Dr. Eyingbeni Hümtsoe-Nienu
The discussion on whether to promote Nagamese as a regional language hits the people of Nagaland more acutely than others from Northeast states. Needless to say, other states have a lingua franca of local origin - like the people of Assam have Assamese, those in Manipur have Meiteilon, Sikkimese have Nepali, Mizoram folks got Mizo, Tripura got Bangla and Kok-borok, those from Arunachal are fluent in Hindi, and Meghalaya got Garo and Khasi. What do the Nagaland people have? Nagamese!
It is true that English remains the preferred language for many of the educated lot in Nagaland. The Morung Express poll gives a resounding “NO” to the question, “Do you support Government of India’s move to promote Nagamese as an official language?” I believe the same percentage would say “YES” if the question was about English. But practically speaking, for two thirds of our own, English sounds Greek and hence does not fulfill the purpose of a language – which is basically to communicate. This is especially true in the church.
In Kohima (the second Nagamese capital; the first being Dimapur), I once heard an elderly churchman saying that Nagamese is unworthy of use in the Church. This was in the context of choosing a language to interpret a sermon by an English speaking preacher. The congregation was obviously of mixed tribal groups. But the dilemma was heightened when other churchmen realized that use of a single tribal language would possibly leave many unsatisfied, if not angered.
As a preacher, I have been thrown into perplexing situations by church leaders. In one of the urban churches, I was instructed to preach in English. The congregation was from another tribe. It was a Sunday and the church was full - the capacity was not less than 3000. I started preaching but I could clearly see from my vantage point – the pulpit – that a significant number of worshippers were only looking at me but not getting my words – the message of God. It was regrettable. Having learnt a lesson, I decided not to ask the opinion of the leaders but to go to the congregation in terms of ideal language for sermons. So in this small church, constituted by members from different tribes, I asked the congregation what would be the preferred language for a sermon – English or Nagamese – the two available options, the member straight away replied, “If you want all of us to understand the message, Nagamese is better, else only a few of us will benefit from English.” So began my journey of preaching in Nagamese.
There seems to be a general fear that Nagamese, on one hand, would soon supersede tribal languages and so it must be avoided from gaining official status. On the other hand, the condescending attitude with which Nagamese is looked at gives it a vulgar image. For the sacrosanct urban church elders, it presumably represents an idolatrous symbol. All such discriminatory postures towards Nagamese are unrealistic. Tribal languages should be made to thrive without restricting the growth of other languages knowing that a popular language like Nagamese is now unstoppable (written documents are increasing - there’s even Nagamese Bible and songbook – Nagamese service in tribal churches is becoming necessary). Also, there is nothing as a vulgar language, only vulgar words (and English has an awful lot of them in use!). And God is no discriminator of tribes and tongues. He is most worthily praised when people worship and serve him with understanding. In most churches, Nagamese is able to do that!
Dr. Eyingbeni Hümtsoe-Nienu is a Faculty at Clark Theological College. Her email address is: eyingtsoe@rediffmail.com
