Mother tongue. In which you express anything and everything from the time you started speaking. Which gives you identity. In which love is expressed and for which people fight. Language is one of the most important things which make you human and your mother tongue is one among various factors which make you what you are. So does it make others also. So does it give identity to others also.
On 21st February 1952 three students had their appointment with the death. They wanted Bengali along with Urdu as the language of their state which was the part of Pakistan- East Pakistan. They sacrificed their lives for the cause of making their mother tongue recognised on the state level so it can be used in day-to-day life, in education, in media and all walks of life. As it was their mother tongue, it was their identity. It gave them power to express themselves anything and everything. Today the East Pakistan is Bangladesh and Bengali is national language. Their sacrifice didn’t go in vain.
The sacrifice didn’t go in vain for another reason. The UN declared 21st February as World Mother Language Day in the year of 1999. In the month of November that year the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed the 21st day of February of every year as International Mother Language Day, in order to preserve the cultural heritage of humanity. The Canadian organization “Mother Language lovers of the World” proposed the idea to UN and UNESCO and then the Government of Bangladesh obliged and presented the request. The aims of the declaring the day are promotion of multilingualism, awareness of a multilingual world, acknowledgement, appreciation and respect for our multilingual world and to foster education in mother tongue and multilingual education. Where respect not only for our own mother tongue but also for others’ mother tongues.
According to Professor Stephen Wurm who himself spoke some 50 languages, there are some 3000 mother languages endangered and the processes leading to their gradual extinction (Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing compiled by Professor Stephen Wurm); that means half of the total (about) 6,700 languages spoken in the world’s population. If the statistics is held to be right then this is parallel to the destruction of the species in the natural world! This is catastrophic situation in terms of linguistic ecology which is the integral part of human cultural heritage and existence.
According to UNESCO the mother language, as a tool of communication has a powerful role in the formation of the individual and is the most powerful instrument of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage.
In the words of Ezra Pound “the sum of human wisdom is not contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension.” This can be taken in support of multilingualism. The reasons, justification, and importance for diversity in the natural world are applicable to the linguistic diversity which is similarly important in our cultural world.
Remember that this is not a one-day feeling, respect, acknowledgment, appreciation for multilingual world. It’s a mind set-up. Which has to be assimilated in our generation and should be passed on to next generations.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Water & Language
Water and language? One is a natural element, the other is a way of communication albeit most important way for humans, which has developed as humans evolved. Is there anything common between these two? Well, check that out for yourself. Yes they are different from each other and comparison seems odd. Indeed there are differences and we should not force them to be similar at every level and point. However, there are similarities and I am struck by both differences and similarities between them. This is the reason behind the present write-up.
Water and language both too close to our life that we take them for granted. Only when we come across some problem involving either of these we step back, stop and start thinking about it.
Water is indispensable for life on earth. It's the very creator of life. Language, ever thought a world without language, be it spoken or sign? Language is the backbone of civilizations, communities and our cultural existence. Together they form, mould and keep intact our physical, psychological and cultural existence.
Water changes from place to place, so does language. Water changes over time and language as well. They both exhibit tremendous and amazing internal variations and diversity. If they stop they invite death, death of our very existence! Both need some kind of management by their users and exploiters, be it in a small or big area. The wars are and were fought because both of them where they can't do much except continue their flow.
Water and language, both can be used as a weapon. Politicians and anti-social minded people use water issues for their own gains, which can result in communities fighting over the water rights. The same can be said about language. Language can be and is used to divide people and communities. However, people don't actually hate water or the water bodies in the question; but in the case of linguistic issues people hate languages concerned along with the communities. This sheds light on how a community and its language are fused together that people cannot hate just community or just language but both together. As a linguist I am trained to think all languages on the same footing, no language superior or inferior than the other. As a human being I think if I want my language to be looked with respect I have to give the same respect to other's language (needless to say that I have to give respect to my own language in the first place).
They both can mix, adjust so well in the surrounding, in the environment, making superb camouflage, which is why we have to ask about the colour of the water, and that's why you can't pinpoint the language and dialect boundaries on a map and draw an exact line. And that's why we take them for granted.
The both are the most wonderful, most amazing, life sustaining elements of human world. We have to understand, respect, appreciate and properly use the powers exhibited by them.
Water and language both too close to our life that we take them for granted. Only when we come across some problem involving either of these we step back, stop and start thinking about it.
Water is indispensable for life on earth. It's the very creator of life. Language, ever thought a world without language, be it spoken or sign? Language is the backbone of civilizations, communities and our cultural existence. Together they form, mould and keep intact our physical, psychological and cultural existence.
Water changes from place to place, so does language. Water changes over time and language as well. They both exhibit tremendous and amazing internal variations and diversity. If they stop they invite death, death of our very existence! Both need some kind of management by their users and exploiters, be it in a small or big area. The wars are and were fought because both of them where they can't do much except continue their flow.
Water and language, both can be used as a weapon. Politicians and anti-social minded people use water issues for their own gains, which can result in communities fighting over the water rights. The same can be said about language. Language can be and is used to divide people and communities. However, people don't actually hate water or the water bodies in the question; but in the case of linguistic issues people hate languages concerned along with the communities. This sheds light on how a community and its language are fused together that people cannot hate just community or just language but both together. As a linguist I am trained to think all languages on the same footing, no language superior or inferior than the other. As a human being I think if I want my language to be looked with respect I have to give the same respect to other's language (needless to say that I have to give respect to my own language in the first place).
They both can mix, adjust so well in the surrounding, in the environment, making superb camouflage, which is why we have to ask about the colour of the water, and that's why you can't pinpoint the language and dialect boundaries on a map and draw an exact line. And that's why we take them for granted.
The both are the most wonderful, most amazing, life sustaining elements of human world. We have to understand, respect, appreciate and properly use the powers exhibited by them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)