When a language's mother dies

Amid "fear" of Punjabi going extinct in 50 years, amid concerns over next generation of British Punjabis being denied right to study their ancestral language in government schools, amid the "efforts" to promote Punjabi as language of governance, real threat lies to the roots of Punjabi language and no one seems concerned.
A soon-to-be-launched study by People's Linguistic Survey of India has found that while Punjabi is flourishing, 10 nonscheduled languages, in which Punjabi traces its roots, are dying.These include Bauria, Bazigari, Bhand, Dhaha, Gojri, Lahanda, Lubana, Odi, Rai Sikhi and Sansi.
Out of these languages, Lahnda has more number of speakers. "The other minor (nine) languages have limited number of speakers mostly migrated from other states and settled down over here. Most of these languages are endangered and deserve to be documented," the survey found.
Most of the speakers of these languages, the survey found, are bilinguals in Punjabi as well and there younger generation is switching over to Punjabi.
"How does a language die?" asks Ganesh Devy, Vadodara-based eminent linguist and activist, who began an extensive linguistic survey in Punjab and Haryana through Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Vadodara, Gujarat, in 2010.
Not when it is language of the market, not when it has state patronage, not when its speakers are all over the world. "There is no immediate threat to Punjabi," says the Padma Shri awardee, and adds, "In these times, a language's online presence is one of the biggest parameters of a language's popularity. And Punjabi has is big on internet. However, it is the non-scheduled languages that are facing a threat," he warns.
These non-scheduled languages, or dialects as we call them, can never compete with English, the language of the market. The state only promotes Punjabi. It isn't known to have ever spared a thought for the others. Their speakers are forced to migrate because of economy.
"Roots of Punjabi are in the many local languages of the state," Devy says and adds, "We are neglecting local dialects and that is why languages are suffering-there is erosion of words; the sentence structure and metaphoric ability is becoming vulnerable."
We ask Devy if not having a script was also a reason, and he says there are many languages that have existed in the past without even having a script. "Hindi uses Devnagari and English uses Roman script. Both are popular but don't have their own scripts," he says.
Drawing a parallel with Himachal and Haryana, he says Punjab is poised between the two. "Himachal is very different from Punjab as because of terrain, people in a given region retain a language. Also, land laws minimize outside influence. Haryana just has one main languages-korvi and it is so rapidly merging with Hindi that it is on the verge of extinction. Haryana and Himachal are like two extremes and Punjab lies between these two situations," he says.
There still is a lot to lose and lots that can be saved. We turn to Devy for answers... and he says a solution lies in multi-lingual schools and not just Punjabi or English medium schools. "Alas, no such thing seems happening. English is language of modernity and will take Punjabis to America and Canada. But if something is not done, in 20 years or 50 years, it might be too late," he warns.
Still, there is something else that can save Punjabi, he points. "Punjabi language has a focal point-the Sikh faith. It envelops life of people and it is fortunately rooted in their own language, which makes for a great possibility of saving Punjabi and other languages. Punjab can set a good example. If it doesn't, a time will come when Guru Granth Sahib will have to be translated in English for younger Punjabis. And that will be a sad day," he says.
Himachal'sirony
In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, the government has been trying to promote Pahari as language of the state, but linguist Ganesh Devy points that Pahari is just a concept. "There is nothing like a Pahari language. There is kulluvi (of Kullu), there is Lahauli (of Lahaul), Mandiyali (of Mandi) or Kangri (of Kangra). Himachal has about 24 different languages, but Himachal does not have a major scheduled language. Because of this pressure, the government is trying to have an integrated language for Himachal," he says.