TRIBAL LANGUAGES IN INDIA – (1/4)

​Tribal Languages in India – Part I 

Introduction

India, as we all know is a land full of diversity – different cultures, faiths, lifestyle, traditions, rituals etc. are all interwoven, that makes it a vibrant nation. As you traverse the region, you will meet an entirely different set of communities with each passing kilometre. And as this popular adage in Hindi goes –

“Every two miles the water doth change, and every four the dialect”.

As per the census, tribal people make up about 8.2 percent of the nation’s total population. This diversity extends to languages as well. A survey done by passionate linguistics has established that there exist about 1635 native languages (of which about 197 are classified as between endangered and vulnerable by UNESCO). Yes! This might be unbelievable to some but the vastness this country holds make others believe in it.

Noam Chomsky, the world renowned linguist once said, “A Language is the Mirror of the Mind”. It is only in a language that we find our lives, our stories, our ancestors and our future too. Tribal Languages, therefore are universally significant and are languages of the earth containing ecological, geographical, and climatic information.

When come to think of different dialects prevalent in India, we can easily divide them into five major language families starting from the first civilization of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Andamanese, and Austro-Asiatic. However, for a better understanding of the tribal region segregation, it is best to have a look at the regions where tribal population inhabits. Therefore, a quick glance at the Indian map will divide the nation into five major belts namely –

1. The Himalayan Belt: This region consists of states that are nick-named as seven sisters (North Eastern States–Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura) along with Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
2. Central Indian Belt: Over half of the population lives in this belt and states that come into this region are Bihar, Odisha (Orissa), West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
3. Western Indian Belt: This region consists of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa, Gujarat, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
4. The Dravidian Belt: Primarily, it’s the South Indian region and it starts from Karnataka to Kerala from one end and from Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu at the other.
5. The Islands: Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

For a better understanding of the regions, refer to the map below –

Words will fall short if I start covering each tribal language separately. So, below find the names of various languages spoken by different Indian tribes as per their family –

• Indo-Aryan Family: The languages spoken by inhabitants of this family are following –

 

Name of the Language	Region Spoken
Baigani	Chhattisgarh
Bhili	Gujarat& Rajasthan
Chakma	Bengal & Assam
Dhanki	Gujarat, Rajasthan & Maharashtra
Dhundhari	Rajasthan
Garasia	Gujarat & Rajasthan
Gujjari	Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Delhi
Hajong	Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
Harauti	Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh
Halbi	Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh
Jaunsari	Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh
Khotta	West Bengal
Kokni	Gujarat, Rajasthan
Kotwalia	Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat
Thar	Rajasthan
Lamani	Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal
Magahi	Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal
Mavchi	Gujarat, Maharashtra
Nimari	Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra
Rathi	Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra
Tharu	Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal
Wagri	Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh
Warli	Maharashtra, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli

 

• Tibeto-Burman Family: Language spoken by this part of region includes mainly –

 

Name of the Language	Region Spoken
AdiAshing	Arunachal Pradesh
Apatani	Arunachal Pradesh
Ao	Nagaland
Balti	Kashmir
Dafla	Arunachal Pradesh
Bodo	Assam
Bhotia	Uttarakhand
Chiru	Manipur, Nagaland
Deori	Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
Duhlian-Twang	Mizoram
Gangte	Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam
Hmar	Mizoram, Manipur, Assam
Hualngo	Mizoram
Koireng	Manipur
Konyak	Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland
Lahauli	Himachal Pradesh
Mara	Mizoram
Lushai	Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland
Mishing	Assam
Monpa	Arunachal Pradesh
Naga	Nagaland
Sherdukpen	Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
Paite	Manipur
Rengma	Nagaland
Sajalong	Arunachal Pradesh
Singpho	Arunachal Pradesh, Assam
Tagin	Assam
Vaiphei	Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura
Wancho	Nagaland
Zakhring	Arunachal Pradesh
Zou	Manipur

 

 

• Dravidian Family: The languages spoken by this family are –

 

Name of the Language	Region Spoken
Dhurwa	Chhattisgarh
Gondi	Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh
Koraga	Karnataka, Kerala
Kodagu	Karnataka
Kolami	Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra
Koya	Andhra Pradesh, Odisha
Kui	Odisha
Kuvi	Odisha
Kurukh	Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh
Maria	Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh
Naiki	Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra
Parji	Madhya Pradesh
Pengo	Odisha
Tulu	Karnataka, Kerala
Yerukula	Andhra Pradesh

 

• Austro-Asiatic Family – The not-so-famous tribal language spoken by the members of this family include –

 

Name of the Language	Region Spoken
Asuri	Jharkhand
Bondo	Odisha
Juang	Odisha
Ho	Jharkhand, Odisha
Kharia	Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Assam, Tripura
Korku	Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra
Kurmi	Maharashtra
Korwa	Chhattisgarh
Lodha	West Bengal, Odisha
Mundari	Jharkhand
Nicobarese	Nicobar Islands
Savara	Andhra Pradesh
Santali	Jharkhand, Assam, Odisha, Tripura, West Bengal, Assam
Shompen	Andaman & Nicobar Islands

 

• Andamanese Family: If you were looking for ancient aboriginal tribe, come to Andamans. The endangered tribe lives in misery, yet managed to survive all odds.

 

Name of the Language	Region Spoken
Jarawa	Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Santinelese	North Sentinel Island – Andaman
Onge	Andaman Islands

This was just an indicative list as there are many more languages prevalent. With this, the first part of Introduction comes to close. In Part II of this four part series, I will cover The Importance of Tribal Languages.

TRIBAL LANGUAGES IN INDIA – THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVING  (2/4)

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language that goes to his heart.”

Nelson Mandela

Cultural Diversity, we all have heard this term before but have we actually given a thought to what really constitutes this diversity? So, cultural diversity or multiculturalism refers to a group of individuals belonging to diverse cultures and societies. This cultural diversity takes into account religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity and language. Of all, it is the linguistic diversitywhich is the benchmark of cultural diversity and if we lose a language, we lose the knowledge of that language and culture. As languages are repositories of history, they are the perfect expression of identity.

Once it is lost, the entire cultural diversity prevalent in that language will also be lost. In 2010, India suffered a huge loss with the death of Boa Sr. She was the last speaker of one of Andaman’s ancient tribal languages – Bo. With her death, came the extinction of the Bo language which is thought to date back to pre-Neolithic human settlement of South-east Asia. Thus, a unique part of human society will be preserved in memories because the loss of a language means loss of humanity.

Boa Sr, the last living legend of the Bo Language died in 2010

Why Preservation of Tribal Languages Is Essential?

We all know what distinguishes us from the animals is our language – the faculty of speech which we possess but they don’t. David Crystal, the renowned British linguist says: “Just like biological species, multiplicity of languages amounts to diversity and that language is an expression of identity.” Therefore, tribal languages are significant due to the following reasons:

• Cultural Transmission:

Language can be referred to as a critical means without which the passage of people’s experiences through generations is not possible. Furthermore, it is the language that facilitates the transmission of culture and makes it a vehicle for storing and transmitting from one generation to another. Now, you must be wondering how this cultural knowledge (read language) is transmitted? Since time immemorial, India had followed the teacher-pupil tradition (known as Guru-Shishya Pratha) where the teacher used to narrate a text and the pupil used to repeat it aloud. For a better understanding, they used fables, proverbs, stories, idioms, sayings, songs and riddles in their text. Even today, the same practice is followed by the tribal community and the knowledge is transmitted either vertical or horizontal. Therefore, cultural experiences can be accumulated in three ways namely:

1. Over the years, the tribes have developed a unique indigenous knowledge system by interacting with the members of the society and their milieu. Consequently, this led to thriving of the knowledge environment.
2. This continuous interaction has led to the evolution of customs within their society. This is why we see that each tribal community has its own set of traditional practices and beliefs.
3. As we traverse along any tribal region, we experience that they believe in having a link with the supernatural world (they worship a special deity) and defines ancestry as a people’s way of life.

• Identity:

It is language that distinguishes one ethnic community from another. It is an important tool for mapping out the geographical identity of the speaker particularly in a crisis situation. For instance, to identify the number of native speakers ‘left’, it becomes important that the person enumerating it is fully conversant in that particular language. With it, the exact number of native speakers can be established and agencies like UNESCO can list the particular tribal language under safe or endangered category.

• Socialization:

You all must be aware of the popular saying by the legendary Greek philosopher Aristotle: “Man is by nature a social animal and society is something that precedes the individual”. Even today, the quote mirrors the current society. Each individual has a natural urge to satisfy his social needs and language is the tool that facilitates this process. Apart from socialization, it fosters cohesion and solidarity amongst the members of the community.

Therefore, the preservation of linguistic diversity means the conservation of all the aforementioned functions. UNESCO, the pioneer agency working for the protection of endangered languages say: “The extinction of a language results in the irrecoverable loss of unique cultural, historical and ecological knowledge. Each language is a unique expression of the human experience of the world. Thus, the knowledge of any single language may be the key to answering fundamental questions of the future. This means that every time a language dies, we have less evidence for understanding patterns in the structure and function of human language, human prehistory and the maintenance of the world’s diverse ecosystems.”

Can anyone refute any part of the above statement? With each dying language, we are losing a part of evidence for understanding the structure, pattern and function of human language. Now, as Boa Sr is no more, we have lost a part of cultural diversity.

This was about the importance of tribal language and how it impacts the evolution of a community. The next part will focus on the Reasons for the Decline of Tribal Languages. 

TRIBAL LANGUAGES IN INDIA – REASONS FOR DECLINE  (3/4)

India, as we all know is a multicultural nation where we can find indisputable links between culture and language. In all obvious sense, it is a multilingual society. However, the contours of being a multi-linguist society are changing drastically and the roots for this change could be seen in its dark history – when the British ruled for over two centuries.

Prior to becoming British territory, India was a flourishing nation and a force to reckon with in all sense – politically, socially, culturally and economically. Gradually, the social and cultural fabric of India started breaking up just like it did politically and economically. At this point, one of the famous controversies of 1835 comes to my mind.

The Orientalist v/s Anglicist Debate (1835)

The General Committee of Public Instruction was (unofficially) divided into two factions of Orientalists and Anglicists, who were discussing upon the medium of instruction in education. The Orientalist faction was led by H.T. Prinsep whereas the advocate for English as the medium of instruction was Anglicist T.B. Macaulay. The entire controversy was later named as Macaulay Minute.

Macaulay was a staunch supporter of English as the medium of instruction in schools, colleges and higher educational institutions. He showed a great deal of contempt for Indian languages when he said: “A single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia”. The aim behind educating Indian masses in English language instead of vernaculars was to create a class of people who would be “Indian in blood and color, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect”.

To pursue their means, the Britishers made half-hearted attempts to develop vernacular languages and the development of literature in these languages was left at the mercy of the people who spoke them. This was the beginning of the death of Indian tribal languages.

Over time, the problems related to survival and maintenance of such minority languages have evolved as an independent branch of minority studies. Several aspects such as language use, language policies, language practices and language politics are inter-related with social and linguistic relations that need comprehensive attention. Due to change in collective values, fashions, human networks and social practices, language too have undergone a reformation process.

Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century, source Wikipedia

Though it may come as a surprise, economic and political participation, demographic changes, changes in livelihood patternsand even rights to land served as a contributor to the decline of a language. Some other factors that contribute to the decline of tribal languages are –

• Changes in employment

The employment needs demand the banishment of the vernacular language and speaking in the language that is spoken by the majority in the workplace.

• Dispersal of traditional settlement

Tribals are the worst sufferers from displacement as they have to move hither thither sometimes due to nature’s fury and other times when the government asks them to do so. So, coming into new region, the ‘indigenous/native’ aspect of their language gets lost.

• Abandoning traditional form of livelihood

This comes as the consequence of the above. While going to another destination, one has to leave its memories and ‘language’ behind to adjust in a new set of environment.

• Rising educational standards

Education all over is conducted in the majority language. And today the reality is that English is the majority language with about 100 million speakers.

Therefore, to save tribal languages from extinguishing, it is important to transmit it to the next generation of speakers through one way or the other.

With this, comes the end of Indian Tribal Languages Part III. In the next part (and the last of this four-part series), I will enumerate the points of How we Can Save Our Indian Tribal Languages. 

TRIBAL LANGUAGES IN INDIA – PRESERVING  (4/4)

Laguage is a vessel of culture and its loss can prove to be detrimental to the survival and continuation of cultural heritage.

When European traders first arrived in Hindustan, what is now India, there were thousands of indigenous languages spoken by a vast number of Indians. After ruling the nation for over two centuries, the vast majority of the native population suffered dramatically and still continues to suffer from this symbolic violence. The latter refers to the imposition of culture of the ruling class on dominated groups who are forced to recognize their ruling culture as legitimate and their own culture as illegitimate. Language loss thus compromises the sovereignty and tribal identity. Therefore, it is vital for such indigenous tribal languages to survive because it instills knowledge, pride and respect in the children (who become the transmitters of the language (culture) naturally.

Basically, to promote and preserve these languages, each one of the stakeholders has to work in unison. Below find the recommendations for elders, educators, parents and children who can help preserve these languages with the help of native community, linguists and schools.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty ImagesRecommendations for Native Communities and Organizations

1. Encourage all community members to use indigenous language on daily basis and assist anyone who is interested in learning the same.
2. Promote storytelling gatherings so that it inculcates the young minds about the language history.
3. Reinforce the importance of native language by incorporating traditional terminology and language protocols in the community.
4. Create local and/or regional language commission with comprehensive responsibilities.
5. Promote native tribal language programs on television, radio, local news and in print media.
6. Publish posters in heritage language so that values can be promoted at a larger level.

Recommendations for Linguists

Linguists play a crucial role in gathering data relating to a particular language. They can thus, be useful by:

1. Taking help from participating communities and improving the process of data gathering for better analysis and interpretation.
2. Providing encouragement to all those native students who are interested in teaching their language or willing to become linguists.
3. Preparing linguistic templates and/or materials that are of direct benefit to the community and that are directed towards saving efforts.

Recommendations for Parents

The onus here rests on parents to encourage their young minds to speak in local dialects because the majority of the time children spend is inside the house. So, parents can adopt the following measures:

1. Adopt a proactive role in promoting the use of native language at home by creating a healthy environment for the same.
2. Use traditional names of their child and make them understand its significance.
3. Make your children understand the family history and tell them who they are and how their identity came into being.
4. Provide and/or create opportunities for children to participate in meaningful conversation with others.

Recommendations for Educators

Professional educators with their efforts can really help save the language from extinction by adopting the following measures –

1. Make effective use of local expertise whenever local language or cultural knowledge is being addressed in the curriculum.
2. Do not forget to employ locally relevant curriculum with which the native students can identify.

Recommendations for Schools

Together with the community efforts, schools can play an influencing role in transferring knowledge of the language by:

1. Offer incentives to students so that they participate in the native language programs often.
2. Create an easily accessible local knowledge repository so that transmission becomes simpler.
3. If unaware, the schools can collaborate with the teachers proficient in the language and elders and acquire a comprehensive understanding of all aspects.
4. Make the most of the locally produced resources like rich media (videos, images, reports, tribal documents, maps, books etc.)
5. Develop illustrated materials such as comic books with visually relevant situations.

Recommendations for Native Community

The elders in the native community can keep the language going on for centuries with the following efforts:

1. Use as much as possible in day-to-day lives, particularly in ceremonial events. Speak as much as possible in your native language while at home.
2. Assist and encourage younger generation to converse in their native language so that they get a grip on the vocabulary.
3. Conduct and take an active role in regional and local councils and formulate ways to pass on language traditions to future generations.
4. Be a role model by reinforcing traditional values and maintain spiritual traditions that convey the history of the language and the community.
5. While making a young mind learns the new language, be patient and tolerant to any of its mistakes.
6. Use traditional terms and practices of welcoming, respect, recognition, kinship while meeting and greeting others.
7. Work towards ensuring that new words are culturally grounded in world view so that it continues as a working, living language.

So, instead of harping on the same old song of the ancient status of the language, the efforts should be directed towards developing children’s literature, adult’s literature and everyday usage. This way it may fill the gap and promote love and pride for the language that is missing from the hearts of the people from centuries.