English Talk || Interview with prof. Irom Gambhir Singh Socio Linguist and Cultural Activist.

[00:00:25][music] >> Dear listeners, welcome to today's special radio talk program. Language is not only a way of communication, it is also the heart of our culture, traditions, memories, and identity.

[00:00:37]Across the world, many indigenous languages are slowly disappearing due to so-called modernization, globalization, and changing lifestyle. In such a situation, the role of young people becomes extremely important in preserving and promoting these languages. To discuss this important topic, we are honored to have with us today Professor Irom Gambhir Singh, renowned sociolinguist and cultural activist. Sir, welcome to the program.

[00:01:03]>> Welcome to you.

[00:01:04]>> Uh sir, first of all, uh why do you think indigenous languages are important for a community's identity and cultural inheritance?

[00:01:13]>> Okay, Omar. This is a multifaceted and multi-dimensional question for indigenous activists. And language preservation is extremely important. And in order to come to this kind of answers, though answers are wide, very, you know, multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary, we can understand that this question is deeply connected to a community's identity and cultural heritage.

[00:01:41]>> Mhm.

[00:01:41]>> Because they carry much more than vocabulary and grammar. When it comes to the question of language, language is culturally intertwined with communities' practices. So, the ways to preserve or understanding the world, histories, traditions, and social relationships that may or may not be fully captured in other language. However, it is extremely important to understand, and we can, of course, try to categorize on some, you know, subcategory. Number one could be cultural knowledge and tradition. Like we have stories, songs, ceremonies, as we have found in many rituals. And how these rituals come, and there are oral histories, which often passed down from time immemorial by indigenous language speakers. And of course, another aspect of certain things of language goes with the very concept, values, and cultural practices. It may lose meaning when translated into another language. So, language is very specific to the community who speaks the language, and according to the climatic condition, geopolitical situation, it may vary its values and meanings. Therefore, [snorts] this is cultural knowledge and traditions. Of course, the preservation is extremely And another important aspect is community, identity, and belonging.

[00:03:14]Language can be a powerful marker of a community to its members who come from that community. And speaking an ancestral language often strengthens the connections between generations, and also it reinforces a shared sense of identity, and thus bonding can start for more understanding and appreciating each other. And we have seen this quite often among the Meiteis. Now, we are fighting for some causes. However, it was found that a Meitei who speak Manipuri and a Naga who understand Meiteilon, they become one. Though within the state, they seems to have lot of difference.

[00:03:55]When they encounter other communities, because of look and because of the language, the oneness is formed and the unity immersed. So, this kind of beautiful aspect carried by language is such an important identity for the regional and local kind of practices.

[00:04:14]Yes, there are historical continuity also at the same time. Indigenous languages connect present day communities with their ancestor, which all of us knows.

[00:04:25]They provide a living link to historical experiences, migrations, and cultural developments. So, the Meiteis or the ethnic Nagas or the Assamese, we can track their migrations. Somewhere, historians may find that oh, this way, that way, we are migrated and that way, this way, we are connected through cultural practices and language through language, we can track and trace those, you know, possible linkages also. And at the same time, you know, language has a unique knowledge system.

[00:05:00]Many indigenous languages contain detailed knowledge about local environments, plants, animals, and weather patterns, and land management practices. Now, which were extremely important for our own survival.

[00:05:15]Before the advancement of development of technology, what we think people used to inhabit near the riverside or near the lakeside. Mountains were not occupied because nature was so disaster. And the communication was mainly through the, you know, waterways. So, the knowledge which people gathered from ancient period is possible to establish the link from one community to community and we can do such interesting research.

[00:05:44]Therefore, language is extremely important and this knowledge can be valuable not only to those community but also to the fields such as economy, conservation, anthropology, sociology, etc. And of course, another major trust area is linguistic diversity. Each language represents a unique way of organizing and expressing human thought.

[00:06:10]And this is quite visible. Why? English does not follow the same sentence pattern.

[00:06:16]Whereas we might a little speakers or Tibeto-Burman group of language speakers, this is a boy. We will say, "Masi angang amani." You know, sentence pattern seems to be quite different. And it has a link with our culture identity, which is rooted to our languages. So, you know, when a distinct language disappear, humanities culture cultural heritage also loses. So, distinct approach to language studies is extremely important. As we know, many languages are becoming more and more endangered. Therefore, UNESCO has a plan because many language languages have become endangered. Even the Meitei Lon we speak, we are worried how much of our ancient traditional cultural valuable kind of knowledges are being lost as we don't use.

[00:07:07]So, this aspect should be, you know, I mean, quite understood to us. Of course, self-determination and cultural resilience. Of course, the question you have asked has explored me to understand because maintaining language and revitalizing indigenous languages can help communities to preserve cultural autonomy and recover traditions that may have been threatened me by colonization, displacement, or assimilation. And of course, government need to have proper policy for that.

[00:07:41]Language revitalization efforts often contribute to cultural pride and communities cohesion because language is identity and language also serve the very role of preserving and protecting our own cultural identity.

[00:08:00]So, therefore, for indigenous people language is not just a tool for communication. It is a repository of collective memory, cultural values, and relationship to land and community.

[00:08:12]Protecting indigenous languages therefore helps to protect the broader cultural heritage and identity of people who speak the language.

[00:08:22]>> Uh that's very true, sir. Protecting uh indigenous language is protecting community and language is indeed the mirror of community's history and identity, as you mentioned, sir. And uh of course, you also mentioned about challenges faced by the indigenous language. What are the biggest obstacles faced by indigenous language today, as of your view, sir?

[00:08:44]>> Okay. This is very important because every unique education system can bring those potential survival methods.

[00:08:54]However, coming to the indigenous languages may face range of challenges, many of which are interconnected and some of the biggest obstacles to include may be declining number of speakers because when speakers don't use a language, language death happens automatically. So, number of speakers are important. And many indigenous languages relatively few fluent speakers. And in some communities, most speakers are elderly. When younger generations do not learn the language, it becomes vulnerable and lead to extinction. So, danger lies there. We need to save this and we need to encourage number of language speakers.

[00:09:37]And at the same time, we have seen in this global world many languages are dying because of the dominant of other languages.

[00:09:46]And other ethnic minorities are not encouraged. Though there is no direct discourage, but the system does not give us the opportunity to maintain and use our own language. Of course, possible kind of way out may be there, but looking at national and global languages such as English, Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi, or French often dominate the education system and in the government, media, and also in business. So, people may feel pressure to use these languages for economic and social opportunities.

[00:10:23]Reducing everyday use of indigenous languages, replacing by dominant languages, has been one of the most strong indicators of among the other challenges.

[00:10:36]At the same time, historically, now historical assimilations of policies in many countries, indigenous people experience policies that discourage or even prohibit the use of their languages in schools and public life for other obvious reasons. The efforts of these policies can continue across generations leading to language loss and reduced transmission within the families. When a language is not used at home, it becomes or it is amount to the kind of negligence of the community who speak the language. Like I remember my kind of experience, though Bengalis are widely spoken in Silchar, but many Manipuri and of course largely all the Meitei Pangals, Manipuri Muslims, they use a language. So, language maintenance is there. And I personally encounter them and I learned that they speak better Manipuri than we speak Manipuri in Imphal. So, language, though historical policies and assimilations, migrations may be applied, but the language belongs to those who speak languages. For example, when it comes to the question of English, many ethnic communities start now claiming that English is my own mother tongue, right? And English is the associate official language of of India.

[00:12:00]The colonial hangover of the, you know, education system is still prevailing. Of course, we need to discuss in a separate session about language in education later on.

[00:12:12]Of course, coming to this, limited educational resources is also another challenge. Many indigenous languages lack sufficient textbook. Though under the new education policy, enough provisions are laid, but how we implement is going to be a challenge.

[00:12:31]But, we need to take it as a kind of positive sign to discuss. Because lack of sufficient textbook, lack of dictionary, and teachers are not trained how to teach bilingual or multilingual or to be taught the learners in their own languages, how we how we use them relatively to promote the language.

[00:12:52]Without using the language in the classroom, students cannot be, you know, so fluent in their mother tongue also.

[00:12:59]After sometime, they are made to, I mean, forget. Because they these languages are not spoken at home also because of the dominant nature in the globalized period. So, schools may not have qualified instructors [snorts] or support for bilingual or multilingual education seems to be missing, and these are one of the challenges.

[00:13:22]Another important aspect to discuss in this, you know, respect is do we have enough funding? Do we have a proper support? And how do we implement?

[00:13:33]>> Good question.

[00:13:33]>> So, language revitalization programs often require long-term investment in education.

[00:13:41]Now, we are busy. We are neglecting our own basic education. This English as a language for globalize is very good for our opportunity. But, losing our own identity, losing our own culture, we are nowhere.

[00:13:56]So, you know, it has become a good, you know, I mean, example. So, we need to look for proper investment to support the indigenous languages in the education system and government should take care with serious concern to protect the encourage. It is there in the policy and policy is implemented, not implemented is separate. Of course, there has to be a group of enthusiastic people who have to work together. So, governments and institution may not provide adequate support or the community members are ignoring. Because ignorance has to be removed. We need to sensitize our people. We are, you know, speakers of this language and unless we protect our own language, who will protect in this age of globalization?

[00:14:41]And another thing is, you know, this is closely linked with the loss of cultural context. So, languages thrive when they are part of everyday life. Now, we use English instead of Yum Za Kai Sa, I Rai Thang Za, we say Sunday, Monday. And our children don't know.

[00:15:04]See, we are lost and disconnected from our own cultural identity.

[00:15:09]Right, we have certain practices. So, loss of cultural context is being happening. So, there are important traditional practices, ceremonies, or community structures are weakened.

[00:15:22]Opportunities to use the language may also decline in future. So, I think this kind of challenges can be, you know, addressed. So, many communities are working nowadays to revitalize their languages through the following kind of, you know, like, you know, they create language immersion for schools only and community classes and membership programs. Digital dictionaries are being prepared and language learning apps are being created, which of course, due to social media, through uh WhatsApp group and through Facebook, somehow we use. There are people who have a mag- excellent thought, but they cannot speak in English. So, their representation, their unique thoughts are now being ventilated through Facebook in their own languages. Why we should not encourage this? So, recording elders' knowledge and oral histories can be put up on in the website. And community can have their own community libraries. Now, reading habits are lost. So, we need to have a kind of digitized, dramatized, interactive sessions are now coming up.

[00:16:33]So, I think those possibilities are there. But despite the challenges, many indigenous languages are experiencing renewed interest and revitalization efforts are being made, showing that language loss is not necessarily irreversible when communities have sufficient support and resources. So, you need to create resources and we have to create awareness among the elderly people and also speaking our own language should be considered as a pride and prestige of our own community. I don't mean that, you know, globally important languages should be neglected.

[00:17:09]No doubt they have their own role, but neglecting our own language and culture should be, you know, discouraged.

[00:17:16]>> Yes, indeed, sir. course, these are the realities we can see around us today. In such a situation, as you mentioned, there are lots of responsibilities among ourselves. The younger generation has a very important responsibility, sir. What role can young people play in preserving and revitalizing such indigenous languages, sir?

[00:17:36]>> Yeah, it's another biggest challenge to give my opinion.

[00:17:41]Right? I have just said, however, now how can we revitalize our indigenous languages is, you know, solely responsible for the younger generation.

[00:17:53]But unless we encourage, unless we induce the importance, they will be at a loss. So, young people can play a critical role in preserving and revitalizing indigenous languages because they are the generation that will determine whether these languages continue to be spoken and adopted in modern life. So, these challenges cannot be summed up in an easy or ready-made approach.

[00:18:23]It's not possible. However, we need to encourage, learn, and use the language.

[00:18:28]In which domain, in what sphere we have to use, that, of course, need to be discussed and explored. Yet, it should come from our heart that we should protect our language. We should encourage. There may be various means, but, you know, one of the most important contributions may be to learn the language and use it regularly. It's like, you know, the more you use, the more you serve.

[00:18:53]If a knife is not used, it gets jammed.

[00:18:56]You cannot use it.

[00:18:57]Every day you need to use it. Speaking it at home or wherever you have a friend, speaking in a language through which you can communicate, you can, you know, become one. And the kind of understanding will encourage. And it will remove the kind of negative feeling which you have. So, using it regularly, speaking at the community level and among the friends rather than use only in special occasion. Like sometimes it's like Sanskrit. Sanskrit is a language highly rated, most advanced, the most systematic, the most scientific. Do we use Sanskrit in our day-to-day life?

[00:19:35]Radio programs in Sanskrit, how many people listen? In budget, enough money is there. Probably I support. But the utility, look at the language use.

[00:19:46]Facebook and some other social medias are, you know, promoting their languages.

[00:19:51]Right? Of course. So, use it properly with a sense of belongingness is one important aspect. Only for special occasion or only in the classroom also may not help. Help. For English, there are many English medium schools in Manipur, in all over India. But how many of them use English apart from classroom? They don't use. So, as they don't use it in their social life, there are people who never have gone to the school but yet they use English and Hindi in their own business domain. So, they learn the language. Now, similarly we need to use our own language in different spheres of our social life.

[00:20:31]This will be one of the myths. We should not just confine to ritual or classroom only. Right? So, connect with the elders, right? We should listen to our elderly wisdoms. Now, we it seems we don't listen to our elderly ebooks or imas, grandpas and grandmas. It's happening in some communities in Nagaland because both husband and wife belong to different ethnic community, they never use mother's language or father's language and they use Nagamese, they use Hindi and their children cannot have the kind of emotional bonding with their grandpa and grandma. And also what kind of distance is developed, right? So kind of, you know, love, affection seems to be, you know, at a loss. So elders are often key holders of linguistic and cultural knowledge. Young people can learn traditional stories, songs, maybe folk tales, stories, and expressions directly from them. Now, while we were young, we used to heard the story of Taptal a kind of magical, you know, which control the psychology of a young children. So like that, so many histories were there.

[00:21:44]You know, relevance of Savitri and Satyavan seems to be completely lost.

[00:21:48]We have lost, we have sold ourselves to the modern sensible practices. So I think helping the understanding the elders to connect with them and also to preserve our knowledge, to learn, it will also support learning languages. So future generations should be encouraged to practice. As such, creation of digital content, which we just discussed a few moments ago, young people are often active users of technology and social media. What they can do?

[00:22:19]Let's see. Encourage them make videos, podcasts, and blogs in their indigenous languages. We should have a special provision to encourage them.

[00:22:28]Share content on social media platforms, create online communities where the language is used naturally. So here I can, you know, refer to some of the ethnic communities like among the Assamese, even in social media, they cannot come from America, they cannot come from London, but online they are attending the marriage ceremony.

[00:22:50]Online they are attending Annaprashan.

[00:22:53]So they are not disconnected from their roots.

[00:22:57]I mean, remaining connected to the root is also a support to preserve the language and culture.

[00:23:03]>> Right, sir.

[00:23:04]>> So, share content social media platforms and creative online kind of activities to use language properly. Develop digital dictionaries as we discussed few moments ago >> Mhm.

[00:23:16]>> and websites or learning resources which we should chalk out and support. If some contents are not good, we can suggest.

[00:23:23]>> Right, sir.

[00:23:23]>> We have to provide the supportive kind of hand to them.

[00:23:27]>> Mhm.

[00:23:27]>> Appreciation is one of the most important thing. If we don't appreciate, of course, it leads to forget the use of our own languages.

[00:23:36]>> Mhm.

[00:23:36]>> So, this may help bringing languages to preserve into the spaces where younger generations spend time for their and of course we should encourage. And also another important thing is support language education. Young people can participate in language classes, volunteer in community programs, tutor younger learners, advocate for indigenous language courses in schools and universities.

[00:24:02]>> Mhm.

[00:24:02]>> [clears throat] >> Of course, this provision is there in NEP 2020 >> Mhm.

[00:24:07]>> but we need to see how effectively they are implemented.

[00:24:11]>> Mhm.

[00:24:11]>> To what extent we can not only morally, but also physically we should involve and create. [clears throat] >> remain vibrant >> Mhm.

[00:24:20]>> when they evolve with the society.

[00:24:23]>> Right.

[00:24:23]>> Young speakers can use indigenous languages in music.

[00:24:27]>> Mhm.

[00:24:27]>> Now, different musical competitions should be, you know, encouraged >> Mhm.

[00:24:32]>> in our own languages.

[00:24:33]>> Mhm.

[00:24:34]>> Of course, come what may, some initiatives should be there. Otherwise, the kind of Western mode, how you know, this BTS, Blackpink and Korean pop is occupying our spaces.

[00:24:46]>> Yes, yes.

[00:24:46]>> Right. No doubt, we are learning, our youngers are exposed to Korean and other things, but can't we do it? I think we can also promote.

[00:24:55]>> Right, sir.

[00:24:55]>> And there has to be a kind of appreciation from corners, from local to local competition, regional level competition, sense of sense of awareness through competition should be created.

[00:25:07]It will serve a purpose by demonstrating that the language is relevant in our modern life.

[00:25:14]So making relevance to the modern life will be not only a challenge, but it will be a very good venture. At the same time, young students should be given the kind of responsibility. Guided by experienced hand to document and preserve the knowledge. This kind of initiative has never been taught out. So young people can help record interviews with fluent speakers, collect oral histories, document traditional knowledge, and archive language materials for future generations. So preserving and doing the documentation for future generation is extremely important. So like the more we recognize likely to survive the languages. And also to revive the value which is lost nowadays. So young people can challenge stereotypes, celebrate their own linguistic heritage. I mean should be encouraged to celebrate their own linguistic heritage. And also at the same time young student should also encourage others to see the language as a source of strength and identity. I think this will be one of the mantra for our future generation. So in many successful language revitalization movements around the world, young people have been central to the effort by combining traditional knowledge with modern tools and creativity. They can help ensure that indigenous languages remain living, evolving for their community rather than becoming only a historical record. That's my kind of opinion.

[00:26:54]>> Indeed, a very right opinion as we observe preservation begin when young people start using their language with pride. That's what we must focus on.

[00:27:05]Preserving language is not only an individual responsibility, but it must be a social and institutional responsibility. Before we conclude, sir, what message would you like to give to young listeners who may be losing touch with their mother tongue? Last message.

[00:27:21]>> The final message is your mother tongue is more than just a language. It is a connection to your family, your history, your culture, and your identity. In a rapidly changing world, learning global languages such as English can open many doors, and you should embrace those opportunities. But, as you move forward, do not leave behind the language that carries your history, your story, your wisdom, your songs, experience, where you belong, where your ancestors are identified. See, identity is important, but language, what it plays, is extremely important. I think it is quite possible for all of us to protect our own language. Remember that when a language disappears, a unique way of understanding the world can disappear within with the loss of the language.

[00:28:19]But, when young people choose to learn, speak, and celebrate their own mother tongues, they become guardians of a priceless cultural heritage. That's my message.

[00:28:29]>> Thank you so much, sir, for your valuable thoughts and inspiring message.

[00:28:34]On behalf of our entire program team, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to you, sir, for joining us and sharing us such a meaningful insight. Thank you very much, sir, once again.

[00:28:44]>> Thank you very much for visiting Ummer and Lanchenbi.

[00:28:51]>> Tabikrei Yelhou Lon Sing Yokhatpada High Va Hiram Sida social linguist Amadi cultural activist Professor Irom Gambhir Singh Unaduna Warisaba Unaduna Waribotai Sanawikiba Ummer MK Thouram Asi Tahangjakiba Lainana Naseegi Oinadi Naharolgi Khonjel Thouram Sandokchaba Matang Asida Lesson Charei Thouram Tabiramli Pumnamakpu Salam Lanchenbi Chanuna Am Kahanna Khurumjari