[🇧🇩] 21st February---Our Language Movement Day

[Saif]

Dying mother tongues, cultures

The 1952's language movement was a political struggle to establish Bangla's status as a state language. In consequence, it also gave rise to the linguistic nationalism, a variety of identity politics. So, language movement was not one of preserving Bangla as an endangered language since it is spoke

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Dying mother tongues, cultures
SYED FATTAHUL ALIM
Published :
Feb 24, 2025 23:52
Updated :
Feb 24, 2025 23:52

The 1952's language movement was a political struggle to establish Bangla's status as a state language. In consequence, it also gave rise to the linguistic nationalism, a variety of identity politics. So, language movement was not one of preserving Bangla as an endangered language since it is spoken by more than 260 million people in Bangladesh and the State of West Bengal in India. Unlike Bangla and other major languages of the world, there are scores of languages that are spoken by fewer people. According to the Foundation for Endangered Languages, a British non-profit, out of some 6,000 languages spoken around the world, between 500 and 1000 are endangered as a handful of humans speak them. And every year about 50 of these languages go extinct. These are indigenous languages. But the way humans have preserved the relics of the past civilisations and empires, they have not done so for the languages that are going extinct.

Languages go extinct when its last speaker dies. Consider the case of Rangmitca, an indigenous language of the southern district of Bandarban, which is critically endangered. A recent report says, among the majority Mro speaking people of Krangsipara village under Sadar Union of Alikadam upazila in Bandarban, four people speak Rangmitca. But according to experts, this language is not a dialect of Mro. Reports further say, there are only three other speakers of this language who live in three different villages in the Sadar upazila and neighbouring Naikhongchhari upazila. Even other family members of those seven people, who are aged between 58 and 79, cannot speak Rangmitca. During the Ethno-Linguistic Survey' conducted between 2013 and 2018, there were 40 speakers of this indigenous tongue. That means, within a decade, 80 per cent of the people speaking the language has died. Clearly, the fate of Rangmitca is doomed and the organisation responsible for protecting and preserving endangered languages, the International Mother Language Institute (IMLI), should act fast to record and document the spoken version of the language from its speakers still alive. According to another report, only two people have been found who still (2025) speak a near-extinct indigenous language, Khariya.

The IMLI, it is believed, will also not allow Khariya to die with the death of its last speakers. The said linguistic survey identified 14 such indigenous languages in Bangladesh that are endangered. These include Munari, Matto, Kheying, Khumi, Kol, Chak, Pangkhwa, Pattra or Laleng, Lusai, the earlier mentioned Khariya, Shoura, Koda, Kando and the first mentioned tongue, Rangmitca. But little has been done so far to preserve these languages. Of the 40 ethnic languages existing in Bangladesh, 18 have written form. Even so, they may one day die out because if there is no adequate arrangements to educate the children of the indigenous communities speaking those languages, then they would in course of time forget their mother tongue and adopt the dominant speech of the broader society, Bangla. The government needs to extend necessary support to protect and preserve those languages. Now, one might question the necessity of preserving a minor language. British writer and broadcaster, Kenan Malik, for instance, thinks it is an 'irrational' exercise to preserve all the world's languages. The last speaker of the Bo, an 85-year-old member of the Bo tribe in the Andaman Islands owned by India, died in 2010. With him the Bo went extinct. Though sad, to Mr Malik, it was natural because that is how cultural forms are getting extinct all the time.

However, with the death of a language, thoughts, culture and more importantly, the history of a people is lost forever. But the pressure of globalisation and cultural homogeneity is causing many languages of the world to die depriving the planet of their rich linguistic diversity. However, protecting an indigenous language or culture does not mean that the people who speak it should not join the march of progress. They must. But their traditions and histories deserve to be preserved.​

 

[Saif]

Exploring the richness of Dhakaiya Subbasi dialect

Subbasi is a Bengali-influenced dialect that is now spoken by original residents of Dhakaiya community

www.thedailystar.net

Exploring the richness of Dhakaiya Subbasi dialect

I thought that Urdu and Hindi were analogous to some extent -- a totally misread perspective, which changed when I did a bit of research on Dhakaiya people's vernacular or street dialect.

"We Dhakaiyas have two styles of speech that we converse in, one is ancholik Dhakaiya Bangla and the other is Dhakai Sukhbas, Subbasi or Khoshbas," says Akter Jahan, a writer who composes stories in her original Dhakai Sukhbas dialect.

The real meaning of Sukhbas, an Urdu word, is well-off or happily settled, and relates to the language spoken between the then locals and the overseas merchants, whose native languages were different. "Thus, Sukhbas or Subbasi is a Bengali-influenced dialect known as Dhakaiya Urdu and Hindi, and is now spoken by the original residents of Dhakaiya community, and it is often mistaken for Urdu," Jahan clarifies.

The dynasty rule of invaders in Bengal led to the amalgamation of their original speaking tongue of Urdu, Sanskrit, a base of Hindi, Persian, Arabic, and Turkic loanwords to the dialect of Bengali. This made Hindustani an Indo-Aryan language, as a lingua franca or communication mode in the streets of old Dhaka.

The 65-year-old energetic, nature-loving matriarch was born and brought up and even married in Amligola Mahalla, near the Kella area. Prior to her retirement, she ran the family business of plastic industry with her husband. However, the retired couple now lives a tranquil life in Kathaltoli Pukur paar in Keraniganj. Surrounded by greenery, and in sync with nature, Akhtar Jahan is honing her writing skills.

Her mother was educated in Urdu and Persian, as was the medium in those years, but she was the first generation Dhakaiya who were schooled in Bangla.

"My buri ma or grandmother always sat us kids down in her courtyard for 'kejcha kahani ashor' or storytelling sessions. Her vivid description in our Dhakaiya Subbasi language, with the precise tonal emphasis, gave our imagination wings. Our Dhakaiya culture is colourful and rich, we have geets in our dialect for every celebration, be it wedding or bathtime," quips Akter's daughter Ishrat Jahan, adding that the stories of her great grandmother were not found in any fairytale books she read.

"I am trying to document our old stories in Subbasi language, or as we say Dhakai jobane boyan. Our kids are teased in school for the way they speak, and as a result, they shy away from the original dialect. I want the golod or mistake that our noya postan or new generations are making to be corrected. They should know their roots and social landscapes. If this lingua franca is not documented, then it will be lost to time," Jahan shared..

Peheli or dha dha, which are riddles, kohut or proverbs, rhymes, and songs in Dhakaiya Subbasi tongue; were common practice in cultural gatherings at old Dhaka. Now, this sort of ashor or cultural session are lost.

Akhtar Jahan's short stories like "Din Badler Sedma", "Zendegir Bioscope", "Mohabbater Qissa", and "Fakarer Bolli" were published in reputed dailies and literary magazines.

"Akhtar Jahan's writing in this Dhaka regional language is not only a new addition to Bengali literature, but in her stories, we find a realistic picture of Dhaka society and culture in the post-independence period since the partition of the country," Ishrat adds.

"We as kids sang songs for the rain to stop and the sun to shine. We went around houses knocking on doors singing aloud and our neighbours gave us grains as favours, and we cooked community meals. Everything we did had a fun factor in it. Dhakaiya people are financially well off and love showdowns and celebrations. We took aristocracy from the Mughals and trading as our career choice from the merchants. Being a Dhakaiya is something you cannot copy from TV serials or Bollywood movies. It is in our DNA," Akhtar Jahan says boldly.​