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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Nikhat Shameem
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This paper contrasts the two languages Fiji Hindi and English by looking at differences and similarities at lexical level and in metaphorical use. Although the usefulness of contrastive analysis in language learning and teaching has been debated extensively in the field of applied linguistics, this paper shows how it can be useful for the language learner and teacher particularly in a multilingual context. Fiji Hindi, because it is a pre-literate language and little effort has been made to standardise it, borrows a number of words and concepts from English. Code-switching and code-mixing with English and Fijian is common particularly in towns and cities. For Indo-Fijians who form 40% of Fiji’s population, the home language is Fiji Hindi. Indo-Fijians also have varying degrees of proficiency in Standard English which is taught at school as a subject of study and then used as medium of instruction, Shudh Hindi which they learn as a vernacular language at school, and Fijian, the mother-tongue of the Melanesian population. In addition, children also pick up a basilectal variety of Fiji English in school playgrounds and from the general ESL environment, where it is increasingly preferred as language of intra and interethnic informal communication among young, urban Fijians. For the purposes of this paper the term ‘English’ is used to describe the language used in Fiji and this ranges from the acrolectal variety used for formal and instructional purposes and the basilectal variety used for informal communication.
Author(s): Shameem N
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: New Zealand Studies in Applied Linguistics
Year: 2005
Volume: 11
Issue: 2
Pages: 1-24
ISSN (print): 1173-5562
Publisher: Applied Linguistics Association of New Zealand
Notes: An article which looks at contrastive analysis as a legitimate teaching concern in teaching a second language. Research using documents and authentic, real language use among Indo-Fijians.
