ЯЗЫК И КУЛЬТУРНАЯ ПАМЯТЬ В ПРОСТРАНСТВЕ ПОСТКОЛОНИАЛЬНОЙ ТЕОРИИ

The article is devoted to the main linguistic strategies in postcolonial theory and the problem of preserving and transmitting the cultural memory of peoples living in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the West Indies. The discussion of the 1960-1980s about the future of English in the former colonies, as well as the speeches and publications of contemporary postcolonial researchers devoted to the issues of language are considered. The works of such authors as Ngugi wa Thiongo, Chinua Achebe, Salman Rushdie, Raja Rao, Bill Ashcroft, Rey Chow, Arundhati Roy and a number of others are analyzed. There are three main language strategies related to the issue of preserving and developing the historical experience of decolonized peoples. The first is a return to indigenous languages and dialects and a categorical rejection of using English. This position is supported by arguments about the strong connection between cultural memory and the national language and about the impossibility of transferring local experience by means of a foreign language. The second strategy is expressed in the idea of transforming English into local forms and variations, its adaptation to national specifics. It is perceived primarily as a tool for communication, access to knowledge and access to an international audience. The third strategy is based on the idea of xenophony, that is, equivalence and equality of many voices sounding at the same time. Common to all strategies is the aspiration for language decolonization and deprivation of the dominant status of English, since it is the language that is the way of transmitting cultural memory, and thus the formation of modern postcolonial reality.