The making of this country owes largely to the language of the land. In fact, language-inspired nationalism guided its people to their liberation from colonial rule. After 44 years of its independence, therefore, the mother tongue Bangla should have coursed through very powerfully. In terms of population size speaking the language, it is the fourth largest in the world. So on this count too, Bangla should have by now earned an enviable position among languages. Sadly, linguists lament that the language has not only failed to earn the elevated place it should have but also shown signs of decay and adulteration.
Some rightly call it language pollution. Decline of language manifests itself in myriad ways all across the social spectra. Today, the young generation is adept in handling wonder gadgets that were beyond dreams a couple of decades ago. Their technological skill however has not been ably matched by their proficiency in language. Today nations are getting divided into categories of computer-literate or illiterate. But even unlettered people here like their counterparts anywhere else have mastered use of the other modern gadget called cell phone, albeit not learning to do so very accurately.
Now these two categories cannot but share the blame for using polluted Bangla. The dialect of a particular geographic area is different from others and an illiterate person cannot be blamed much for sticking to it. But when it comes to communication with others on the national level, there is a need for using standard language. People not educated enough are not expected to correctly master such an accepted form but at least they know how to make their language understandable to others not familiar with the local or regional dialect.
For educated ones though it is simply unpardonable not to get over the regional dialect and master the generally acceptable form. When the beauty of language is missed, it refers to cultural retrogression. Language is but a vital part of a people's tradition and culture. Sure enough, all languages have undergone radical changes. The language of the time of "Charyapad", when the mother tongue of this part of the world attained the earliest known excellence in history, is poles apart from today's Bangla. Similarly, language of the British Isle today is Greek to an Englishman or woman. But in the past, language has always changed for the better because practitioners of languages were driven by overflowing love and passion to use those to perfection.
Today, the impression is that there is a rush for thoughtlessly changing words, sometimes for the sake of brevity, and interpolating English and Hindi words in a sentence. As if the stock of Bangla words is very poor. By doing so, a segment of young people even want to prove themselves smarter than the rest of society. Yet another horrible trend is to write Bangla with English alphabets. This is rape of language. Neither the users have learned their mother tongue properly nor have they known how to acquire a foreign language like English.
Rabindranath in his inimitable style describes how dangerous this can be. Citing his encounter during his visit to England with an immigrant Bangalee who had been living there for decades, he highlights the mockery. The man excused himself for not learning Bangla in a foreign land so he begged to start his conversation in English. Rabindranath retorted that he could follow English. When the man finished, Tagore told that there was no wrong in his forgetting his mother tongue abroad but then what explanation is there for not learning English properly!
The FM (frequency modulation) radios and twitter or facebook members are in particular developing a hybrid or cocktail language. Uncultured and devoid of any aesthetic sense, this is a ruffian type of language. They may be practical but essentially their promotion is indirectly causing enormous harm to their mother tongue. In the same way they are not learning English as a second language properly. Entrapped in the maze of gizmos they develop an equally complicated set of language to the neglect of studying and exploring the beauty of their mother tongue.
Now this is a serious loss for a country. Languages do perish -some because the last of the tribe goes to the grave with the knowledge and skill of that particular language or because the language has not developed enough to give it a written form and the practitioners of the language learn a different language for their livelihoods. For a country giving the world the International Mother Language Day, the situation is yet to be so precarious but it surely is a disgrace that it has as yet failed to produce textbooks for science, medicine, botany, zoology, genetics, pharmacy and various technologies at the level of higher studies. If the trend of using English and Hindi words in a sentence continues during a conversation, the language will never really come up with proper vocabularies. Gradually, the language is sure to lose its relevance to life and livelihoods and it will be deprived of vibrancy.
A living language requires collective efforts to give it vitality and sustenance. Even politics with its notorious and healthy culture leaves its impact on language. It is a total cultural package on which the robustness of a language depends. Admittedly, it has been a long journey from the 1952 Language Movement but after the 1971 war and independence, the nation has failed to live up to the expectation so far as its excellence in mother tongue is concerned.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
