LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 22:1 January 2022
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

Celebrate India!
Unity in Diversity!!

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Language Endangerment in India: An Overview

Dr. Arvind Kumar Gautam, Ph.D., NET

Introduction

India is considered to be a pluri-lingual and pluri-ethnic nation and has a great relevance of it. Unity in diversity is the most distinctive feature of Indian civilisation (Gaur, 2020). If we look from East to West and from North to South, we will notice that almost all the regions portray various cultures, traditions, customs, beliefs, and mother tongues. The study conducted by United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (2011) reveals the grave picture of the world’s languages which are extinct or are on the verge of extinction. This report provides the updated data of 2500 endangered languages of the world. According to this report out of 6000 existing languages in the world, 482 languages are unsafe, 577 languages are Critically endangered, 537 languages are severely endangered, 640 languages are definitely endangered, and 228 languages become extinct in the last three generations. According to this report (the Atlas from here on) India has the largest number of endangered languages in the world followed by United States of America (191) and Brazil (190) respectively. Currently 197 languages are endangered or on the way to extinction in India. Out of these, 81 languages are vulnerable, 62 definitely endangered, 7 severely endangered, 42 critically endangered and 5 languages are already extinct. Many linguists estimate that at the end of 21st century around half of the languages from the currently speaking 6000 languages will disappear (Atlas, 2011). Moore (2006) also projects that by the end of this century around 2500 languages will disappear, if necessary steps are not taken. These 197 endangered languages also include official languages like Manipuri and Bodo. According to a study conducted by Peoples Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) in the year 2013, around 780 languages are spoken in India and 86 different scripts are used. As per this report India has lost around 250 languages in the last five decades. (Devy, 2013).

Language endangerment is a very serious issue. Ancestral knowledge is passed down through its language, so when the language disappears, it may take with it important information about the early history of the community. Loss of any language is a loss to humanity. It is not only the loss of language itself, but it means the loss of the complete knowledge system; culture and heritage consisted in that language. Endangered languages are those languages which are in very less use or are not transferred to the next generation. In general term, language endangerment means either the speakers of the language are not alive, or they are not using that language in their day-to-day communication. Languages are dying every year and often a language’s death is recorded when the last known speaker dies. About 35 percent of languages in the world are currently losing their speakers or are more seriously endangered. Most of these have never been recorded and so would be lost forever. This paper highlights the state of language endangerment in India, position of endangered languages in different Indian states, governments initiatives to prevent and protect these languages. It will also try to find out the various reasons of language endangerment and the possible solutions of it.

Official Languages

As per census 2011, there are 1369 rationalized mother tongues and 270 identifiable Mother Tongues (comprising 123 mother tongues grouped under the Scheduled Languages and 147 mother tongues grouped under the Non-Scheduled Languages) and 22 schedule Languages spoken in India. These languages belong to mainly four language families namely Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, and Tibeto-Burmese. Among these languages, 15 languages belong to the Indo-Aryan language family, 1 from the Austro-Asiatic language family, 4 from the Dravidian language family and 2 from the Tibeto-Burmese language family

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Arvind Kumar Gautam, Ph.D., NET
Department of Linguistics
School of Languages
Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya
Sagar-470003, Madhya Pradesh
akumar@dhsgsu.edu.in
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