--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "Joel D'Souza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >KONKANI AND PANDORA'S BOX: "A developed language is a pre-requisite >for a developed society. It is therefore absurd to search for Goa's >Asmitai or identity in Konkani, which is nothing but an undeveloped >form of Marathi, according to the principles of the science of >language. Marathi is India's third great and one of the major >languages in the world. Denial to it its rightful claim in Official >Language Act, 1987, was a serious matter." >(Jaisinghrao V Rane in Panorama-NT) > The above statement is absolute nonsense. The science of language would never claim that Konkani is an undeveloped language, or for that matter, only a form of Marathi. What principles of science of language is this guy talking about? Can he state them? According to modern linguistics any language is characterized as a fully developed independent language if it displays the following characteristics: 1. It is spoken by a significant number of people for several generations, with several generations of their children having learned to speak it naturally. 2. It has its own vocabulary, grammar, phraseology, figures of speech, idiomatic expressions, etc. 3. It is distinguished from being a dialect of another language by not being fully intelligible to a native speaker of that other language unaided by formal education or informal exposure. By all three of the above linguistic criteria Konkani is a fully developed language, distinct from Marathi or any other language. 1. Konkani is known to be spoken since at least the 11th century. 2. Apart from having a vast lexicon, rich syntax and phraseology, and a wonderful corpus of idiomatic and figurative expressions, it has some rules of word formation that very few world languages, if any possess. For instance, a tree bearing a particular fruit, such as guava can only be called a "guava tree" in English, or a "peruche zhaad" in Marathi. But in Konkani the fruit is called "perr" and its tree is called "peyr". Very few languages, if any have special words for stinking smells emanating from different sources. In English we have perhaps five words that mean the same thing � stink, stench, malodor, fetor, and reek. In Marathi, "ghaann vaas" and perhaps, a couple of other synonyms. Similarly in Hindi, perhaps, only "budhboo". But in Konkani, there is a unique word for each type of bad smell. I will just list a few that I know without specifying the source. First, of course is the generic "ghaann". But then we have "gutthaann", "khaathsaann", "hivllaann", "himsaann" and "dhorbottaan". 3. Konkani and Marathi are largely mutually unintelligible to native speakers of each language who have not been exposed in a formal or informal way to the other. Cheers, Santosh =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=- To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet ================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
