Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon

I am actively involved on a project in the UK, not only promoting Punajbi language, but also developing new words and nouns for situations and items that to date have no word in Punjabi. I am concentrating mainly on animal names, as I feel that all other areas are currently being researched by Universities in Punjab. However my research is no good unless it reaches the concerned institutions in Punjab.

Animal names are an important area in which Punjabi must choose its own naming system or adopt convenient names from Hindi, Urdu, English, Spanish or other languages. In the Diaspora we are in touch with it all the time, therefore in common use many of these languages have lent us words that Punjabi had gaps in. Just like America developed a different English from Britain, the Diaspora is developing a cross between Doaban Punjabi and European terms.

The argument is valid and I think it does carry some weight. It is required to seek assistance from universities and schools. These institutions are crucial to linguistic development in Punjabi. It also provides validity to my emphasis that these authorities should actively start teaching and promoting Punjabi.

Let me take a very simple example of kids when they go to school. From our teachers and other students we learn that to progress we must master English or Urdu (in the case of Pakistan). Gradually, the child will drift away from his or her mother tongue - Punjabi. A time will come when children will stop speaking it except when talking to their parents.

The languages obviously evolve when people speak them and if nobody speaks the language even at home then sooner or later it will die.

There is no use fighting on the scripts. Both scripts, Shahmukhi and Gurumukhi, are good but the important point to consider is education in Punjabi. I consider myself illiterate in Punjabi because I automatically start speaking English or Urdu when any discussion turns to modern technology, computers, or other sophisticated topics. People of Punjab, and those of us who are concerned, must put pressure on the authorities, in their countries, and get them to take positive measures for the promotion of Punjabi language. I think this is our only option.

The other arguments also relate to the non-use of Punjabi language in the domain of education, administration, commerce, judiciary and the media. All languages are adequate for the expression of the social reality of the societies in which they are born. However, it is only when they are used in other domains, domains which modernity has brought in, that, their vocabulary expands. To some extent it expands by borrowing from other languages spontaneously but for the most part, language planners create new terms. This process, called modernization or neologism, is necessary when 'a language is extended for new functions and topics' and takes place even in developed, modern societies though not to the extent it occurs in developing ones (Cooper 1989: 149).

But this, too, is done by powerful language-planning institutions, generally state supported ones. In the case of Punjabi the state did nothing of the kind. Hence, if Punjabi is deficient in modern terms (technical, administrative, philosophical, legal etc ), it is not an inherent limitation but merely lack of language planning. Once again, the fault is that of the state and not of Punjabi, says an article published on the Academy of the Punjab in North America (APNA) website.

I urgently request all concerned people to work on these issues. A lack of interest may force the Western based Punjabi universities to develop our own version of Punjabi.


Copyright ©2002 Rupinderpal Singh Dhillon. About the author