S.M. Krishna Rao, writer, on Saturday stressed the need for academic research in the various dialects of Konkani language and Konkani folklore.
He was here to inaugurate the two-day State-level Konkani Sahitya Samskritika Sammelan.
Mr. Rao said Konkani was being spoken by 42 different communities including Catholics and Navayat Muslims and their dialects were different. This was not unique to Konkani. Even Hindi had dialects.
According to linguists, a dialect changes every 15 kilometres. In spite of these differences, some communities, most notably the Catholics, had contributed a lot to the development of Konkani and its literature.
“The ‘Rakno’ journal being brought out by them is 75 years old. This is a great achievement,” Mr. Rao pointed out.
Some people had the misconception that Konkani language did not have a script. Most people accepted the Devanagari script for Konkani. But, people also wrote Konkani in other scripts, including Kannada and Malayalam.
Mr. Rao also elaborated on the various stages of Liberation of Goa, migration of Konkani speaking people from Goa to coastal districts of Karnataka and Kerala, and the development of Konkani language.
He said that one of the notable features of the present sammelan was that it was a spontaneous one and not sponsored by the government. Konkani-speaking people had come forward on their own to organise it.
“No one is an office-bearer here. We are all volunteers of Konkani language,” Mr. Rao said.
M.V. Kamath, president of the sammelan, said Konkani-speaking people should try to speak in pure Konkani without mixing other languages as far as possible.
Kasaragod Chinna, actor and former president of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy, said it was necessary to have more literary works in Konkani language. Many Konkani writers were writing Kannada novels and poems. They should also try to write Konkani novels and poems, he said.
P.R. Nayak, Manohar Nayak, Venkatesh Baliga, Vandana Shanbhogue and Shantharam Prabhu were felicitated on the occasion.
B. Gopalakrishna Pai, writer; Paul Moras, former president of All India Konkani Parishat; Gokuldas Nayak, Joint Commissioner, Mangalore City Municipal Corporation; Gerald Pinto, professor at Milagres College; and Dinesh Prabhu, president of Kudal Deshasta Samaj were present.
P. Amrit Shenoy, executive president of the organising committee; and Chempi Ramachandra Bhat, honorary president, were present.
