Does Konkani's timeline begin only in 1939? Is this just a selective rendering of history? Isn't the word "hurdles" a loaded one (implying that there people or issues deliberately blocking the path of progress of the language)?
If there indeed were "hurdles", can we pause to ask whether there has been something in the way the Konkani protagonists promoted the language which gave rise to these "hurdles" (the current infighting over scripts, use of Konkani as an 'entry-barrier', the exclusionary use of languages in Goa, the overlap of caste-and-communal issues with language in Goa, and the successful attempts to use language as a means of cornering government largess... one can draw some hints from here)? And shouldn't we also be discussing the love-hate relationship between the colonial rulers (including Portuguese administrators and missionaries) and Konkani? It would seem that the history of languages in Goa (not just Konkani alone) is much more complex than various groups are now trying to make it out to be. FN > 21st Century Hurdles in The Progress of Konkani > > By Uday Bhembre > > A timeline traces the use of Konkani, the official language of Goa, - > in the Devnagiri script. > > Konkani was being written in five scripts, namely, Devanagari, Kannada, > Malayalam, Roman and Arabic. These five scripts created five islands. There > was no communication among these islands. Publishing books was not > economically viable. > > Year 1939: The first Konkani Parishad was held in Karwar on July 8. A > few visionary leaders from Karnataka took the initiative. > Representatives of the Konkani-speaking community came together for the > first time to deliberate the future of their language. One of the > resolutions passed at the conference appealed to the entire > Konkani-speaking community to converge on Devanagari script as the > common script for all regions.... -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Independent Journalist | http://fn.swiki.net Goa, India | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ----------------------------------------------------------