs in the language they speak, think and live. Some persons may be able to exist above the controls of this or these language/s. In such cases, they may be commonly identified as being eccentric, different, mentally unbalanced, strange, weird and such. This might just be a perception of the common person/s, as they see him or her acting in ways and manners which are out of step with that of others.
The need to be honourable, honest, courageous, cowardly, dishonest, respectful, insulting, disparaging, treacherous, craving for leadership, craving for subservience and so many other features that can be connected to national or social character, can be connected to the design in languages.
In a language like English, even if the social system is feudal, a social feature of individual integrity, uprightness, straight posture and such things may be visible. For, there are no common words that degrade human dignity. This statement may feel strange for a person who knows only languages like English.
However, in feudal languages, almost all words such as You, He, His, She, Her, Hers, For you, For him, For her, They, Them, For them and such do have a wide array of words and usages. They form a sort of spectrum of social meaning.� At one end of the arrangement, the words may be ennobling and of positive input. At the other end of the spectrum, the words would be pejoratives. Degrading, despoiling, insulting and confining.
Private zone and language
It may be mentioned that usually when a man is assigned a higher indicant value word group, his private zone is powerful and has a wider parameter. Private zone is the extent of space around a person, which cannot be intruded by another person. It can be understood thus: two persons are sitting at a table in a restaurant and eating food. One person keeps his glass (of drinking water) near to the other persons plate. Immediately that person gets distressed and he pushes the glass towards the other person.
What has happened here is that the other man has intruded into an invisible private zone of the other man. This private zone is there in many things, including what you ask of another person, what words you use. It is a sort of limiting thing. However, in feudal languages, persons who are in the lower indicant word level have lower extent of this private zone. In other words, the extent of what he or she can be asked is greater. So that more intrusive, prodding, distressing questions can be asked of them. The issue of manners and politeness in this regard goes down. He or she can be openly monitored, and commented upon. No issues of it being ill-mannered or intrusion into private affairs do crop up. For, the areas of privacy have been heavily encroached upon. However, in English this level of lowering of private zone is not possible, as such a concept of lower indicant words are not there.
When a persons indicant word is of the lower level, even physical touching and even beating up, are considered legitimate.
A sample of the power within
A man is being beaten up by a small group of people for some alleged misdemeanour.� A commonly respected person arrives on the scene. He says: Why are you beating him?
What happens? It depends. If the word used for him is avan, nothing much is gained. For the beating may continue. If the word for him is ayaal, then the beating may subside slowly. However, if the respected person is saying Adheham or Avar, then the beating would immediately stop, and the mob would go into a pose of obsequious apology.
This silly sample incident is given here to simply give an idea of the different social meaning each word has.�
