THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH
- Jaime Couto
For the past several months there has been a debate regarding the Scripts of Konknni. There seems to be a renewed support and encouragement for the Roman Script. Recently, in the last Legislative Assembly Session, the Honourable MLA of Saligao, Dr Wilfred de Sousa, well known for his seeking time and again equal status for Konknni and English in the Primary Educaction, surprisingly came up with an apparently plausible proposal for 'Grants' - term he subsequently withdrew - for Konknni in the Roman Script. The Chief Minister promptly and gladly took an undertaking to provide generous financial Assistance for the development of Konknni in Roman Script. It is obviously understandable the euphoria among the "Roman Scriptwallas' but what rather keeps one
guessing is that the Marathi Bhasha Porishad should fire an enthusiastic Welcome Salvo soon after the 'wise' decision of the C.M. was announced (Vide Sunaporant,24/7/04 page3). An alarm in this context has already been sounded by Mr Chandrakant Keni (Sunaporant,
A few considerations about the matter of the scripts may be pertinent to the issue.
In the opinion of researchers in linguistics, Konknni is a very old independent Indian Language. It had probably its own Script called Kandevi. When the Portuguese landed in
Out of several compulsions from within and without, the European Missionaries studied the local languages. The indigenous script being alien to them, they preferred transliterating or writing their Konknni in Roman Script for their own perusal, for that of those who would join or succeed them later on and also for that of the new-converts. The latter in the meantime were banned from reading any vernacular literature in local script for the fear of their re-conversion to their previous faith. Their children were prohibited to attend any 'pagan' schools.
Consequently the local Christians were gradually weaned away from the script of the soil. Later on, from the last quarter of the 17th century to practically the end of 19th century, the furore of Acculturation prompted the Church and Civil authorities to take positive steps to try to suppress Konknni altogether.
The Christians were forced to learn Portuguese. They had no other alternative either. The Hindus, the so called Konknnes, were however left free to learn Marathi.
The knowledge of Portuguese acquired by most of the middle and the lower class Christians was insufficient for their communication. Some spoke or wrote a Konanised Portuguese or its better version called 'Indo-Portuguese Dialect'. Others learned 'Portuguese' or rather Roman Characters with the sole intention to be able to read and write a letter in Konknni. The qualification therefore obtained by the latter was just "Chitt borounk zanno". They would occasionally write and read one or two letters and nothing beyond that. That gave rise to an 'exquisite' class of people whom Dr. Mariano Saldanha sarcastically called "analfabetos que sabem ler e escrever" meaning
"illiterates who know to read and write". Here is a specimen of a letter written by one of them: Mogal ixta, magta tuca bori saud ani bolaqui. Atam tuca cobor ditam qui anv casar zata. Chedum moidechem tacho pai bair podla. Chadien(read saddien) casar zata, tuca moji covid etc. etc� However a part of this category with certain push, imagination and creativity became 'boroinnars' with their 'kantaram', 'tiatr', 'romans', articles and even magazines and periodicals. Deficiency of sound education, absence of formal study of the language, segregation from the local culture, reduced contact with the Hindu community, lack of exposure to any other literature, resulted in their faulty orthography, erroneous grammatical structures, impoverished vocabulary and substandard expressions. The ideas, the thoughts, the imagery, the plots and the messages of those 'writers' might have been of considerable
value, but, as far as the language was concerned, their works lacked literary standard.
There were many publications in Romanised Konknni of religious nature mostly by the clergy. Not all of these had the required 'quality'. The following incident may confirm my assertion.
A priest, a leading figure of "Konknni Katolk Boroinnarancho Ekvott"- I wonder whether it still survives - wrote a booklet titled "F...chem. Nirop". Analysing this book from the linguistic point of interest, Prof. Dr. Mariano Saldanha said in Heraldo - a newspaper now extinct - that the book was full of errors right from the Title to the End. Commenting further he said that had the book been written in similar Portuguese and submitted for the approval of the then Ecclesiastical Authorities, it would have gone straight to the wastepaper basket with the remark 'Omnia obstant' though he knew very well that the 'Nihil obstat' referred mainly to the doctrine and not to the language. Mind you this happened to a cultured writer known for his interest in the language
and enjoying a certain aura in the Konknni circles. Imagine what might have been the condition of the other writings.
No doubt in the last four to five decades the Konknni writing in Roman Script has improved tremendously. But still we come across sometimes titles like "Don Bailo Copla Code", "Tin Tikam", "Dispoto giraz amcam dhi", "Amchem Gor". If the titles themselves are linguistically erroneous, what can we expect of the content? About two weeks before the tragedy that snatched him away from us, the Konknni Stalwart, the late Felicio Cadozo, in a casual chat with me, was bitterly complaining about most of the Konknni 'writers' in Roman Script whose write-ups he had to edit. He had confided to me that correcting his students' compositions, as a School Teacher of , Konknni, had been a much lighter job. This means that
the tender students can write in Devnagri better than most of the mature 'boroinnars' in the Roman Script. I can corroborate, myself, his findings. I have been a teacher of Konknni in both the scripts for several years and in many institutions. My students today, without the Portuguese background of yore, read better Konknni in Devnagri Script than in Roman. Even they find writing in that script easier.
Over a century back, Msgr Sebastiao Dalgado had said that Konknni, being an Eastern Language, should not be governed by any European counterpart but ought to be written in its "own Devnagri alphabet or its analogous canari". Although he admitted that 'canari' might have been a better alternative, its Dravidian origin made it unsuitable for "the language of
If the language has been seriously taught and used adequately at different levels, the children and the teenagers of today should be well skilled to read and write Konknni in Devnagri at ease. Actually they appear to do so to some extent, as I have said above. Further most of the literate Goans below fifty years of age are today well familiar with this Script.
Msgr. Dalgado, in his above "Dictionary", says that he gave the 'Romanised' version of each Konknni vocable for the benefit of those who were not familiar with the Nagri characters. Today he would have found it superfluous.
In view of the above, I fail to understand the reasons behind the clarion call given for the revival and fresh development of the Roman Script at this stage. Ironically this move has come from the "Dalgado Konknni Akademi", an organization that should have
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rather worked to make Msgr. Dalgado's dream come true the earliest, as a catalyst for the smoother and faster transition already begun nearly two decades back. The 'Akademi' looks to be a misnomer. It would better rechristen it as the "Roman Konknni Akademi" .
It is worth underscoring here that this movement seeks and hopefully counts on the full support from the Church. The Church was no doubt instrumental in introducing the Roman Script and now is she called upon to infuse refreshed breath of life into it. The tendency towards Acculturation that might have been justified in the bygone centuries has since long become an anachronism and has been replaced by the much recommended process of Inculturation. We should not forget that the major sector of Culture of a land is its Language and Literature. It is a challenge before the Church to put back the clock and contribute effectively for the Indianisation of the script for the
benefit of the young.
Nobody says however that the multi-centennial Roman Script should be suppressed or unceremoniously discarded at a knock. It has undoubtedly rendered yeoman services to the cause of Konknni. It played the lifebuoy that saved the language from the tempestuous waters that once nearly engulfed it. Nevertheless a shipwrecked, in spite of owing his very survival to it, sheds off the life-saving device 'with thanks' once on the shore. That is the reality of life.
The Classical Roman Konknni Literature should be zealously preserved at all cost as an item of our Heritage. Modem Literature worth the name should be re-edited if the readership so demands or rather transliterated for the benefit of the present and future generations. The Contemporary Literature should be mostly for the people of 50 years and above who are not so familiar with the Devnagri. Rightful claim for awards for the deserving literary works should be boldly pursued at appropriate levels. The smooth transition from Roman to Devanagri ; should be earnestly encouraged specially by the Church. The transliteration of the present outstanding Roman Konknni publications would go a long way in helping the necessary
change.
We have however to admit two facts with an open, realistic and unbiased mind. On the one hand the Christians fished out from the mainstream of the social and linguistic culture, for a couple of centuries, became more westernised, their, Konknni losing its original flavour along with its rich vocabulary in the course of time. On the other hand what the Christians lost was preserved by the Hindus being rooted deeply in the local ethos with Konknni as their only medium of oral communication though they used Marathi for social, religious, business and literary effects. While the Christians studied Portuguese or at least the Roman Alphabet for their reading and writing, the Hindus continued with the Devnagri and learned
Marathi, Portuguese being an additional language for the higher middle and the upper class.
Consequently the Hindus suffered some influence of Marathi but not to the extent of classifying their Konknni as Marathised Konknni. For that matter Msgr. Dalgado's Konknni was also of that category. Why, the Liturgical Konknni of Goa for some is 'Marathi' too! "Nachonk nokllo tor angonn i vankddem". We, Christians, ought to admit the weakness of our Konknni.
(Courtesy: Renovacao, 1-15 Sept, 2004)
- Forwarded by www.goa-world.com
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