Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has framed the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 as an instrument of linguistic imperialism. How well-founded are his fears that the Tamil cultural identity will be undermined by the NEP’s trilingual formula? On the flip side, can it serve as a tool for preserving the linguistic diversity of the Dravidian languages?

In the context of Stalin’s claim, a quote from David Schulman’s ‘Tamil: A Biography’ is particularly apt: “In modern South India, Tamil has become a major criterion for collective identity, often seen now as forged in opposition to Sanskrit and an invasive north Indian culture and ideology.” Drawing ethno-linguistic distinctions between north and south is one thing, charging the north with imposing cultural hegemony on the south is another.

At the outset, it’s important to examine the logic of trilingualism. The benefits of bilingualism are well-established. Children who are fluent in more than one language exhibit better cognitive abilities than monolinguals. Logically, trilingualism should offer additional ‘brainy’ benefits. While studies have indicated that trilingual adults have a better ‘cognitive reserve’, resistance to brain-ageing, than bilinguals, linguists are wary of treating the cognitive impact of trilingualism as a mere extension of bilingualism.

Learning three languages simultaneously could arguably overburden and confuse a child, thereby negating the benefits of bilingualism. But that might not be the case if........

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