Linguistic diversity

As during previous years since 1999, the International Mother Language Day was marked across the world yesterday. The day, held under the auspices of Unesco, is intended to underscore the importance of preserving people’s mother languages and the cultural heritage that comes with them. The theme for the day this year was ‘Sustainable Future through Multi-Lingual Education’. Both the day itself and the theme for 2019 are of particular significance to Pakistan. Over 70 different languages are spoken by ethnic groups and communities across the country, with some in danger of being lost forever because of the failure to promote and protect them. The latest census carried out in 2017 indicated that even major languages, most notably Punjabi, were under threat because of the lack of formal effort to develop the language spoken by the majority of Pakistanis but not taught at schools or carried forward to newspapers or publications. This problem has come under the focus of experts across the world who have stressed the need to restore it to its position as a language of teaching, studying and writing.

All the 74 languages currently spoken in various parts of Pakistan are classified as living languages or tongues that are spoken by persons still alive. These languages include Shina, Balti, Khowar, Marwari and various others – apart from the provincial languages. At least two of the languages are classified as being in danger of being dying while around nine others are considered to be in trouble as the number of speakers declines.

For many decades, Pakistan has followed an official policy of promoting Urdu as a means to encourage harmony. However uniformity should not be confused with an effort to keep alive diversity and difference within a nation state even while promoting means of common communication and speech. The theme of bringing language into schools and encouraging multi-lingualism is important to the country in this context. While we already struggle with a language problem, with English also seen as a vital language for education, there is a need to build pride in our mother tongues and understand that children in particular are capable of absorbing more than one or two languages if these are properly imparted. Languages which have little formal presence in their education system therefore need to be promoted. This should be a starting point for an effort to promote lingual diversity and keep language identity alive in Pakistan along with all their cultures.