Non-standardization of Konkani and use of Roman script for Konkani

- By Wilberious Evanglist D'Souza, Udupi district, Karnataka

Let us examine why Konkani survives albeit in many dialects, despite the fact that the Konkani linguistic community (encompassing all who speak any of the many dialects of Konkani) is just 0.5% of the Indian population, sparsely scattered all over India and abroad just like scattered dots on a large canvass. They are divided into three religious denominations viz. Christians, Muslims and Hindus. For many centuries they were concentrated at Goa, till part of the Konkani linguistic community spread to the state of Karnataka.

The primary reason why each one of the many groups of Konkani linguistic community speaks a different dialect of Konkani, is the passionate love for one's mother tongue. That is why it is alive today in many of its dialectal forms.

For each member of a dialectal group of Konkani linguistic community, that dialect one speaks at home, is one's mother tongue. No other dialect of Konkani, would be considered as one's mother tongue. With apologies to Rev. Dr Alexander D'Souza, Ex-President of Konkani Sahitya Academy of Karnataka, a standardi-zation of many dialects of Konkani will not bring about the development of one single Konkani language but shall only create one more dialect. He refers to the Goan system as a model for introduction of Konkani in schools of South Kanara District and Udupi District of Karnataka as an optional language. This utterly disre-gards the fact that of the whole area of the Konkani linguistic community, only Goa has adopted Konkani as the state language, that too after Konkani was recognized as an independent language, and schools were estab-lished with Konkani as medium of instruction in 1992. Even then the number of such schools has steadily dwindled and are dwindling owing to lack of students and reluctance of Konkanis to learn Konkani as a language. So, over-enthusiastically attempting to take such a step in Karnataka, is not only a precocious one but also a waste of Government grants/patrons' donations.

Why is it so? English is the language of the world we live in today. Love, passionate longing make people indulge in wishful thinking that one's mother tongue will attain the pinnacle of literary glory, which is not at all realistic. For sheer survival, professional success, acquisition of knowledge and its application in order to ensure one a comfortable life, one chooses English and not any of the scores of mother tongues/dialects each of which is spoken by a limited number of persons. Here Konkani in its varied dialectal forms, or even with the standardization as proposed by many a representative of self-styled Konkani organizations, fails miserably.

Today everyone performs the exercise of cost/benefit analysis before accepting any proposition or option, or even before buying an article. Here standardization of teaching Konkani as an optional subject in South Kanara or Udupi schools, fails to entice students and their parents. The self-styled protagonists of Konkani fail to understand a major point of fact which is stated below:

Linguistically, Konkani community may be equated to a flower garden. Just as in a garden there are flowers of varying colour, fragrance, size, even genus of stench, each has a place of relevance and importance in that garden. That is why it is a flower garden. If one of the flowers, say rose, claims that it is the only genuine flower and the rest are all spurious it is absurd or idiotic. So are different dialects of Konkani. None or no section/clan of the Konkani Community can claim that the dialect of Konkani that he/she speaks is genuine one and others are spurious. Just as a garden that contains only rose plants or a single variety of flower plants, becomes not a garden but a commercial plantation, which will deprive that garden its aesthetic beauty. Or to put it differently, different dialects of Konkani may be compared to branches of a large tree i.e. Konkani. No branch can claim that it is the only legitimate one and the others are illegitimate. It is absurd and obscene as it casts aspersion on the mother tree by one of its children. How ignominious and deplorable that is! Therefore, all dialects of Konkani are to be respected and promoted since any attempts to standardize are bound to fail. Hence, the Konkani linguistic community is to be nurtured as a floral garden and not by standardization as attempting to plant a commercial plantation.

Despite this disheartening note, I am confident Konkani will continue to exist as long as Konkanis continue to speak it, in its varied dialectal forms and shall continue to exist as a flower garden, provided the same appreciation, affection, and passionate love by Konkanis to their varied dialectal mother tongue continues. Let it be a warning to over-enthusiastic protagonists of standardization of Konkani, that a commercial plantation shall neither have aesthetic appeal nor induce the passionate love, a feeling or a sense of belonging which has ensured Konkani's survival in spite of adverse times in the past and even today. If one is genuinely interested in promoting Konkani as a flower garden here is a proposition which all are welcome to read. Further, even if Konkani is going to be disseminated as a flower garden, or by any chance as a standardized dispensation, still the script has to be Roman and not any other. These are the reasons that prompt me to say so:

1. Roman script is universal and has been the script used for communication in most of the major languages of the world.

2. Roman script is easily decipherable, and persons here as well as outside India will be able to decipher and understand Konkani in its various dialectal forms world over, and it can be used in e-mail messages and other means of communication with greater ease than in any other script. It is easy to read and write.

3. Roman script has characters formed by simple straight lines and simple uncomplicated loops, which, makes it facile to decipher, read, understand and write. In fact Roman script was used with modifications by Fr Angelus Francis Xavier Maffei who compiled the first English to Konkani dictionary in Roman Script with marginal variations in 1883. The dictionary is in its 3rd reprint, and is still readily and easily available in the market, published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi. Konkani scholars could improve it, and lexicographers further augment the entries to cope with newer words and usages that are continuously employed by the language.

4. Further, if a group of persons having knowledge of Roman script as well as a few other scripts are asked to identify and read a board containing information written in Roman Script, and the same in any other script, from a distance of about 25 feet having characters of say 3 inches in size, the reader will find it easier to read the board written in Roman script than in any other script.

5. Here also let me state with all humility, Konkani albeit in its various dialectal forms, survives for many centuries only because every dialectal denomination of Konkani linguistic community is so attached to and passionately in love with his dialect of Konkani, that he speaks it as his mother tongue. No compulsion from any academy or one of the many Konkani organizations mushrooming about the place, could bring this about. Let us recall the case of exemplary, standardized languages which, have failed to survive as languages. Fancy the common people trying to speak one of the exemplary languages like Sanskrit or Latin today as a language of common parlance! Sanskrit today mostly survives as the liturgical language of Hinduism, and is of interest to a few scholars pursuing it academically. Latin and Greek survive only as the classical languages of ancient literature. Let us consider a very recent example of our national language Hindi. Today it does not exist in its standard form but in its scores of modifications. Let us examine Kannada, despite standardization scores of Kannada dialects thrive and still are progressing.

6. The disparity amongst various dialects of Konkani is so poignant that a standardization will result in another official dialect which, will not be the mother tongue of any of the denominations of 'Konkani linguistic community' and is bound to be rejected however lofty the motive of the drafters of standardi-zation or protagonists of standardization. It is very important to accept the fact that Konkani survives in various forms of its dialects only because those who speak these dialects which, I collectively call "Konkani linguistic community", have attachment and affection to each of the dialects as their mother tongue and none else, let alone a standardized version, or another dialect can occupy the place of exclusivity of mother tongue and earn endearment and affection. When all of us realise this naked truth, one will be convinced, that it is worthwhile to establish a Konkani TV satellite Channel as conceived by me which will recognize Konkani linguistic community as a flower garden and promote it as a flower garden instead of forcibly converting it into a commercial plantation depriving it of its aesthetic beauty and appeal. Any such attempt in many a language has failed e.g. Kannada, despite standardi-zation the various dialects of it still survive and are spoken as they are mother tongues by those who speak them, and the mother tongue can never be standardized.

7. Despite the fact that Hindi is the stated national language, de facto the language of India is English with Hindi and others co-existing. It is revealed by a survey that India has one of the largest populations of English speaking people of the world, and produces more books and periodicals in English than most other countries in the world. Indian advance-ment in technical and other fields has been possible mainly because Indians learn and study mathema-tics, sciences and other subjects in English.