Joseph Zuzarte
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The proponents of the different types of Konkani should take a look at
the English language. Every year the language keeps growing by the
simple process of adding new words from other languages, including
regular incorporations from Hindi and other Indian languages.
So words like bazaar, tamasha etc have been added to the English
lexicon, besides words from other languages which are spoken by a large
number of people in between their English. Soon a Konkani word might
even become officially English. Which will that Konkani word be? And
will it then be outlawed from Konkani proper? Some of our swear words
are already popular with the regular foreign visitors.
Consider this list of English words borrowed from Hindi: Cummerbund
(Hindustani kamarband) meaning waist-belt; chintz (Hindi chint) meaning
spotted cotton cloth; dacoit (Hindi dakait) meaning robber; sorbet
(Hindustani sherbet) meaning a refreshing drink; jungle (Jangal) meaning
forest; loot meaning plunder; khaki meaning dust-cloured cloth; lakh and
crore; sepoy (sipahi); durbar (darbar) and countless other words like
chutney, durrie.
Besides, there are also words from other Indian langauges.
Mongoose, the killer of snakes and rats, got its English name from the
Marathi word mangus. The English words coir and betel have come up
from the Malayalam words kayer and vettila, while curry and cheroot
have their origins in Tamil words kari and shuruttu.
Like with other languages, Konkani, too has a chequered history. As the
proponents of the various types of Konkani prove so easily, there are a
number of different types of Konkani all along the west coast of
India, right from the Gujarat coast, down through Maharashtra, Goa,
Karnataka and Kerala.
It is the language of the Konkan people, the west coast of India being
known as the Konkan coast. However, this long Konkan coast has been
part of different kingdoms at different times because of geographical
and historical factors.
So the language of the Konkan people has evolved differently at
different places over the centuries. Even the scripts used are
considerably different. What cannot be denied is that all the different
types of Konkani are recognisably Konkani. What also cannot be denied
is that Konkani -- like English -- has also absorbed a number of words
from other languages.
So today you have some recognisably broad types of Konkani which have
been separately influenced by Portuguese, Marathi and Kannada. English
words like solid, fast, etc., are also loosely used in Konkani of
late (sample: kiden fast cholta; samko solid aha).
There are also the various types of Kokani spoken by the tribals like
gawdas, kunbis and other communities, all of them with a very distinct
identity. With English it is the people behind the Oxford English
Dictionary -- the Bible of the English language -- who scrutinise
language usage in newspapers, books, and other popular media, to sift
through new words and to determine which new words are to be added to
English.
They also decide on which old words are no longer in usage and should
therefore be dropped from the Oxford Dictionary. This endeavour ahs
been going on for around 600 years, initially funded by the British
royalty.
A similar thing happens in the U.S., which has its American-English
(now bundled in Windows), the Wenster Dictionary being the bench-mark.
Who decides which is a Konkani word and which is not?
At the moment there is no clear authority which is
accepted across all sections of the Konkani-speaking
diaspora.
The Konkani taught in schools and colleges is largely irrelevant.
Therefore, each type of Konkani has its own adherents, advocates and
authorities, who not only swear by their brand of Konkani but also by
the script which is most convenient to them (and which may be most
inconvenient to the others).
There are a number of factors which have bound themselves with what is
essentially a means of communication. Thus, each types of Konkani has
come to represent a certain cultural ethos, regional identity and even
political aspirations.
Throw is some politicians to stir up the cauldron, and you have a very
potent, emotive issue.
There has always been a clear divide within Goa between the types of
Konkani spoken by the Hindus and the Catholics, though there are also,
obviously, a lot of similarities. But the language issue has always
been politicised.
In the early years after Liberation there were strong moves by
interested parties to declare Konkani as a dialect of Marathi and to
merge Goa with Maharashtra. But a historic opinion poll in the 1960's
put paid to that move, and Goa retained its separate identity.
Then the Konkani agitation in the 1980's helped make Konkani the
official language of Goa, probably rightly so. So there is now the
movement for official recognition of the Konkani written in the Roman
script.
That should help rectify the present