Dr Asangba Tzüdir
As opinions are shared among the Nagas on the issue of India’s move to promote Nagamese as an official language, certain realities needs to be drawn on the status and function of Nagamese. The issue seems to have raised more skeptical and suspicious eyebrows with contempt against this proposal.
Looking at the existing realities, besides the usage of Nagamese for enhancing communication among the Naga tribes as well as with others in our everyday lives, one may abhor Nagamese but it has become the first dialect in many Naga homes giving preference over one’s mother tongue. Language has been produced to enable communication and Nagamese has come a long way in enabling communication and bridging the gap among tribes and communities. Even as Nagamese becomes more popular, our own mother tongue faces the threat of extinction. Statistically, the fact that 10% of the students cannot read, write and speak their mother tongue while 80% of them converse in Nagamese does not help the cause making ones mother tongue slowly become irrelevant. More so, culture is rooted in our language and if that language is not applied to truly express ones culture meaningfully or make one’s language more intelligible, then it becomes irrelevant where both culture and language loses its significance and value.
Yet, coming to Nagamese, it has rather been given a step-motherly treatment in being branded as a bazaar language. But this bazaar language has sustained the mode of communication amongst the Nagas over the years. English may be the official language but it fails to find applicability in all places among the Nagas and Nagamese has served both as complimentary as well as a supplement to English. Besides, Nagamese has been the unifying force and threby, the move to promote Nagamese as an official language can be seen in the larger context of unity and peaceful coexistence among the Nagas as well as others who have also adopted Nagamese. But, having said that, our state can go for adopting Nagamese as the second official language besides English.
Besides the issues related to the adoption of Nagamese as an official language and the questions regarding its necessity, at this juncture if one of the Naga tribes language is to be officially recognized, it may only create tension and cause resentment among the various Naga tribes or can even spark conflict thereby making it a very difficult proposition. Considering the status and function of Nagamese, what is imperative is the need to further develop Nagamese so as to make it more richer. There is no doubt about its limitations but that should not deter from developing Nagamese. In our day to day Nagamese expressions, often one finds oneself supplementing with English words. Such English words can be coined in Nagamese. This is one way to develop Nagamese and make it more richer. Developing a dictionary in Nagamese will be a good step in this regard and to make it more intelligible rather than simply branding it as a bazaar language that is spoken popularly.
Having said so, our own vernacular language needs to be given due attention because therin lies our true Naga identity and no other language can be a substitute to one’s cultural expressions. It holds primacy that should never be ignored. The fast diminishing of Naga culture is becoming a risky phenomenon and it is here the skeptics locates such a move in a tricky terrain and to the extent of seeing it as a threat to our culture and heritage. If we lose our identity and our culture, then the fault will not be Nagamese but it will be because we failed to hold on to the roots of our identity.
There is no harm in knowing and being able to speak many language as one moves in different ‘zones of life’ neither making a language official does not mean that the rest are inferior or that it should be totally done away with. One may even question the credibility of Nagamese in not having the potential to become globally relevant; or it simply a Lingua Franca; or even the necessity of making it official but Nagamese has been effortlessly serving the purpose of communication among the Nagas and the proposal to promote it as an official language can rather be seen in the larger context of Naga unity and not as a threat to our own culture through a so called bazaar language.
Officially or unofficially Nagamese is here to stay and therefore it should not be condemned as a ‘bazaar dialect’. Along with English, maybe its promotion as the second official language may uphold its status and function within its value and beyond placing it as a bazaar language.
(Dr. Asangba Tzüdir is an Editor with Heritage Publishing House. He contributes a weekly guest editorial to the Morung Express. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the position of the paper. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
