Book Brahma, an organization dedicated to literature, held a festival in Bengaluru that featured all four major south Indian languages. A three-day festival was held from 9th to 11th of August. There were panel discussions, literary performances, music and dance events. I attended the inaugural session on the second day. The panel discussion was moderated by Ms. Pratibha Nandakumar, a noted Kannada poet and Ramanujan disciple. On the question of the existence of south Indian languages, she led the discussion. Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada literature practitioners Paul Zacharia, Perumal Murugan and O.L.Nagabhushan Swamy participated in the discussion. Telugu Literature was represented by me. I am sharing my paper here.
We are responsible for our languages
Good morning, Pratibha garu and my friends. Dear poets, writers, and lovers of south Indian languages, good morning.
2. Being here is an honor and a great opportunity for me. Thanks to organizers, Satish and Ajay.
3. When I was a child, when I acquired a tongue from my mother, I did not realize that I had inherited one of the richest languages in the world. It took me years to realize that I am the inheritor of a 2000-year-old literary tradition. According to ethnologue.com, Telugu is ranked 17th out of 7000 odd languages. With 110 million speakers, it is the south India’s largest language.
4. When I share these figures, I remember a discussion we had with P.V.Narasimha Rao. A Telugu writer once asked him at a writers’ meeting almost two decades ago if Telugu would become extinct. Rao, a polyglot who had seen almost the whole world, smiled at him and told him that neither Telugu nor any major Indian language was under threat. No language is at risk of extinction so long as there are millions of active speakers, a vibrant literary scene, and highly productive media.
5. Nevertheless, language activists have been expressing concerns over the course of Telugu language over the past two decades. Five major issues can be outlined: 1. In schools, English is replacing Telugu as the medium of instruction, 2. Increasing use of English vocabulary in Telugu in everyday life, 3. There is an excessive use of English vocabulary in films, TV shows, electronic media, and almost all government proceedings are in English 4. Children and youth do not read Telugu books, there are no buyers for literature, and, 5. libraries suffer neglect.
6. These are issues, but I will not subscribe to the view that they could destroy Telugu. I will explain them one by one.
7. Some time back, as Director of School Education, I was responsible for implementing the government’s decision to introduce English in all government schools. During the process, I have noticed two interesting things. When the government asked the parents committees of 45,000 odd government schools their choice of medium of instruction, nearly 96% chose English. It is not hard to figure out why. Today, English is considered a language of livelihood. I find the second observation even more interesting. During 10th class public exams in Telugu, we found that students from English medium schools fared better than those from Telugu medium schools in Telugu. Can we explain this phenomenon? It’s a simple matter. It is not actually the medium of instruction that affects children’s performance in their studies. A child’s performance is influenced by the degree of seriousness shown by their parents, teachers, and the entire system. There is no doubt that parents and teachers are more attentive to the children who study in an English medium school, thereby, helping them to perform better. If parents pay attention, Telugu medium schools perform better. Children do better in their language if their parents love it, but not the other way around. I think the civil society as a whole must be educated about this.
8. Let me mention one more thing. In addition to switching to English as the medium of instruction, the government also decided to redesign the curriculum and textbooks. In the process Telugu textbooks have been rewritten. It is ensured that by the time the child reaches class VIII, she will know around 200 major poets and writers. At least 100 poems, both classical and modern, would have been memorized by her. The textbooks have never been so linguistically and literary rich. We developed textbooks in Kannada, Tamil, Urdu, and Odia for those living in the Andhra area on the same lines. This effort will pay off in the long run, I strongly believe.
9. I would also like to share our efforts in promoting tribal languages. As early as 2005, we developed primers from Class I to V in six major tribal languages: Savara, Konda, Kuvi, Koya, Gondi, and Banjara. Papua New Guinea could develop primers in only two indigenous languages, while we could develop them in six. Local tribal teachers have been selected and appointed to teach those textbooks. Since then, we have progressed further on our journey. We developed textbooks for Pre-Primary I and II for tribal children attending anganwadi preschools. The G 20 Summit on Education held in Pune in 2022 highly appreciated this effort.
10. Here’s an important point to consider. A thousand years ago, Telugu was on par with languages like Konda, Kuvi and Gondi. How did Telugu become a major world language? Primarily, it is literature. It was under successive dynasties that Telugu literature was promoted and a galaxy of poets worked to make Telugu a world-class literary language. Tribal languages require a similar effort. There is a need to translate classics from Telugu, English, and other languages into tribal languages, and document the rich oral tribal literature and promote tribal writers writing in their languages. As far as children’s literature is concerned, the National Book Trust had already initiated this activity. Additionally, a good number of YouTube channels are being hosted by tribal youth in their languages. We need newspapers also in tribal languages. All such efforts must be intensified.
11. Next, there is the issue of vocabulary. Vocabulary is not a language. Over 75% of English, the largest spoken language on earth, is not Anglo-Saxon, as you know. As a language, Telugu has a remarkable capacity for absorbing vocabulary from other languages and making it its own. JBS Haldane once argued that Telugu should be made the national language solely based on this capacity. The infiltration of English vocabulary into Telugu does not alarm me. The Telugu language was earlier influenced by Sanskrit, then by Persian and Urdu. It is now English’s turn. But syntax matters more than vocabulary when making a language. The issue is whether English will have an effect on Telugu’s syntax. This is not a possibility I see in the near future.
12. Whereas overuse of English in electronic media, films, and official correspondence is a serious issue. Creating awareness, developing modules and manuals, promoting active conversation practices, and designing templates for official communication would address this problem. This requires a great deal of work.
13. Among the grave issues facing Telugu literature are the fact that children and youth are not reading it, the decline in the market for literature, and the neglect of public libraries. Again, this is not universal. In rural, dalit, and tribal areas, I find a growing hunger for literature. Children from minorities are also equally eager to learn and master Telugu. This is the responsibility of writers, poets, and parents to reach out to them. In WE LOVE READING, the government have involved a number of public libraries and schools. I have to mention the names of Manchikanti Venkateswara Reddy and Kasula Ravikumar, two teachers, who are actively touring both the Telugu states to promote the establishment of libraries in both homes and schools.
14. Since reading ‘The Language Death’ by David Crystal, I have come to realize that Telugu is not as endangered as we presume. But after reading his book, ‘English as a Global Language,’ I thought, why shouldn’t Telugu be a global language too? That goes for Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam as well. Crystal distinguished between an international language and a global language. International languages are those whose speakers are spread across many countries. The concept of global language is completely different. It is a language that people strive to master even if they are not native speakers. To qualify as a global language, we must know how many people around the world are interested in learning it. English is a language like this, as we all know. Spanish is next. Languages such as Chinese and Japanese are also becoming more global. It is undisputed that our languages in south India are world-class literary languages. However, it is high time that we devoted more attention to developing them as scientific and technological languages. They must be nurtured into languages of thought and discourse so that the rest of the world would be eager to learn our speech. A stronger digital presence is needed to facilitate such a learning. A language is a dialect with an army and navy is an old saying. A global language is a language with an army of thinkers and translators.
15. One of the emerging tribal writers in Telugu, Mallipuram Jagadish, once wrote that one’s language is one’s responsibility. We are responsible for our languages. In all the areas I mentioned earlier, our languages require a lot more commitment, effort, and teamwork. Let’s rise to the challenge.
Photos courtesy: Dr.Kallakuri Sailaja
10-8-2024
నమస్కారం,ఎంత మంచి విశ్లేషణ!!! భాషలోని అందాలను చూడాలి,, తియ్యదనాన్ని అనుభవించాలి. చాలా లోతైన విశ్లేషణ. చదివి సంతోషమేసింది.
ధన్యవాదాలు మేడం!
ప్రపంచ వ్యాప్తంగా తెలుగు అభిమానులు ఉన్నారు. తెలుగు భాష పూర్వాపరాల గురించి చక్కని విశ్లేషణ. మనను కొందరు తయారు చేసారు. మనం కొందరిని తయారు చెయ్యాలి .
చాలా బాగా చెప్పారు.
Very Interesting read! It threw new light on the influx of english into Telugu Language. Thank you for giving a new insight.
Thank you Ma’am
no doubt this is the best commentary on the state of telugu language and what we should be doing to make it a global language. thanks verabhadrudu garu for such a wonderful analysis.
Thank you Sir
నేను రెండు విషయాలు ప్రస్తావించదలుచుకున్నా. 11 వ పేరాలో syntax గురించి వ్యక్తం చేసిన అభిప్రాయంలో ఇబ్బంది వుంది. తెలుగు వాక్యాలు భారీ మార్పుకు లోనౌతున్నాయి. ముఖ్యంగా తెలుగు వాక్యాలను passive voice లో వ్యక్తం చెయ్యడం సర్వసాధారణమైంది ఈ రోజుల్లో. చెప్పబడింది, చెయ్యబడింది, చదవబడింది, లాంటివి. తగలబడింది అనేది యాక్టివ్ వాయిస్. మరొక ఘోర పరిణామం ఏదైతే వుందో అనే మాట విచక్షణారహితంగా వాడటం. ‘ఇక్కడ ఏదైతే సభ జరుగుతుందో’, ‘ఏదైతే పెళ్లి జరుగుతుందో’! ఇక్కడ జరుగుతున్న సభ, జరుగుతున్న పెళ్లి అంటే ఎలా వుంటుంది, ఏదైతే ఏదైతే అవటం ఎలా వుంది. ఇది భాష మీద పట్టులేకపోవటమా లేక ఇంగ్లీషు ప్రభావమా? It’s normal to say in English thus: the meeting that is taking place here, the work that’s being executed, etc. కానీ తెలుగులో అలా అనడం మన భాష సంప్రదాయం కాదు. ఈ దుష్ట సంప్రదాయాన్ని నాయకులు, మీడియా అమితంగా ప్రోత్సహిస్తున్నది. తెలుగులో passive voice లేదు. అంతే. రెండో విషయం తెలుగు ప్రపంచ భాష ఎందుకు కాగూడదు అనేది! అది అతిశయోక్తిగా, అత్యాశగా, వాస్తవాలకు దూరంగా ఆలోచించే అధికారుల ఆలోచనగా వుంది. Let’s be modest in our mission.
సింటాక్స్ గురించిన మీ పరిశీలన గమనించదగ్గది. ఇక తెలుగు గ్లోబల్ భాష కావటం గురించి- వేరే సందర్భంలో కలాం చెప్పిన మాట చెప్పగలను. ఆయన అన్నది ఏమంటే to aim low is a crime.