Dynamics & politics of Nepali language


JAINENDRA JEEVAN

Be they real or perceived or fabricated, language related disputes and controversies are always emotionally charging. History is witness to several instances of intentional discrimination against or systematic killing of languages pursued and practiced by colonial masters, parochial native rulers and dictatorial regimes. In neighboring erstwhile East Pakistan sheer discrimination against the Bengali speaking majority and their language by the then West Pakistani rulers gave birth to a bloody mass uprising that brought a new nation, Bangladesh, to dawn. Another neighbor, the protectorate state of Bhutan, has gone one step further- the Jonkha rulers there have been systematically executing their plan to annihilate Nepali language, mother tongue of half of its population.

On the other hand, what is equally true is that accusations of linguistic discrimination are often tools used by politicians to achieve their political objectives; they are frequently invented, concocted and exaggerated by politicians and ethno-linguistic lobby groups to serve their divisive politics. In our country too some people have been raising controversies with regard to the place of Nepali language vis-à-vis various regional/local languages; they have been blaming the state for its ‘discriminatory’ policies and practices in favor of Nepali, ever since the nation was unified, as sole reason for its expansion. However, this is not true. For, had this been true, Nepali would never have been the lingua franca or mother language - both natural and adopted - of all Nepali communities living outside Nepal. Sikkim, Darjeeling, Bhutan, Assam, Manipur, Dehradun, Myanmar and several recent destinations of Nepali Diasporas are all cases in point. There were/are no ‘Khas monopolists’ as rulers to impose Nepali language in those places/countries. Or are there?

There were/ are no ‘Khas monopolists’ as rulers to impose Nepali language outside Nepal.In fact, the truth is that in many cases language, according to its strength, finds its own place irrespective of the wishes of the rulers or conquerors. English language conquered the world not only because the Englishmen conquered the world more than any other colonizers did; it is true that the British reached or conquered almost all continents where they promoted their language while the French were confined to Indo-China and North & Central Africa and the Spaniards were limited to South America. But, it is also equally true that English is the most marketable of all languages as it is the treasure of every wisdom from arts to commerce to science to international diplomacy to internet. During the second half of the 20th century people were attracted to learn Japanese and Arabic; the attraction has switched to Chinese these days. The reason, those were/are the most marketable language after English.

Same principle applies to Nepali language as well. In Nepal, Nepali is the number 1 language not only because the unifiers and rulers of the nation were Nepali speakers who allegedly promoted the language, or not only because it is the mother tongue of the majority ( over 48 percent of the population), but also because it offers better prospects of market than any other language spoken within the country. Furthermore, it is the (only) lingua-franca of the whole Nepali race, whether within the boundaries of Nepal or outside, as no two Nepali having different mother tongues can communicate between them without speaking Nepali.

Countries like Canada, where 70 percent speak English and 30 percent French, are officially bilingual; similarly, countries like Malaysia, where 65 percent speak Malay, 26 percent Chinese and 8 percent Tamil, are officially trilingual. Nepal cannot adopt those models as we don’t have just a few blocks of bigger linguistic communities the way they have. We have hundreds of small groups who speak their own language and who demand that their language be made official, thanks to the populism of our politicians. Maithali, the language that trails as number 2 after Nepali, is spoken by only two ninths of the Nepali speaking population. The fact is that, for reasons of gaps and asymmetry, no other language is in a position to replace Nepali. Because of the ethno-linguistic mosaic and the population mix that we have, we cannot copy even the Indian ‘trilingual formula’ based on federal states formed along linguistic lines.

Yes, all languages spoken within Nepal are our proud heritage; they are valued assets of our nation and our civilization and as such deserve conservation and protection. States should never discriminate for and against any language. But, despite the noblest of intentions states alone cannot save weaker languages from extinction - this is reality, albeit painful. Certainly, we can do more and we should. To start with, we can add the use of local languages in all local level government correspondence; we can encourage the use of those languages as medium of teaching in schools as much as possible and feasible. And of course, without much politicking we should explore other areas of use to promote local languages on a sustainable basis.

jeevan1952@hotmail.com

source:myrepublica.com