Small tributaries carry water from the basin to a river just like the way minor linguistic varieties contribute to the major regional languages. In both the cases, the varieties and differences get intermingled with each other while paving their ways through a new trench. The terrarian elevation, slope, and settlements remain crucial in determining the rest of the course of[Read More…]
The eleven volume report has submitted recently by the official language Committee headed by Home Minister to President Droupadi Murmu. The report has recommended to replace English with Hindi as India’s official national language. Union home minister Amit Shah has supported this recommendation by urging people from different state to communicate with each other in Hindi instead of English. This[Read More…]
Recently Amit Shah, the home minister brought up the issue of Hindi to act as a link language among people speaking different languages in states. There was also a discussion in social media between Kannada actor Sudeep and Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan. The point made by Ajay Devgan was that Hindi is a national language implying (though un-stated) that it[Read More…]
These days there is a lot of enthusiasm in progressive liberal circles about the powerful presence of dissent in Indian traditional thought.Accompanied by head-shaking about the pernicious effect of Anglophilia and dominance of the Engish language in academic circles. Inordinately nettled at the saffron camp’s repression of liberal thinking in the name of pristine Indian tradition and at its hostile[Read More…]
When the British ordered the exclusive use of the Nagari script in school in 1880 to meet a Hindu demand in the state of Bihar, the Muslims howled. The Hindi-Urdu duel in the end exploded into Hindu-Muslim war. In free India, Hindi gained the national stature as a symbol of Hindu pride and spread nationwide like wildfire, partly thanks to[Read More…]
Pankaj Pushkar in conversation with Pramod Ranjan Pankaj Pushar: What has been your relationship with languages during your educational journey? How do you relate to different languages? Which language(s) do you use in your different activities? Pramod Ranjan: I was born into a family which spoke the Magahi language. I spent my childhood at my maternal grandparents’ place. My Nana’s[Read More…]
Not long ago, streets and roads of primary importance in significant parts of Delhi were subjected to a rampant, incessant renaming spree. The Akbar Road, for instance, an iconic road in Central Delhi was renamed Maharana Pratap road overnight. The given reason- the inglorious past of the Mughal and British figures in comparison with the shining history of the Hindu[Read More…]
“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” Rita Mae Brown The words that we weave each day, with the flavour of our thoughts, become the defining factor of our individuality. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that language is the flagship of human civilization, an[Read More…]
Scientific pursuit, struggles in the arena of production, and class-war making language dynamic and rich is related to the issues of the world around – nature and processes in nature, dialectics, basis and super structures and relation between these, power and powerlessness, class and class struggle. Whatever individual contribution in the universe of language is made, it’s ultimately the product[Read More…]
On the eve of February 21, International Mother Language Day, the afternoon was sunny, windless and frozen. The sun came up after a two-day winter snow storm. The snow was melting and I bundled up and decided to walk along the trails in my neighborhood to get a few minutes of sun. Above me the sunlight was pouring its yellow light[Read More…]
Why is Gondi – spoken by 2.7 million officially and 20 million unofficially – is not included in the Eighth Schedule? But Sanskrit not spoken in any part of India is included in the 8th Schedule? Possibly because the former is a Black’s language and the latter a White’s one! Another important reason: Gonds venerate Ravan as their Raja, God[Read More…]
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My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
