There was a news item that ten Indian Languages face extinction ,some being swallowed by the other Languages.
But these are dialects that are in vogue in Karnataka.
It is natural that a Dialect gets absorbed in a language over a period of time, if the Dialect does not attempt into evolving as a language.
This is in the hands of the people who speak the Dialect.
Unless people respect their mother tongue, even if it is a Dialect, the Dialect is bound to die.
The same phenomenon is likely to happen for the Languages of india if they, in their mad quest for aping English language and culture., right from asking children from age 3, to chant ‘Rain.Rain Go away’ in a Country where Rains are needed , or ‘Baba Black sheep,,,wool’, where the Sun scorches..
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According to the Census, Karnataka has 50 tribal languages, besides the speakers of 22 scheduled ones. In all, at least 72 languages are spoken in the state. The survey has examined and recorded 42 of the languages.
Karnataka is one of the few states with a variety of tongues. For instance, Varli language speakers, settled in Bijapur and Belgaum, number just 165, while Chenchu speakers, settled in Gulbarga and Yadgir districts account for only 470. Dakkhani Urdu took birth in Karnataka after the Mughals shifted their capital from Delhi to Devagiri. Experts vouch for the influence of Dakkhani Urdu on Sufism.
Linguists express concern that loss of a language is the loss of a knowledge system, life system and ecology. “All tribal languages are endangered. Due to the constraints, we couldn’t conduct field studies and record the status of all languages in the state. For instance, we have only recorded the grammatical structure of seven minority languages – Tulu, Kodava, Konkani, Dakkhani, Banjara, Sanketi and Beary. There are others like Tibetan,” said Prof HM Maheshwaraiah of Karnatak University, who is the editor of the volume on the languages of Karnataka” (times of India ,Aug 10, 2013)
There was a Report in the Times of India dated 28 August, 2013, quoting the People’s lInguistic Society,listing Indian cities with most languages being spoken, least spoken, and more data on these lines.
It lists Hindi as the most spoken language, followed by Telugu.
Seems correct.
The question arises where the report lists the languages along with the States they are spoken in, where the Data seems to be incorrect.
For Instance, Malayalam is shown as being spoken in Kerala, Tamilnadu;Kannada in Karnataka and Andhra:Tamil in Tamil Nadu. Puducherry,Andhra,Kerala.
What about Malayalam?Tamil/Kannada/Telugu being spoken in the other cities?
The report also lists that more languages are spoken in the North East.
Do they mean Dialects.?
For the survey have they collected data as ‘Mother Tongue’ or ‘the language spoken?’
There is a wide difference between the two concepts,
The study seems to suffer from a lot of inaccuracies.
When they speak of Hindi, which Hindi are they speaking about?
UP,Bihar,MP,Himachal Pradesh,Maharashtra,Hyderabad, Bangalore?
Please read the reports at their site.
Source:
Hi
Sir
Could you elaborate on antiquity of tulu and how old it is ? Does it have a script ,is it Grantha script .Is it older than malayalam ?
Shall write a detailed article shortly. Regards.