I knew a distinguished linguist who opined that a mother tongue is the language which accompanies the mother’s breastfeeding a child. Since he was a globally acclaimed linguist, even though I was not clear on what he meant, I did not have the standing to query him. Years later, in a younger incarnation than the present, while working in a technology institute I was called upon to deliver the keynote address of a seminar on freedom of movement in Jammu & Kashmir. And my presentation, therein, subsequently published, stated that if a battle cry of some people is Allah-o-Akbar and for others Jai Bajrangbali, it has nothing to do with Islam or Hinduism, but everything to do with the language which one uses in a state of high stress or anxiety. The language which one uses therein is invariably the mother tongue. In extreme pain, one releases one’s tension by the use of the mother tongue. Mother tongue is intrinsic to the personality and a culturisation of any people. It may or may not have something to do with education.
On 21 February, I was a guest to the Bangladesh High Commission on what they called Amar Ekushey. They had translated it as the international mother language day.
It turned out that in 1999 through the efforts of the present Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina and primary efforts of some expatriates of Bangladesh, UNESCO recognised 21 February as the International Mother Language Day. The United Nations, in the light of sustainable development goals, set the theme of the International Mother Language Day 2017 as “towards sustainable futures through multilingual education”.
The whole ambience set me thinking. Multi-linguism is a self-evident expression. The place of a mother tongue is unquestionable. It is as integral as parenthood. However, children do grow up and do acquire an identity. Indeed, many domains of human endeavour need their own language. When the information technology system talks of cookies, bars, mouse, scrolls and whatever else this cannot be termed English. This is a linguistic expression exclusive to the IT domain. In my sojourn in the technological universe, both in the corporate and in academia, I had to deal with people who would even explain a concept of say “negative entropy” in alphanumeric terms. Be it algebra, geometry, trigonometry or whatever else that has to do with measurement, the use of alphanumeric symbols is commonplace. To me this is the language called Mathematics. In fact symbols in mathematics begin with an assumption on values. This is how the concept of 1 is different from the concept of 5.
Accordingly, I find it very difficult to comprehend the battle of languages and politicisation of linguistic positions. To put it simply, a diverse multilingual country like India requires a link language. Like everything else in the Indian Constitution, the forefathers of the present generation and the founder fathers of the Constitution identified the link language of the country as Hindi. Debating it sporadically or endlessly is like whipping an omelette.
Similarly, language is necessary to express who we are. It gives structure to thoughts and identity. Yet for an authentic dialogue it has to be recognised that no one language can meet all levels of demands that are made on communication.
In fact I hold the belief that each language has developed its own culture and indeed its own space. It’s difficult to find a substitute, say, for Urdu as a court language. The refinement which it has acquired over centuries of usage in courts cannot be substituted by political convenience. Similarly, for certain kinds of expression, French is admirable. I found Bhojpuri a very unusual language in its ability to convert nouns into verbs.
Similarly, English is inescapable as a language of scientific writings, texts and much else. It has been the language of serious scientific research, going back for two centuries. It has been the language of domains flush with resources. For nearly a 100 years it was the lingua franca of the British Empire. An empire on which the sun never set till it set forever. And when the British lion ceased to shake the world with its roar the United States stepped in to fill in that void. Since the end of World War 2 it has dominated global goings on. So English language continues as prime donna of, among many things of global interaction, aviation and global commerce.
English as a language got enriched over a period of time, as none other. Just as the influence of US across the globe seems to have potentials of a decline, Australia seems to be poised to fill that void. Australia is not only underpopulated and therefore full of possibilities of growth; it harbours natural resources which per square inch of land are amongst the richest, globally.
Nurtured by the British, US and possibly the Australian era, English and the literature it carries are almost inescapable.
It’s about time the thinking population in India read the writing on the wall and recognised the inescapable character of English for our own growth. English is not in competition with any other language in this country. It has its own role space and the sooner we recognise it the better it is for our national growth.