Dr Pangersenla Walling, Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, Nagaland University, speaking at the programme commemorating International Mother Language Day, 2022 on February 21, organised by the DWT and DALT at the DABA.
‘Ao language in danger of going extinct’
Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 21
Commemorating the International Mother Language Day, the Dimapur Ao Women Organisation (DWT) and the Dimapur Ao Youth Organisation (DALT) organised a programme on February 21 at the Dimapur Ao Baptist Arogo (DABA). The theme for 2022— Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities, according to the UNESCO seeks to “discuss the potential role of technology to advance multilingual education and support the development of quality teaching and learning for all.”
The theme speaker at the programme, Dr Pangersenla Walling, dwelled on the challenges and advantages of learning through the digital medium, drawing from her experience as a teacher. An Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Nagaland University, Dr Walling said that learning languages is driven by two factors— instrumental and integrative motivation.
In linguistics, she said that the former refers to the motivation to learn a new or foreign language for higher education or enhancing employability. The latter relates to the desire to learn a language to better understand a culture and its people.
In the present Ao context, while citing a survey conducted in Mokokchung, she said that the trend points more towards instrumental motivation. According to Dr Walling, more and more Ao youngsters prefer to learn English or other foreign languages, including Korean, than the mother language. This, she said, is because of the edge English or Hindi gives to the person in the job front.
It further points to the endangerment of the Ao language, she said, while adding that Ao, as a language, would go extinct in the next 25 years, if the current trend persists.
As far as multilingual learning via technology was concerned, she said that there are advantages as well as disadvantages. She said that technology can and is greatly aiding learning, while adding, “Learning a foreign language through TV or the internet, we learn to speak with proper diction like the native speakers.”
She was also quick to point out the hazard of learning through the internet. For instance, she said, “There is a danger there. You don’t learn the grammar.” It does not enable the learner to grasp contextual rendition of words or phrases, she said, while stating, “You fail to grasp certain meanings of or relating to the cultural nuances of the language you learn via multimedia.”
While preserving lingual diversity is the ambition, she added, citing study claims, that globalisation would result in the world evolving to have only one language in the future.
Convener of the DALT Literature board, Supu Jamir formally released a book marking the celebration.
