First of all, I will like to state that I am not from a linguistic background. But being an historian I had done a brief research on the history of English language for this article. I would like to bring a comparison that has been talked much in our present society- through verbal, print media and social networking. The citizen of Nagaland has been divided into two groups- for and against in making ‘Nagamese’ as the official language. I have listened or read most of their comments and I say both has their own valid points. But talking alone cannot lead us anywhere unless we bring out concrete solution. The earlier the better for the coming generation whether we accept it or not. The state of Nagaland has been blessed with rich nature and culture. It often brings wonder to the ‘outsider’ whenever they do research on Nagaland or be on the Naga tribes. Geographically, Nagaland is one of the smallest states in India yet it is one of the most diverse region. With diversity there is always a problem though it has its own merit. One of the major problem in this ‘globalization of Nagaland’ is her language barrier. Everyone on this part of the world knows we have our own proud dialects but the sad reality is we cannot understand other’s dialects. In order to communicate, Nagamese has become a lingo-franca and hardly use English though it’s our official state language. It is true Nagamese was created to communicate the Ahom rulers especially for trade. With the coming of the British, the usage of Nagamese continued as they could understand much easier than the respective dialects of Naga. As a result, the British founded Dobashis which will assist them in interpreting. With the independence of India and statehood of Nagaland, the use of Nagamese has steadily increased. In this 21st century, modern stratification such as urbanization has only increased the usage of Nagamese. Whether we like it or not, now it will be hard to substitute Nagamese with other language for our day-to-day communication.
Some of the commentators are skeptic about the usages or making Nagamese as the official language. They point out that Nagamese has no origin, no vocabulary, no grammar, no script and they tend to stick to the point that Nagamese is just a ‘bazaar’ language. Some even say it’s a mixture of many Indian languages blended into one and less of Naga dialects. I cannot deny any of those points and turn my back. However, I take heart whenever I read the history of English language and its origin. English language was originated only in the 5th Century A.D when the German invaded Britain. The invaders spoke similar language (West Germanic) of the native people and developed into what we call the Old English (450-1110 A.D). The Norman conquered England in 1066 and brought French language in their court. There was a division among the people however the old English dominated but with a cause where they added many of French words. With addition of many French words in Old English, this period we came to know as Middle English (110-1500). Early Modern English (1500-1800) started with the Renaissance period. Classical learning was sought during this period as a result many new words and phrases were added. Spelling and Grammar became more refined and it was during this period English dictionary (1604) was first published. This period saw a rapid growth of English language. The Late Modern English (1800-Present) developed superior vocabulary than the latter. It was basically because of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of British Empire. These added many foreign languagesfrom all over the world in the Late Modern English. In fact, new words are added even today in English dictionary. Thus we can say English as a ‘language in progress’.
The development of English language is significant as it was done stage by stage. English language has been blended from many languages around the world. It took centuries to develop the modern English language which we are using today. In the same way, we need to remember that Nagamese cannot be develop over-night. It will take time to get mature but it’s high time we develop our own scripts, grammar, phrases, vocabulary and dictionary. Once we developed those, we can always re-edit and add more words as time goes by. It might take centuries to be fully developed but for now, is to seriously think and make Nagamese, a proper language to grow. Nagamese as of now, we can called it as a ‘raw language’. It can never get refined and developed unless we do something today. I bet, many of us cannot read and understand the old English today here in Nagaland (same with English people) - sentences and even scripts. It is completely different from the modern English. Maybe the scripts of Nagamese that we develop today, after centuries it might completely change. With limitation today, words may be few but with time, the generation to come can always add which may be suitable to their age. More Naga dialects can be added like the English how they had added all foreign languages to strengthen their language over the centuries.
I have always believed that language plays an important role in developing society. When we look around the world, one of the most developed countries are those who has common languages. Even in India the most developed states are those places which have a common state languages. When I try to reason their progress I often conclude myself that they can easily communicate with themselves.Our students are struggling especially in the science subjects because we are studying other language. If only we impart Nagamese for their education, I believe they can easily understand the subject matter. Understanding subject matters and memorizing to pass in exam are completely different. For the development in society understanding subjects plays a vital role.It will be no harm to introduce Nagamese medium school along with English medium school. Keeping in mind, our tribal institution, it will be difficult to implement Nagamese all over Nagaland in the first phase.
However, at least in urban places, it will be worth a try where young children grows speaking Nagamese and are used to it. Yes it will be funny for a moment when we start using in educational institution and other institutions where English language still dominates. But when we use it regularly, after some few years everything will look normal and it will give a space to develop better. Always remember, we never had our own scripts for our mother tongue dialects. It was the British and the missionaries who developed our dialects, first in the late 19th century and then in the 20th century. If they have not taken the initiative I doubt whether, even today we will still have any written scripts for our dialects. With so many dialects in our society, it is not possible to adopt one Naga tribe for everyone. It will create more harm than doing good.
Thus we have only one option left, i.e., to develop Nagamese where everyone uses as a second language. It can be understood by every section of our society irrespective of tribes, educated or uneducated people. I am sure many of the educated Naga are more comfortable with Nagamese then English. We should take this as a proud moment when the Government of India recommended Nagamese as the language for North East. It is us how we react to this situation. If we look at the geography of Britain, it comprises of small islands. With few population they had been a great ambassador tomake English language so popular today. It’s our mentality and our eager to let it happen. We are here to make history, but history once done can never be altered (think wisely and act wisely). If we agree to develop Nagamese, we need to be the ambassador of the language which again has a great benefit for us only. How I wish I had written this particular article in Nagamese instead of English!
Thungdemo N Yanthan, Research Scholar Senjum village Dimapur Nagaland
