Survival of a language

This topic has been in my mind since long but never got to write about it. And it is not only about Punjabi language. It applies to any of the regional languages. And here we are talking about the people who live away from their native regions.

I have lived in Delhi for six years. There is a sizable Punjabi population in Delhi and Punjabi has got the second language status. But one thing that is very much noticeable is that generally the people you see speaking Punjabi are all above 40 years of age. No one from the newer generation speaks Punjabi. In fact the reality is that can’t really speak even if they want to. Leave few broken sentences that they might be able to construct and speak.

This is about speaking. If we talk about reading and writing the situation is even worse. No one from the new generation would be able to do that because they were not taught Punjabi in schools and at home their parents didn’t communicate with them in Punjabi .

Question here is that in such a scenario how does a language survive ? When you can’t read, write or speak a language how you can identify yourself by that ? Isn’t it the slow death of our regional languages ?

3 Comments

  1. It is a serious issue indeed. Punjabi da v sanskrit vala haal huna.

    Here in US, it is very tough, once kids start going to school, English becomes their primary language. But jo bachhe Gurbaani da paath/Kirtan karde ne, they are in touch.

  2. >Here in US, it is very tough, once kids start going to school, English becomes their primary language.

    True. And i dont think there are many people who will make the effort of teaching their kids Punjabi (or whatever language their mother tongue is) at home.

    >But jo bachhe Gurbaani da paath/Kirtan karde ne, they are in touch.

    That holds true for Sikh kids. For Non Sikh kids there is no such option.

  3. sannu apni maa bolli nall bohat payyar hey tan assi ehdi tarveeg karna chahonay han . punjabi sab toon wadyya tay mithi maa bolli zuban hey,
    jehday nall asanu bohat zayada payyar hey..

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