*Explaining complex Konkani in a simple way*
Frederick Noronha
fredericknoron...@gmail.com (+91-9822122436)
Konkani is a complex language, often misunderstood. Or not adequately
understood. This is perhaps more acute today in the case of Roman-script
Konkani. Despite its centuries-old tradition, it was abruptly ditched
thanks to a single sentence in the 1987 Goa Official Language Act. But
this doesn't mean the language (or script) has suddenly lost its
relevance. This is what a new book on the subject reminds us.
First encounter makes it look like a technical book -- Grammar is something
that many of us don't like in school. But a closer look makes 'Konkani in
the Roman Script: A Short Grammatical Study' a catchy read. You can dip
into certain pages and learn something new; or, if you're deep into the
subject, you might read it more closely.
Ricardo (aka Richard) Cabral's new book pulls together what he calls "a
mixed bag". In his book, he promises to touch topics ranging from language
to linguistics, prescriptive grammar to descriptive grammar, philology to
etymology, etc. In simpler lingo, this means studying the language, its
structure and development, how the language should be used, how it actually
gets used, studying the language in oral and historical sources, and
tracing the roots of the words. But it also has chapters on 'The
Romanization Process', Konkani verbs in grammar, phonology, morphology,
syntax and ergativity. In simpler language: the science of speech sounds,
the study of words and how they relate to one another, and other
grammatical patterns.
Of interest to the general reader would be the book's very brief listing of
the "phase-wise development" of Romi Konkani, including through the many
books published in the script.
Before you get the wrong impression, this book can be read at different
levels. One way would be to see it as a complex text on language. Another
would be to read it as a series of interesting 'did-you-know' type facts
about *Amchi Bhas*, or Our Language, as the elders of an earlier generation
called Konkani. The idea behind this book, Cabral says at the outset, is to
have the Konkani language described in English to make this knowledge
available also to Goans in the diaspora (p.7). Indeed, there is interest
there, and among foreign scholars as well.
* * *
Roman script-Konkani came about with the European encounter (clash of
civilisations, or however you wish to see it) after the early 16th
century. Cabral makes it clear that before the arrival of the Portuguese,
there was no Goa existing within its present boundaries. *Ganvkari *records
are found in the Goykannada script. Some parts of Goa had their records in
Marathi written in the Balbodh or Modi scripts. Konkani was till then a '
*balabhasha*' or '*boli'*, a spoken language.
Cabral has his book packed with interesting insights on language and
culture, not to overlook politics and history. Among the issues he focuses
on are the aboriginal Gauddas/Kunnbis and language. His description of
their language use, and how it differs from the Konkani spoken by others,
is interesting (p.12-16).
The book briefly looks at dialects, including Antruzi (from the region of
Ponda, now embedded in the official language variant). We're told Konkani
makes extensive use of the principle of 'Sandhi' -- a concept from
Sanskrit. This refers to the "innate musicality of words and
expressions". Besides 'stress' and 'intonation', a language also has
'rhythm' and 'metre'. Syllables are arranged in a way to create a euphonic
(pleasant-sounding) effect when syllables are correctly enunciated or
pronounced. Is this what makes Konkani a 'sweet' language, as some claim?
The second chapter is all about etymology, starting with the parts of
speech of Konkani. Unless you're a linguistic masochist, the average
reader might find this a bit too pedantic. Next is a chapter on the grammar
of verbs. The wide use of examples, from the world of simple spoken
Konkani, makes this easier to understand.
In the Phonology section, Cabral reminds us how important it is to get the
sounds right. Konkani, unlike English, has the 'hard' and 'soft'
sounds. '*Hanv
modde dovorle*', depending on how it is pronounced, could mean either 'I
kept the cadaver' or 'I kept [it] in the middle', as is pointed out.
You could cull out an entire long list of 'did you know that's' from this
book, or maybe even create a quiz based on this book. Did you know that '
*araddi*' means foothills or '*keri'* refers to a land having the keri
plants? Or that Bombay once became the 'vibrant nerve centre' of most
Konkani publications of so many genres -- prayers, novenas, essays, short
stories, news write-ups, dramas, novellas, novels, etc? And of course, the
potboiler books known as '*romansi*' too.
Konkani 'reduplication' of words is interesting too (p.140). For instance,
words like *rusrus* (activity), *khoddkhodd *(shivering), *mirmire*
(grief), *ghonnghonn* (fanfare), *gosgos* (torrent), *kittkitt *
(irritant), *ttonnttonn* (tight), *khottkhott* (pest).
There's a lot more like this.
Cabral explains the diacritical signs' use in Konkani (p.132-132). These
include the 'tilde' to show nasality, the circumflex to create closed
sounds, the accent for open sounds, the apostrophe (') to depict
contraction or conjoining of consonants, hyphen for compound words, the
colon to show the long vowel sound (like ai: for mother). In our
English-dominated world, we are losing our ability to use some of these.
Of course, the stop, comma and question mark are used in the usual way. If
you thought the Roman alphabet (with its 26 or less letters) was somehow
handicapped in rendering Konkani sounds, you might think again after
reading this.
In Formation of Words, the book covers (briefly) the influences of other
languages on Konkani. Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Kannada, Portuguese (on
which Dalgado and later Edward D'Lima have written quite a bit, especially
the former) French, Marathi, English and Tulu.
It's easy to misunderstand Konkani and her nuances. One was reminded of
this by a saying (p.205) '*Dukor marukui vhelear roddta ani posukui vhelear
roddta*'. Once, a politician from Salcete used this phrase to make a
point. The next day, this comment was taken to mean that the politician in
question had "called Goans pigs". It actually is more complex, and
translates to: "A pig squeals when taken either for butchering or for
rearing." Meaning, some people complain all the time!
* * *
This comes across as a book of interest to anyone having a little more than
a marginal interest in our currently-popular (though only for some uses)
local language. Like some others (Lucio Rodrigues, L.A. Rodrigues, Roque
Miranda) who have taken to explaining the world of Konkani, Cabral's
academic roots too lie in fields outside of Konkani. He has a PhD in
Education and an MA in English. This could, in a way, help to understand
and explain the language in a more comprehensible way. This, it seems to
do.
On the flip side, Cabral doesn't give much attention to the rich issue of
dialects within Konkani, and their perennial jousting for power and
influence. (It can be hard to believe that today's derided Saxtti was once
the standard form of Konkani, sometime between the 15th and 17th centuries,
a crucial period in Konkani's history.)
Likewise, parts of this work are obviously based on the laboriously-created
output of other writers. For instance, the section of interjections
reminds one of Dalgado's 'Gramatica de Lingua Konkani', recently translated
by Ataide and Menezes. It had continued its existence in manuscript-only
format for a century before it got published. Cabral has four pages of
references, which is fairly detailed. But, in the fairness of things, a
closer attribution to the work of others would surely not hurt, and only
give credit where credit is due.
Overall, a book many could find interesting.
###
First published in *The Navhind Times. *March 3,2024.
