This story is from February 21, 2017

The dying tongues of Telangana and Andhra

On International Mother Language Day, Hyderabad Times turns the spotlight on the endangered tribal languages of India
The dying tongues of Telangana and Andhra
On International Mother Language Day, Hyderabad Times turns the spotlight on the endangered tribal languages of India
Kolami, Koya, Gondi, Kuvi, Kui, Yerukala, Savara, Parji, Kupia. Do these names ring a bell? No, right? They are all native tribal tongues that have immensely contributed to
enrich the language and culture of Telugu people. But these languages are dying due to a plethora of reasons — lack of practice, absence of education, poverty-stricken state of the speakers.
The UNESCO lists 191 languages of India as endangered. And as Eduardo Hughes Galeano, the literary giant of the Latin America puts it, “Every two weeks, a language dies. The world is diminished when it loses its human sayings, just as when it loses its diversity of plants and beasts.”
Numbers can be deceptive, India is a graveyard of more languages than one can imagine
Depletion of linguistic diversity is not just a norm in Telugu speaking states, the situation is same throughout the country. Panchanan Mohanty, the coordinator of Centre for Endangered Languages and Mother Tongue Studies in University of Hyderabad says, “According to 2001 census, we have only 122 languages in this country. But the same report says that India has 1635 mother-tongues. In 1971 the Government of India decided not to list those languages with less than 10000 speakers. In India, 96.56 per cent of people speak in the 22 languages scheduled in Indian constitution. Just 3.44 per cent of our countrymen speak all the remaining 1613 mother tongues. It effectively implies that any language that does not find a mention in the census list should be considered as endangered. It is a very sad situation indeed. If these languages are not conserved, our linguistic diversity will vanish.”
Even these facts and figures are not accurate, observes Professor Mohanty: “Nobody has carried out a comprehensive survey of all the endangered languages in this country till date. So we do not know for sure how many languages in the country are endangered. In fact, in my recent field work I discovered a new Dravidian language in Odisha. Its phonology is very different from any other Dravidian languages we know of. There are many languages yet to be discovered.”

Many times the surveys are faulty and inefficient. “The status of a language is decided by the number of speakers it is spoken by. But it’s difficult to find the actual number of speakers. Take the example of Gorum or Parengi, a Munda language. According to the 2001 census, the ethnicity of the language is 12,600 in Orissa. But only 20-25 people can speak the language fluently. Members of the tribe who are aged below 55 can only understand the language, and those younger than 40 can neither understand nor speak the language. Moreover, deciding the status of a language on a number is certainly unfair, what about the languages with 10010 speakers? Should they not be preserved,” questions Mohanty, adding, “And there is a major error in the UNESCO’s list that lists Khasi as a vulnerable language. How can it be vulnerable when it is the primary language of Meghalaya with around 1.6 million Khasi speakers in Meghalaya alone and a sizeable population in Assam and Bangladesh speaking Khasi?”
Why are our tongues dying?
Literary scholar and the founder director of the Bhasha Research and Publication Center, Ganesh N Devy, says that the tribal languages of India are staring at a bleak future. “These tribal tongues are spoken by minority communities and have always been dominated by languages that enjoy state patronage, like Sanskrit or Tamil initially, later by languages of foreign invaders like Arabic, Persian and English, and now by those declared as primary languages of states. Moreover, only some languages got exposure to printing technology. The ones that never saw the light of print technology were branded as oral languages. Now with the evolution of digital technology, it has become even tougher for these languages to survive. If these languages are not put in digital culture, then they have no future. And we will be the cause of their death.”
Sujoy Sarkar, a lecturer cum junior research officer in charge of the Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages in the Central Institution of Indian Languages, Mysore says socio-economic factors affect the intergenerational transmission of these tribal languages. “The main reason for the death of a language is reflected in the changing patterns of in intergenerational transmission. Most of the endangered languages in Andhra and Telangana are tribal languages. With the evolution of the society, the scope to use these languages in different domains is diminishing by the day, which is why tribal communities are shifting to major languages and are not encouraging the present generation to learn their own mother tongue.”
Languages are the carriers of social identity, just like DNA
With the death of every language, dies a rich culture. It’s an identity that needs to be preserved in the face of an ever-changing world. “The contribution of these tribal communities to Telugu culture has been very significant. Many literary works in Telugu have elements from these tribal languages which have also contributed greatly to the evolution of art and culture in the region. Languages are store houses of culture, literature and knowledge. The Chenchu tribe has a rich oral literature; they have high knowledge about herbal medicines. The Valmiki tribe that speaks Kupia has a fascinatingly rich knowledge of forests, flora and fauna. Once these languages die, the wisdom is lost forever,” says Devy.
On the other hand, professor Mohanty sets up a connection between linguistic diversity and biodiversity. “While biodiversity is necessary for the physical health of mother earth, linguistic diversity is absolutely necessary for the mental health of mother earth. Biodiversity will survive only if linguistic ecology survives. For example, we know the names of flora and fauna in our mother tongue, but not in other languages. Can anyone name 10 birds in English or Hindi? After four names you will pause to think for the 5th. On the contrary, you won’t pause to think twice when you put them in your mother-tongue. With death of a language, the flora and fauna loses its identity too. I have observed many times, if you don’t know the names of the flora and fauna, they become unnecessary for you. You don’t care whether it survives or not because you’re unaware of its value. Thus, if the mother tongue survives, the bio diversity survives too,” he says.
We are waking up to the crisis at last
The government of India seems to have finally woken up to the crisis. “Under a scheme initiated by Government of India, Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India, the Central Institute of Indian Languages is working to protect, preserve and document all the endangered mother tongues of India. And UGC has directed the central and state universities to set up a centre for endangered languages and work to preserve them. Though this project has been given to many universities where there is no linguistics department, we can only hope for the best,” says Dr Mohanty signing off.
LIST OF SOME ENDANGERED LANGUAGES
Gadaba or Gutob
Language family: Munda
Location: Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.
Population: 8,000 (2000 IICCC)
The disparity is not only in the grammar of the language, it’s in their gods too. The tribe worships Ungoom dimuda goddess of the village and Dinyen dimuda, god of the family. Due to large scale migration to cities the native speakers from Andhra Pradesh are switching to Telugu, which made the language endangered. This language is now being documented using Telugu script.
Konda-Dora or Porja
Language family: Dravidian
Location: Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, and East Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh, Koraput district in Odisha and Assam.
Population: 20,000 (2007 WFA)
Script: Telugu and Odiya
Tribe: Konda-Dora
Konda-Dora has two sub-texts – the Pedda Kondalu and Chinna Kondalu. Though, Pedda Kondalu has retained most its tradition Chinna Kondalu is heavily influenced by the Telugu. The language is endangered, but fortunately not declining. Some text books have been developed for schools up to 5th standard.
Kolami
Language family: Central Dravidian
Location: Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Yavatmal, Wardha and Nanded in Maharashtra.
Population: 44,805 (2011 census)
Script: Devanagari
Kupia or Valmiki
Language family: Indo-Ayran
Location: Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, East Godavari districts and Visakhapatnam
Population: 79,000 (2007) and 6,600 native speakers (2007)
Script: Telugu
Tribe: Valmiki
Though Kupia is the medium of conversation while conversing amongst each other, the Valmiki tribe tends to switch to Telugu. Mostly landless labourers, they are economically handicapped. Due to frequent migration in search of a living, their access to education is limited. Thus, preservation of language through writing does not take place.
Gondi
Language family: South-Central Dravidian
Location: Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat
Population: 2, 97,486 (census 2011)
Script: Devanagari
Tribe: Gond
Yerukula
Language family: Dravidian
Location: north Nizamabad and Karimagar in Telangana, Nilgiri, Coimbatore, Periyar, Salem and Chengai Anna in Tamil Nadu, parts of Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra.
Population: 69,500 (2001 census)
Script: Devanagari
Tribe: Yerukula
Kui
Language family: Dravidian
Location: Adjacent to Khammam and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Kandhamal, Ganjam, and Koraput in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu.
Population: 916,000 (2001 census)
Script: Odiya
Tribe: Khond
Kuvi
Language family: Dravidian
Location: Vishakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, and Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, Koraput, Kalahandi, Ganjam and Phulbani in Odisha.
Population: 158,000 (2001 census)
Script: Odiya
Tribe: Khond
Andhi
Language family: Indo-Aryan
Location: Adilabad, Hyderabad in Telangana, Akola, Aurangabad, Buldana, Nanded, Parbhani, and Yevatmal in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh
Population: 100,000 (2007)
Script: Devanagari
Tribe: Andh
Lambadi or Banjara or Gormati
Language family: Indo-Ayran
Location: Warangal, Rayalaseema, Guntur, Adilabad, Bidar, Mahabubnagar in Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh
Population: Estimated 40,000,000
Script: Telugu in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Devanagari in Maharashtra, Kannada in Karnataka
Tribe: Banjara
In contrast to other languages, Lambadi is making a comeback with widespread of education. Now they are working to conserve their language. There are journals and books in the language.
End of Article
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