Sometimes for lack of appropraite or literal Konkani word the English words are used in Konkani. I have also found that English words are used in phonetically Konkani Romi scripet. I was recently reading a 2004 November issue of Gulab and found the write Manuel Fernandes use "...tem ring ttaitt (tight) korunk, Dusren ring asa...." However, the word "ring" is used in English when there is an equivalent Konkani word -- mudi. In the same issue, S.M. Borges, in his Xallakari Bhurgeachi Piddnnuk -- II, has used the English word "admission" in the first instance but used Konkani word "bhortechea" with the word admission in closed brackets. He also used the English word "smart" in italics and I am surprised he could not find an equivalent English word, knowning that Borges is a renowned and respected Konkani writer who has written a lot on Konkani grammar and has also joined issue over the two scripts, Roman and Devnagiri. Reading him I learn lot of "new" Konkani words, obviously taken from Sanskrit root. Elsewhere he has written akankxa (aspiration), chanchni (test) rast (fair), duxttchokrant (vicious circle), to give just a few examples. There is still lot of mish-mesh in our language and I doubt it would be ever ironed out on strict phonetical or grammatical lines. In India, using English words may be also a problem with other Indian regional languages. Hindi too suffers from such pitfalls. I have mentioned here before Prof. Joaquim Antonio Fernandes's book on Romi script grammar. At least one Konkani scholar told me that the methodology used by the late "professor" is not perfect. There have been many books, rather booklets, on how to write Konkani in Roman script. Perhaps these booklets are also "outdated" according to current research into Konkani. The major problem, however, is people written in Konkani. Offhand I can say that there is a sharp decline in writers of Konkani in Romi script as well as readers. The demise of some leading Romi-script Konkani papers is a testimony. At least Gulab is carrying on the torch. As I said before on the forum, the percentage of readers of the magazine or rather total Konkani readers compared to English-language newspapers and periodicals in Goa is very less. I have arrived at this conclusion by talking to many people and also assessing the copies of Gulab sold in my village and in a city like Panaji. I am as guilty of speaking in English at the recent tiatr in Dubai as many others in the audience. Even with the tiatrists I, as most of us, spoke a mix of English and Konkani. It is a trend, but let's say, Chak de Konkani (Konkani translation, pleeeze)
Eugene Correia __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
