Language in South Asia –
diversity & endangerment
Anju Saxena
Göteborg University/
Uppsala University
presentation outline
(1) South Asia: geography and linguistic situation
(2) Language diversity and endangerment in South Asia
Complicating factors:
„ multilingualism is a part of the South Asian
tradition
„ unclear census figures
„ insufficient language descriptions
(3) What is happening today?
South Asia
(a.k.a. the Indian subcontinent)
500–1000 languages
Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
Bengali
Dzongkha
2 official lgs: Hindi and
English + 22 national lgs
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Dhivehi
Nepali
Urdu and English
Sinhala and Tamil
Several of the official languages of other
South Asian countries are also national
languages of India:
Bengali (Bangladesh)
Nepali (Nepal)
Tamil (Sri Lanka)
Urdu (Pakistan)
Language families
„
„
„
„
„
Indo-European (Indo-Aryan and Iranian
branches + English)
Dravidian
Sino-Tibetan (the Tibeto-Burman branch)
Austro-Asiatic (both the Munda and MonKhmer branches)
+ language isolates (the Andamanese
languages, Burushaski, Nihali, Kusunda and
possibly some other languages)
Language families in India (source: Central Institute of Indian Languages)
Great diversity 1: no of speakers
Language family
% speakers in
population
Indo-European
(Indo-Aryan,
Iranian)
80.4% (78.7%+1.7%)
Dravidian
17.5%
Tibeto-Burman
1.2%
Austro-Asiatic
0.9%
Great diversity 2: no of speakers
18 major lgs vs. other languages in India
(1991 census)
18 scheduled (i.e., national) lgs
96.29%
96 non-scheduled languages (the
figure also includes 0.07% who
speak “other languages” defined as
those languages which have less
than 10,000 speakers)
3.17%
Great diversity 3: regional
variation
A
B
Major
lg
Minor
lg 1
Minor
lg 2
Others
Kerala
96.6
2.1
0.3
1.0
Punjab
92.2
7.3
0.1
0.4
Gujarat
91.5
2.9
1.7
3.9
Arunachal
Pradesh
19.9
9.4
8.2
62.5
Nagaland
14.0
12.6
11.4
52.0
Importantly, these are
APPROXIMATIONS
No exact information about
• the number of languages, and
• the number of speakers of a particular
language
Some contributing factors:
(i) dialect continua;
(ii) multilingualism;
(iii) incomplete census data;
(iv) inadequate language descriptions and
linguistic surveys
Multilingualism: long tradition
spanning three millenia
-
Societal multilingualism, e.g. language use in the life of a
businessman in Mumbai:
“His mother tongue is Gujarati. He lives in Mumbai [where
Marathi is the dominant language]. How many languages
do you think he uses in a day? In order to buy vegetables,
he uses a colloquial variety of Marathi with the vegetable
seller, then he travels by Metro to go into the city. As many
ticketsellers are Anglo-Indians [and not Gujarati or Marathi
speakers] he talks to them in colloquial Hindi. In
connection with his business he comes in contact with
people who speak Gujarati, Kacchi and Konkani. He
communicates with them in these languages. He is
educated enough to read English newspapers, and in the
evenings he watches Hindi films on TV with his family.”
Consequences:
1. Contact-induced changes
”India as a linguistic area”
2. Language shift
A case study Language
contact: Sangla Valley, Kinnaur
Spoken in each village:
- Kinnauri
- Harijan boli
- Ores
Focus here:
Kinnauri and Harijan boli
Population:
Kinnauri: 48 778 (1991 census)
Harijan boli: 6 331 in Kinnaur (1998, Ethnologue)
6 331 includes all non-Kinnauri languages of this district
Genetic relationships
Sino-Tibetan
Tibeto-Burman
Himalayish
Tibeto-Kinnauri
West Himalayish
Indo-European
Kinnauri
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Northern zone
Western Pahari
Harijan boli
Previous work on these languages
Kinnauri: Some work on Lower Kinnauri
Harijan boli: None to date
Linguistic convergence contd.
Interesting patterns in kinship terms
Gloss
Harijan
Kinnauri
Comment
younger brother
p. uncle
m. uncle
mother
p. uncle’s wife
brother
oldest brother
baits
gato bapu
muma
ma
gato ma
ate
teg ate
bhai+-ts
tsa:ts (Kc, Kt), P. cacca
ma:m (Koci, Kotgarhi) Sk. mamàh
ama (Tinani)
tsats (Koci, kotgarhi)
Possibly a kinnauri loanword
big[Indic]-brother[?Kinnauri]
mother’s sister
noro bau
bapu
mama
ma
ma-ts
ate
badote
/bado ate
mausre
mas :i (Koci, Kotgarhi), Sk. matuhsvasa
grandmother(p.,m.)
api
amni-ts,
mats
api
grandfather(p., m.)
tete
tete
àbi (Tod), àp (Tinani), àpa (Patani)
dad: ‘father’s mother’ (Kc, Kotgarhi)
tete (Darmiya, Tinani), da:d ‘father’s
father, elder brother’ (Koci, Kotgarhi)
Both languages becoming more similar to each other:
Vigesimal counting system
Gloss
1
2
5
10
11
20
(20+1)
(20+3)
(20+11)
2x20+1
2x20+10
100
2x100
Kinnauri
d
ns
a
s
sihd
niza
nizo d
nizo sum
nizo sihd
nisnizo d
nisnizo ry
ra
ns ra
Harijan
ek
dui
panch
das
gyarah
eisa
eisa ek
eisa trawn
eisa gyarah
dweesa ek
dweesa das
raah
dui raah
Vs.
Koci, Kotgarhi (IA)
e:k
dui (Sk. d(u)ve, Pa. Pk. duve)
pa:ndz (Sk. panca)
ds (Sk. daSa)
g:ra (Pk. egarasa, Sk. ekadaSa)
bi (Kc, Kt)
tej, tej bi:
pdza (Sk. pancaSat)
S: (Sk. Satam)
Cultural convergence
Common festivals:
•
Phulaich,
•
Phaguli
Village god: Shri Naranji
Some observations about the “caste system” in this region
• Classical Vedic caste system: Brahmins, Ksatriya, Vaisya, Sudra and ontouchables
• Interesting application of this caste system in this region:
Kinnauris (TB) as Rajputs (thus, Ksatriyas in the traditional caste system), and
Harijans (IA) as Scheduled castes (thus, Shudra/untouchables in the traditional system)
• Symbolic
One language = One culture?
Stable multilingualism in
modern times?
„
Drastic changes in socio-cultural spheres in
recent times
Increasing bilingualism: Rate of bilingualism
(concerning the 114 lgs named in the census)
1961 census
9.7%
1991 census
19.44%
About the census figures:
Positive that there is a census every 10
year in India (since 1881)
but
„ language data are self-reported
„ all languages with less than 10,000
speakers are classified under the
heading “Other”
„
Linguistic descriptions, surveys?
„
„
„
„
The only reliable survey till date is
Grierson’s Linguistic survey of India
(1887-1907)
several attempts since then
some descriptions of some lgs available
many languages and linguistic
situations undocumented and
undescribed
A case in point: Kinnaur
„
„
„
vast geographical area
If we concentrate our attention on
Kinnauri, a lot of “dialectal” variation
no comparative work done
Kinnauri: Dialectal variation
Gloss
mother
father
daughter
woman
food
morning
day
come
Chitkul
ama
au
ačɪ
mɔrɪŋmi
kɔn
čʰaŋmo
Sangla
ama
bɔba
čɪmed
tsʰɛtss
kʰɔu
sɔm
niri
tɔŋ
laye
bannu
What’s happening today?
The “success story” of Santhali
„ languages in Jharkhand:
„ Indo-Aryan (e.g. Sadari, Hindi, Bengali)
„ Dravidian (Kurux, Malto)
„ Austro-Asiatic (e.g. Mundari, Ho, Santhali)
„ Hindi and English are dominant lgs
„ Two opposing trends:
(i) promoting English
(ii) promoting some lesser-known languages – in
particular Santhali – of this region, e.g. as a subject in
schools and in University; newpapers
Other activities
„
„
„
A new linguistic survey is launched in
India
Nepal has introduced new regulations
which, at least in principle, promote
other languages than Nepali
Language documentation at various
places in India, Nepal and Bhutan
(financed by national & international
agencies)
International efforts
„
„
„
„
„
CNRS (Lacito Archive)
Uppsala/Gothenburg
Vienna
Bern
projects in Australia, USA and Germany
among others
To conclude,
there is a need to consolidate our efforts
in describing and documenting these
lesser-known languages so that they no
longer remain lesser-known