When Ane becomes mama and Aba is papa:
By. Nani Kojin
The situation of Apatani Language and its sustenance reached to such extent that movement short of an initiative is needed for its preservation by means of speaking and literary activities. The main target group of this movement is the new generation Apatanees so that our Apatani language flourishes in the future.
The steady declines in the use of our mother-tongue Apatani by the Apatanees have been observed since the last few years. As of now, it is seen that more than 80% of our young generation, irrespective of whether they live in urban or rural areas, are unable or hardly able to communicate in their own mother tongue. I have visited various villages in the home land of Apatani, Ziro, and other places where the Apatanees dwell. It has come upon me that my own mother-tongue, the Apatani language, is in a dying stage; that it is now becoming an endangered language.
The most regrettable part of it is that many parents, knowingly or unknowingly, are imparting distorted use of the language to their unsuspecting children. For example, ‘Ane’ means mother, ‘Aba’ means father, ‘Ayo’ means grand mother and ‘Ato’ means grand father in Apatani language. Instead of these, many parents now-a-days teach their children that ‘Mummy/Mama’ means mother, ‘Ane’ means grand mother, ‘Papa/daddy’ means father and ‘Aba’ means grand father! As a result, the very loving and affectionate words ‘Ato’ and ‘Ayo’ go unused or missing from the vocabulary of most of the young generation.
Indeed, the plight of our mother tongue pains me and hounds my mind all the time so much that I feel compelled to do something for its preservation for the sake of our future generations. The decline of our mother tongue started at a fast pace and within the last one or two generations. Interestingly, it had happened within half a century after education started in the Apatani valley in the early 1950s. I belong to the first generation of educated people from the valley. If this trend goes unchecked, the grand children or the great grandchildren of my generation will neither be able to communicate in Apatani language nor understand it as our children can not speak the language. In other words, during our life time our grand and great grand children will surely blame us for not teaching them our mother tongue, if not they laugh at us when we speak with them in Apatani language. The saying goes: better late than never!
Therefore, I have made a humble beginning towards this by discussing the matter with a number of families that have small children. In the opinion of the participants of these discussions the factors mainly responsible for the non-use of the language by the present generation children are:
1. Employing non-Apatani ‘ayas’ to look after children.
2. Having non-Apatani neighbors and friends around the children.
3. Having children from tender age live in hostels where Apatani is not spoken.
4. Families residing in non-Apatani settlement areas etc.
My observation and experience tell me that although the above four factors may have contributed to the present situation, they are not the main causes for it. The main reason for children not using Apatani language for conversations lies with parents, particularly with mothers who normally spend the maximum time with children for one reason or the other.
No environment or force can stop children from speaking in their mother-tongue if parents speak with them regularly in mother tongue from birth to at least till them reach class-V in school or are 10 years old irrespective of their response. Parents tend to switch over from mother tongue to the language of the children’s choice when they fail to get a satisfying response for their queries in mother tongue. Such acts of giving up the mother tongue and following the language of children’s choice for the sake of eliciting a satisfying response from them greatly contribute to discouraging children from communicating in their mother tongue.
My reasons for disagreeing with above four reasons are:
1. There are children who can speak good Apatani language in spite of them having lived in boarding schools where no one spoke Apatani right from Nursery classes/ from the age of 3 or 4. It was possible because their parents, especially mothers, spoke with them regularly in Apatani when they came home on vacations.
2. There are Apatani families residing in other states where their children are born and brought up. These children, however, are able to speak good Apatani language as the language is constantly used at home among the family.
3. There are many non-Apatani people, including children, who have learned to speak the Apatani language well. But many Apatani children do not speak the language because they are fond of speaking in other languages. They overlook the language without any valid reason, if not then willfully neglect it. Perhaps, communicating in any language other than one’s mother tongue is considered a ‘fashion’ by the children. I am not against any particular language. But it has become a necessity to stand up for our mother tongue. You and I can not be passive onlookers when our mother-tongue is dying in front of our own eyes, can we? We all know that learning many languages gives a person more advantages in this modern world, particularly our big brothers languages. So, one may learn as many languages as possible. But it should not be at the cost of our own mother- tongue.
Suggestions:
1. Parents should talk in Apatani language to their children right from infancy to at least till they can speak the language properly.
2. Try to speak in Apatani to Apatani speakers unless it is necessary to speak in another language.
3. We should not mind if non-Apatani people speak our language.
4. Apatani language has been introduced as third language at least in Government schools in Ziro valley. If possible, private schools may also introduce Apatani as third language. Management of all the schools and educational institutions, both government and private, may encourage popularization of the language by showing keen interest in it.
5. Organize activities in Apatani such as essay writing, debate and short story witting competition etc. using Roman script as our language does not have its own script. These activities should not be left only to the educational institutions alone. NGOs and other such voluntary organizations also should take up such activities.
6. Every Apatani family should take a pledge that they would enable their children to know and speak the Apatani language. By doing so the parents will make their children feel proud of being an Apatani. Knowing one’s own mother tongue is essential as well as it is beautiful.
Since it is an initiative as trendsetter, we welcome right from an individual to organization to join with the mission or initiate different method which one feel better. As it has no time frame, movement has to go on and on generation to come.
Preservation of the mother tongue has become a necessity not only for the Apatani people but also for the people of all the other community/tribes of our state. So, I wish, there would be more an individual or organization coming up in other parts of the state to initiate the job.
Lastly, I do sincerely appeal to all our brothers and sisters to join hands with us so that together we can make a humble effort to preserve our endangered mother tongue before it is too late so that our future generations may not blame us.
It may be mentioned here that with the death of last member of Boro and Boa, two Greater Andamanese tribes, their culture, languages, history and wisdom also vanished. Apatani language may face the same fate soon.
Further, experts say that as many as 196 languages in India are on the threshold of extinction today. According to a UNESCO source, the world loses one language in every 14 days. This means, in less than 100 years the human civilization will be bereft of more than half of its 7,000 languages!
“Preserve your language to preserve your culture”
and
“Preserve your culture to preserve your identity”
(The author is chairman of Nani Sala Foundation)
