Sir,
There seem to be no two opinions with the recent finding of UNESCO that Hundreds of languages and dialects around the world are threatened to disappear because of enforced illiteracy and migration. Finding reveals that almost half of the globe’s 6,700 languages and dialects are disappearing because people have stopped using them. In other words, parents and elders of these languages may no longer pass on these languages to their children and in the process, the languages might wither away leaving no signs of its existence for future generations.
Reasons for this upheaval in languages are manifold. As already mentioned educational disadvantage including migration, and other manifestations eventually lead to the possibility of a culture and its language being weakened almost to the point of disappearance and obscurity.
As a matter of fact, language and culture are closely related and dependent on each other. Language is formed by culture, while culture is influenced and impacted by language. Culture and language shape, one’s identity and personality. Each human being is born the same way and experiences the same phases of life. The difference, however, is the environment in which one grows up and the language to which he/she gets accustomed to. This creates identities of a certain culture and language, differentiating one person from the other. The social, cultural, and natural environment of speakers influences the structures and development of the languages they speak.
People who migrated from Kashmir in the Nineties and are of my age, can understand Kashmiri and even talk and converse in this language. I for one, can even read and write in this language. Unfortunately, my children cannot because they were born and brought up in an entirely different lingo-cultural environment. Though they might very scarcely understand the meaning of some of the Kashmiri sentences/words, they find it difficult to speak them out. It’s, perhaps, the environment and cultural situation that prompts, influences and stimulates person’s attitude towards the language he chooses to speak in.
Yours etc…..
Dr. Shiben Krishen Raina
Ajman
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel