Endangered Languages

[Tomazinho]

Endangered Languages

● Tomazinho Cardozo

 

There are over 6,900 languages spoken in the world including those spoken in India. According to the United Nation’s cultural agency UNESCO which has released its latest Atlas of World Languages in Danger, some 2,500 of these languages are endangered. In fact in the Atlas of World Languages in Danger released in the 2001, they had listed 900 languages which are threatened with extinction. Within a span of seven years only this number has jumped to an unbelievable 2500 languages.

Most significant aspect of UNESCO’s report is that India tops the list of countries with the greatest number of endangered languages. As per the report, there are 196 languages in India which face extinction. United States of America will lose 192 languages while there are 147 languages in peril in Indonesia. The report further states that there are 199 languages in the world spoken by fewer than a dozen people, including Karaim which has six speakers in Ukraine and Wichita, spoken by 10 people in the US state of Oklahoma. UNESCO's online Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger categorises 2,500 languages in five levels of endangerment: unsafe, definitely endangered, severely endangered, critically endangered and extinct.

 

Elaborating further about the endangered languages in India, the report states that of the  196 languages, 84 fall in the unsafe category where children speak the language but it is restricted to certain domains only. Some of these languages include Tulu, Konkani, Gharwali and Kumaoni. 103 languages are endangered because they are only spoken by grandparents and the older generations while 9 languages are already extinct where no speakers are left. From these statistics it appears that 103 languages in India are in the ‘definitely’, ‘severely’ or ‘critically’ endangered category of  languages. Children from the respective communities do not speak their languages – mother tongue – and hence they are on the verge of extinction. As far as our language – Konkani – is concerned, it fall in the unsafe category which means that till date the children speak Konkani but the influence of this language is restricted to certain pockets only.

 

Analyzing the influence of Konkani in the state of Goa – the Mull Pitth of Konkani – where the State’s Official language is also Konkani, one finds that the children in Goa do speak Konkani language but the number of children as well as adults speaking Konkani in Goa is on the decline. The influence of English on Goans, particularly the younger generation, is on the rise. There are good reasons for this state of affairs. The language of earning our daily bread is English. Except primary education in Konkani in a few schools, the whole education in the state is imparted through English. It is not only English education that matters, the fluency in the language also equally maters in order to get jobs. Thus the students are compelled to speak in English so that they can effectively compete for jobs of their choice during interviews. The parents too, some of them semi-literate, realizing the importance of English in shaping the future of their children, start to converse in ‘broken’ English with their children. Voluntarily or involuntarily an attempt is being made to convert English language into a mother tongue in many families in Goa in the recent times.

 

Why is Konkani language included in the list of languages facing the threat of extinction? There are three main criteria to reach such a conclusion.  (a) What is the number of  speakers of that language currently living. (b) The average age of natives who are fluent speakers of that language. (c) The percentage of the youngest generation acquiring fluency with the language in question. All the above factors are gone against the interest of Konkani language. Although Konkani people is spread in four states of the country namely  Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerela yet the total population is only a few lakhs. The average age of the speakers of Konkani language goes on increasing year after year because it is being used by parents and grand-parents to a large extent and not by the younger generation. And finally the percentage of younger generation acquiring fluency in Konkani is dwindling day by day as English has become the most important language for all purposes in India as well as abroad.

 

To add insult to injury, the Official language policy followed in the state of Goa is divisive in nature. Making Devnagori script for Konkani mandatory in the Goa Official Language Act and the use of a particular dialect in the education in Konkani has compelled many people to desert Konkani and to move towards English. The latest UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger lists Konkani language in the unsafe category. It has not yet gone in the endangered category. In the report published by the same Atlas in 2001, Konkani language was not listed in any category but today yes! This is the outcome of divisive policies followed in the Konkan region as far as Konkani and its varied scripts and dialects are concerned. If we wish to prevent Konkani language from being an endangered language, we will have to amend our ways, respect all scripts and dialects of Konkani and do away with the destructive formula of  “One language, One script, One society” once and for all. We should not forget that the success of Konkani language lies only in the policy of “Unity in Diversity of all scripts and dialects of Konkani”.