All of us speak at least one mother tongue — a language spoken since early childhood, while growing up. The mother language of a child is part of that child’s personal, social and cultural identity.
In 1948, Pakistan government declared Urdu to be the sole national language of Pakistan, even though Bengali or Bangla was spoken by the majority of the people in Pakistan, combining East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (currently known as Pakistan). The people of East Pakistan protested as their mother language was Bangla. To demolish the protest, the Pakistani government outlawed any public meeting and rally. The students of Dhaka University arranged massive rallies and meetings. On Feb 21, 1952, police opened fire on rallies, Abdus Salam, Abul Barkat, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed Abdul Jabbar, and Shaifur Rahman died, with hundreds of others injured. This was a rare incident in history, where people sacrificed their lives for their mother language. Salute to those martyrs who laid down their life for their mother language—Bangla on Feb 21, 1952.
The UN General Assembly welcomed the proclamation of the day as International Mother Language Day in resolution of 2002. International Mother Language Day recognizes that languages and multilingualism can advance inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goals’ focus on leaving no one behind.
Languages, with their complex implications for identity, communication, social integration, education and development, are of strategic importance for people and planet. Yet, due to globalization processes, they are increasingly under threat, or disappearing altogether. When languages fade, so does the world’s rich tapestry of cultural diversity. Opportunities, traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking and expression — valuable resources for ensuring a better future — are also lost.
Every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage. At least 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.
Languages are disappearing: a worldwide shared interest and commitment is needed to help them survive. Languages disappear when their speakers do! This can happen due to internal factors, such as when a community has a negative attitude towards its own language and does not maintain or protect it from extinction, or due to external factors, such as when a government pursues a policy for a ‘lingua franca’.
Many other factors, such as migration, urbanization, globalization and the increasing worldwide spread of new technology, can have an adverse effect on language diversity, especially when traditional ways of life are threatened. At the same time, they can also help to protect, spread and preserve languages.
The death of Boa and Boro in November 2009 and January 2010, the last surviving speakers of two Great Andamanese languages, Khora and Bo, has resulted in the extermination of their unique tribes on the islands. Dr. Anvita Abbi, professor of linguistics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi has compiled a ‘Dictionary of Great Andamanese Language’. The lexicon follows Abbi’s five-year research in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. It documents the present form of the language, drawing its resources from four Andamanese languages, two of which — Khora and Bo — recently become extinct. In her effort to preserve the language, Abbi has reconstructed the entire grammar of the language and also come out with a pictorial version for children.
If outsiders helped wipe out the Great Andamanese, they are also helping to record their voices. Dr. Abbi’s dictionary project includes an audio CD. “If you click on a word or phrase, you can hear Boa’s voice saying it…You can hear her songs.”
Multilingual and multicultural societies exist through their languages which transmit and preserve traditional knowledge and cultures in a sustainable way. Let us all celebrate today the International Mother Language Day and promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism every day.
Indrosphere 
Nice post, Indrajit. The story of Dr Abbi is new to me. She has really done a great job. I wish many such efforts to save diverse tribal languages in India and elsewhere.
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Thanks, Nilanjana. I ditto your voice for preserving the near-extinct tribal languages.
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Nice post. Unfortunately, Bangla is getting modified in West Bengal, partly due to the negative attitude of Bengalis of West Bengal towards their own language and as the government in the Center pursuing a policy for Hindi as a ‘lingua franca’.
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Thanks, Sanchita. You’re right. Our language is becoming more of Benglish.
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খুব ভাল লিখেছিস ভাই। আজকের দিনে পালি ভাষা শেষ। একটু যা বেঁচে আছে সেটা মুষ্টিমেয় কয়েকজনের কাছে বুদ্ধিস্ট স্ক্রিপ্ট বোঝার জন্য।
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ধন্যবাদ! ভালোই আইডিয়া দিলি। রিটায়ারমেন্টের পরে পালী ভাষা আর ব্রাহ্মী লিপি নিয়ে পড়াশোনা করা যেতে পারে। 😜😆
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আগে দেশে ফিরে আয়ে তারপর রিটায়ারমেন্ট আর তারও পরে ওই পড়াশুনা।
BTW, তোর লেখা থেকে প্রতিবারই নতুন কিছু জানতে পারি। চালিয়ে যা…
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😆😆😆 তখন তো আর কিছু কাজ থাকবেনা। .. যদি করতে পারি তবে দারুন মজা হবে
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Pali is an oral form language, no written form or no any written system called Pali. In ancient India, the written system mainly Brahmi which were used to write Sanskrit and Prakrit too.
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If it is an oral form of language, then how come so many religious literature in pali existed (mainly Buddhist)? You mean all were written in Brahmi or Prakrit (Maghadi), the primary languages of that time? As I understand from Wikipedia, the language was used in Burma, Thailand and Srilanka too (maybe due to Buddhist influence). I have seen Satkori Meshomoshai translating pali scripts in English. It means the written form of pali was Prakrit or Brahmi that went as far as all places in South East Asia? Was it never a matribhasa?
It is true all Indian languages were derived from Brahmi, including Sanskrit. Devnagari, Dravidian sobkichuri janak Brahmi.
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The script must be Brahmi. In ancient north-west India, the stress was on oral tradition. Scripts came in much later. There were some scripts in IVC, which is yet to be deciphered. I am not sure what is the stage? Or anybody seriously pursuing now. Brahmi script was probably used in Eastern and Southern India. The Prakrit language is derived from Magadhi, which is known as Mulbhasha. To maintain the originality in the absence of a script, the stress was on the rhythm, rhyme, and pronunciation. You can see it from Vedic shlokas. The tradition of Vedic chanting is a UNESCO cultural heritage. (https://indroyc.com/2014/11/08/the-tradition-of-vedic-chanting/)
There was one script in Gandhar called somewhat like Khurosti (If I am recollecting it correctly) The Ashoka edicts found in Afghanistan was in that script. It’s the Aramean script… believed to be influenced by the Phoenician scripts. However, Brahmi evolved independently and more matured than Phoenicians.
When Sanskrit started written it was initially in Brahmi and Devnagri started much later. It is a fact now getting more and more established that there was a civilization in the eastern and southern India during IVC. Also, according to some scholars, Sumerians were from South India,
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Yes, I also do believe after our conversetion that the script must have been Brahmi.
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Your post is both insightful and fascinating, and I had no idea that languages were disappearing so fast from our society. That is sad. Here I am in the UK, and I am a typical person who watches the mainstream TV and reads the newspapers. Not one of them mentiones the International Mother Language Day. I never saw it publicised on Twitter or any other social media. For 2022, we must find a way to get everyone’s attention to this, and social media seems to be the way forward I would suggest.
Our natural language Gaelic Scots is being taught again in some schools, as it is in danger of dying out. Perhaps schools should be the target of future awareness?
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Thank you! Yes, we need to find a way to get it across and social media is surely the way forward. This is great to know that your mother language is getting some support.
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Happy Mother’s Day 🙂
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