Of Monsters, Deities, and People: Conceptualising English Language in the Postcolonial World

Different images contribute to the conceptualisation of languages, and this is particularly significant in the case of English, a global language that is often portrayed through cognitive metaphors such as ENGLISH IS AN OBJECT or ENGLISH IS A LIVING ENTITY. This chapter investigates metaphors for languages, by considering the role, function and power of English, and its figurative expressions connected with MONSTERS and DEITIES, with a specific focus on the postcolonial Indian world. Here English has also been viewed as the Hydra, the many-headed Greek monster of the antiquity, since it spreads its tentacular influence, influencing local contexts and languages, but it can also adopt a more ‘localised’ form, as in the case of the Dalit goddess of English, imagined as a symbol of emancipation, materially modelled on the American statue of liberty. In this chapter, I aim to 1) discuss possible forms of conceptualisation for English, and how their figurative representations embed ideological values, and 2) consider how texts of different typology (academic and informative materials) take up such references, in particular the domains of MONSTERS and DEITIES, to express the discursive complexities related to language, identity and power. Methodologically, I inform my analysis by adapting and drawing on metaphor studies, cognitive stylistics and critical pedagogy.