ROMI LIPI ACTION FRONT
c/o Rhythm House, Below City Hospital ,Opp. Meenaxi Hotel,
Margao, Goa.403 601.Mob. 9822386579
Ref: RLAF/SINDHI/Press Date:
8.3.2009
Sindhi Language, ready to take off in Roman Script.
By: Wilmix Wilson Mazarello
"Sindhi" is a language of the Sindh region of Pakistan. Approximately 41
million
people speak, read & write Sindhi in Pakistan.
In Pakistan "Sindhi" is written exclusively in the Arabic Script
In India approximately 12 million people speak read & write Sindhi.
"Sindhi" is also one of the recognized Official Languages of India.
In India "Sindhi" is written in Arabic as well as Devanagari Scripts.
The Government of India recognizes both these Scripts for "Sindhi".
The Sindhis who left Sindh, (Pakistan) at time of partition and came to India
in
1947, have no State nor Land to be called as their own. The Sindhi community is
scattered all over India, and now, also scattered all over the World.
"Sindhi" is taught as a first language in the schools of Sindh and second
language
in Baluchistan in Pakistan.
In India, especially in the states of Maharashtra & Gujarat, many educational
institutions & schools managed by the Sindhi community promote "Sindhi" either
as
the medium of instruction or as a subject.
"Sindhi" is a rich language. It has a vast vocabulary. This has made "Sindhi" a
favourite of many writers and consequently much literature and poetry have been
written in "Sindhi".
Dialects of "Sindhi" are also spoken in southern Punjab, Baluchistan, Northwest
province of Pakistan (NWFP), and also Gujarat, as well as in India (in the
Rajasthan
state).
But alas, inspite of all this, today, many a "Sindhi" Educationist and Social
leader, express anxiety about the very existence of the "Sindhi" language and
community
They say, today the Sindhi population living in minority status in various
parts of
India and elsewhere in the world, lack the availability of "Sindhi" language
education in the main stream curriculum of the local schools and colleges.
Hence, the new Sindhi generation has neither the opportunity nor the incentive
to
learn their own language. Earlier, "Sindhi" was the official language of the
Sindh
(Pakistan) , but today it is no more an official language there. Urdu has taken
its
place as the official language of Sindh.
This alone could be the single biggest blow to the survival of the Sindhi
community.
Devanagari script has received success in small number of schools located in
the
pockets where Sindhis started their new life as refugees in India. However, the
Devanagari Script is not well accepted by the Sindhis themselves.
Sindhis have since scattered all over India and other continents of the world,
where
Sindhi is not taught in either Perso-Arabic or Devanagari script.
The question therefore arises, will "Sindhi" language survive as a viable
language
in Arabic or Devanagri script ? ( except in Sindh-Pakistan and some parts of
India)
What will happen to Sindhis who are spread all over the world ? Is there an
easy
solution? Can "Sindhi" be saved from extinction by introducing once again a new
script. For a change, could the Sindhis consider adopting the Roman Script?
Many a Sindhi Educationist and Social Leader argue as follows:- Our new
generation
learns Roman Script all over the world. The computer knowledge is fast becoming
inseparable part of future education and daily life. This field too is
dominated by
English Language.
Should we not therefore adopt Roman Script to teach "Sindhi" to our youth?
Transcription in Roman script using 'Sindhi" phonics could be a matter of
research
and development by expert educationalists. The Britishers devised present
Perso-Arabic script for us in 1853. Why should we not evolve a Roman Script for
our
dear "Sindhi" ? It may be the only logical and practical solution for a
Border-less
Sindhi Nation of tomorrow.
In the U.A.E, where the Sindhi community is a prominent Indian business group ,
is
already working towards preserving the "Sindhi" language by adopting the Roman
script, instead of the existing Arabic and Devnagari scripts.
Dr Ram Buxani, the managing trustee of Ram and Veena Buxani Foundation (U.A.E),
says
"If many western communities can adopt the Roman script to preserve and
promulgate
their languages, why can't our small community do the same?"
Shri Govind Chandiramani a language expert from Mumbai, with the help of
tireless
volunteers has already started preparing the "Sindhi Phonetic Roman Script".
So, do the Sindhis know what they are doing ? May be they do know what's best
for
them.
What the Sindhis are doing now, was done a long time ago by some Muslim
Countries.
After the First World War, these Muslim Countries under the Russian Rule,
discarded
the Arabic script, which they used for their number of languages, and replaced
it
with the Roman Script.
The reason :- a) To save their languages from being extinct. b) To make their
languages globally acceptable.
Turkey abolished the Arabic script in 1928, and replaced it with modified
"Latin-Script".
Somalia, followed it a few years later, also replacing it with "Latin Script".
Swahili, the most widely spread languages in Africa , gave up the Arabic Script
for
the Roman Script.
By about the mid 19th century onwards, the Arabic alphabet was completely
ousted by
the Latin-script (Roman).
With the European invasions came the missionaries who introduced a Romanized
script
called "Rumi". This has become the alphabet of both Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa
Indonesian, virtually the same tongue - today the most widespread language in
southeast Asia.
>From the latter half of the 19 th century, Roman or Latin script also replaced
"Malay"-script of Indonesia, and by the early years of the 20th century it had
effectively displaced the "Jawi" script.
The Turkic languages (Uzbek, Turkmen & Tatar) of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Russia, Ukrain, Poland,
Moldova,
Lithuania, Belarus, Bulgaria, China & Romania which earlier used the Cyrillik
or
Arabic Scripts, have all been replaced by the Roman Script.
In the Fiji Islands the entire population of Indian Origin (approx.400,000),
reads &
writes Hindi in the Roman Script. Yes! Hindi in Roman Script.
Finally, coming back close to home, a Cultural Society registerd at Tardeo,
Mumbai,
"Roman Lipi Parishad", ( Regn.No. 349/84/GBBSD dated 1 June 1984 and Public
Trust
F-9594 Bombay dated 19 July 1984 ) under the leadership of Madhukar N Gogate of
Pune, is working tirelessly, to give Roman Script as an additional Script for
Marathi.
Need I say any more, as to why this is happening ? With technology developing
at
such a fast pace, the World is fast becoming a global village.
World-wide Communication, is the need of the hour.
Regional languages are facing a threat of extinction, unless they take measures
to
change their Script to a globally accepted script.
As against this National & International backdrop, we Goans here, are fighting
with
some Devanagari fanatics to retain our Global Script (Roman Script) for
Konkani, a
Script which has already been there with us for almost 500 years.
Just when the world is preparing to take a step forward, some of our Goans are
bent
on taking Goa & Goans , two steps backward.
How sadist of them ? Is it not ?
Sadists or not, history has shown us, Roman Script has taken languages to newer
heights. Roman Script will take Konkani too, to newer heights.
Wilmix Wilson Mazarello
(Convenor, Romi Lipi Action Front)
