Empowering Smaller Languages and The Role of Responsible Linguistics

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Empowering Smaller Languages andThe Role of
Responsible Linguistics
KEYNOTE ADDRESS

• Udaya Narayana Singh
• Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore
  (India)

India Workshop on Multilingual Education Keynote
Address CIIL, Mysore Oct 25, 2005
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THE BEGINNING
There is an old Chinese Proverb -
Better to light a candle than to curse the
darkness
And there is another -
"Tell me and I'll forget Show me and I
may remember involve me and I'll understand."
We have gathered here to make a beginning to
forge new relationships for a cause
the cause of Multilingual Education for Tribal
Speech Communities.
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riHlit il-alf miil tabda bixaTwa
From small beginnings come great things India
Workshop on MLE is only a beginning

• As we make this small beginning, let me follow a
  reverse order in the way I would touch upon the
  three key concepts.
• I shall share with you a few thoughts on
  Education, Multilingualism Indian scenario
  in this order.

Arabic proverb
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What is Education?

• A Question that has intrigued thinkers in all
  ages.
• Observation?
• Absorption?
• Expansion?
• Description?
• Application?
• Memorization?
• Specialization?

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That which liberates is education

• To be educated means to be
  liberated whether in India (sa vidya ya
  vimuktaye) or in the Classical western world with
  artes liberales or Liberal Arts education.

• Guided by thinkers like Pythagoras, Plato, and
  St. Augustine, it was divided into the artes
  sermocinales, or language studies and the artes
  reales, or physicae, i.e. the mathematico-physical
  disciplines.

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In this learning tree, there are three layers
At the lower base are language branches, the
mathematical branches in the intermediate, and
the science proper as the terminal element.
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To educate What does it mean?

• Educate as a term dating back to 1447, from L.
  educatus, pp. of educere "bring up, rear, which
  is itself derived from ex- "out"
  ducere "to lead."
• To be educated thus meant to be ready to lead the
  world.
• It was only after 1588 that it has been used in
  the sense of "providing schooling Online
  Etrymological Dictionary.

Out to Lead
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Make Choices

• Education also meant to be an art of making
  choices when one is at crossroads.

• What was known as liberal arts was viewed in
  terms of crossing two threshold marks - the
  Trivium ("the three roads") and the Quadrivium
  ("the four roads").

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Multilingualism in India
Plurality Square
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The Strategies

• Two points emerge clearly

• One You cant plan for and develop any one of
  these four without considering the other.
• Two We need to revisualise their boundaries,
  because they have an inbuilt fuzziness.

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Multilingualism
a burden or an asset?

• Language distances in India are great in both
  structure and function, i.e. in both grammar and
  use.
• Each family has numerous languages, and there are
  also many language types.
• At the same time, the linguistic landscape in
  India shows remarkable similarities due to areal
  pressure.
• While many lament about the lack of a single link
  language, each one of our major languages acts as
  binding force.
• Each major language links a few other languages.
• Thus, although India has always had a large
  number of languages, there have been no breakdown
  in communication here.

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Figures on Multilingualism What do they
indicate?

• Indias national average of bilingualism in 1991
  (19.44) was significantly higher than the
  averages of 1961 (9.7).
• 1991 trilingualism figures are 7.26.
• Obviously, these figures are only indicative.
• A reality check may give us a greater number of
  both active and passive bilinguals.
• But does it mean that because of the pressures of
  societal bilingualism, individuals too are
  naturally bilingual?
• Or, does it mean that we notice such large scale
  bilingualism because speakers of smaller
  languages are slowly shifting to other languages?
• This last possibility is definitely alarming.

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Speech Variation Nothing New

• The final picture in respect of the linguistic
  landscape of India will emerge only after a great
  deal of linguistic research yet to be been
  done.
• At this point of time, we could only be tentative
  about the extent of linguistic plurality here,
  because there are a large number of smaller and
  unclassified languages waiting to be described.
• Different accounts give between 114 to a total of
  216 to 401 languages, and none of these is based
  on a kind of survey done by Grierson.
• Census as we know talks about Rationalization of
  language labels, but it has neither been based
  on dialect surveys nor on solid work in
  historical-comparative linguistics.
• However, it is a huge linguistic net that is at
  work with trends and influences running across
  language families and speech areas.

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LET ME TURN TO THE DETAILS OF THE INDIAN
SITUATION NOW
Challenging would be a one-word summary
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THE INDIAN SCENE

• At the turn of 20th cent, LSI reported 179
  languages and 544 dialects.
• In 1951, besides the 14 Eighth Schedule
  languages, we find 23 major tribal languages and
  24 other minority languages, each with over
  100,000 plus speakers, as well as 722 smaller
  languages.
• 1961/1971 Census 193 classified languages out of
  a total of 1,652 mother tongue labels.

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The Range of Multilingual Situation

• 1,576 rationalized mother-tongues
• 1,796 other mother-tongues
• 96 speak only 20-odd IA Dravidian languages
  included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
• Speakers of 20 Austric languages and 98
  Sino-Tibetan languages together make up about
  another 2.

• 14 major writing systems in use.

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Data Source 1991 Census of India
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The Written Languages Scene

• Written Languages Padmanabha, Mahapatra, Verma
  and McConnel (1989) survey covered 96 out of our
  114 populous languages (with 10k plus speakers)
  listed in Census 1981.
• About 50 were found to have written modes of
  expression.
• We are all aware that the highest literary prizes
  are given in 22 languages

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Plurality index functionality

• Languages in School We teach about 58 to 69
  languages either as subject or as media of
  instruction, although only 33 are used as media
  of instruction as of 2004.
• Languages of Mass Media There are 3954
  newspapers and periodicals in 35 languages with
  varying degrees of regularity and readership.
• 146 speech varieties 24 major languagesused
  in radio network

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India Problems and Prognosis

• There are sociolinguists who looked at the
  Indian situation as a deviant phenomenon as if
  mono-lingualism is the norm and multilingualism
  an aberration.
• In the initial stages, the literature on Language
  Planning was packed with ideas that linked
  multilingualism with economic backwardness.
• However, as UNESCOs studies documents have
  shown again and again, multilingualism is not a
  minus point for speech communities, and that
  mother-tongue education remains the best
  alternative.

• The prognosis of the colonial rulers was that
  divergence of traditions in India will lead to
  conflicts and clashes between civilisations,
  once India gained independence.
• This kind of opinion was expressed in spite of
  the well-attested fact that cultural and
  religious traditions in South Asia has always
  been plural.
• It was a general prediction that with population
  on the rise, their fundamental differences will
  become more pronounced.

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1. The Task Ahead
LONGING FOR LIBERATION

• Speakers of a large number of Indian languages
  seem to be like this bird in a cage longing for
  freedom available only to their more fortunate
  fellow Indians whose languages are represented in
  the Indian Constitution.

What can we, as stake-holders of language and
education, do about them?
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How has Language been viewed in India?
Peelable Layered Cyclic

• On the other hand, languages have always been
  viewed like a peelable entity First, the
  Grammatical layer then the cultural layer, and
  then the moral layer.
• Even within grammar there are outer and inner
  layers. Such was the conceptualization in our
  linguistic tradition.
• More you peel off, the deeper you go, and it gets
  darker and darker, and we know less and less
  about the inner elements.
• The situation becomes often more complex here
  with different languages occupying different
  space.
• Furthermore, since different languages in the
  same speech communities perform different
  functions, theres another kind of layering that
  defines the Indias landscape.

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Moral for Sociolinguists

• Each speech community has a number of languages
  in its repertoire used for different functions.
• The base language(s) would be in the inner fringe
  and so are the basic elements of grammar.
• What is acquired through acculturation
  socialization are in the relatively outer
  fringes.
• Therefore, while planning for elementary school
  education, we need to focus on the base languages
  or mother-tongues initially.

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More the merrier

• Apart from all other arguments given in the
  UNESCOs position paper on MLE (2001) or in
  UNESCOs 1953 or 1978 documents, this seems to be
  a very strong argument for emphasis on
  mother-tongue and bridge courses between the base
  and other languages in his/her contexts the
  regional and the national languages.

It is needless to mention here that in a global
economy, none will give up the advantages of
retaining an International language in the
education system.
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India The Spread of the problem

• One cannot, however, deny that there exists a
  problem which is a huge educational management
  problem.
• The Scheduled Tribes account for 67.76 millions
  representing 8.08 of our population (1991
  Census) The number is expected to be 88.8
  million in Census 2001 report.
• Out of them, 1.32 million (1.95) are classified
  as PTGs and they deserve our special attention.

We not only need special provisions for their
protection from social injustices, we also need
concrete plans for development with safeguards
Hence, a workshop of this magnitude. We at CIIL
strongly believe that 'to develop language is to
develop society, and that 'the destiny of the
people is inextricably linked to the destiny of
their languages
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What could we do in India?

• Many have a general feeling that we do not have a
  mechanism in place to protect and promote minor
  and endangered languages.
• The trouble is that they often point to small
  countries where Constitutional provisions and in
  Universal Education documents are specifically
  mentioned.
• In case of India, the sheer size of the country
  and complexity of the administration are such
  that it cannot be compared with others.

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RESPONSIBILITIES SHARED AND SCATTERED

• 5th 6th Sch, Article 224 Under Home Ministry
• Special representation for STs in Lok Sabha and
  Assemblies (Arts, 330, 332 and 334)
• Separate State-level and National Commission
  (Art 164 and 338) under the Ministry of Tribal
  Welfare
• Commission for Linguistic Minorities (Allahabad)
  under the Ministry of Social Justice
  Empowerment.
• Dept of Elementary Education as well as Language
  Bureau are under the Ministry of HRD

• Then there are -
• Grant-in-Aid scheme under Article 275(1)
• Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955
• The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989

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A lot more needs to be done

• Planning Commissions landmark step during 2nd
  Plan 43 Special Multi-purpose Tribal Blocks
  (SMPTBs)
• Under 4th Plan, six major projects in Andhra
  Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa to
  focus on the tribals.
• The Fifth Five Year Plan accommodated a Tribal
  Sub Plan (TSP) for direct benefit
• In 1987, the TRIFED was set up
• One could go on and on.

BUT WE ARE AWARE THAT ALL THESE ARE NOT ENOUGH?
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Points to ponder over

• We need to move for greater affirmative action so
  that we could arrest the endangered and heritage
  languages from disappearing.
• Many would raise the bogey of Cost-effectiveness
  the enorrmous sums required on printing,
  publishing, propagating and teaching smaller
  languages.
• But could we not think of making the
  documentation, learning and propagation easier
  and inexpensive, by promoting heritage language
  computing in a big way?

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What happens if we dont care?
... this vastly reduced reservoir of linguistic
diversity constitutes one of the great
treasures of humanity, an enormous store-house of
expressive power and profound understandings of
the universe. The loss of the hundreds of
languages that have already passed into history
is an intellectual catastrophe in every way
comparable in magnitude to the ecological
catastrophe we face today Each language still
spoken is fundamental to the personal, social and
- a key term in the discourse of indigenous
peoples - spiritual identity of its speakers.
They know that without these languages they would
be less than they are, and they are engaged in
the most urgent struggles to protect their
linguistic heritage. (Zepeda and Hill, 1991)  
Zepeda, O. and J.H. Hill, 1991. The Condition of
Native American Languages in the United States.
In R.H. Robins and E.M. Uhlenbeck, Robins
(editors). Endangered Languages. Oxford Berg
Publishers
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CIIL In Favour of Social and Linguistic Justice

• CIIL joins in all moves that support linguistic
  diversity the idea is to build up pressure for
  equality and justice to all speech communities
• Language rights ensure other rights and benefits.
• Linguistic Pluralism and Multilingual Education
  go hand in hand.
• A commitment like this engages us in dealing with
  both policy planners and groups that implement
  them the agents of change.
• What we need for that is greater networking a
  concept ingrained in our tradition already.

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Thank You
LET ME END WITH THIS GEOMETRICAL DESIGN OF
NETWORKING FROM A JAIN COSMOLOGY TEXT OF INDIA