Languages, like species, are living breathing things and under adverse conditions they are just as susceptible to extinction. According to Worldwatch Institute, of the 6000 languages spoken in the world today, half of them will be extinct by the end of this century. In other words we loose one language every two weeks.
There are many causes for this phenomenon. War, genocide, natural calamities and rise of a dominant language and culture in a multi-ethnic society is one; governmental support of one language at the expense of other smaller languages is another. For decades the former Soviet Union promoted Russian language at the expense of other small languages spoken in its satellites. Turkey has banned the use of Kurdish language in schools in the Kurdish majority areas.
Languages Wither when they are not spoken. As a repository of cultural heritage, when a language dies so do the cultural legacies of a people. Take away the songs, the folk tales and the soft lullabies that mothers whisper in the ears of their babies and you start the process of extinction. I am witness to such process happening to Hindko, my own mother tongue.
Hindko in an ancient language that was spoken in Gandhara- the present day Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and parts of western India two thousand years ago. Stone tablets in Khorashti alphabet, now extinct, dating back to first century AD has unmistakable resemblance with the present day language. It is interesting to note that the use of Arabic alphabet for written Hindko has.
With the decline of the Buddhist Gandhara civilization in the 5th century AD, the language lost its preeminence. It was pushed aside by wave after wave of Central Asian invaders who brought their own Persian and various Turkik languages to the region. Surprisingly the interaction of various foreign and native languages in the army camps of the Central Asian Moguls gave birth to a new camp language. Called Urdu (Turkish word for Army), the 300-year-old language is the lingua franca of Pakistan and boasts a rich and vibrant literature.
Still, the spoken Hindko survived in large pockets in the heart of what was once Gandhara. Though it is still spoken in Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan, in Peshawar and Kohat it is being pushed aside by the more dominant Pushtu language. When the educated and the effluent stop using Hindko in their homes, its eventual demise is assured. Somehow it has become more fashionable to speak English, Urdu or Pushtu, the dominant regional language, in lieu of the mother tongue. It is amusing but sad to witness parents and grandparents talking to the younger generation in Urdu or Pushtu but still talking to each other in Hindko. Gradually the language is losing ground and is being reduced to a cockney version spoken by the uneducated. One hears its echoes only in the bazaars and narrow alleys of the old city of Peshawar and that too with decreasing frequency.
But some people, albeit a very few, steeped in the cultured traditions of their mother tongue still remain true to their mother’s lullabies. A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting the famous Indian matinee idol Yusaf Khan AKA Dilip Kumar who was born and raised in the walled city of Peshawar but has lived all his adult life in Bombay. In a conversation spanning many hours he talked about his childhood, his life experiences and his life as a screen actor. His fluency and facility in a language that no one speaks in Bombay struck me. Today the great actor would have difficulty communicating with the people in the city of his birth.
Unlike species, which under adequate protection can and do come off the endangered list, languages do not. There have been rare exceptions but it takes massive efforts and commitment to make that happen. Hebrew was revived in the past century and is now Israel’s official language. Soon after annexing Hawaii in 1898 the United States banned the teaching of Hawaiian language in schools. The language was brought back from the edge of extinction by reintroducing the language in public schools and encouraging its use in public. Similar efforts are being made to revive Welch and certain indigenous languages of Africa and New Zealand.
Mass communications in a fast shrinking world has its down side. While introducing new ideas, fades and trends that help bring diverse people closer, it also inadvertently snuffs the life out of many indigenous cultures and hastens the slide of many languages to their oblivion. When a language dies, a part of the cultural tapestry of the world also disappears.