'Romi is a script, cannot be spoken'
What Konkani needs is a battery of welltrained, competent teachers,
not an additional script, writes
Kiran Budkuley
Of late, a lot of dust is being kicked up for an additional script for
Goa's official language Konkani. Those who demand official recognition
for Konkani in Roman (Romi) script, argue as though 'Romi Konkani'
were an independent dialect.
These misconceived arguments are based less on linguistic or cultural
facts and more on unscientific reasoning. For example, the
protagonists consider — as is evident from their oft-aired arguments —
that Devnagari is a 'Hindu script' and hold that there exists a 'Romi
Konkani' of the Christians as distinct from 'Devnagari Konkani'. While
it is true that a majority of those who write Konkani in the Romi
script are Christians, several illustrious non-Christian writers,
following the trend set by Shenoi Goembab, have also been using it.
Similarly, while almost all Goan Hindus write in the Devnagari script,
a large percent of Christians in the age group of 10-50 years, also
do. It is often argued (wrongly) that Christian children find it hard
to write in the Devnagari script, implying thereby that enmass, they
lack some faculty that their counterparts in other religions happen to
possess. Is the script of a language tied indelibly to the umbilical
chord of a certain faith?
We have been conveniently ignoring one fact: The level of
writing-competence among average students, in any script, depends
hugely (almost exclusively) on teaching-competence and not merely on
student-competence. So, what we presently need is a battery of
well-trained, competent Konkani teachers. Not an additional script.
Romi script protagonists also contend that it is an aspect of Goan
Christian culture. While one respects the sentiments of Christians who
believe that their dialectic variations of Konkani are distinct and
need to be preserved, one can not but laugh at the view expressed that
there is something called Romi Konkani that is 'spoken' by Christians.
The simple fact, is that 'Romi' is a term derived from 'Roman' to
denote a 'script' — a mode of writing. Further a 'script' cannot be
spoken by any one. Bardexi (Baardeshi?), Saxtti (Sashti), Antruzi
(Antruji) are some of the dialects of Konkani, recognized by linguists
and scholars. However, those who believe in the distinctness of
Christian variant(s) rightly want it to be preserved and passed to
posterity as a mark of their cultural exclusiveness.
But this 'exclusive' component comprises the Konkani lexicon. It finds
expression in the stylistic or grammatical mode of Konkani. It is used
in the day-to-day vocabulary, in the manner of speaking, and in the
pronunciation of words.
But it cannot be expressed in or through script. For instance, 'hem
oxem ghodta' can be also written as 'hen ashem ghadtta,' or even as
'hem oshem ghodtta'.
Script cannot ensure that what is written will be pronounced the way
it is intended by the writer; just as what is pronounced in a certain
way will be accurately captured in the script.
If the mere use of the Roman script could have brought in a perfect
coordination of sounds and spellings, then languages as diverse as
English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian would not have had nouns such as
'Don Quixote' written uniformly while being pronounced differently.
Conversely, why would they use different spellings/names for definite
names such as London/Panaji. Even the holy name of Christ is written
and pronounced differently while using an identical script.
The reason for these variations is not on account of any flaw in these
languages or in the script; it lies in the 'distinctness of the
linguistic and cultural context' of these European languages, in spite
of their use of a common Roman script.
Moreover, these examples show beyond doubt, that sounds associated
with alphabets of the Roman script, can and do vary from language to
language, as do the letters of the alphabet itself, even with regard
to native terms. Mere script does not give any cultural exclusiveness
to a language-culture group.
Devnagari script is acknowledged as near-perfect, particularly for
indigenous/native sounds and words. It is the most accommodative even
for non-indigenous or foreign sounds, due to a well-demarcated
consonantvowel-diphthongal structure ascribed within its alphabet
scheme which makes for consistent phonetic patterns.
In other words, the Devnagari script has a syllabicsound base to its
alphabet. Moreover, since this script is indigenous to the Indo-Aryan
languages, it can account for all the sounds native to Konkani, which
is also an Indo-Aryan language.
Fixing the native Konkani words and phonetics into the Romi script had
been a historical necessity for the European Christian missionaries
well-versed with the Konkani language. Their efforts to write in an
alien language by using the script of their own language (i.e.
Portuguese) are commendable. So is the worth of
