.........................................................................................................................
आभ्यंतर (Aabhyantar)
SCONLI-12
विशेषांक ISSN : 2348-7771
.........................................................................................................................
25. Language Vitality of Rabha
Community
Tanusree
Naskar : Jadavpur University
Introduction:
A language is endangered when it is a path
toward extinction and also in danger position if its speakers cease to use it,
use it in an increasingly number of communicative domains, and cease to pass it
on from one generation to the next. That is, there are no new speakers, adults
or children.
The purpose
of the study was to evaluate the language vitality among the Rabha community in
West Bengal by investigating to what extent Rabha language is used by the
community as a means of communication and in various social contexts for
specific purposes. In order to accomplish this purpose, several specific goals
were set:
·
To ascertain the number of the Rabha groups,
·
To investigate the patterns of language use in the
community,
·
The attitude towards their language as well as towards
other languages spoken in the region, and
·
To see what kind of language development efforts are
going on in that community.
This fieldwork was carried out in one phase: from 10 October to 13
October, 2017.
Method of Study:
My study was firstly conducted on the basis of a
structured questionnaire prepared following the UNESCO method of evaluating the
degree of endangerment of language in community. Though five point scale is
there in questionnaire, but I have collected my data on qualitative basis after
going there. It aims to discover also-
·
The principal language of communication and culture
·
Other languages known or spoken
·
Language(s) are taught in the institution
·
Existence of written documents in Rabha language
·
Whether Rabha is used in TV or
·
Introducing Rabha Community and the language:
Rabha is a
language with around 10,967 speakers according to 2001 census, across northern
part of West Bengal in the districts of Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Coochbehar.
It is also spoken at neighbor-hood provinces Assam and Meghalaya. The study
area is the village named North Khayerbari of Alipurduar, is surrounded by
forests and river. The village consists of seventy to seventy-two households,
all Rabha speaking people. They are scheduled-tribe community and belong to
Tibeto-Burman language family. The language spoken by the Rabha people is also
of the same name.
Language use
by Rabha Community Members:
Members of
Rabha Community are mostly sequential multilingual. Some of the members are
simultaneously multilingual. Functional multilingualism is clearly observed at
market, when people from different areas come to market for selling goods. Some
of the respondents claimed that they speak exclusively Rabha in conversation
within the family as well as among the community people. While they communicate
with people outside their community, they use many languages like Bangla,
Nepali, Hindi, Mech, Sadri (Adibasi), Oraon. It is seen that females (above 70
years) and children(between 5 to10years) speak only Rabha and can understand
little Bangla. Most of the respondents are not literate. And they are migrated
from Hinduism to Christianity.
Rabha is used
in their songs, story-telling and some cultural activities. An example of a
story of a moon:
Sa: narer
narer nini aowa utungtaktakta (child: Moon, what is your father doing)
Aowa: ghor
harchak hanlei o (father: He is going to cut the grass)
Sa: ghor
harchak bikain? (child: Where is the grass)
Aowa:mususou
saou. (father: The cow is eating)
Use of
Language(s) in Institution:
·
In School, they communicate with friends in Rabha and
Bangla both languages, but they learn to read and write in Bangla language.
·
Only the local church encourages them to learn Rabha.
Written documents in the Rabha Language:
·
They have no script in their language.
·
So they have no manuscripts or printed documents are
not available purely in the Rabha language.
All the written communications like letters, invitation card etc., are
made in Rabha language with the help of Bangla or Roman scripture. Therefore
they use Bangla or Roman script in case of writing. Three of the respondents
showed me a book of songs and Bible in Rabha language in the script of Bangla
language.
·
A handful of them read Bangla newspapers like Anandabazar
patrika, Uttarbanga sambad.
Whether Rabha is used in TV or Radio:
In Radio rarely there are program in Rabha as there are very few people
knowing this language. Most of the speakers are not interested to watch TV or
listen to Radio as they remain engaged in their works (mainly cultivation) from
early morning to evening. So a few person who watch TV or listen to Radio,
usually watch Bangla or Hindi programs. Sometimes they also watch English
commentary in Sports channel only.
Preference of Languages:
No doubt in the next generation they will speak Rabha
as the first language of communication. But at the same time they prefer to
learn Bangla for their work, education and development. One of the speakers
wishes to learn English also.
Conclusion:
·
They speak Rabha exclusively in their family and some
of the speakers deliberately said next generation will speak Rabha.
·
Whenever they are going outside their domain they
speak other languages. For different contexts they use different languages. So
there is seen register and language shift among them.
·
It is noticed that there are many loan words when they
speak like as – “ganap mat-an lei-a” (I will go to field tomorrow); here ‘mat’
the term is a loan word from Bangla.
·
According to UNESCO standard of language vitality
Rabha language considered as safe as it is spoken and largely used by the all
generations for the purpose of communication among themselves and in their
social and cultural activities.
·
And it is also observed that there is no sign of
endangerment in near future.
·
One of the speakers of them, named Ananta Rava, is
highly educated, said that their language is not Rabha, rather it is Cochakro.
But many of the speaker said that their language is Pure Rabha. Most of the
speakers said that their language is Rabha because of some opportunity, mainly
for representing they are scheduled tribe community. Therefore it might be said
that language is not the only parameter to claim a community belongs to any
specific language. So, it needs further investigation, observation and to see
the eye of the language as it is spoken by a person because that’s who a person
is.
Acknowledgement:
·
I am thankful to my entire department, ‘School of
Languages and Linguistics’ of Jadavpur University for this presentation.
·
I would also like to thank specially department
scholars to Dr. Dripta Piplai, Dr. Barnini Lahiri, Dr. Arup Majumder and my two
relatives Dr. Partha Sarathi Banerjee and Madhulekha Sengupta for their
constant support and encouragement.
·
Last but not the least, this presentation would have
been impossible without the adequate cooperation of the informants Sharmila
Rava, Anand Rava, Ananta Rava, Kisan Rava, Shankar Rava, Eli Rava, Helen Rava,
Manindra Rava , Pratham Rava, Rubni Rava, Koko Rava , who all provided me with
the necessary data.
References:
·
Abbi, Anvita.
“A Manual of
Linguistic Fieldwork and Structures of Indian Languages” ,2001,
Lincom Europa.
·
Fishman, Joshua.
“ Reversing
Language Shift”, Multilingual Matters, 1991.
No comments:
Post a Comment