Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 17
Language is considered as one of the most distinct symbols of a community, a medium through which people belonging to the same region or area communicate, perceive ideas and relate.
Indigenous languages belong to linguistically distinct communities that originated in a particular area. With several tribes and communities, Nagaland is home to a host of Naga indigenous languages. As a means of communication among diverse communities, Nagamese, a mixture of Assamese and Bengali, is used widely in the State.
However, according to a poll conducted by The Morung Express, there is a growing concern over the use of Nagamese, with respondents drawing attention to the threat on the mother tongue and the need to preserve and promote indigenous languages.
Mother tongue being ignored
Responding to the poll on whether the use of Nagamese is having a negative impact on Naga indigenous languages and how, 50% voted in the affirmative.
Some opined that the lingua franca is posing a threat as many families do not communicate with their own language at home and use Nagamese instead.
“Particularly here in Dimapur everything (almost) is Nagamese. As a result children do not learn their own mother tongue or cannot speak. And if this trend goes on, our own beautiful tribal languages will be gone in few generations to come. It is a very serious concern,” one of the respondents stated.
Terming Nagamese as a ‘bazaar language’, another respondent underscored the need to stop relying on it. “Instead scholars need to develop our own common Naga dialect,” the respondent added.
Highlighting the impact on children, another respondent observed that particularly in Dimapur, a majority of the people, including children speak only Nagamese and ‘boast’ about not knowing their own tribal languages when they come to villages or native towns. “Instead of Nagamese, English should be mandatory,” the comment read.
While acknowledging that Nagamese can be helpful in connecting with people from other tribes, one respondent noted that “some people cannot even construct a proper sentence in their own dialect which is very shameful and also a threat to our rich culture and identity.”
Few others were of the view that the unique cultural diversity and languages “is being taken over by Nagamese culture.”
‘Bridge of communication’
The argument in favor of Nagamese was mostly based on its role as a common language among different tribes.
42% of the respondents were of the view that it serves as a bridge of communication between different tribes and attributed the negative impact on indigenous languages to reasons like fondness for foreign cultures, families not encouraging the use of native language etc.
Nagamese has become a ‘Lingua Franca’ through which the Naga people are able to communicate today freely without any barriers, one respondent stated and reasoned that in native places, Nagas still use their mother tongue to communicate.
A respondent reasoned that common languages cannot be blamed for endangering indigenous languages, and added that being a polyglot should be encouraged.
Another person commented that being multilingual has nothing to do with hampering or endangering one’s customs or indigenous language. Being able to communicate in multiple languages breaks barriers between people, the respondent added.
Holding parents accountable for not teaching children how to speak in their native languages, one respondent stated that learning to speak English or Nagamese is ‘not a loss’.
Echoing the view, another person commented that the negative impact is not by speaking Nagamese, but by copying other cultures and traditions.
Meanwhile, a section of respondents were of the view that no language is redundant or unimportant.
A suggestion to use indigenous languages at home, English at schools/offices and Nagamese for commercial/social life was also made by a respondent.
While the opinion on the impact of Nagamese may be varied, it is pertinent to understand that languages die when people stop speaking them. In order to preserve and promote indigenous Naga languages, there is an urgent need to practice their usage in our daily lives.
