Saving Languages

Many threatened languages in the country might become critically endangered in the near future. A few from some tribal communities, especially women, are doing their bit to preserve and document their mother tongues

- Priyamvada Mangal

DEEPA Pawar, 37, grew up in a tent in a basti in Mumbai. She and her friends— all belonging to the Ghisadi tribe—studied in a government school, but were discouraged from conversing among themselves in their community language—Ghisadi Arsi Parsi. These memories stayed with her while growing up.

Pawar—now an activist—fears that her generation may be the last to speak the language or even know that it exists. This encouraged her to initiate the process of preserving the language by coming up with a creative dictionary and documenting phrases and words. As part of her advocacy, she also wants to initiate a dialogue about why community languages are important and the need to preserve them.

Many communities like the Ghisadis—which fall under the larger umbrella of Nomadic Tribes and Denotified Tribes (NT-DNT)—are struggling to protect their languages because most of them end up concealing their identities.

The NT-DNT community is carrying a centuries-old stigma. In 1871, the British India government brought in the Criminal Tribes Act which described certain communities (mostly nomadic) as criminal by birth. After independence, the Indian government replaced this Act with the Habitual Offenders Act, 1952. However, even today, those belonging to these communities are often subjected to stigmatisation and many are found to be living on the fringes of society.

People from these communities are miles away from basic rights like education, healthcare and a permanent address, and are stripped of their fundamental rights to justice, equality and freedom. All these factors force them to hide their identities and, as a consequence, their languages.