By Dr Omarlin Kyndiah
The mother tongue is not only relevant but also important in today’s world. Today, people across the world express great love for their respective mother tongues. A century earlier, some sections of the people might not have realized the relevance and importance of their mother tongue. Some of them had even switched over to the language of the dominant group/s. For instance, English had been the dominant language in Wales. Most Welsh people particularly in South Wales, had even adopted English as their mother tongue. But, there is a resurgence of Welsh nationalism; and the preservation and promotion of their Celtic language is one of their important political agenda.
It is pertinent to mention the Welsh experience here because when the Welsh missionaries came to the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, they realised the relevance and importance of imparting their religious teachings in the mother tongue of the local people by reducing their spoken language into a written language in Roman script. Earlier the Baptist missionaries from Serampore too had attempted to put the Khasi language into a written form, in Bengali script. This is how the Khasi language developed. Prior to that there were different Khasi dialects which were not reduced into written form. From among these dialects, the Sohra dialect was preferred by the missionaries to adopt as a Standard Khasi language. According to the H Roberts in his “A Grammar of Khasi Language” (1891), the dialects of Cherrapoonjee (Sohra) was taken as the standard, because it is the purest, as universally acknowledged by the natives, besides being more amenable to the systematic arrangement. The Standard Khasi Language has reached a stage for recognition by the Sahitya Akademi and inclusion in the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
In North East India, there are many tribal dialects which have been reduced into a written language in the Roman script by the missionaries working in the hills. Not only the tribal dialects; the missionaries had also contributed in the growth and development of non-tribal languages such as the Assamese language. In North East India, preservation of the cultural and linguistic identity of any given ethnic group had gained momentum because of the emergence of forces that promote ‘cultural assimilation’. Article 29 guarantees protection of interest of minorities having a distinct language with a right to conserve the same. This is yet to be fully implemented. In addition, Article 350A provides adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minorities. But this provision also remains only a declared intention of the Indian State so far as many local languages are yet to be introduced at the primary stage of education. One classic case is that of the Jaintia language. It is because of this, the Jaintias have exerted themselves in translating their spoken language into a written language which leads to the formation of Association of Jaintia writers called Ka Sein I Ktien Wei Thoh Jaintia in 1975.
Historically, Pnar has been by far the most important language. Many describe Pnar as a dialect or variety of Khasi (Grierson, 1904 & Bareh, 1977, etc). However, Karl Heinz Grussner (2004) in his article, Khasi: a minority language of NE India; from an unwritten to a written language” acknowledged that Pnar may be a language in its own right. Lexico- statistical studies show that Pnar has the highest intersection with the lexicon of the other Khasian branch of Austro-Asiatic language (War, Standard Khasi, and Lyngngam). In addition to lexico-statistical differences, Pnar, War, S. Khasi and Lyngngam (PKWL) also show differences in their phonetics, grammatical morphology, and typology. Linguist Anne Daladier argued that these differences are an indication that PWKL was probably spoken in different locations of the Assam corridor before they grouped in Meghalaya. Another young Linguist Hiram Ring in his paper, “A phonetic description and phenomic analysis of Jowai-Pnar” mentioned that, “Pnar and Khasi do share a significant portion of their culture and certain lexical items, but Pnar is distinct linguistically and it is reported that there is low mutual intelligibility between the languages.”
Several research works by both national and international linguists on Pnar language have been published in both national and international journals. Few researchers are worth mentioning. These are KS Nagaraja, Hamlet Bareh, C Bareh, Narayan Kumar Choudhury, Mankular Gashnga, Paul Sidwell, Simon Green Hill and Anne Daladier and Hiram Ring. Sadly, very little research on Pnar language has since been carried out in our very own North Eastern Hill University (NEHU). While acknowledging the contributions of all these researchers on Pnar language, much more scope is left for our own researchers for the development of the Pnar language.
Though orthography for Pnar is in use in some literatures, but there is a lack of standardisation. Spoken languages have dialects- from varying geographical areas and social groups. In Jaintia Hills District there exist fourteen dialect areas. These are Nartiang, Nongjngi, Nongbah, Mynso, Shilliang Myntang, Shangpung, Raliang, Jowai, Rymbai, Sutnga, Nongkhlieh, Lakadong, Narpuh and Saipung (Daladier 2011). Standardisation is a tool of language promotion and strengthening cultural integrity. In 2011, UNESCO’s Atlas of the World Languages in Danger had listed Khasi as susceptible, but Jaintia is more likely to be in danger, since it is not standardised and used as language instruction in education.
At this point, it is relevant to mention here that Ka Sein I Ktien Wei Thoh Jaintia under the leadership of former Vice Chancellor of North Eastern Hill University, Professor (Late) B Pakem on August 08, 1975 adopted the Jaintia alphabets in Roman Script. However, his untimely death left the work incomplete. This year, we are celebrating the 45th year of adoption of Jaintia alphabets. Unfortunately, very few are aware of this historical background of the Jaintia alphabets. At this moment, therefore, the question arises as to what should be done to perpetuate the Jaintia script? Who should carry forward the unfinished task of its completion? Is it not a duty on our part to raise the status of our spoken language into that of a written language?
The time has come now for Jaintia scholars and intellectuals to come forward to raise the standard of our spoken language into a written language. This will help to preserve and promote our rich cultural heritage and also increase the literacy rate of Jaintia Hills. Mr. Humphrey Hadem, the then Community Development Minister, Government of Meghalaya while addressing the Annual Session of ‘Ka Sein I Ktien Wei Thoh Jaintia’ at Jowai pleaded for having a separate written language for Pnar in order to preserve their rich cultural heritage, customs and their identity (Shillong Times April 24, 1982).
The Jaintia Hill Autonomous District Council (JHADC) vide Notification No. JHADC/SID/6/2016/21 dated 25th January 2017 had formed the Jaintia Alphabet Committee. The report of the Sub-committee under the Chairmanship of Prof PM Passah was submitted in July 2018. Two years since the Committee submitted its report to the JHADC, no further action has been taken. The main contention to demand a separate Autonomous Council for Jaintia Hills is the non-uniformity in the administration of the two sub-division of Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills and also to act as a custodian of the culture, language, customs, laws, and the land. The functioning and performance of the Council from its inception is not up to the expectations of the people. This has caused a feeling of mistrust and lack of confidence in the Council and its continuance as the custodian of the culture, customs and traditions and ethnicity of the Jaintias at large. Lack of understanding on the part of the Council members, who are mostly businessmen and entrepreneurs, on the need to raise the standard of our mother tongue into that of a written language could be the reason for the delay to study the report.
Language issues are the heart of quality education for all. It is essential that children entering formal education have an opportunity to use their own mother tongue. The National Policy on Education, 1968 spoke about the regional language and the Three Language Formula. This was reiterated in the Education Policy, 1986 and was adopted as a Programme of Action by the Parliament in 1992. Recently, the BJP Government had approved the New Education Policy 2020 — a vision document to guide India’s education blueprint for coming years. The policy lays emphasis on learning in the mother tongue. It states, “Wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language, mother tongue, local language, or the regional language”.
Sadly, in the North East India context, we have not been able to achieve what has been guaranteed by the Constitution of India so far as the question of mother tongue is concern. We have come a long way from the Resolution adopted by Ka Sein I Ktien Wei Thoh Jaintia and the initiative of the Jaintia Hill Autonomous District Council. The aspiration of the Jaintias to see that their spoken language is raised to the standard of a written language remains in the court of the JHADC. Perhaps, it is time that the Council also takes up additional responsibilities, because our language is more relevant and important than anything else in the present day world.
(Email: [email protected])