LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 11 : 5 May 2011
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.

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Mother Tongue and Linguistic Globalisation

M. K. Chand Raj, Ph.D.

Any Practical Use for the Mother Tongue?

In a globalised world, does the mother tongue have any significance? Is it not more practical to make use of a single language throughout the entire world? These are some pertinent questions arising from so many quarters nowadays. But there is ample evidence to prove that development of a country is closely associated with the development of its own language. In other words, a developed nation has its own developed language too.

Form and Function of Mother Tongue

Mother tongue is the medium of one's own inner thoughts and contemplations. Thought and language are interrelated. Hence for acquiring knowledge in a better and unambiguous way, the mother tongue is the best medium. It has been scientifically proved that assimilation of facts is easier through one's own language.

This is the major reason why the founders of nations gave importance to mother tongues while they contemplated the idea of sovereign state after saving their nations from the clutches of colonisation. Eminent personalities like Lenin, Mao Tse Tung and M. K. Gandhi were vehement advocates of mother tongue. They put emphasis on the use of mother tongue for all communications, administration and education.

Decline of mother tongue is a clear sign of the degradation of the society as a whole. If the mother tongue becomes insignificant, the self-esteem of the speakers will be affected adversely.

Death of Languages

The extinction of Cornish in England in the eighteenth century is an example of language death. Similarly so many ancient languages like Pictish, Etruscan, Gothic, etc., can be added to this list. Languages like Latin, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit can also be referred to as dead ones in this context. A good number of languages of Amerindian groups had vanished from the earth due to European colonisation.

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

M. K. Chand Raj, Ph.D.
President of Malayalasamithi
Sarangam, 6/1339
Thiruvananthapuram 695013
Keralam
India
sarangchand@yahoo.com
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