A linguistic survey conducted recently shows 10 tribal languages in Karnataka are on the verge of extinction. A nation-wide survey conducted by the People’s linguistic Survey of India (PlSI) finds 10 tribal languages in Karnataka are going to be in oblivion soon.
The survey also indicates many more tribal languages are in the list of oblivion.According to the survey, the tribal languages of Koraga, Irula, Soliga, Badaga, Yerava, Gouli, Bettakuruba, Jenukuruba, Siddi and Hakki Pikki are in the red.
In Karnataka, 72 tribal languages are spoken and the study has recorded 42 of them. The linguistic census also shows Karnataka has 50 tribal languages, along with 22 Scheduled Tribes.
According to Professor Ganesh N Devy, who initiated the recently concluded pan India linguistic survey which started four years back, it reveals gradual decline of de-notified nomadic community languages.
He feels language diversity is not a liability, but an asset. He also feels all future technologies were going to be language-based and technology will require universal translation.
The survey also reveals the country has lost around 20 per cent of its languages in the past five decades. The census shows India had 1,100 languages in 1961, but nearly 220 of them have disappeared.
According to Ganesh Devy, the main reasons for the disappearance of these languages are lack of recognition, displacement of communities, absence of livelihood options for speakers and stigma against what are considered ‘under-developed’ mother tongues.
According to the survey, Karnataka is one of the few States with a variety of languages spoken across the State. It also records a small community of 165 people speaking “Varli” language in northern Karnataka at Bijapur and Belgaum. The census shows another language Chenchu spoken by only 470 people in Gulbarga and Yadgir in north of the State.
According to Professor HM Maheshwaraiah of Karnataka University, who has edited a volume on the languages of Karnataka in the census, all tribal languages were endangered and could not record all of them. He expresses concern over loss of languages and feels death of a language was the loss of a knowledge system and destroys a life and ecology.
According to 2001 census, out of 122 Indian languages of which 28 were from Karnataka, many nomadic and coastal communities are losing their languages. Siddi, Ramoshi (spoken by a labour community in Bijapur) and Vaddar (of the stone-crushers’ community) are some endangered languages.