 Vadodara : Eminent linguist and the founder director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages D.P. Pattanayak urged the central government to conduct the long overdue linguistic survey in the country.
"This is the only way to know all our languages," Pattanayak said. The octogenarian was speaking at the inauguration of the two-day Bharat Bhasha Confluence, organised by the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, which began here.
Among those present were speakers of 320 Indian languages representing all states and union territories along with a host of luminaries, including writer-activist Mahasveta Devi and noted Gandhian Narayanbhai Desai. Pattanayak pointed out that all Indian languages are threatened. And it is not only the small, tribal languages, but even major languages like Hindi.
"We are witnessing a situation where English is at the top while 35 Indian languages are at the bottom. The smaller languages are facing a double threat from English and the major Indian languages," he added. The issue of the linguistic survey was taken up by Kamalini Sengupta, director of INTACH Intangible Cultural Heritage, with Rajesh Sachdeva, who is current director of the Mysore-based Central Institute of Indian Languages. He conceded that accurate information on the number of languages, especially smaller languages, was a need of the hour.
|
