Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:07:28 +0530 From: Tony de Sa <tonyde...@gmail.com> To: "Goa's Premiere Mailing List, Estd 1994" <goanet@lists.goanet.org> Subject: Re: [Goanet] Konkani Verse Message-ID: <capsceg859q6lbs+jkdkppzn39tqed8caehggtblhgpvd6to...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Professor Borges: RESPONSE: I hope this time at least you are serious. Else, please spare the abuses. Thanks. Script and dialect are happy hunting grounds for some people. But no luck here, I'm afraid! Both these words have been in existence simultaneously and for a very very long time. "Mhalgoddo put" is found in the Bible at many places, e.g. Lk. 2:7 - "Ani tinnem aplea mhalgoddea putak zolm dilo." Let us thank the Lord for preserving this term at least in his Word, albeit by dropping the H i.e as "malgoddo".! "Mhalgoddo"?is not exactly the same as "mhalvot". "Mhalvot is used exclusively for the "first-born" whereas "mhalgoddo" means "elder".?Senior persons in a "group" are referred to as "mhalgodde" but never as "mhalvot". The latter term would mean "first-born son" even without "put". But with "mhalgoddo" you must add "put"?just as in "the elder son". For corroboration of this, please see Dr. Olivinho Gomes' "Konkani Manasagangotri - An Anthology of Early Konkani Literature."? In the Glossary at p. 332, you will find?the following: Mhalgoddo = vhoddlo = elder.? Mhalvot = pirayen vhoddlo?= eldest child.? Mhalvotponn = mhalvotachi sthiti = primogeniture. You will also find on p. 251 para 2, that "mhalvot" is used twice but without "put". And this is from "Vonvaleancho Mollo" by Miguel de Almeida sj published in 1658-59. This shows that these words were very much prevalent in Goan Konkani when the Portuguese arrived here,?but have fallen into disuse over the past four centuries. Through the influence of the Portuguese language, "mhalvot" was replaced by "morgado." Some people even believe that "mhalgoddo" is a corruption of the Portuguese "morgado"! This is not an exception.? Hundreds of vocables from the Konkani lexicon have thus been lost. In earlier centuries this erosion was restricted mainly to the cities, with the rural population remaining faithful to the soil. But now, with the spread of English education, the?rate?has increased. Anyone trying to retrieve some of the losses is frowned upon; the words being dubbed imports from Marathi since they are "not intelligible to a large segment of Goan society."?or NITALSOGS. You could ascertain the truth of the above statement by just recalling the Prayers that you learnt in your childhood and checking how many of them are not commonly used by that "segment" today. So, if at all?we are to stem the?tide and retrieve a part of our heritage, we have to begin with little children before they imbibe the foreign equivalents of true Konkani words.?Else, in a short while from now, we shall have added many more words to the NITALSOGS?category. It is not essential that the child's parents must know the?meaning of each of those words beforehand; it is the function of the teacher, not parent, to make the child comprehend. Considering the above, I do not think you are serious when you say, "Let us first standardize." Regards, Sebastian Borges?? WHAT I HAVE TO SAY: Thank you for that very elaborate and erudite reply. As for the Konkani language goes, I am a 'nennar' as far as these intense linguistic studies go. I have sufficient command of the Konkani language to communicate and to go about my business as any other citizen. Since, this is not my area of primary interest I have not delved as deeply as you have in the subject. Also as my prime language of communication (I am not saying mother tongue, lest I be thrown in the outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth by the BBSM) I have not read as deeply as you have. If you feel that English has eroded the Konkani linguistic base, then that is the natural process of evolution. Survival of the fittest. Any organism or any entity which is not strong and fit enough to survive will perish. If Konkani has lost to English in some ways it has also gained in another way wherein English words have been adopted by Konkani. Should there be puritanism in languages too? Well you don't have to go to the good book for that one. Just take a good look around you and smell the coffee! Why are you such a doubting Thomas that you should question/ doubt my intentions when I made the comment I did? I am prepared to learn from anybody without fear, favour or prejudice. -- "Tony de Sa" < tonydesa at gmail dot com>