Mother Tongue

by Yoshina Gautam, Jebin Gautam and Aashish Jha

Genes and languages preserve history, just as stones, art, and bones do. While a lot of effort has been directed towards preserving archeological sites and studying genetics, very little is being done to preserve the many indigenous languages that are currently facing extinction. Ethnologue has estimated that there are 6912 known living languages in the world[1] of which only three-fourths are spoken by a handful of indigenous peoples in over 70 countries[2]. Despite incredible linguistic diversity, only 6% of world languages account for 94% of the world population. UNESCO has predicted that 600 languages disappeared in the last century and they are disappearing at the rate of one language every two weeks[3]. If indeed the current trend continues, 90% of the world’s languages will disappear by the end of this century.  Realizing the threat of rapid extinction, many international organizations including UNESCO[4] have declared language  a fundamental human right.

There needs to be two front efforts to preserve moribund languages in developing countries. One front should be dedicated to preserve the languages and the other to revitalize them. Language preservation is a process to prevent languages from becoming extinct whereas language revitalization is the process of reversing language decline by promoting its use by native speakers in common speech. Although the United Nations has shown commitment to both preserving and revitalizing languages, the rate of language extinction, especially in developing countries, is alarming.According to a report presented by Professor Yogendra P. Yadav, Sharada Bhadra, and Krishna P Parajuli at the linguistic conference held by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN), more than 92 languages are presently spoken in Nepal, of which 70 are spoken by indigenous people. However, only four out of those 70 indigenous languages are commonly spoken, only two are spoken by more than 5% while 50 and 16 languages are spoken by less than 0.1% and 0.01% of the total population respectively. More than five languages have less than ten speakers in total. Furthermore, more than 11 Nepali languages have already died, 19 are almost extinct, and 23 are endangered[5].

The United Nations’ Declaration of Language Rights has recommended that the survival of languages will require supportive policies from the linguistic community and intergovernmental agencies in addition to the effort of governments. With support from the linguistic community, NEFIN and NFDIN, Nepal has already implemented many of the standards set forth by the UN. For example, indigenous languages are already recognized in Nepal, hence there are no discriminations on the basis of languages, and some indigenous languages have already been represented in media in order to revitalize them. In fact, Radio Nepal has been broadcasting the news in some major ethnic languages for over a decade. Not only has Nepal met the recommendations of the UN Declaration of Language Rights, but with the support of the international linguistic community, language preservation efforts of near-extinct languages, such as the Dura and Kusunda, are also ongoing[6].

Although many Nepali languages have gone extinct, some historically marginalized languages such as Nepal Bhasa and Limbu are burgeoning. The Newars have not only preserved Nepal Bhasa but they have also revitalized it by establishing primary schools where Newari is the language of instruction[7], promoting Newari literature[8], and organizing Miss Newa annually, a beauty contest for Newah girls. Furthermore, internet portals such as www.jwajalapa.com has been promoting the language by acting as an information hub for Newah culture[9] and another website nepalbhasa.co.cc/dhuku/, which is under construction aims to serve as a Nepal Bhasa dictionary[10]. Such efforts have not only saved Nepal Bhasa but they have also revitalized it such that it is commonly spoken within the Newah communities. Similar efforts of opening primary schools, monthly publications of Limbu-Nepali newspapers, radio broadcasts and community based literacy programs have been helpful to preserve and revitalize the Limbu language[11] [12]. The progress made by these linguistic communities indicates that the will of the indigenous peoples is absolutely necessary in order to save their languages.

The statistics from Nepal clearly demonstrate that the United Nation’s Declaration of Language Rights may be helpful in preserving indigenous languages that have a big speaker base but current policies are not adequate to preserve languages that are at risk of immediate extinction. With cohesive efforts from the governments, indigenous speakers, intergovernmental agencies, and the continuous works of linguists and anthropologists, preservation efforts should continue by recording languages and preparing lexicons. Kusunda grammar is a stellar example of preservation efforts that have demonstrated that even near-extinct languages can be saved. Kusunda is a language that is on the verge of disappearance with only a handful of speakers. By conducting intensive research in 2004, the late linguist David Watters, with the support of NEFIN, was able to record the language and prepare a Kusunda grammatical description. Similar preservation efforts are ongoing with the Dura language.

Unspoken languages recorded in books can only fill up libraries and all the historical knowledge (such as ethnobotany and ethnozoology) gathered by that ethnic community will be lost. To save languages they must be revitalized i.e., spoken by people in everyday speech. One of the major causes in the increasing rate of language death is probably due to many indigenous people having false assumptions that disregarding their mother tongue for commonly spoken languages such as Nepali or international languages such as English is the only way to become successful. The popularity of English medium private schools has also discouraged language preservation. While teaching lingua franca Nepali and English is important, every effort should be invested such that at least indigenous speakers will be fluent in their respective mother tongues. While the basics of language revitalization have already been established[13], grassroots efforts to digitize languages may augment the revitalization process. Many international projects have been able to revitalize moribund languages such as the Native Languages of the Americas[14] and Canada[15] by creating and maintaining websites (that include pronunciation guides and worksheets) in the indigenous languages that acts as a common portal to update information about the language. These projects encourage grassroots efforts to collect audio and video recordings which can be uploaded via the internet. Similar efforts should be employed in Nepal because such websites will be accessible to young speakers and academics all over the world to consult when they are learning the language. A web based preservation project has already been started in Nepal. The World Oral Project introduced by Cambridge University under the supervision of Dr. Mark Turin has already taken steps in compiling many Nepali languages into a digital archive. Turin has made his collection publicly available via the internet[16]. Programs like these that incorporate modern technology to preserve languages will hopefully attract educated indigenous speakers and may even bolster revitalization efforts with their creative ideas.

Grassroots effort does not only mean that indigenous people are instructed to simply record their voices. Such efforts must include collaborations of linguists and anthropologists with students and teachers of the local schools and universities to establish departments dedicated to both teach and research the languages. As the University of Oregon affiliated Northwest Indian Language Institute has done, establishing a department will create training opportunities for teachers and produce students from a native community. Developing quality education policies to educate indigenous children is essential as they can bridge the gap between the linguistic and indigenous communities. If the indigenous youth are multilingual in at least Nepali, English and their respective mother tongues, they can not only revitalize their dying languages, learn their traditions, and serve Nepali people by communicating their community issues with their leaders but can also assist researchers and linguists in preservation efforts.

Thus, more outreach programs are needed so that indigenous speakers are able to participate in educational programs, assist in research projects, and get actively involved in formulating policies to revitalize their own languages. It is possible for Nepalis to obtain financial help to pursue higher education in linguistics.  A list of over a dozen international funding sources to support language studies is available at http://linguistlist.org/sp/Funding.html.

It is commendable that Nepal has already made much progress in preserving languages; however, despite support from intergovernmental agencies and efforts from local agencies such as NFDIN, the depletion rate of the Nepali linguistic diversity is alarming. It is evident that in the context of Nepal, only following the United Nation’s Declaration of Language Rights is not enough to preserve dying languages. Therefore, implementing grassroots projects may educate the indigenous communities about the importance of their languages, a digitized medium of language preservation may excite the youth and collectively these efforts may not only preserve languages but even revitalize them. Successful policies to preserve Nepali languages can not only save our languages, these policies can serve as models for preserving other endangered languages of the world.