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advt
One speaker survives with her language:
Will she live to pass the language to the next generation?
by Smita Magar
Kathmandu, Dec 28, 2007-Nepal, a country with so much diversity in culture, language and faith has paid the high price with the off-putting nature of the government monopolistic policies for 239 years in the name of creating ‘unity in diversity’. Whether a Rana regime or a Panchayat system, the Hindunization process with the concept of one language, one dress, and one religion has resulted in the endangerment of cultural identities of many of the Nepalese indigenous peoples.
Language being the most prominent factor of culture in society, defining the communities’ cultural values, distinct cultural activities and the hidden art of living with nature, has suffered most in those 239 years of Hindunization process.
Due to this, at the moment many indigenous languages are on the verge of extinction.
Dura language is one example. The language of the Dura ethnic group, who mostly reside in Lamjung district of Nepal, is the most critically endangered of all the indigenous languages because it has only one surviving speaker.
Soma Devi Dura, now blind, deaf and 82 years old, is the only surviving speaker of Dura language. “If something happens to her not only will we lose Dura language forever but we will also lose the most essential element of Dura culture,” says Nepalese linguist Prof. Madhav Prasad Pokharel.
“A few years ago a student belonging to Dura ethnic group came and asked me if there were any speakers of Dura language,” added Prof. Pokharel emphasizing the pitiable condition of Dura language.
“Sadly, we do not have sponsors for publishing of the research book on our language,” says Kishor Dura, President of Dura Seva Samaj. He further voiced “We are on the verge of losing our identity with the loss of our language and yet no one seems to be sensitive enough to realize the fact that with our language lost, we will lose the cultural values it carries for our community.”
Examining this seriously challenging situation, Nepalese linguists express their concerns over the urgent need for preservation and promotion of critically endangered indigenous languages like Dura language.
“Language is the symbol of identity so when a language is lost a culture is heavily affected and that is most likely to bring ethnic identity crisis and a biodiversity loss,” says Chief of Central Department of Linguistics of Tribhuvan University, Dr. Yogendra Prasad Yadava. “Therefore to preserve the centuries of ethnic values, culture and history of Dura community we need to give top priority in preserving its dying language,” he adds.
Kedar Bilash Nagila who did his thesis on Dura language and is now doing a Ph.D. on the same language says, “If Dura language is not revitalized, not only Dura will face the danger of loss of culture but will also fail to register themselves as an indigenous group of Nepal according to Government criteria which requires a distinct language to be an indigenous group.”
Although there is only one speaker of the language, linguists agree that the revitalization of Dura language is challenging but not impossible. “Indigenous communities are growing more sensitive about their language and government is being serious in implementing its policies to preserve and promote languages so while the job is very challenging it can be achieved with a new generation of speakers,” says Yadava. “The most important key to language revitalization”, he said, “is developing a new generation of speakers. There must be inter-generational transmission of language to preserve and promote it,” he says.
“We have been given one more chance to save Dura language through Soma Debi Dura, so everyone, community, linguists, government and related international and national language organizations need to give high priority to revitalizing the language” says Prof. Pokharel. “We have to learned words and sentences from her and teach the scholars of Dura language so they in turn can teach the new generation of this community,” says Prof. Pokharel.
“We are very corncerned about the critical situation of Dura language,” says Secretary Member of National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities, Lok Bahadur Thapa Magar. “We are ready to do anything that can be done within our power to protect this dying language. At the moment we are talking with both the researcher and Dura Seva Samaj. Once technical problems are solved we will bring Soma Debi Dura to Kathmandu and then with some necessary instruments for communicating with her we will begin to document the language,” he added.
“But this is not going to be enough to protect the language,” Thapa says, “the concerned community’s representatives, linguists, researchers and community itself have to concentrate on its preservation.”
“Approximately 1,500 words and 250 sentences have been found so far in Dura language” stated President Dura of Dura Seva Samaj. “With these our communities children are learning the language.”
According to Dr. Yadava, the 12 most widely spoken languages in the country account for about 96 percent of the country’s population, while more than 70 indigenous languages account for just 4 percent of the country’s people. That means nearly 80 percent of indigenous languages are facing endangerment. “The major reasons for indigenous languages being on the verge of extinction is lack of use. There is no writing system and minor language speakers are mostly using to Nepali (Khas-edit.) language,” says Dr. Yadava.
Also critically endangered are the Kushunda, Walung, Kaike languages, etc.
It is hoped that there will be sufficient effort on the part of concerned groups, government and community to revive the language that has already been declared ‘a dead language’ and yet has found a ray of hope in its last speaker, Soma Debi Dura.
Let the dark days of 239 unconstructive years that dominated and caused the endangerment of precious indigenous languages which carry the knowledge and values of communities be overcome by high-speed plans to preserve, promote and protect all other indigenous languages along with Dura language.
Our Special Contributor/Representative Smita Magar is an intern at The Kathmandu Post (Kantipur Publication) in Kathmandu. She can be reached at: Tel: +977-984-160-0316, or email her at: smagar@gmail.com. To read her blog visit: http://www.smitazcorner.blogspot.com
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