{"id":38001,"date":"2025-02-25T18:58:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T13:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=38001"},"modified":"2025-03-24T13:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T07:50:07","slug":"international-mother-language-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/25-02-2025\/international-mother-language-day","title":{"rendered":"International Mother Language Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Government Policies &amp; Interventions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>International Mother Language Day, observed on <strong>February 21<\/strong>, reminds us of the need to preserve linguistic diversity and protect fading languages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The idea to celebrate<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/12-12-2024\/education-in-mother-tongue\">International Mother Language Day<\/a><\/strong> was the initiative of Bangladesh to commemorate the <strong>1952 Bengali Language Movement.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It was approved at the <strong>1999 UNESCO General Conference<\/strong> and has been observed throughout the world since <strong>2000.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The diversity of India\u2019s languages<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India is one of the most <strong>linguistically diverse countries<\/strong> in the world and considered a <strong>language hotspot.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to the 2018 Census, India has over <strong>19,500 languages and dialects<\/strong>, with <strong>121 languages<\/strong> spoken by<strong> 10,000<\/strong> or more people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Linguistic Loss and Its Impact<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Indian Census of 1961 <\/strong>recorded <strong>1,652<\/strong> mother tongues, but by <strong>1971<\/strong>, this number had dropped to <strong>109,<\/strong> as many languages were grouped under broader linguistic categories.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>42 Indian languages are critically endangered, a higher number than any other country in the world (UNESCO).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>197 languages in India are currently endangered.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Around <strong>250 languages<\/strong> have gone extinct in the last <strong>60 years<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Languages spoken by remote and indigenous communities, particularly in the <strong>Northeast and Andaman &amp; Nicobar Islands<\/strong>, are the most vulnerable.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Example: <\/strong>The <strong>Great Andamanese language <\/strong>and <strong>Rai-Rokdung language (Sikkim) <\/strong>are critically endangered.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons for Language Disappearance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Modernization: <\/strong>Younger generations prefer dominant languages like Hindi and English for better education, job opportunities, and social integration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lack of Speakers: <\/strong>Fewer speakers lead to difficulty in transmission across generations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dominance of Major Languages: <\/strong>Larger languages tend to overshadow regional and indigenous languages, reducing their practical usage in daily life.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Standardization and Script:<\/strong> Many endangered languages lack a written script, making their documentation and preservation difficult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Preservation efforts&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>People\u2019s Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI)<\/strong> documents linguistic profiles of communities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sidhela Archive of Sikkim University<\/strong> aims to preserve endangered languages in Northeast India.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL):<\/strong> Under the Scheme, the <strong>Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL)<\/strong>, Mysore works on protection, preservation and documentation of all the mother tongues\/languages of India spoken by less than<strong> 10,000<\/strong> people which are called endangered languages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>AI4Bharat Initiative:<\/strong> Uses AI to develop speech recognition, machine translation, and text-to-speech models in <strong>22 Indian languages<\/strong>, making them accessible to researchers, industries, and native speakers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Language preservation is not merely about safeguarding words; it is about protecting cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge, and unique identities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As languages disappear, so do the rich traditions and histories they carry. Therefore, preserving linguistic diversity is crucial for cultural sustainability and inclusive development.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/children\/international-mother-language-day-vanishing-voices-the-fight-to-keep-indias-mother-tongues-alive\/article69241829.ece#:~:text=A%20call%20for%2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syllabus: GS2\/ Government Policies &amp; Interventions Context Background The diversity of India\u2019s languages Linguistic Loss and Its Impact Reasons for Language Disappearance Preservation efforts&nbsp; Conclusion Source: TH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38001"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39682,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38001\/revisions\/39682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}