On hegemony of language and linguistic diversity

Govt needs to declare all languages spoken in Pakistan as national languages, set up an authority to research them.

The gradual decadence of the cultural and linguistic diversity of Pakistan is overshadowed by the menace of terrorism, bad governance and dirty politics. In fact, the cultural and linguistic diversity of Pakistan has never been a favourite subject in the channels of national discourse either in the media, education institutes or the academia. Instead of being proud of the linguistic diversity in Pakistan, local policy and decision-makers have always been afraid of its beauty. But the reality is that despite an ostrich strategy, events like the secession of former East Pakistan and national wounds related to that loss are haunting us and will continue to do so unless we craft policies to enfold linguistic diversity in national policy.

Few know that in Pakistan, over 65 different languages are spoken along with the so-called ‘provincial languages’— Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Balochi.

The policy of enforcing a single language across the entire geography of the state through educational and security policies in order to achieve an imagined national cohesion is like slipping in a Trojan Horse which strikes down the very objectives for which it was built. While on the other hand, this ‘one language, one religion, one nation’ policy establishes the hegemony of a single, ‘alien’ language and consequently that of an alien culture because language is the most effective driver of culture.

One might assume that the speakers of regional languages do not want their languages to be used in education or in the media. But one shouldn’t jump to conclusions. The fact that some students don’t want to learn the smaller languages is the direct outcome of policies the state has been holding dear since decades.

When a particular language is given advantage over others via select education reforms, media and governance, the speakers of the less developed languages tend to look down upon their own languages and cultures and regard them as the barriers to their ‘development’. Both English and Urdu are regarded as the languages of development — or rather, portrayed to be so. Those who speak good English are regarded to be better educated than those who do not.

Today, if someone speaks either English or Urdu in his/her own accent, he is regarded as someone less educated. The Pashto speakers, who cannot pronounce certain words of Urdu in a correct way, are always laughed at. Today, almost all the comic text messages circulated via mobile phones are related to Pathans and Sikhs. This is the result of a particular kind of education we have been experiencing in Pakistan, which is simply engendering racism and antagonism in our minds.

In order to cope with the hegemony of a single language, educational polices need to be revised and adapted to embrace linguistic diversity.

The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution is a right step towards achieving this goal. In the wake of the devolution of education to the provinces, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government adopted Pashto as medium of instruction for primary level education. Moreover, the provincial authorities resolved to incorporate four other languages (Hindko, Khowar, Seriaki and Indus Kohistani) to be gradually incorporated in the primary school syllabus. Hopefully, remaining languages in the province will also be made a part of the school curriculum.

In addition to these policies, extensive research is needed for the standardisation of the orthographies of these languages. Many of the hindrances in the way of reading and writing a language are due to the fact that there are no widely-recognised rules for writing or spelling. Take the example of Pashto: with its multiple forms in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pashto enjoys almost no universality. For a single phoneme there are different symbols which make it difficult for the reader to articulate. Varieties, however, are no threat to a language — rather, they enrich it; but Pashto today needs a central standard form similar to that of English. The centre for this standard can either be Peshawar or Kabul.

Similarly, community researchers in ‘minority languages’ need to sit together and devise orthographies for their languages. For instance, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, all the languages other than Hindko and Brushaski are from the Dardic of the Indo-Aryan branch of languages. Most of the sounds in these languages are identical; but so far, community researchers don’t realise this and have been writing the same sounds with different letters.

Language activists in these communities may know that they, more or less, share the same ancestor and the same culture. A standardisation in the orthographies with more commonalities not only will make their job easier but also integrate the speakers and enhance their political and social powers.

Urdu is imposed at the cost of others as it has always been deemed a tool to unnaturally homogenise the diverse cultural landscape of Pakistan.

A resolution by the National Assembly Standing Committee for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage to have a commission on language issues in Pakistan is a forward step but it is in no way a solution to meeting the needs of preserving and promoting linguistic diversity.

Instead of a commission, the government needs to declare all the languages spoken in Pakistan as national languages and set up an authority to carry research on these languages and cultures.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2014.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.