Challenges and Revitalization of Inpui|Pinky Waikhom
Bloch and Trager (1942): “A language is a system of
arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates."
Noam Chomsky (1957): “Language is a set of finite
number sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of
elements.”
Muharrem Ergin (1990): “Language is a natural means to
enable communication among people, a living entity that it has its own peculiar
laws, by means of which alone can it develop, a system of contracts whose
foundation was laid in times unknown, and a social institution interwoven with
sounds.”
David
Crystal (1992): “Language as the systematic, conventional use of sounds,
signs or written symbols in a human society for communication and
self-expression.”
Michael Halliday (2003): “A language is a system of
meaning- a semiotic system.”
Besides
all this definition by great linguists, my observation about the definition of
language is that language is a miracle which makes possible all the human needs
and desires, a form of expression which
communicate one person with another person.
Position
of Inpui among Tibeto-Burman
Regarding
the classification of Inpui language, different Scholars have given different
classification. Grierson had kept Inpui under Naga Bodo subgroup of
Tibeto-Burman family (Grierson LSI.) while Bradley has classified Inpui under
Zeliangrong sub group of Kuki Chin Naga group of Tibeto-Burman family.
Now
coming to the point of endangerment of a language it is important to know the
degree of vitality of language and its extent of endangerment. If we look into
the intergenerational language transmission, Inpui may be kept under the degree
of unsafe because the language is used by some children in all domains
and it is used by all children in limited domains; depending on the proportion
of speakers within the total population, Inpui may be called as definitely
endangered because a majority speak the language; relating with the trends
in existing language domains, the vitality of Inpui may be kept under the dwindling
domain because the language is used in home domains and for many functions,
but the dominant language begins to penetrate even home domains and lastly
looking into the materials for language education and literacy the grade of
Inpui may be kept as 1 because a practical orthography is known to the
community and some material is being written. If we look into the nature of
documentation of Inpui language, Inpui is an undocumented language. (Based on
the document submitted to the International expert meeting on UNESCO programme
safeguarding of endangered languages Paris 10-12 march 2013). To revitalize the
language and to protect the language, speech community plays an vital role. The
following points adds to the revitalization of Inpui and supporting the
endangered language.
The Role of Speech Community
Supporting
a language means we should support the community first. It should be remembered
that it is the speakers who maintain and abandon their language. Speakers of
minority community abandoned their native language in favor of another language
in child rearing and formal education. They consider their own language as
backward and impractical. It may be observed that these negative views are the
result of socioeconomic pressure of dominant speech community. In Manipur,
almost all the tribes are bilinguals in Manipuri and their concerned mother
languages; In case of Inpui also, they speak Manipuri as well as their mother
language. Being a minority community, it’s difficult for the Inpui community to
communicate in Inpui outside the community therefore they have to speak in
Manipuri to communicate with other tribes because Manipuri is the lingua franca
of the state. As a result, awareness should be given to the community about the
importance of mother tongue. Inpui community should establish environments
especially in the home and inside the community as well as in all community
functions to exclusively use their mother tongue.
External Specialist and Speech Communities
To
me, supporting a language or supporting a community, the credit always goes to the
speakers. Besides the role of speakers and speech communities, external
specialist also took a major role in protecting the language as well as the
community. To uplift the community and their language, linguist, educators and
activists ventures the task of documentation and it is one of the first primary
tasks in supporting a language and a speaker. Documenting a language or a
tribal community is like the two sides of a coin. They are related in one way
or the other because documenting a language means we are documenting the
culture, tradition and social life of the community of which language is one of
the major crucial part. Therefore there should be a viable and a lively
relationship between the members of the community or the informants and the researcher
to bring out a fruitful and tremendous end of the documentation.
What Can be Done ?
For
reviving Inpui language, basic linguistic and pedagogical training should be
given to the new generation. New generation should be made aware about the
basic linguistic structures of the language staring from the sounds to words to
sentences and to the meanings. Establishing local research centers, where
speaker of the community can be trained to study, document and archive their
own language materials will be of great advantage in revitalizing the Inpui
language. Moreover not only the researcher and community, but also the local
leaders, village chiefs or the politicians of the state should actively take
part in formulating the language policies to develop such minor language and
community. Taking opportunity of the community festival the community should
hold sports like on-spot essay competition, recitation and poem writing in
Inpui language which can be of great benefit in revitalizing the language.
Above this, the precious folk literature can also be revived using the younger
generation with the help of old folks of the village as a sports. A competition
can be arranged specially for the youngsters where they can be given the task
to collect folk tales and folk songs of their language from the most aged
people and should be trained to archive those literatures. Giving awareness
about language loss and language diversity to the community is one of the
effective means for revitalizing the language because the community people,
staring from small children to the aged people should always keep in mind that
once a language is lost the rich and precious culture of that community is gone
and their identity is fuzzed and ultimately identity crisis will faced.
Therefore special attention should be given to the youngster specially the
school children to make use of their language in home and love their language
and know the importance of their language.
Finally
I would like to conclude that it is high time for the people of Inpui to gather
their resources and build the strengths of their linguistic and cultural
diversity. They should take their responsibility to ensure themselves to
maintained and perpetuate their language for future generations. We should keep
a path for our future generation to identify themselves what are they, where
they belong and what tongue they speak. It is the responsibility of every Inpui
speaker to protect the identity of their future generation of whom they would
be regarded as the great forefather in future.
Inpui being a minority community, extensive work on the language need to
be done and has a large scope of research therefore the youngster should focus
more on working on the language which
will be a great welfare for the Inpui community.
Language
is a miracle
As
far it is audible
And
it is audible
When
it is livable
So
speak and love
Your
language.
Author: Dr. Waikhom Pinky Devi. She can be reached at waikhompinky91@gmail.com
The article first appeared in Kala-Khwanbaang, an annual publication of ISUD.
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