THOMAS STEPHENS KONKNNI KENDR
B.B. Borkar Road, Alto Porvorim, GOA - 403521
(0832) 2415857, 2415864
e-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
website: www.tskk.org
Sir,
Kindly give publicity to the following press release
Thanking you,
Yours truly,
Pratap Naik, S.J.
Director
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Thomas Stephens Konknni Kedr (TSKK) as an institution devoted to linguistic
research into the Konkani language (recognized as a research institute by
Goa University) would like to draw the attention of Konkanis to a few
important points regarding language and script, in the context of a
controversy being raised by certain politically motivated elements to create
confusion about the issue.
1. Central Hindi Directorate of Govt. of India brought out an official book,
written by eminent linguistic scholars like Dr Suniti Kumar Chatterji,
titled 'Devanagari - Development, amplification and standardisation' They
give the gist of language, alphabet and script, which we too emphasize and
propose to you for serious consideration:
"* Language is something that is intrinsic to personality.
* Alphabet has a certain relation to language and some alphabets express
different sounds more successfully than others.
* Scripts are an abstraction thrice removed from direct experience.
* Any alphabet can be written in any script and therefore it follows that
any language can be written in any script, provided the alphabet has the
necessary sounds. If it has not, such sounds may be added and visual
symbols invented or adopted to represent them.
* The only basis on which to prefer a script should therefore be clarity,
legibility and capacity for easy manual and mechanical manipulation."
2. Though Devanagari is best suited to represent the sounds of Sanskrit, in
ancient times Sanskrit used Brahmi script, and then the descendants of
Brahmi, viz. Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Devanagari. Devanagari cannot
show a number of sounds proper to Konkani, and its use is not as scientific
as in Sanskrit because of inconsistent spelling. Devanagari cannot be the
natural script for Konkani because it was not evolved for Konkani.
3. Konkani has used Roman script right from 16th century. Instances of use
of Kannada script from 17th century in Goa, and in Karnataka Kannada script
has been used for Konkani for over a hundred years. Devanagari script has
been used only from the beginning of the last century in Goa, and very few
use it elsewhere to write Konkani.
4. The resolution passed by the Sahitya Akademi recognizing Konkani as an
independent modern literary language of India at the meeting of the General
Council of the Sahitya Akademi held on 26 February 1976 is as follows:
"As Konkani fulfils the criteria formulated by the Akademi for recognition
of a language, it is recognized as an independent modern literary language
of India.
"With regard to programmes in Konkani like the annual award, publications,
constitution and meetings of the Advisory Board, etc., involving
expenditure, Sahitya Akademi should request the Government of India to
provide the necessary extra funds. Such programmes and other activities
should be undertaken only when extra funds are available."
Here there is no mention of Devanagari script whatever. That was later on
hoisted on Konkani by false propaganda.
5. The Constitution (seventy-first amendment) Act, 20th August,1992, does
not mention the script of Konkani:
"There have been demands for inclusion of certain languages in the Eighth
Schedule to the Constitution. It is proposed to include Konkani, Manipuri
and Nepali languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution." The
amendment reads: "(a) existing entry 7 shall be numbered as entry 8, and
before entry 8 as so re-numbered, the entry "7. Konkani." shall be
inserted;"
It is true, however, that only the Goa state when declaring its state
language has mentioned Konkani in Devanagari.
6. The Constitution of India in defining Cultural and Educational Rights,
has ensured the liberty of choice of script:
" 29. Protection of interests of minorities. - (1) Any section of
the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a
distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to
conserve the same."
In view of the above six points we sincerely believe that language is
primarily important. The importance of the script comes only at the written
level. Therefore it occupies the secondary importance. Nobody can impose a
single script on the entire society. Society has the right to decide script
or scripts for their language. Common script should be evolved with
consensus and dialogue.
Yours truly,
Dr Pratap Naik, S.J.
Director
