Countries with a high level of linguistic diversity face a serious challenge in the coming decades: How can small languages thrive if speakers gravitate toward using dominant languages instead of their own ancestral tongues? Bolanle Arokoyo, a Nigerian linguist based at the University of Ilorin in Nigeria, said of her country “Nigeria has about 500 languages, most of which are affected by local and global languages,” she notes. “The loss of a language translates into the loss of an entire system of knowledge, communication, and beliefs—hence the need for revitalizing Nigerian languages.” The same is applicable to India a linguistically remarkably diverse country.
The New Education Policy hopes to address that issue. It mandates education in the Mother Tongue up to Class V. Not all are happy with that mandate especially those who are comfortable in the dominant language, but most parents are. for the simple reason, that the onus of teaching the rich culture and heritage of their mother tongue will now lie with the schools and not with them. They are happy for that and linguists are happy because traditional languages will survive and grow.
The youth of the country do so want to learn and propagate but are afraid for their future depends on the dominant language of an English-speaking world created by Britain when it dominated the world for a long time. Take for example this statement, made to NK+ “My grandmom, she went to school during the boarding schools and she was whipped for knowing her language…so she didn’t want her kids to grow up like that, so she didn’t teach them at all.” Another youth said, “it’s important that I speak the language, it gives me pride, but it’s not the language of the corporate world, what can I do?”
Therefore, children have lost their identity; they do not know where they belong. They cannot speak in their Mother Tongue – Either they do not know it well enough or they are restricted by the environment They just go with the flow, which is not good for the future.
Which brings us to our own native Tulu (connected with water) Language, the language of the Tuluvas, the original inhabitants of coastal Karnataka from Kasaragod to Kundapura. Their language gave the geographical area its name Tulunadu. Around 3 million speak the language across the world. Robert Caldwell, in his pioneering work A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages, called this language “peculiar and very interesting”. According to him, “Tulu is one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family. It looks as if it had been cultivated for its own sake.”
Today, people speak it but its script has died and it is written using the Kannada Script. The various medieval inscriptions of Tulu from the 15th century is in the Tulu script. Two Tulu epics named Sri Bhagavato and Kaveri from the 17th century was also written in the same script. However, in modern times the Tulu language is mostly written using the Kannada script, and its culture passed on through oral literature like the epics of Siri and the legend of Koti and Chennayya.
Tulu is not an official language of India. Efforts are being made to include Tulu to the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. Since 2009, lots of efforts have gone into including Tulu as an official language in the Constitution, but the efforts have so far not borne fruit. The most recent effort was when, on 19 February 2020, Mangaluru (south) MLA Vedavyas Kamath, submitted a memorandum to chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, and minister for tourism, Kannada, and culture CT Ravi, seeking an official status for Tulu language.
But the best way to revive it is by the involvement of the youth. They must show interest. Language nests – small language incubators for children that began in New Zealand built around fun and activity – which can be handled by youth who speak the language fluently is one way of reviving it. Radio, Television, and online interactive learning is another. In all of these, youth can play an active role. Then there is music, theatre, and art. All of which can go a long way in keeping the Tulu language alive and interesting.
