Instead of the term dialects, the term speech forms would be more adequate. Oral speech forms, when a language is not written, cannot be made into a language and dialect distinction where language stands for written form. In Konkani the written forms themselves are multiple. William Robert Da Silva
On Sat, Dec 2, 2023 at 4:31 AM Frederick Noronha < [email protected]> wrote: > Open to discussion. FN > I. HISTORY AND LINGUISTIC CLASSIFICATIONINTRODUCTION > > Konkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken > along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. > This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan > is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north > and river Kali to the south; the north-south length being approx. 650 Kms. > and east-west breadth about 50 Kms., going unto 96 Kms. in some places. > Major part of Konkan is in Maharashtra and naturally, most people in the > area speak some dialects of Marathi. But the language spoken in Goa and > further south in coastal Karnataka and in some parts of northern Kerala has > its distinct features, and is rightly identified as a separate language > called Konkani. > > The total number of Konkani speakers seems to have remained remarkably > stable for over a century. This is borne out by the census reports over the > years. > Census 1891: 1.565 millions > Census 1971: 1.523 millions > Census 1981: 1.584 millions > Census 1991: 1.760 millions > The state wise breakup of Konkani speakers in 1971, 1981 and 1991 is > available. > Census 1971Census 1981Census 1991 > Number % Number % Number % > Goa 556396 incl.Diu, Daman,Guj*. 36.54 600004 37.88 602626 34.23 > Karnataka 575111 37.77 640738 40.45 706397 40.12 > Maharashtra 277048 18.20 212214 13.40 312618 17.76 > Kerala 80000 5.25 100934 6.37 64008 3.64 > Gujarat & Others 34129* 2.24 30173 1.90 74958 4.25 > Total 1522684 100.0 1584063 100.0 1760607 100.0 > > Konkani speakers are mostly multilingual (68.4% as calculated from the > data reported in 1981 census) since they have to learn other languages for > educational and other official purposes: Marathi in Maharashtra and to some > extent in Goa, Kannada or Tulu in Karnataka, Malayalam in Kerala and > English in all the areas. Earlier under the Portuguese rule, many people > learnt Portuguese language but they quickly switched over to English after > the liberation of Goa. The literacy level in Konkani speaking areas was > claimed to be higher than the national average (57% people in Goa were > literate according to the 1981 census), but the overall literacy level in > India as a whole seems to have gone up in recent years. > > It is claimed that Konkani originated in Goa and spread into the > neighbouring parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala where Konkani > speakers from Goa, particularly the high class Brahmins, migrated after the > Portuguese arrived. The Portuguese conquered the central portion of Goa in > the first half of the sixteenth century. This consists of the taluks of > Bardes and Tiswadi to the north of the river Zuari and the taluks of Saxtti > and Marmugao to the south. They called this area* Velhas Conquistas *(old > conquests). The peripheral portions of Goa consisting of all the other > taluks were conquered in the latter half of the eighteenth century and were > called Novas Conquistas (new conquests). The migrations of the Konkani > speakers therefore must have taken place in several waves and this could > perhaps be the reason for the dialectal variation in Konkani. In the Hortus > Indicus Malabaricus of the seventeenth century, there is evidence of > Konkani Brahmins settling down in Cochin (Malabar), the same time as some > others moved to South and North Kanara and Ratnagiri districts. The > Portuguese called the language of the natives mainly as Lingua Canarim, but > sometimes also as Lingua Konkana, Lingua Konkani, Lingua de Goa etc. In any > case, Konkani neither had a single standard name nor could it be seen as a > monolithic language. Konkani never was a language of a single homogeneous > community, but of a heterogeneous group, including Brahmins and > non-Brahmins of various castes. Differences, however, remain in the speech > of Brahmins and non-Brahmins among both the major religious groups viz. > Hindus and Christians. > GENEOLOGICAL AND TYPOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > > Konkani belongs to Indo-Aryan (IA) family of Indo-European family of > languages. It forms the southern most tip of the IA languages and borders > with the Dravidian languages viz. Kannada, Tulu and Malayalam. Taking into > account, all the major features of Konkani, it can definitely be assigned > to the south-western group, and is most closely related to Marathi within > this group. There is also a hint of some affiliation to the central group, > especially Hindi. Like Marathi and Gujarati, the other members of the > south-western group, Konkani has preserved the old Indo-European arbitrary > three-gender system and the ergative construction. In commonality with the > eastern Indic languages, however, Konkani has lost the length distinction > in the high vowels. From the evidence available, it seems certain that both > Marathi and Konkani evolved from Old Indo Aryan (OIA) through Maharashtri > Prakrit and Maharashtri Apabhramsha, the Middle Indo Aryan (MIA) languages. > Konkani retained some of the archaic features of its precursors while > Marathi lost them. Several words and collocations found in the earliest > Marathi literary works like Dyaneshwari (13th century) are no more used in > Marathi, but are still well prevalent in Konkani of modern times. > > Typologically, Konkani is a synthetic/ inflectional language. Like > Sanskrit and most major Indian languages, Konkani shows a rich inflectional > character, and has a well developed case system for nouns and conjugation > system for verbs. > > As stated earlier, Konkani is the language spoken predominantly in Goa, > the districts of North Kanara, South Kanara and Udupi in Karnataka and the > northern areas of Kerala. It is not a monolithic language and in fact, > shows amazing variation along the geographical lines and caste lines, but > the different varieties remain mutually intelligible. The variation in > Konkani is actually a subject of special attention and is to be dealt with > separately in the later chapters. Since Goa is the only area where Konkani > is spoken predominantly and enjoys the status of the official language, the > variety of Konkani primarily considered here is the Goa Konkani. > SCRIPT / SCRIPTS USED TO DOCUMENT THE LANGUAGE > > Konkani remained a non-literary language for most part in its history. It > was primarily used as a language of oral communication. For writing > purposes, people generally used one of the major literary languages of the > neighbouring areas such as Marathi or Kannada. The Goan Hindus use the > Nagari script in their writings while the Goan Christians use the Roman > script. The Saraswats of Karnataka use the Nagari script in North Kanara > district and the Kannada script in Udupi and South Kanara. Malayalam script > is used in Kerala, but now there is a move to use the Nagari script. > Konkani thus has a unique distinction of being written in four different > scripts > > In Goa, the Nagari script has been adopted as the official script for > Konkani. This has some practical advantages. It is the script of some of > the major Indian languages with rich literary tradition: Marathi, Hindi and > of course Sanskrit. Because of the introduction of Hindi as the National > language, and in many case as a language of wider communication, the Nagari > script is being readily accepted by the new generations of literate Konkani > speakers in all the regions > HISTORY > > An early reference to the language Konkani by its name is found in Sant > Namdeo’s *Gatha Gaulan 263* (late 14th century). It is commonly averred > that before the advent of Portuguese there was a flourishing Konkani > literature in Goa. Unfortunately, there is no trace of it today because it > was destroyed by the Portuguese inquisition which commenced by their ruling > from 30th June 1541. When the Portuguese came in the early 16th century, > they were quite zealous in imposing their religion and culture on the > native population, and used coercion to spread Christianity. Initially some > of the missionaries made considerable effort to study the local language, > Konkani, as they considered it essential in their proselytizing activities. > These missionaries wrote grammars and dictionaries of Konkani – the > earliest among any modern Indo-Aryan language. The earliest available > grammar of Konkani, *Arte de Lingoa Canarim* written by Thomas Stephens > (Thomaz Estevao to the Portuguese), an English Jesuit, was published in > 1640. Other Konkani grammars and dictionaries written around that time are > available only in manuscripts. An early Portuguese-Konkani bilingual > dictionary, Vocabulario da Lingoa Canarim, was compiled by Diogo Ribeiro in > 1626, which gives a commentary on the customs and religious beliefs of the > local Konkani people. Thomas Stephens and Rebeiro also wrote books on the > doctrine of Christianity. > > In spite of such noteworthy initial contributions, the Portuguese did > great disservice to Konkani when they later attempted to suppress the > language. In 1684, the viceroy, Francis de Tavora, was persuaded by some of > the clergy to issue a decree requiring all the people in Goa to learn > Portuguese language so that “ in course of time, the Portuguese idiom would > be common to one and all, to the exclusion of the mother tongue”. It was > argued that if the Christians used only the Portuguese language they would > then be cut off from the Konkani speaking Hindus and their Hindu religious > influence. The Portuguese inquisition in Goa suppressed many native customs > of the Christian converts which it regarded as pagan. The 1736 edict of the > Goa inquisition even forbade singing “either publicly or in private” of > joyous songs called vovios ( songs in the vhovi meter) which were > customarily sung on the occasion of marriages. In 1745, Archbishop de Santa > Maria went to the extent of ordering that native Christians who did not > know Portuguese should not be allowed to marry at all. The viceroy, D. > Manuel de Portugal e Castro, through a circular in 1831, ordered all the > teachers and professors to teach only Portuguese language to the students > and to forbid the use of their vernacular in the schools. During the > subsequent years of Portuguese rule, Konkani remained a neglected language > in Goa. Cunha Rivara, the chief secretary to Portuguese government in Goa, > tried to revive interest in Konkani. In 1857, he published the second > edition of Thomas Stephens’ Konkani grammar under the title Grammatica da > Lingoa Concani and in an introductory article therein he wrote a > ‘Historical essay’ documenting the plight of Konkani in Goa. He wanted to > introduce teaching of Konkani in primary schools but his efforts did not > succeed. > > As a result, Konkani remained mostly a language of oral communication > among the familiars, and failed to develop as a literary language. It is > apparent from the near-absence of Konkani literature until the 19th century > that Konkani at no time enjoyed the status of being a medium of education > or a court language. There was, therefore, no binding force which could > evolve one standard variety, and Konkani remained fragmented into several > dialects. Yet, books and periodicals started appearing in the major > dialects like Goa Hindu, Bardes Christian and Karnataka Christian dialects > in the 19th and early 20th century. The first All India Konkani Conference > was held in Karwar in 1939 to instill a feeling of solidarity among the > Konkani speakers and resolved to strive for language standardization and > development of a single script (Nagari) which would help giving an impetus > to the literary efforts. It urged the British government of India to > provide Konkani as a medium of instruction in primary schools in the > majority Konkani speaking areas and to appoint a committee for preparing > Konkani text books etc. > > Even after the Portuguese were expelled from Goa in 1961, Konkani did not > get much impetus for development. It had been a long pending debate whether > Konkani be regarded as a separate language or a mere dialect of Marathi and > the linguists remained divided on the issue. In Goa – the only area where > Konkani had a potential of achieving a dominant status – a large > population, particularly Hindus, regarded Marathi as their literary > language and favoured merger of Goa with Maharashtra, since the states in > India were anyway organized on the basis of language. However, the > referendum held in 1967 went against the merger proposal and the status of > Goa as a separate political unit was assured. The Sahitya Akademi (academy > of literature) recognized Konkani as a literary language in 1976. Konkani > was introduced as an elective subject up to 12th grade in the schools in > Goa. The University of Mumbai approved introduction of Konkani at the > university level in 1980. After the establishment of a separate university > in Goa, a chair for Konkani was instituted and a post-graduate programme in > Konkani was introduced. A number of institutions also came up in Goa for > promoting the language. In February 1987, Konkani became the official state > language of Goa through the official language act which states that “The > official language for all or any of the official purposes of the union > territory of Goa shall be Konkani. Marathi will also be used for all or any > of the official purposes”. Thus Marathi was assured virtually the same > status, but it was not declared a second official language. Finally in > 1992, Konkani was included in the eighth schedule of the Indian > Constitution as one of the national languages. > > In spite of all this, however, the current situation remains uncertain. > The main reasons for this are: > > 1. The language loyalty among the Konkani speakers is still weak. Goa > Christians, earlier during the Portuguese regime, educated their children > in Portuguese language. After the liberation in 1961, they were in the > forefront of the Konkani language movement. And yet, they all chose to > educate their children in English. > 2. Konkani has only a shaky foothold in schools. It is introduced as a > medium of instruction in some primary schools, but the number of such > schools and the number of students are ever declining. In 1985-86, the > number of Konkani medium schools was 10 (students 314), Marathi medium > schools 1004 (students 73514) and English medium schools 578 (students > 46036). > 3. But probably the greatest problem of Konkani is the variety of > literary dialects, each having only a very small readership. With a > population of fewer than 2 millions, Konkani cannot afford such > fragmentation and the publishers find it difficult to even recover the cost > of publishing the writings in Konkani. > 4. Since Konkani is a minor language, Konkani schoolchildren have > relatively greater need of learning some of the major Indian languages. The > need to master several literary dialects of their mother tongue in addition > would be an undue burden on them. > > [image: Top] > *top* <http://lisindia.ciil.org/Konkani/Konkani_hist.html#top> > > *------------------------------Copyright CIIL-India Mysore* > http://lisindia.ciil.org/Konkani/Konkani_hist.html > -- > > FN * +91-9822122436 * 784 Saligao 403511 Bardez Goa > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Goa-Research-Net" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/CAMCR53K%3D2C293vzu1t9hBTSG0%2BQeL_rcGxCBXXtv%3DCF5vNc6uQ%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/CAMCR53K%3D2C293vzu1t9hBTSG0%2BQeL_rcGxCBXXtv%3DCF5vNc6uQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Goa-Research-Net" group. 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