ICH Discussion-meeting: DNTs and Threatened Tribal Languages Back
Director Nerupama Y. Modwel invited Prof Devy to make a presentation on the ICHD project on De-notified Tribes (DNT) and Endangered Languages at the INTACH Multi-Purpose Hall on the 19th of February, 2019. The Chairman, Major General L. K. Gupta and Member Secretary Dr. C. T. Misra attended the presentation. The discussion was geared towards conceptualizing ways in which many dying languages all over the country can be preserved. There are many such languages spoken by a relatively small proportion of the population which are on the brink of becoming extinct, and sadly many of them have already disappeared. The speakers from various communities gave interesting and detailed accounts of the endangered languages of their regions and tribes and expressed the urgency with which this issue must be dealt.
Most of these languages do not have a script of their own and do not appear on any kind of digital media. Thus as the speakers of the language gradually dwindle, the language itself loses its only form of presence in society. The speakers gave an example of the Nihali language in Maharashtra which is one of the most endangered languages in the country and had only one very old speaker who used to narrate a 3 day story. This oral tradition is now dead.
Prof. Devy suggested that such an issue can only be tackled with four major guiding principles – education, culture, justice and language itself. It was stressed that only when the endangered languages become part of education curriculum, whether at the primary, secondary or university level, can they resist such critical endangerment.
Furthermore, he commented that language is a means to exercise hegemony. Thus, with the global hegemony of the English language, people are made to forget the great cultural and knowledge value of languages which are their own. Only when people realize the potential of their languages and thereby come closer to their real identity can they represent their case for justice, and be able to fight oppression and marginalization. The struggle of the Bodo community emerged as an inspirational example for every other community with regard to activism to preserve native languages and cultural traditions. However, when the speakers from the Bodo community explained the many troubles they had to go through and in fact continue to go through, it was realized that even after achieving several landmarks and milestones, this journey remains very difficult and challenging one.
