What's Causing The Erasure Of Santhali And Other Tribal Languages In India?
Thursday, June 16, 2016 |
| Santhali alphabets |
Introduction
There are
more than 6.5 million speakers of Santhali in India (0.63% of the population). Santhal
or Saontal tribe is recognized among the Scheduled Tribes of India. Santhali along
with Dogri, Bodo, and Maithili has been included in the list of official
languages of India with the 92nd Amendment Act to the 8th
Schedule of the Indian constitution. Santhal population is most concentrated in
Jharkhand and West Bengal along with a marginal population in Assam, Orissa,
and Bihar. Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan are also known to have minimal Santhal
population.
The
history of the Santhals can be traced back to Harappan civilization. For a
tribe and culture that has existed from pre-Aryan times, it is arcane indeed as
to why it had no script of its own up until the twentieth century. The Santhal
script is a relatively recent innovation of the 20th C as
Latin/Roman, Devanagari, and Bangla writing systems were used to transcribe
Santhali. The problem, however, with the Latin and other Indic scripts is that
they do not have all phonemes to represent the language of Santhali. The modern
Ol Chiki script was thus developed in 1925 by Pandit Raghunath Murmu, who is
also known as Guru Gomke in Santhali circles. “The Santhali script, or Ol Chiki,
is alphabetic, and does not share any of the syllabic properties of the other Indic
scripts such as Devanagari.”
Literature review
The aforementioned statistics and news
do not showcase the actual problem that this language is facing in the
contemporary times. The Santhali population is mostly concentrated in the Chota
Nagpur plateau which is presumably the most economically backward part of
India. While two-third of the total Santhali population solely depends on agriculture
for their livelihood, their situation is ameliorating with various governmental
aids and plans to their rescue. These developmental programs have led to the migration
of the Santhali people in search of jobs and a better standard of living to
cities like Kolkata, Ranchi and other major cities of this region. Consequently,
these people are gradually drawn away from their cultural and ethnic root along
with their language – as they have to use other languages such as Bengali,
Hindi, and Oriya for most of their work and business. This predicament is all
the more intensified for second generation learners and especially those born
in urban locations for the lack of any formal or cultural background of their
ethnicity or language present there. The reason for such a change is that the
learners are initiated in the English language in the classroom atmosphere,
when they do not actually have a proper foothold on their native language (L1).
Other languages, for instance Bengali, do not only serve as a means of communication
in home environment and public arenas but is also taught in schools as a second
or third language and are thus not facing any threat of extinction. English therefore,
in the case of Santhali, becomes a language of contention. Hence, the
question—is English empowering the marginalized or has it become a tool for
erasing cultures which have been bedrocks of civilization?
Study
Findings
Findings of the study conducted –
focusing on second generation Santhali learners pursuing their studies either
in school or colleges — suggest that second generation speakers are gradually
moving away from the language. The medium of instruction in schools is in
English language and other regional languages such as Hindi, Bengali or Oriya.
Thus, these young learners are introduced to a new language when they only have
minimal speaking proficiency in their L1. The learners rarely use L1 in their
homes and when they do, it is at a superficial level without delving into
intricacies of grammar, vocabulary, and other aspects of the language. This is
what triggers a lack of interest for the learner towards their L1 and they thus
slowly drift away from it. At this point, English language for them seems more
welcoming than any other language.
Another recent development in urban Santhali
society is that the language of instruction for a child at home would not be Santhali
but Hindi or Bengali or any other regional language. As a result, Santhali as a
language never actually becomes L1 for such an individual and it is to this
point that the child or the learner is initiated to the English language in
school which wipes away all that a learner knows about Santhali. According to Lenneberg
(1967), a language can be acquired only within a critical period which is
between infancy and extends till puberty. Thus, an individual is more likely to
not acquire L1, in this case – Santhali, if he is initiated into another
language - English. Thus, a competition of acquisition ensues between a well-structured
language and a marginally spoken fractured language.
Another major aspect which has led to
the waning of this language is that the existing speakers of Santhali language
have failed to preserve the rich heritage of the language and the culture. The
reason the speakers, particularly the younger generations, feel that the mere
usage of their language out of their household will be a humiliating
experience. Consequently, the usage of English language becomes a means for
garnering attention for these young learners. There is a possibility that if
two or more unfamiliar speakers of this language meet at a certain location
perchance, they would most likely not converse in their mother tongue. The cause of this humiliation can be
explained when lived experiences of Santhal people are brought to light. For
ages, they have been subordinated to other dominant groups of people and have
been subject to constant indignation.
Conclusion
The Santhali language faces desertion
and probably extinction in near future if the current attitudes of neglect by
the government and the native speakers persist. It poses a very bleak future for this
ethnicity. An immediate reversal of the state of affairs is required so that a
rich cultural heritage is preserved and, more importantly, a tribal identity is
re-instilled. Santhali as a second or third language should be introduced to
stop the drift from this language whose origin can be found in the
Austro-Asiatic family. The mere usage and training of Santhali in a home
environment would only be a fractured development and an individual can only achieve
speaking proficiency. Moreover with the migration and other developmental
processes of the Santhals, the language is garnering no popularity and each
generation is just moving away from the language resulting in illiteracy in
their mother tongue. The learners are
robbed of their mother tongue and it is replaced by English so much so that these
learners are not proficient in speaking.
In some cases, they even formulate their ideas in English rather than
their L1. This phenomenon does not take
place for other dominant ethnicities of the region, for instance, young Bengali
speakers can formulate their thoughts in their own language as well as in English.
The object of this study is neither to
discourage the promotion of the English language nor to undermine the
contribution and importance of this language in the alleviation of the backward
classes of the society.
Recommendations
The significance of this Santhali
language and other tribal languages is stressed by Nityananda Hembram who says
that “historians must turn their attention now towards these people who have
kept this ancient language alive, and thus have preserved the continuity of the
ancient language” (Hembram, 1982p. 24). There is an urgent need to safeguard
this culture and language, for in it and through it, we trace the history of
mankind. The problems that tribal languages and the learners of these tribal
languages face can be redressed by multi-lingual education. Andhra Pradesh and
Orissa have already introduced multi-lingual education wherein the learners’
mother tongue becomes a bridge to learning L2. An excerpt from a newspaper
article reads, “According to
experts, Santhali speaking children of Dumka and Pakur, Ho speaking children of
West Singhbhum, Mundari speaking children of Khunti and Kudukh speaking
children of Gumla could learn very fast if the medium of education is their mother
tongue. The process can be started on a pilot basis if it cannot be implemented
at the same time. Thus, Santhali or any other tribal language would
serve as a catalyst for the learners to acquire other languages as well. Not
introducing minority languages in the school curriculum robs the learners of
the opportunity to pursue their own mother tongue and may lead to the death of such
languages and literatures in the near future.
Ol Chiki script should be encouraged
within the public and academic circles and other scripts such as Indic and
Roman should be abandoned. The problem at present is that even in institutions
of higher education wherein Santhali is a scholarly discipline, the students or
researchers are required to submit their theses in the roman script and not the
Ol Chiki script.
Moreover,
there should be robust awareness campaigns in schools and other education
institutions which make the young Santhals understand the richness of their
culture and language. Tribal languages should be promoted in the public circles
so that it gains recognition and is no more reduced to a mode of humiliation.
The promotion of the language would not happen without encouraging literatures
of these languages which include folk tales, songs, and binties (traditional
prayers) into the school curriculum. These campaigns should especially be
directed towards the younger generation so that they serve as an inclusive
force in the preservation of the tribal languages.
—Samy Victor Marandi is a postgraduate student of English
at EFLU, Lucknow. He did his graduation from Calcutta University and his
schooling was in Kolkata, West Bengal. His family is originally from Jharkhand
and belongs to the Santhal tribe. His interests in academics include cultural
studies, English theater, and cinema.
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