<p>On International Mother Language Day, actors who are well aware of the power of language in communicating complex ideas as well as opening hearts and minds to new perspectives, discuss how multilingual content is exposing audiences to undiscovered literary riches and fresh ideas.</p>

<h2><strong>Gulki Joshi: 'It's high time every language got its due'</strong></h2>

<p>Television and theatre actor Gulki Joshi, who is a part of Zee Theatre's teleplays <em>Kaalchakra</em> and <em>Purush</em> reacts to the trend of multilingual teleplays and content on the big and small screen and says, "It's high time every language got its due. There are so many states with so many different languages which are unfortunately fading out. Even Hindi is not properly spoken by the new generation and it is important to keep our languages alive."</p>

<p>While her mother tongue is Marathi, She also acknowledges even though her mother tongue is Marathi, she has received education in an English medium school. She says, "My Marathi is not that great. At college, during the semi-finals of a play competition, I goofed up badly in Marathi grammar and mixed up the genders in such a way that the judges and audience were laughing at me. When we were disqualified, I realised I should have paid more attention to my Marathi."</p>

<p>Performing in various languages on stage has made her appreciate India's linguistic diversity even more and she says, "Each language comes with its specific tonality and culture, the story of its origin, the people who are associated with it, and a lot more. Learning a language is a fantastic way of learning more about your country."</p>

<p><strong>Watch Sini Shetty's interview:</strong></p>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/interview-with-femina-miss-india-2022-sini-shetty-692093/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

<h2><strong>Gopal Datt: 'There is no language barrier when stories are translated'</strong></h2>

<p>TV actor Gopal Datt who is part of Zee Theatre's anthology <em>Koi Baat Chale </em>also welcomes the trend of multilingual stories and says, "Only in our country do so many languages exist together and each one has its literature that must be shared with people at large. For instance, when you hear stories from Kerala or Bihar, you get to experience the specificities of the regions as well. Without multilingual platforms, we might miss out on a huge part of the literature as they allow us to watch stories in our preferred language, as well as content in other languages."&nbsp;</p>

<p>He also points out that Malayalam cinema has gained popularity all over India due to multilingual platforms and says that theatre too does its bit to introduce people to various literary styles.</p>

<p>Adding that exposure to different languages also fosters a sense of unity and inclusivity among the audience, he says, "The plays of Vijay Tendulkar and Girish Karnad are performed all over India and there is no language barrier when stories are translated. So I think theatre has always brought people together and will do so in the future too."</p>

<p>Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-vikrant-massey-apologises-for-old-post-on-lord-ram-sita-692244">Vikrant Massey apologises for old post on Lord Ram-Sita</a></p>

<h2><strong>Shilpa Shukla: 'Multilingual platforms have expanded content choices'&nbsp;</strong></h2>

<p>Actor Shilpa Shukla who stars in Zee Theatre's teleplay <em>The Big Fat City </em>believes the trend of multilingual stories has made way for richer content as well. She says, "For audiences who want real substance, multilingual platforms have expanded content choices and now audiences are watching international and regional stories including those from South India as well."</p>

<p>Theatre, according to her, also offers a social commentary and it is even more enriching when audiences can access it in different languages. As she says, "When we watch theatre from all across India, that is when we come to realise the uniqueness and universality of the issues they raise."</p>


On International Mother Language Day, actors who are well aware of the power of language in communicating complex ideas as well as opening hearts and minds to new perspectives, discuss how multilingual content is exposing audiences to undiscovered literary riches and fresh ideas.

On International Mother Language Day, actors who are well aware of the power of language in communicating complex ideas as well as opening hearts and minds to new perspectives, discuss how multilingual content is exposing audiences to undiscovered literary riches and fresh ideas. Gulki Joshi: 'It's high time every language got its due' Television and theatre actor Gulki Joshi, who is a part of Zee Theatre's teleplays Kaalchakra and Purush reacts to the trend of multilingual teleplays and content on the big and small screen and says, "It's high time every language got its due. There are so many states with so many different languages which are unfortunately fading out. Even Hindi is not properly spoken by the new generation and it is important to keep our languages alive." While her mother tongue is Marathi, She also acknowledges even though her mother tongue is Marathi, she has received education in an English medium school. She says, "My Marathi is not that great. At college, during the semi-finals of a play competition, I goofed up badly in Marathi grammar and mixed up the genders in such a way that the judges and audience were laughing at me. When we were disqualified, I realised I should have paid more attention to my Marathi." Performing in various languages on stage has made her appreciate India's linguistic diversity even more and she says, "Each language comes with its specific tonality and culture, the story of its origin, the people who are associated with it, and a lot more. Learning a language is a fantastic way of learning more about your country." Watch Sini Shetty's interview: Gopal Datt: 'There is no language barrier when stories are translated' TV actor Gopal Datt who is part of Zee Theatre's anthology Koi Baat Chale also welcomes the trend of multilingual stories and says, "Only in our country do so many languages exist together and each one has its literature that must be shared with people at large. For instance, when you hear stories from Kerala or Bihar, you get to experience the specificities of the regions as well. Without multilingual platforms, we might miss out on a huge part of the literature as they allow us to watch stories in our preferred language, as well as content in other languages." He also points out that Malayalam cinema has gained popularity all over India due to multilingual platforms and says that theatre too does its bit to introduce people to various literary styles. Adding that exposure to different languages also fosters a sense of unity and inclusivity among the audience, he says, "The plays of Vijay Tendulkar and Girish Karnad are performed all over India and there is no language barrier when stories are translated. So I think theatre has always brought people together and will do so in the future too." Also read: Vikrant Massey apologises for old post on Lord Ram-Sita Shilpa Shukla: 'Multilingual platforms have expanded content choices' Actor Shilpa Shukla who stars in Zee Theatre's teleplay The Big Fat City believes the trend of multilingual stories has made way for richer content as well. She says, "For audiences who want real substance, multilingual platforms have expanded content choices and now audiences are watching international and regional stories including those from South India as well." Theatre, according to her, also offers a social commentary and it is even more enriching when audiences can access it in different languages. As she says, "When we watch theatre from all across India, that is when we come to realise the uniqueness and universality of the issues they raise."

International Mother Language Day: Theatre artists celebrate India's linguistic diversity

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<p>International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on February 21st to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first observed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2000, following a resolution adopted at the 30th General Conference in November 1999.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>The day intends to raise awareness for preserving and promoting mother languages essential for a community's culture, identity, and history. It also aims to encourage the use of mother languages in education, media, and everyday communication and to support language preservation and documentation efforts.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Each year, International Mother Language Day has a theme that focuses on a different aspect of multilingualism and linguistic diversity. The theme for 2023 is "Indigenous Languages Matter for Development, Peacebuilding and Reconciliation."</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>People celebrate the day in many countries through various events, such as language and cultural festivals, seminars, and workshops. UNESCO also recognises individuals and organisations that have contributed significantly to linguistic and cultural diversity with the International Mother Language Award.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong><em>Here is some sample International Mother Language Day wishes:</em></strong></p>

<ul>
	<li>On this International Mother Language Day, let's celebrate and embrace the diversity of our world's languages. May we continue to preserve, promote, and appreciate unique linguistic and cultural heritage amongst our communities.</li>
	<li>Happy International Mother Language Day! May we always remember the importance of our mother tongues and use them to bridge cultural divides, foster understanding, and build a more inclusive and peaceful world.</li>
	<li>I wish you a meaningful International Mother Language Day! Let's honour and cherish the languages that connect us to our roots, shape our identities, and enrich our lives.</li>
	<li>Happy International Mother Language Day to all! May we recognise the value of multilingualism and encourage the learning and use of different languages as communication means for education and empowerment.</li>
	<li>On this International Mother Language Day, let's commit to breaking down linguistic barriers and promoting a world where all languages are respected, valued, and heard. Happy celebrations!</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><em><strong>Here are some quotes related to International Mother Language Day:</strong></em></p>

<ul>
	<li>"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." - Ludwig Wittgenstein.</li>
	<li>"A different language is a different vision of life." - Federico Fellini.</li>
	<li>"The more languages you know, the more you are human." - Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.</li>
	<li>"Language is not just words. It's culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is." - Noam Chomsky.</li>
	<li>"One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way." - Frank Smith.</li>
	<li>"A language is not just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is." - Rita Mae Brown.</li>
	<li>"The preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures." - Cesar Chavez.</li>
	<li>"The best way to learn about another culture is to read its literature." - Amos Oz.</li>
	<li>"Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savour their songs." - Nelson Mandela.</li>
	<li>"To have another language is to possess a second soul." - Charlemagne.</li>
</ul>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><em><strong>Why is International Mother Language Day Important?</strong></em></p>

<p>International Mother Language Day is important for several reasons:</p>

<ol>
	<li>Promoting linguistic and cultural diversity: International Mother Language Day raises awareness about the importance of preserving and promoting linguistic and cultural diversity. It recognises that every language represents a unique cultural and social identity that deserves to be valued and preserved.</li>
	<li>Encouraging multilingualism: The day promotes the learning and use of multiple languages, which is essential for effective communication, cultural exchange, and mutual understanding. Encouraging multilingualism can also help promote social integration, peaceful coexistence, and respect for human rights.</li>
	<li>Preserving endangered languages: Many languages around the world are endangered, with some facing the risk of extinction. International Mother Language Day helps to draw attention to the need to preserve endangered languages and support language revitalisation efforts.</li>
	<li>Celebrating language diversity: The day is an opportunity to celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity of our world. It provides a platform for people to share their language and cultural traditions, build bridges across communities, and strengthen their sense of belonging.</li>
	<li>Improving education: Promoting mother languages can also lead to better education outcomes, especially for children. Research has shown that learning in one's mother language can improve cognitive development, critical thinking, and learning outcomes.</li>
</ol>

<p>In summary, International Mother Language Day is important because it recognises the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity, promotes multilingualism, supports language preservation, and celebrates the rich and varied languages and cultures of our world.</p>


International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on February 21st to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first observed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2000, following a resolution adopted at the 30th General Conference in November 1999.

International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on February 21st to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. It was first observed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2000, following a resolution adopted at the 30th General Conference in November 1999. The day intends to raise awareness for preserving and promoting mother languages essential for a community's culture, identity, and history. It also aims to encourage the use of mother languages in education, media, and everyday communication and to support language preservation and documentation efforts. Each year, International Mother Language Day has a theme that focuses on a different aspect of multilingualism and linguistic diversity. The theme for 2023 is "Indigenous Languages Matter for Development, Peacebuilding and Reconciliation." People celebrate the day in many countries through various events, such as language and cultural festivals, seminars, and workshops. UNESCO also recognises individuals and organisations that have contributed significantly to linguistic and cultural diversity with the International Mother Language Award. Here is some sample International Mother Language Day wishes: On this International Mother Language Day, let's celebrate and embrace the diversity of our world's languages. May we continue to preserve, promote, and appreciate unique linguistic and cultural heritage amongst our communities. Happy International Mother Language Day! May we always remember the importance of our mother tongues and use them to bridge cultural divides, foster understanding, and build a more inclusive and peaceful world. I wish you a meaningful International Mother Language Day! Let's honour and cherish the languages that connect us to our roots, shape our identities, and enrich our lives. Happy International Mother Language Day to all! May we recognise the value of multilingualism and encourage the learning and use of different languages as communication means for education and empowerment. On this International Mother Language Day, let's commit to breaking down linguistic barriers and promoting a world where all languages are respected, valued, and heard. Happy celebrations! Here are some quotes related to International Mother Language Day: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." - Ludwig Wittgenstein. "A different language is a different vision of life." - Federico Fellini. "The more languages you know, the more you are human." - Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. "Language is not just words. It's culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is." - Noam Chomsky. "One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way." - Frank Smith. "A language is not just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is." - Rita Mae Brown. "The preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures." - Cesar Chavez. "The best way to learn about another culture is to read its literature." - Amos Oz. "Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savour their songs." - Nelson Mandela. "To have another language is to possess a second soul." - Charlemagne. Why is International Mother Language Day Important? International Mother Language Day is important for several reasons: Promoting linguistic and cultural diversity: International Mother Language Day raises awareness about the importance of preserving and promoting linguistic and cultural diversity. It recognises that every language represents a unique cultural and social identity that deserves to be valued and preserved. Encouraging multilingualism: The day promotes the learning and use of multiple languages, which is essential for effective communication, cultural exchange, and mutual understanding. Encouraging multilingualism can also help promote social integration, peaceful coexistence, and respect for human rights. Preserving endangered languages: Many languages around the world are endangered, with some facing the risk of extinction. International Mother Language Day helps to draw attention to the need to preserve endangered languages and support language revitalisation efforts. Celebrating language diversity: The day is an opportunity to celebrate the linguistic and cultural diversity of our world. It provides a platform for people to share their language and cultural traditions, build bridges across communities, and strengthen their sense of belonging. Improving education: Promoting mother languages can also lead to better education outcomes, especially for children. Research has shown that learning in one's mother language can improve cognitive development, critical thinking, and learning outcomes. In summary, International Mother Language Day is important because it recognises the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity, promotes multilingualism, supports language preservation, and celebrates the rich and varied languages and cultures of our world.

International Mother Language Day 2023: Know History & Importance, Share Wishes, Messages and Quotes to All

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<p>International Mother Language Day, which is a national holiday in Bangladesh, is observed worldwide annually on February 21 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism.&nbsp;</p>

<p>At the 1999 UNESCO General Conference, the idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was approved and it has been marked throughout the world since 2000. The initiative was taken by Bangladesh.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This year's theme is - "Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities". The theme aims to discuss the potential role of technology in order to advance multilingual education.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/how-a-chilean-indigenous-language-vanishes-as-last-native-speaker-dies-454900">How a Chilean indigenous language vanishes as last native speaker dies</a></strong></p>

<blockquote>
<p>"UNESCO believes in the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies. It is within its mandate for peace that it works to preserve the differences in cultures and languages that foster tolerance and respect for others" - UNESCO</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Linguistic diversity has been threatened languages are disappearing over the course of time. Recently, an indigenous language from South America's extreme south has all but vanished after the death of its last living speaker and guardian of its ancestral culture.&nbsp;</p>

<p>UNESCO states that globally 40 per cent of the population does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage. At least 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered," as per the United Nations.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Here are some of the facts about Indian mother languages:</strong></p>

<p><strong>1)</strong> There are 121 languages in India&nbsp;</p>

<p>-The 22 languages specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India are given in Part A.&nbsp;</p>

<p>-Rest are specified in the Eighth Schedule (numbering 99) are given in Part B.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>2)</strong> There are 270 mother tongues.&nbsp;</p>

<p>-Hindi is the mother language of more than 520 million people and it is one of the most popular languages in India.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>-Sanskrit is the language of 24,821 people only.&nbsp;</p>

<p>-In India, English comes under the category of non-scheduled languages i.e not specified in the eighth schedule.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>History of International Mother's Day&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>On <strong>February 21 in 1952</strong>, Pakistan declared Urdu as the national language of the country. A move that didn't go well with the people from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). They came out on the streets to protest against the decision by the Pakistan government. Police used force as they fired on protestors which lead to many deaths and injured.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On <strong>January 9 in 1998</strong>, Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam, Bengalis living in Vancouver, Canada wrote a letter to Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. In the letter, they asked the UN to save the world's languages from extinction by declaring an International Mother Language Day. The date February 21 was proposed by Rafiq to commemorate the 1952 killings in Dhaka during the Language Movement.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In <strong>1999, February 21</strong> was declared International Mother Language Day by UNESCO.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In <strong>2022</strong>, the US general assembly welcomed the decision.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In <strong>2007</strong>, the UNGA called upon member states "to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world".&nbsp;</p>

<p>This year's theme is - "Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities". The theme aims to discuss the potential role of technology in order to advance multilingual education.&nbsp;</p>


International Mother Language Day, which is a national holiday in Bangladesh, is observed worldwide annually on February 21 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism.

International Mother Language Day, which is a national holiday in Bangladesh, is observed worldwide annually on February 21 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism. At the 1999 UNESCO General Conference, the idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was approved and it has been marked throughout the world since 2000. The initiative was taken by Bangladesh. This year's theme is - "Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities". The theme aims to discuss the potential role of technology in order to advance multilingual education. ALSO READ | How a Chilean indigenous language vanishes as last native speaker dies "UNESCO believes in the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies. It is within its mandate for peace that it works to preserve the differences in cultures and languages that foster tolerance and respect for others" - UNESCO Linguistic diversity has been threatened languages are disappearing over the course of time. Recently, an indigenous language from South America's extreme south has all but vanished after the death of its last living speaker and guardian of its ancestral culture. UNESCO states that globally 40 per cent of the population does not have access to an education in a language they speak or understand. "Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage. At least 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered," as per the United Nations. Here are some of the facts about Indian mother languages: 1) There are 121 languages in India -The 22 languages specified in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India are given in Part A. -Rest are specified in the Eighth Schedule (numbering 99) are given in Part B. 2) There are 270 mother tongues. -Hindi is the mother language of more than 520 million people and it is one of the most popular languages in India. -Sanskrit is the language of 24,821 people only. -In India, English comes under the category of non-scheduled languages i.e not specified in the eighth schedule. History of International Mother's Day On February 21 in 1952, Pakistan declared Urdu as the national language of the country. A move that didn't go well with the people from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). They came out on the streets to protest against the decision by the Pakistan government. Police used force as they fired on protestors which lead to many deaths and injured. On January 9 in 1998, Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam, Bengalis living in Vancouver, Canada wrote a letter to Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. In the letter, they asked the UN to save the world's languages from extinction by declaring an International Mother Language Day. The date February 21 was proposed by Rafiq to commemorate the 1952 killings in Dhaka during the Language Movement. In 1999, February 21 was declared International Mother Language Day by UNESCO. In 2022, the US general assembly welcomed the decision. In 2007, the UNGA called upon member states "to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world". This year's theme is - "Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities". The theme aims to discuss the potential role of technology in order to advance multilingual education.

History and significance of International Mother Language Day 2022: Some facts about Indian mother languages

<p>February 21 is celebrated the world over as International Mother Language Day. Chosen by UNESCO in 1999 as the day to honour mother tongues and linguistics across the world, February 21 is a historic day for Bangladesh, with a story stained in blood.</p>

<p>It is the story of how a mother tongue became the rallying point for an independence movement, for the first time in human history.</p>

<p>August 1947 saw India getting its freedom from the British and the birth of the Muslim majority nation Pakistan. The newly christened region, however, was divided into West Pakistan, which had predominantly Urdu and Punjabi-speaking people, while East Pakistan comprised of people who spoke Bangla. The regions were around 1600 km away, separated by Indian territory, yet were under the same government, headquartered in East Pakistan.</p>

<p>Urdu and Bangla are completely different languages, with different scripts.<br />
At the time of Partition, the population of West Pakistan was approximately 25 million, while East Bengal (aka East Pakistan) had around 44 million people.</p>

<p>At an education summit held in Karachi in 1947, the West Pakistani-dominated government made Urdu the official language all over the country. This would entail all government communications to have the Urdu language as the mode of communication and it was made mandatory to be taught in schools.</p>

<p>Bangla - the common language in one part of Pakistan- was removed from being an approved school subject, &nbsp;and was also taken off official currency and stamps.</p>

<p>The announcement was condemned in East Pakistan with several prominent leaders, politicians and student leaders opposing it vehemently over the next five years. The Bengali Language Movement emerged from the grassroots level to oppose cultural and linguistic discrimination and oppression.</p>

<p>Amid tensions, the Governor-General of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah visited Dhaka and sought to squash the language movement.<br />
In his view, promoters of Bangla were trying to divide the Muslims in Pakistan. Describing the Bangla activists "enemies of Pakistan”, he insisted that “Urdu, only Urdu” would be the official state language.</p>

<p>West Pakistan's refusal to recognise the Bangla language led to the strengthening of the Bengali Language Movement. While the fight was primarily to assert Bangla as an official language of the region, the movement slowly became a broader agenda of cultural and ethnic assimilation and a fight for the right to identity and self-determination.</p>

<p>The movement gained momentum in 1952 after the Pakistani leadership reiterated that only Urdu would be used as the official language.<br />
The declaration caused an uproar in East Bengal. While the police banned gathering of the crowd, student activists called for a protest march on February 21 at Dhaka University.</p>

<p>Scores of people took the streets to protest and were met with a crackdown. Police fired tear gas to ward off students as many tried to break through the barricades. Some were arrested. These arrests sparked further protests, with demonstrators gathering at the East Bengal Legislative Assembly, seeking to have their voices heard by politicians.</p>

<p>During an attempt to storm into the legislature, several student protesters were shot and killed by police.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat, Abdul Jabbar, Shafiur Rahman, Ahi Ullah, Abdul Awal, and an unnamed victim were declared martyrs of the movement.&nbsp;</p>

<p>They were honoured with the Shaheed Minar memorial in Dhaka.<br />
The deaths caused a further furore and led to demonstrations and widespread disorder across the capital over the next few days.</p>

<p>People from walks of life joined the students in protest and it led to several deaths — including of a 9-year-old boy — at the hands of the police.</p>

<p>The movement of 1952 continued to gain momentum over the years until the brutal Liberation War which gave rise to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.</p>

<p>The movement caught international attention as it was perhaps the only one in history that strived for linguistic and cultural rights. In 1999, UNESCO decided to honour the movement and the martyrs and declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day.</p>


February 21 is celebrated the world over as International Mother Language Day. Chosen by UNESCO in 1999 as the day to honour mother tongues and linguistics across the world, February 21 is a historic day for Bangladesh, with a story stained in blood.

February 21 is celebrated the world over as International Mother Language Day. Chosen by UNESCO in 1999 as the day to honour mother tongues and linguistics across the world, February 21 is a historic day for Bangladesh, with a story stained in blood. It is the story of how a mother tongue became the rallying point for an independence movement, for the first time in human history. August 1947 saw India getting its freedom from the British and the birth of the Muslim majority nation Pakistan. The newly christened region, however, was divided into West Pakistan, which had predominantly Urdu and Punjabi-speaking people, while East Pakistan comprised of people who spoke Bangla. The regions were around 1600 km away, separated by Indian territory, yet were under the same government, headquartered in East Pakistan. Urdu and Bangla are completely different languages, with different scripts. At the time of Partition, the population of West Pakistan was approximately 25 million, while East Bengal (aka East Pakistan) had around 44 million people. At an education summit held in Karachi in 1947, the West Pakistani-dominated government made Urdu the official language all over the country. This would entail all government communications to have the Urdu language as the mode of communication and it was made mandatory to be taught in schools. Bangla - the common language in one part of Pakistan- was removed from being an approved school subject, and was also taken off official currency and stamps. The announcement was condemned in East Pakistan with several prominent leaders, politicians and student leaders opposing it vehemently over the next five years. The Bengali Language Movement emerged from the grassroots level to oppose cultural and linguistic discrimination and oppression. Amid tensions, the Governor-General of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah visited Dhaka and sought to squash the language movement. In his view, promoters of Bangla were trying to divide the Muslims in Pakistan. Describing the Bangla activists "enemies of Pakistan”, he insisted that “Urdu, only Urdu” would be the official state language. West Pakistan's refusal to recognise the Bangla language led to the strengthening of the Bengali Language Movement. While the fight was primarily to assert Bangla as an official language of the region, the movement slowly became a broader agenda of cultural and ethnic assimilation and a fight for the right to identity and self-determination. The movement gained momentum in 1952 after the Pakistani leadership reiterated that only Urdu would be used as the official language. The declaration caused an uproar in East Bengal. While the police banned gathering of the crowd, student activists called for a protest march on February 21 at Dhaka University. Scores of people took the streets to protest and were met with a crackdown. Police fired tear gas to ward off students as many tried to break through the barricades. Some were arrested. These arrests sparked further protests, with demonstrators gathering at the East Bengal Legislative Assembly, seeking to have their voices heard by politicians. During an attempt to storm into the legislature, several student protesters were shot and killed by police. Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat, Abdul Jabbar, Shafiur Rahman, Ahi Ullah, Abdul Awal, and an unnamed victim were declared martyrs of the movement. They were honoured with the Shaheed Minar memorial in Dhaka. The deaths caused a further furore and led to demonstrations and widespread disorder across the capital over the next few days. People from walks of life joined the students in protest and it led to several deaths — including of a 9-year-old boy — at the hands of the police. The movement of 1952 continued to gain momentum over the years until the brutal Liberation War which gave rise to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. The movement caught international attention as it was perhaps the only one in history that strived for linguistic and cultural rights. In 1999, UNESCO decided to honour the movement and the martyrs and declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day.

Bangla: The language at the heart of Bangladesh independence movement

<p>Now, Microsoft users will be able to use its apps and services, like Office 365, Outlook 2016, Outlook.com, Exchange Online and Exchange Online Protection (EOP), in 15 Indian languages.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Microsoft on Wednesday announced support for e-mail addresses in 15 local languages of India.</p>

<p>Indian users will now be able to use local language e-mail addresses for their Outlook accounts.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Microsoft&#39;s announcement came on the occasion of the International Mother Language Day.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Users will also be able to send and receive emails from local language e-mail addresses via Outlook client installed on their personal computers.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The move comes as Microsoft&#39;s bid to support Email Address Internationalisation (EAI) across its eco-system. The giant aims to make technology accessible in local languages.</p>

<p>Microsoft announced the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Neural Networks (DNN) to improve real-time language translation for Hindi, Bengali and Tamil languages. The announcement came last month.&nbsp;</p>


Indian users will now be able to use local language e-mail addresses for Outlook accounts

Now, Microsoft users will be able to use its apps and services, like Office 365, Outlook 2016, Outlook.com, Exchange Online and Exchange Online Protection (EOP), in 15 Indian languages. Microsoft on Wednesday announced support for e-mail addresses in 15 local languages of India. Indian users will now be able to use local language e-mail addresses for their Outlook accounts. Microsoft's announcement came on the occasion of the International Mother Language Day. Users will also be able to send and receive emails from local language e-mail addresses via Outlook client installed on their personal computers. The move comes as Microsoft's bid to support Email Address Internationalisation (EAI) across its eco-system. The giant aims to make technology accessible in local languages. Microsoft announced the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Neural Networks (DNN) to improve real-time language translation for Hindi, Bengali and Tamil languages. The announcement came last month.

Now, Microsoft users can create email IDs in 15 Indian languages

<p>What is the language of trauma? How do we express the horrors our psyches and bodies face? In most cases, the answer is mother tongue. But what happens when the very trauma is caused, in some measure, by the mother language or the denial of the same?&nbsp;</p>

<p>Remember the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war and the answer becomes a sordid tale of a naked power struggle. East Pakistan fought for its right to use Bengali as the official language, amongst other things. From the Bengali Language Movement in 1952 to the liberation in 1971, mother language received libations of blood. A new nation was eventually birthed and with it another painful linguistic conundrum.</p>

<p>On this International Mother Language Day, I remember my conversation with Sadaf Saaz, a poet, writer, and women&rsquo;s rights&rsquo; activist from Bangladesh. Saaz describes her activism as an &ldquo;idea of unpacking what is happening around us.&rdquo; She says, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an overused word but the idea of &lsquo;awareness&rsquo; doesn&rsquo;t have an expiry date. Because things aren&rsquo;t always what they appear to be. We may think or be progressive in so many ways, and we indeed are, but there are certain structural things that still need to be changed. I think as a nation we&rsquo;ve made huge strides but attitudes that need to be changed. And that&rsquo;s why I produced the play Birangona.&rdquo;</p>

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<h5>The idea of &lsquo;awareness&rsquo; doesn&rsquo;t have an expiry date</h5>
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<p><strong>Women of War</strong></p>

<p>&lsquo;Birangona: Women of War&rsquo; talks about the victims of mass rapes in Bangladesh during the liberation war. Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman referred to these women as &lsquo;birangonas,&rsquo; Bengali for women warriors.</p>

<p>Saaz begins to talk about these non-warring women warriors who bore the brunt of the Bangladesh war. &ldquo;I think these women have lived their lives with dignity and fortitude. Many in society shunned them but many others took them in. They are now able to voice what happened to them after all these years.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Yet, as Salil Tripathi observed in his &lsquo;The Colonel Who Would Not Repent&rsquo;, the birangonas rarely use language as a tool to say what actually happened to them in 1971. It&rsquo;s always unsaid, alluded to or met with downcast eyes.</p>

<p><strong>The Language of Honour and Justice</strong></p>

<p>Saaz shares an interesting perspective on retribution. &ldquo;Very few women out of so many I&rsquo;ve spoken to want justice in the way we understand it. Many of them just want the crimes to be acknowledged, that this actually happened to them. This is what they believe justice to be. They want their pain to be acknowledged.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Can a mere acknowledgment of one&rsquo;s ordeals be justice enough?</p>

<p>Saaz continues, &ldquo;They want respect in the society. Now, respect in society is something that people take for granted. But just imagine this: first going through such an ordeal and then to have society shun you for something that is not your fault!&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<p>She adds, &ldquo;For many years in the Bangladeshi society loss of honour was associated with women. How our mothers, sisters and daughters lost their honour during the war. But actually, the honour was lost by those who raped.&rdquo;</p>

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<h5>&quot;Theirs was another type of battle. For survival.&rdquo;</h5>
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<p><strong>Naming Conundrum</strong></p>

<p>Does the very term &lsquo;birangona&rsquo; not reinforce the patriarchal idea of honour in some ways? On one hand, there is a condemnation of the rape victims as damaged goods and, on the other, their valorisation as the brave ones: binaries are inescapable. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Saaz gives a measured response. &ldquo;You have to realise the context. Sheikh Mujib used the word for the first time. Six days after the war, there were a billion of things to do in this country that lost everything. An attempt was made to give some kind of recognition to the horror that had happened to these women and to give assurance that the government supported them.&rdquo;</p>

<p>She continues, &ldquo;I think it was a commendable attempt. I agree, since then it has become a pejorative term associated with the stigma of rape. Today there&rsquo;s a debate in Bangladesh about dropping this epithet and call them freedom fighters instead. But then, they did not take up arms. Theirs was another type of battle. For survival.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;In the women&rsquo;s movement in Bangladesh, talking to women survivors, this is one name we are still working with. We have to be careful about recognising what they went through but their identity shouldn&rsquo;t be just that. You don&rsquo;t like to be called the raped one.&rdquo; She takes a deep breath.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

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<p><strong>Gaping Holes in the Narrative</strong></p>

<p>At this juncture, I ask her about her personal moments of realisation. Has her knowledge of history prepared her enough or does she still get shocked?</p>

<p>Saaz says, &ldquo;Although I had heard stories that rape was used as a strategy of war, for a long time I didn&rsquo;t know of concentration camps. And the fact that despite being a woman in Bangladesh, an insider to the women&rsquo;s movement, I didn&rsquo;t know of this exemplified that the information wasn&rsquo;t getting out. While the &ldquo;they came, they raped, they left&rdquo; narrative was horrific enough I didn&rsquo;t realise the extent of the cold-bloodedness with which women were kept as sex slaves to be repeatedly raped.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Does she think, then, that poets, artists, journalists did not do their job well in filling the gaps in history?</p>

<p>She responds with a slight shake of the head. &ldquo;We were described as the &lsquo;basket case&rsquo; by Kissinger. We&rsquo;ve come a long way since then. When I see what has been written about the war, I feel it does take time for a country to come to terms with its past and start speaking about it in a layered way. Nuanced narratives are coming out now. That&rsquo;s a reason why we put together a literature festival too to nurture and have spaces where people would start writing more about the things that really matter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Saaz is the co-director and producer of the literature festival Hay Festival Dhaka.</p>

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<h5>Sometimes the very language becomes frustratingly inadequate in its basic function: expressing love and pain in their extremity</h5>
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<p><strong>Language and Form</strong></p>

<p>How does she want the unspeakable to be spoken about? Does she want more of documentary writing or fiction and drama?</p>

<p>&ldquo;Of course you need the hard research, the numbers and figures. Not enough has been done on the subject of the Bangladesh genocide. No consensus on the number of people killed or women raped. It is probably the largest forgotten war. People forget that in Bangladesh there were mass rapes. On the international stage, you hear about countries like Bosnia but not Bangladesh.</p>

<p>But I do think, using other forms of creative expression where you can engender empathy, where you can make people see the things real human beings went through and they identify like &lsquo;this could have happened to me had I been there&rsquo; can be extremely powerful. Cultural and literary representations are extremely important.&rdquo;</p>

<p>About representations, Saaz has a bone to pick with the western media. &ldquo;We have 4.5 million women who are first generation workers outside the home in the garments industry. Contrary to what the western media tries to portray, it has given them access to resources and empowered them in real terms.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Bangladesh continues to grapple with challenges of identity: linguistic, religious, gender, and political. What began with the language movement in 1952, reached its peak in 1971 and remains a living and breathing presence in the country. Language and the right to use it may be worth dying for. But sometimes the very language becomes frustratingly inadequate in its basic function: expressing love and pain in their extremity.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p>(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


'Very few women...want justice in the way we understand it. Many of them just want the crimes to be acknowledged'

What is the language of trauma? How do we express the horrors our psyches and bodies face? In most cases, the answer is mother tongue. But what happens when the very trauma is caused, in some measure, by the mother language or the denial of the same? Remember the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war and the answer becomes a sordid tale of a naked power struggle. East Pakistan fought for its right to use Bengali as the official language, amongst other things. From the Bengali Language Movement in 1952 to the liberation in 1971, mother language received libations of blood. A new nation was eventually birthed and with it another painful linguistic conundrum. On this International Mother Language Day, I remember my conversation with Sadaf Saaz, a poet, writer, and women’s rights’ activist from Bangladesh. Saaz describes her activism as an “idea of unpacking what is happening around us.” She says, “It’s an overused word but the idea of ‘awareness’ doesn’t have an expiry date. Because things aren’t always what they appear to be. We may think or be progressive in so many ways, and we indeed are, but there are certain structural things that still need to be changed. I think as a nation we’ve made huge strides but attitudes that need to be changed. And that’s why I produced the play Birangona.” The idea of ‘awareness’ doesn’t have an expiry date × Women of War ‘Birangona: Women of War’ talks about the victims of mass rapes in Bangladesh during the liberation war. Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman referred to these women as ‘birangonas,’ Bengali for women warriors. Saaz begins to talk about these non-warring women warriors who bore the brunt of the Bangladesh war. “I think these women have lived their lives with dignity and fortitude. Many in society shunned them but many others took them in. They are now able to voice what happened to them after all these years.” Yet, as Salil Tripathi observed in his ‘The Colonel Who Would Not Repent’, the birangonas rarely use language as a tool to say what actually happened to them in 1971. It’s always unsaid, alluded to or met with downcast eyes. The Language of Honour and Justice Saaz shares an interesting perspective on retribution. “Very few women out of so many I’ve spoken to want justice in the way we understand it. Many of them just want the crimes to be acknowledged, that this actually happened to them. This is what they believe justice to be. They want their pain to be acknowledged.” Can a mere acknowledgment of one’s ordeals be justice enough? Saaz continues, “They want respect in the society. Now, respect in society is something that people take for granted. But just imagine this: first going through such an ordeal and then to have society shun you for something that is not your fault!” She adds, “For many years in the Bangladeshi society loss of honour was associated with women. How our mothers, sisters and daughters lost their honour during the war. But actually, the honour was lost by those who raped.” "Theirs was another type of battle. For survival.” × Naming Conundrum Does the very term ‘birangona’ not reinforce the patriarchal idea of honour in some ways? On one hand, there is a condemnation of the rape victims as damaged goods and, on the other, their valorisation as the brave ones: binaries are inescapable. Saaz gives a measured response. “You have to realise the context. Sheikh Mujib used the word for the first time. Six days after the war, there were a billion of things to do in this country that lost everything. An attempt was made to give some kind of recognition to the horror that had happened to these women and to give assurance that the government supported them.” She continues, “I think it was a commendable attempt. I agree, since then it has become a pejorative term associated with the stigma of rape. Today there’s a debate in Bangladesh about dropping this epithet and call them freedom fighters instead. But then, they did not take up arms. Theirs was another type of battle. For survival.” “In the women’s movement in Bangladesh, talking to women survivors, this is one name we are still working with. We have to be careful about recognising what they went through but their identity shouldn’t be just that. You don’t like to be called the raped one.” She takes a deep breath. 'I feel it does take time for a country to come to terms with its past and start speaking about it in a layered way' × Gaping Holes in the Narrative At this juncture, I ask her about her personal moments of realisation. Has her knowledge of history prepared her enough or does she still get shocked? Saaz says, “Although I had heard stories that rape was used as a strategy of war, for a long time I didn’t know of concentration camps. And the fact that despite being a woman in Bangladesh, an insider to the women’s movement, I didn’t know of this exemplified that the information wasn’t getting out. While the “they came, they raped, they left” narrative was horrific enough I didn’t realise the extent of the cold-bloodedness with which women were kept as sex slaves to be repeatedly raped.” Does she think, then, that poets, artists, journalists did not do their job well in filling the gaps in history? She responds with a slight shake of the head. “We were described as the ‘basket case’ by Kissinger. We’ve come a long way since then. When I see what has been written about the war, I feel it does take time for a country to come to terms with its past and start speaking about it in a layered way. Nuanced narratives are coming out now. That’s a reason why we put together a literature festival too to nurture and have spaces where people would start writing more about the things that really matter.” Saaz is the co-director and producer of the literature festival Hay Festival Dhaka. Sometimes the very language becomes frustratingly inadequate in its basic function: expressing love and pain in their extremity × Language and Form How does she want the unspeakable to be spoken about? Does she want more of documentary writing or fiction and drama? “Of course you need the hard research, the numbers and figures. Not enough has been done on the subject of the Bangladesh genocide. No consensus on the number of people killed or women raped. It is probably the largest forgotten war. People forget that in Bangladesh there were mass rapes. On the international stage, you hear about countries like Bosnia but not Bangladesh. But I do think, using other forms of creative expression where you can engender empathy, where you can make people see the things real human beings went through and they identify like ‘this could have happened to me had I been there’ can be extremely powerful. Cultural and literary representations are extremely important.” About representations, Saaz has a bone to pick with the western media. “We have 4.5 million women who are first generation workers outside the home in the garments industry. Contrary to what the western media tries to portray, it has given them access to resources and empowered them in real terms.” Bangladesh continues to grapple with challenges of identity: linguistic, religious, gender, and political. What began with the language movement in 1952, reached its peak in 1971 and remains a living and breathing presence in the country. Language and the right to use it may be worth dying for. But sometimes the very language becomes frustratingly inadequate in its basic function: expressing love and pain in their extremity. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Bangladesh's 'women of war' remember Bengali Language Movement

<p>Over the world, there is an anxiety about languages dying or, more accurately, Language (with &lsquo;L&rsquo; capital)&nbsp; itself dying. Perhaps, the present century will be remembered as the Aphasia Century during which natural languages perished. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Two opposite types of predictions for the future of the Homo-sapiens are currently popular. The optimistic prediction projects humans as traveling to the outer spaces, shuttling between planets. The inter-planetary colonisers of the future will communicate through electro-magnetic symbols rather than sound-icons used now.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The pessimistic projection imagines an over-crowded earth that is emptied of its natural resources, enslaved by few global corporations and with the masses &lsquo;silenced&rsquo;.&nbsp; All communication in such a world is placed under a careful surveillance.</p>

<p>&nbsp;All currently fashionable utopias or dystopias imagine humans of the future as reticent species. However, in the early stages of civilisation, myths and legends had imagined birds, animals and trees with the ability to speak in human tongues. Perhaps, humans are rapidly moving out of the &lsquo;language-phase&rsquo; of the evolution of life.&nbsp; Dyslexia and aphasia will probably be the most wide-spread language disorders in the next few generations.</p>

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<h5>Reports emerging from numerous linguistic communities indicate that about two-third languages will vanish by the end of this century</h5>
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<p>There are several estimates of the number of dying languages. As yet, no definitive and comprehensive global language survey has ever been conducted. Various international bodies like to place the number of living languages between 5000 and 7000.&nbsp; Against these estimates of natural languages, reports emerging from numerous linguistic communities indicate that about two-thirds will vanish by the end of this century, and of the remaining 2000 odd languages, only a few hundred will function intact. The looming spectre of such large-scale language loss is terrifying.</p>

<p>The loss of a language is not entirely driven by political and economic factors. Previously, socio-linguistic experts used the analytical framework of political domination to explain the general decline of languages. However, in today&rsquo;s world, causes, such as policy-deficit, neglect by the state, an absence of vernacular education and poor maintenance of resources that had been conventionally put forward to explain the decline of languages do not seem to explain the scale and the speed at which languages are going down.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Perhaps, a far more profound change is affecting languages. It is yet to be fully determined if the change is propelled by shifts within the human brain, a constantly developing part of the body, or if it is a cumulative result of our engagement with new communication technologies, or if the process of natural evolution is pushing us to enter a phase of existence. Finding answers to all or any one of these questions will require a huge amount of research. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p>In India, the language scenario is somewhat perplexing. While India tops the UNESCO list of&nbsp; &lsquo;languages in danger&rsquo; with a good 197 languages having gone past the danger signal, there are about 850 living languages in sight. The People&rsquo;s Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) has identified and described 780. The PLSI admits that it might have overlooked about 80 to 100 languages that are still in existence.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The language situation in India is fraught with contradictions. For example, the survival rate of Indian languages is certainly much higher than indigenous languages of other countries which have experienced forms of colonial domination. On the other hand, the rate of decline of many indigenous languages in India over the last fifty years is very alarming too. A quarter of the language stock in this country has been wiped out. &nbsp;</p>

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<h5>Those &#39;bhashas&#39; that got printed started producing literature amenable for the print medium. The ones that did not get printed came to be unfairly branded as &lsquo;oral languages&rsquo;</h5>
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<p>While trying to understand the language situation in the country, the following four factors specifically need to be taken into account. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Firstly, at the beginning of the second millennium, a large number of &lsquo;new&rsquo; languages, such as Kashmiri, Punjabi, Bangla, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Telugu started emerging in all parts of the subcontinent. At the time of their origin, they had to face cultural domination of Sanskrit or Tamil. Later, for several centuries they had to deal with the more powerful Arabic and Persian. And, over the last two centuries, they have had to deal with English.&nbsp;</p>

<p>These languages have all survived three phases of challenges from other languages. And today, despite the anxiety of semantic erosion, many of these languages appear to have numerically overtaken several international languages, such as Japanese, Russian, Italian, German and even French. The innate strength of these languages needs to be more fully understood.</p>

<p>The second factor which impacted the survival chances of any language is the false segregation resulting from the exposure of only some languages to printing technology at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. When the colonial printing department at Fort William in Kolkata started printing books in Indian languages, the selection of languages was quite arbitrary. Subsequently, those &#39;bhashas&#39; that got printed started producing literature amenable for the print medium. The ones that did not get printed came to be unfairly branded as &lsquo;oral languages&rsquo;. The hierarchical positioning of languages that came out of this historical accident continues to haunt the prospect of all dialect.&nbsp;</p>

<p>While the Constitution guarantees the fundamental right of free expression, it provides explicit safeguards to only some of the languages. On the eve of independence, the language question surfaced in the Constituent Assembly debates. Language-related discussions took place in every session of the Constituent Assembly. Unfortunately, these discussions never ended in any consensus. And like several other unfinished discussions, the language debate assumed the form of a Schedule. The 8th Schedule of the Constitution which initially had 14 languages, and which now has 22 listed in it, has caused the emergence of a completely non-linguistic category described in official terms as &lsquo;Non-Scheduled Languages.&rsquo;</p>

<p>One of the more significant aspects of the language situation in India is the reorganisation of states in terms of linguistic identity. Though not all of the 29 Indian states are all purely linguistic states, the majority of them are. Obviously, the language identities forming the basis of the states have been quite detrimental to the existence of other languages, particularly the ones spoken by smaller numbers.</p>

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<h5>While colonialism managed to wipe out most indigenous languages elsewhere, why is it that so many of the Indian languages survived it?</h5>
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<p>The People&rsquo;s Linguistic Survey of India was a huge exercise. I have often been asked questions like: &lsquo;How many languages has India lost?&rsquo; and &lsquo;How many languages does India really have?&rsquo; To me, these queries look somewhat na&iuml;ve. Far more meaningful would be the question: &#39;While colonialism managed to wipe out most indigenous languages elsewhere, why is it that so many of the Indian languages survived it?&#39;&nbsp; A more crucial question for us to answer is, &#39;When most leading technologies of our time are language based, why can&#39;t our numerous languages be a kind of a capital for us?&#39; &nbsp;</p>

<p>Indeed, if the multiple ways of looking at the relation between &lsquo;zero&rsquo; and &lsquo;one&rsquo;, symbolising absence and presence, that our languages have developed were to be brought to the computation theory, the entire gamut of computer sciences can be radically re-cast. This will, however, require long years of focused research. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Despite the unfortunate historical factors that have stratified our languages, we need to view the diversity, not as a liability but constituting the very essence of India.&nbsp; Instead of squandering the rare resource, languages should be put to use in helping India become a prosperous nation. &nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


With a quarter of the language stock of India has been wiped out, Perhaps, the present century will be remembered as the Aphasia Century during which natural languages perished.

Over the world, there is an anxiety about languages dying or, more accurately, Language (with ‘L’ capital) itself dying. Perhaps, the present century will be remembered as the Aphasia Century during which natural languages perished. Two opposite types of predictions for the future of the Homo-sapiens are currently popular. The optimistic prediction projects humans as traveling to the outer spaces, shuttling between planets. The inter-planetary colonisers of the future will communicate through electro-magnetic symbols rather than sound-icons used now. The pessimistic projection imagines an over-crowded earth that is emptied of its natural resources, enslaved by few global corporations and with the masses ‘silenced’. All communication in such a world is placed under a careful surveillance. All currently fashionable utopias or dystopias imagine humans of the future as reticent species. However, in the early stages of civilisation, myths and legends had imagined birds, animals and trees with the ability to speak in human tongues. Perhaps, humans are rapidly moving out of the ‘language-phase’ of the evolution of life. Dyslexia and aphasia will probably be the most wide-spread language disorders in the next few generations. Reports emerging from numerous linguistic communities indicate that about two-third languages will vanish by the end of this century × There are several estimates of the number of dying languages. As yet, no definitive and comprehensive global language survey has ever been conducted. Various international bodies like to place the number of living languages between 5000 and 7000. Against these estimates of natural languages, reports emerging from numerous linguistic communities indicate that about two-thirds will vanish by the end of this century, and of the remaining 2000 odd languages, only a few hundred will function intact. The looming spectre of such large-scale language loss is terrifying. The loss of a language is not entirely driven by political and economic factors. Previously, socio-linguistic experts used the analytical framework of political domination to explain the general decline of languages. However, in today’s world, causes, such as policy-deficit, neglect by the state, an absence of vernacular education and poor maintenance of resources that had been conventionally put forward to explain the decline of languages do not seem to explain the scale and the speed at which languages are going down. Perhaps, a far more profound change is affecting languages. It is yet to be fully determined if the change is propelled by shifts within the human brain, a constantly developing part of the body, or if it is a cumulative result of our engagement with new communication technologies, or if the process of natural evolution is pushing us to enter a phase of existence. Finding answers to all or any one of these questions will require a huge amount of research. In India, the language scenario is somewhat perplexing. While India tops the UNESCO list of ‘languages in danger’ with a good 197 languages having gone past the danger signal, there are about 850 living languages in sight. The People’s Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) has identified and described 780. The PLSI admits that it might have overlooked about 80 to 100 languages that are still in existence. The language situation in India is fraught with contradictions. For example, the survival rate of Indian languages is certainly much higher than indigenous languages of other countries which have experienced forms of colonial domination. On the other hand, the rate of decline of many indigenous languages in India over the last fifty years is very alarming too. A quarter of the language stock in this country has been wiped out. Those 'bhashas' that got printed started producing literature amenable for the print medium. The ones that did not get printed came to be unfairly branded as ‘oral languages’ × While trying to understand the language situation in the country, the following four factors specifically need to be taken into account. Firstly, at the beginning of the second millennium, a large number of ‘new’ languages, such as Kashmiri, Punjabi, Bangla, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Telugu started emerging in all parts of the subcontinent. At the time of their origin, they had to face cultural domination of Sanskrit or Tamil. Later, for several centuries they had to deal with the more powerful Arabic and Persian. And, over the last two centuries, they have had to deal with English. These languages have all survived three phases of challenges from other languages. And today, despite the anxiety of semantic erosion, many of these languages appear to have numerically overtaken several international languages, such as Japanese, Russian, Italian, German and even French. The innate strength of these languages needs to be more fully understood. The second factor which impacted the survival chances of any language is the false segregation resulting from the exposure of only some languages to printing technology at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. When the colonial printing department at Fort William in Kolkata started printing books in Indian languages, the selection of languages was quite arbitrary. Subsequently, those 'bhashas' that got printed started producing literature amenable for the print medium. The ones that did not get printed came to be unfairly branded as ‘oral languages’. The hierarchical positioning of languages that came out of this historical accident continues to haunt the prospect of all dialect. While the Constitution guarantees the fundamental right of free expression, it provides explicit safeguards to only some of the languages. On the eve of independence, the language question surfaced in the Constituent Assembly debates. Language-related discussions took place in every session of the Constituent Assembly. Unfortunately, these discussions never ended in any consensus. And like several other unfinished discussions, the language debate assumed the form of a Schedule. The 8th Schedule of the Constitution which initially had 14 languages, and which now has 22 listed in it, has caused the emergence of a completely non-linguistic category described in official terms as ‘Non-Scheduled Languages.’ One of the more significant aspects of the language situation in India is the reorganisation of states in terms of linguistic identity. Though not all of the 29 Indian states are all purely linguistic states, the majority of them are. Obviously, the language identities forming the basis of the states have been quite detrimental to the existence of other languages, particularly the ones spoken by smaller numbers. While colonialism managed to wipe out most indigenous languages elsewhere, why is it that so many of the Indian languages survived it? × The People’s Linguistic Survey of India was a huge exercise. I have often been asked questions like: ‘How many languages has India lost?’ and ‘How many languages does India really have?’ To me, these queries look somewhat naïve. Far more meaningful would be the question: 'While colonialism managed to wipe out most indigenous languages elsewhere, why is it that so many of the Indian languages survived it?' A more crucial question for us to answer is, 'When most leading technologies of our time are language based, why can't our numerous languages be a kind of a capital for us?' Indeed, if the multiple ways of looking at the relation between ‘zero’ and ‘one’, symbolising absence and presence, that our languages have developed were to be brought to the computation theory, the entire gamut of computer sciences can be radically re-cast. This will, however, require long years of focused research. Despite the unfortunate historical factors that have stratified our languages, we need to view the diversity, not as a liability but constituting the very essence of India. Instead of squandering the rare resource, languages should be put to use in helping India become a prosperous nation. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Are all the mother languages of the world slowly dying?

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<p>Language is important to identity as it is closely tied to culture, which is the marker of who we are as human beings.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In 2007, a study was conducted in 150 First Nations&nbsp;villages in British Columbia, Canada to understand how the loss of native Indian languages has impacted the speakers. &nbsp;The study found that villages which&nbsp;lost their languages had six times higher suicide rates compared to those who managed against assimilationist forces, particularly, English-only schooling. The latter have more successfully hung onto their native languages, and, thus, to their native cultures.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Dr. Sheilah Nicholas of the University of Arizona who belongs to the Hopi tribe herself recently examined how Hopi children are speaking more English and less Hopi. She points out that Hopi elders linked this loss of one&#39;s own languages&nbsp;to &ldquo;un-Hopi&rdquo; behavior, such as &ldquo;substance abuse, gang membership, and domestic violence&rdquo; and a decline in the tribe&rsquo;s traditional Hopi values, including hard work and humility. Overall, assimilationist education has left behind many Indigenous people worldwide; evidently, they are&nbsp;less-educated than their non-Indigenous peers and more likely to live in poverty.</p>

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<h5>Tribal governments were dissolved and schools were taken over by the new state of Oklahoma</h5>
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<p>Efforts to suppress American-Indian languages in North America date back to the colonial times when Indigenous people were seen as &ldquo;savages.&rdquo; Anthropologists label this view of &ldquo;others&rdquo; as ethnocentrism, where people tend to see their own culture and language as normal and superior, whereas the cultures and languages of others as abnormal and inferior. If a group is in a dominant position, as were European colonial powers during much of the nineteenth and twentieth century, they tend to force their cultures and languages on the peoples they conquered.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this vein, around 1879 the United States government started funding boarding schools to get American-Indian children away, sometimes forcibly, from their families with the plan to give them an English-only education, marginalising tribal languages and cultures in the process. This effort to assimilate American-Indians continued with little interruption well into the twentieth Century.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Cherokee and some other tribes in the Indian Territory (present-day state of Oklahoma) successfully ran their own schools till in 1907 when, despite protests, their tribal governments were dissolved and schools were taken over by the new state of Oklahoma. Till date, tribal self-government has been only partially restored.</p>

<p>A new consciousness dawned in the United States regarding the treatment met out to ethnic and racial minorities in the 1940s. This happened as a reaction to evidence of racism from Nazi Germany as well as from an increased concern for human rights after World War II, especially in the newly formed United Nations. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that led to the end of segregated schools and other facilities for African-Americans also brought attention to the treatment of American-Indians, who as a group tended to live in poverty and had below average educational success. &nbsp;</p>

<p>In the 1980s, native Hawaiians became increasingly concerned about almost no children speaking the Hawaiian languages. On seeing how the Maoris of New Zealand, faced with a similar situation, were establishing language nests to teach their young children the Maori language, a few parents set up their own Hawaiian language nests. They then lobbied their state government to establish Hawaiian language immersion schools so that today one can even write their doctoral dissertation in the Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaii.&nbsp;</p>

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<h5>200 tribal governments in the United States started passing tribal language policies to push parents and schools to teach their youth tribal languages</h5>
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<p>Some of the almost 200 tribal governments in the United States started passing tribal language policies to push parents and schools to teach their youth tribal languages. In 1990, partly as an initiative to make English the official language of the United States, the U.S. Congress passed the Native American Languages Act that made it an official policy to preserve and protect the American-Indian languages.</p>

<p>While in its infancy, there is a growing movement by American-Indians to establish language immersion schools where children are taught in their tribal languages. For example, at Window Rock, the Capital of the Navajo Nation, some 200 Navajo students are immersed in Navajo language for the first year of schooling, and in Flagstaff, Arizona, just outside the Navajo Nation boundary, there is a small Navajo immersion public school where students are successfully being taught to read and write the Navajo language as well as mathematics, science and other subjects in that language.</p>

<p>In 1998 at California, the most populist state in the United States, voters passed a measure, Proposition 227, largely banning bilingual education, mostly Spanish-English programs, in their public schools and calling for English-only assimilationist education. While not affecting American-Indians, this measure was an indication of hostility for languages other than English.&nbsp;</p>

<p>However, in 2016 California voters passed a new Proposition 58 allowing bilingual education. In 2006, the U.S. Congress passed the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act. This was signed into a law by President George W. Bush, which authorised funding for new programmes, including tribal language immersion schools. Hopefully, this will help tribes to prevent further loss of their heritage and culture.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The law did not authorise a lot of funding, but it along with California&rsquo;s Proposition 58 are signs showing that many Americans are becoming less ethnocentric and more accepting of other languages and cultures.</p>


Native villages that lost their languages had six times higher suicide rates compared to those who stayed away from English-only schooling

Language is important to identity as it is closely tied to culture, which is the marker of who we are as human beings. In 2007, a study was conducted in 150 First Nations villages in British Columbia, Canada to understand how the loss of native Indian languages has impacted the speakers. The study found that villages which lost their languages had six times higher suicide rates compared to those who managed against assimilationist forces, particularly, English-only schooling. The latter have more successfully hung onto their native languages, and, thus, to their native cultures. Dr. Sheilah Nicholas of the University of Arizona who belongs to the Hopi tribe herself recently examined how Hopi children are speaking more English and less Hopi. She points out that Hopi elders linked this loss of one's own languages to “un-Hopi” behavior, such as “substance abuse, gang membership, and domestic violence” and a decline in the tribe’s traditional Hopi values, including hard work and humility. Overall, assimilationist education has left behind many Indigenous people worldwide; evidently, they are less-educated than their non-Indigenous peers and more likely to live in poverty. Tribal governments were dissolved and schools were taken over by the new state of Oklahoma × Efforts to suppress American-Indian languages in North America date back to the colonial times when Indigenous people were seen as “savages.” Anthropologists label this view of “others” as ethnocentrism, where people tend to see their own culture and language as normal and superior, whereas the cultures and languages of others as abnormal and inferior. If a group is in a dominant position, as were European colonial powers during much of the nineteenth and twentieth century, they tend to force their cultures and languages on the peoples they conquered. In this vein, around 1879 the United States government started funding boarding schools to get American-Indian children away, sometimes forcibly, from their families with the plan to give them an English-only education, marginalising tribal languages and cultures in the process. This effort to assimilate American-Indians continued with little interruption well into the twentieth Century. Cherokee and some other tribes in the Indian Territory (present-day state of Oklahoma) successfully ran their own schools till in 1907 when, despite protests, their tribal governments were dissolved and schools were taken over by the new state of Oklahoma. Till date, tribal self-government has been only partially restored. A new consciousness dawned in the United States regarding the treatment met out to ethnic and racial minorities in the 1940s. This happened as a reaction to evidence of racism from Nazi Germany as well as from an increased concern for human rights after World War II, especially in the newly formed United Nations. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that led to the end of segregated schools and other facilities for African-Americans also brought attention to the treatment of American-Indians, who as a group tended to live in poverty and had below average educational success. In the 1980s, native Hawaiians became increasingly concerned about almost no children speaking the Hawaiian languages. On seeing how the Maoris of New Zealand, faced with a similar situation, were establishing language nests to teach their young children the Maori language, a few parents set up their own Hawaiian language nests. They then lobbied their state government to establish Hawaiian language immersion schools so that today one can even write their doctoral dissertation in the Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaii. 200 tribal governments in the United States started passing tribal language policies to push parents and schools to teach their youth tribal languages × Some of the almost 200 tribal governments in the United States started passing tribal language policies to push parents and schools to teach their youth tribal languages. In 1990, partly as an initiative to make English the official language of the United States, the U.S. Congress passed the Native American Languages Act that made it an official policy to preserve and protect the American-Indian languages. While in its infancy, there is a growing movement by American-Indians to establish language immersion schools where children are taught in their tribal languages. For example, at Window Rock, the Capital of the Navajo Nation, some 200 Navajo students are immersed in Navajo language for the first year of schooling, and in Flagstaff, Arizona, just outside the Navajo Nation boundary, there is a small Navajo immersion public school where students are successfully being taught to read and write the Navajo language as well as mathematics, science and other subjects in that language. In 1998 at California, the most populist state in the United States, voters passed a measure, Proposition 227, largely banning bilingual education, mostly Spanish-English programs, in their public schools and calling for English-only assimilationist education. While not affecting American-Indians, this measure was an indication of hostility for languages other than English. However, in 2016 California voters passed a new Proposition 58 allowing bilingual education. In 2006, the U.S. Congress passed the Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act. This was signed into a law by President George W. Bush, which authorised funding for new programmes, including tribal language immersion schools. Hopefully, this will help tribes to prevent further loss of their heritage and culture. The law did not authorise a lot of funding, but it along with California’s Proposition 58 are signs showing that many Americans are becoming less ethnocentric and more accepting of other languages and cultures.

Language as identity: Native Indian tribes and the revitalisation movement in the US

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