Multicultural and Multilingualism: A Study of Richard Flanagan’s The Sound of One Hand Clapping

Abstract

Multicultural co-existence has become the new normal now. Globalization has led to thousands of people migrating from one culture to another to seek a better lifestyle. The process of immigration colors the already co-existing cultures in the target society. Language change is one of the various effects of immigration, others being the change in dressing style, food habits, belief system, socioeconomic standard, etc. These changes can be positive and negative depending upon whether the acculturation process is self-chosen or imposed on the migrants. Multicultural education, with the changing societal trends, has now been adopted by almost every educational institute. Groups of people share the values, traditions, and belief systems of their respective cultures by using language as a medium of communication. Language is the star player in the game of globalization that decides its success or failure. This paper aims to analyze the representation of the effects of multiculturalism on the nature of languages used by the different people in Richard Flanagan’s The Sound of One Hand Clapping. The paper also aims to highlight the reason for adopting more than one language, by the people of minority culture, based on the nature of the decision to acculturate, using Berry’s four-fold model of acculturation.