Friday, April 29, 2011

1. 6 Language Helps Human Beings at Every Steps of their Life.

Language is a wonderful medium of cognitive development which is based on exposure and feedback in learning environment. If the learners get discouraged and get public embarrassment due to the language, they become linguistically handicapped and get mental inhibition in learning. So, the whole system of education depends on its positive and negative use and effects of language.
To quote in words of Hockett, "Man cannot live by bread alone another necessity is language". Language is means of all-round development.
The aforementioned psycholinguistic concepts and the words of Hockett can be proved with the research in speech community of the Dalits.

1. 7 Relationship between Language and Education

Without using language, one cannot think about education. Language is the ladder to ascend to the top of education. The use of a language in education is considerably sensitive issue.
The vital and potential numbers of Dalits as a human resource have been back warded for centuries in Nepal. Dalits have been undergoing great obstacles on the path of all-round development and getting mental inhibition because of language at every steps of their life. They have overall command on their mother tongue; but that language is not enough for their existence. For example, when they become the victim of disasters or they are in abrupt destructed situation, they have to speak Nepali even with rescue officers, and to write even an application in Nepali. That is, they have to express in Nepali in written or oral forms. Owing to the information gap, they could not get appropriate relief.
So, they are with their mother tongue only, they could not compete in Nepali medium for opportunities, could not interact properly in Nepali. That's why, their existence is confined to be the lower citizen or the laborers.
The solutions of these problems may be in the security of diverse linguistic prosperity and reservation.
The present reservation in constitution creates the great contention into two poles. Firstly, the supporters advocate that the long rooted oppression and established stereotypes of inequality will be broken only with affirmative action, positive discrimination and reservation which are needed to compensate minorities for centuries of slavery.
On the other pole, diametrically opposite viewers (i.e. in a talk program of Martin Chautari ) claim that affirmative action and reservation will invite lower standards of accountability and ill- equipped bureaucrats; hard working habit and ability development will be obstructed. So, it should be eliminated. They disregard the language right and the importance of languages and non Nepali speakers who can not get any opportunity in the nation.

1. 8 Factors That Disturb the Musahars in Education

A variety of factors are their obstacle on the path of getting education. They are age, ethnicity, power, demography, gender, sources of exposure of the target language, previous language background, cultural distance, ego permeability etc. Among them, language and their daily habits are the most prominent hindrance. Moreover, they are generally pessimistic in terms of two major types of motivational orientation: integrative and instrumental. That is, in integrative motivation, a learner wishes to learn language with community culture; he wants to be integrated in it with open-mind and eventually becomes to be accepted as a member of that group. In case of instrumental motivation, one's purposes of language study links with the more utilitarian value of linguistic achievement, such as getting ahead in one's occupation,  opportunity etc.
Thus, the Madheshi Dalits have great cultural distance from Nepali speakers and nor do they get job opportunity and promotion. So, they are not ready to learn Nepali language spontaneously. Consequently, both the motivations are lying at dormant level in case of them.
Musahars' mother-toungue which has been used in daily communication in their community is known as low level language. Often this language is spoken by only Dalits. So this is called Non-honorific language. This language has been undergone different names in its long history. They are Non-prestigious language, low level language, low caste language sometimes Dalit language. 
The language is use in all over the country and it is greatly used in Madhesh area.

2. Language endangerment

The language is not used in mass media, and not studied at any educational levels. The dictionary, grammar and other documentations are not available of this language. Though this is a non-prestigious language and simple in nature, unhesitatingly, the native speaker interacts among them. Owing to labor oriented to learn the broadly speaking linga- franka, they have been shifting towards Nepali, Hindi etc. So, this dialect (sociolect) is gradually going to encounter the language endangerment. Some speakers have lower language loyalty and weak solidarity in their language.

3. Domains of language use

This language is not found an ongoing status for all round development in comparison to the other languages of the nation.  The Musahars are compulsorily to speak their low level language when they meet each other in any office or a street or anywhere. This shows their great devotion to their language. They are very eager to speak their own language in their daily communication and rituals. They do not speak other language in their 'Toles' (their dwelling village). New generations are not totally dedicated to this language because of various reasons mentioned above. Their language is compulsorily used while they do their festival, feast and rites.  In short, their language is being narrowed to daily communication, rituals and the other uses.
The three communities' speakers in question are speaking three different sociolects. The data are cited below.
       I.            HCP: 
                                                              i.      apane padheita chhiyenha (Do you read?)
                                                            ii.      bauwa baital chhathinha (The boy is sitting.)
                                                          iii.      apane geil jaiyonha (You go.)
                                                         iv.      apane katase yeliyeinha (Where are you from.)
                                                           v.      babuji khaita chhathinha (The father is eating.)
     II.            MCP:

                                                           i.      aaha padhei chhiyei (Do you read?)
                                                         ii.      bauwa baital achha (The boy is sitting.)
                                                       iii.      aaha jaiyo/ jau (You go.)
                                                      iv.      aaha katase yeliyei (Where are you from.)
                                                        v.      babu khaita achha (The father is eating.)
  III.            LCP:              
                                                              i.      tu padhei chhi (Do you read?)
                                                            ii.      chhaura baital chhai (The boy is sitting.)
                                                          iii.      tu jo/chel jo (You go.)
                                                         iv.      tu katase yelhi (Where are you from.)
                                                           v.      baau khai chhai (The father is eating.)