By Gasper Crasto
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฅ๐ผ๐บ๐ถ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ธ๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐น๐.
But wouldn’t it be better for all the royal Romi 'Academi-s, Kendra-s, Forum-s to unite first, and campaign the demand collectively with all guns blazing?
Anyway, I feel, there are certain facts we must accept why Romi Konkani's recognition is, and will be hampered:
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Romi Konkani evidently comes from the Portuguese orthography which is based on the Latin alphabet, that makes use of accents such as (รก, รฉ, รญ, รณ, รบ, รฝ) or macrons (ฤ, ฤ, ฤซ, ล, ลซ, ศณ), the tilde (~), and the cedilla (รง) to denote stress, vowel height, nasalization, and other sounds.
Mhoje bhurgeponnar, I remember reading some Konkani magazines, books with such symbols; but these are hardly seen in Romi Konkani anymore except in few words like ‘Gรตy’, ‘Gรตykaramno’, etc.
Now, every Romi magazine or book that I read has different variations. Except for the script followed by church, no other version looks perfect or standard.
Over the years, Romi vocabulary seems to have undergone a drastic change. Try comparing an issue of the newspaper of the 1970's with one of today.
Which is the correct version, เคोเคฃाเค เคเคฌเคฐ เคจा, or no one may be able to confirm.
This concludes that Romi script does not have a strong identity, compared to Devnagri.
Interestingly, I have not come across any Konkani word starting with the alphabet 'W' or ‘Y’ in Romi Konkani. Ghoddie amche Konkani zannar can provide some references?
เคเค เคीเคฌ เคฆोเคจ เคญाเคธो
Well, am not an expert, but I know the difference pretty well because I can read & write in both scripts; and I did my own quick ‘PhD’ over the weekend after the subject caught my attention.
Well, having or not having a script is not the criterion in deciding whether Romi Konkani has an established script. Even English (bestowed with the honor of being an international language) had to borrow the Roman script from Latin.
And for those who are ignorant, Konkani has not one but 5 known & active scripts – Devanagari (Marathi), Roman, Kannada, Malayalam and Arabic!
So, why just 2 scripts, why not all 5? This was a recent demand by a Mangalorean organization in Karnataka court.
Ofcourse for Goa, we are concerned about only 2 – Devnagri which is already there, and Romi which should be there! But, tomorrow if we have to fight in court, am sure many of our 'active' activists will run away.
If the demand was truly supposed to be intense, our activists in Gram Sabhas and elsewhere should have stormed the Assembly and get arrested for the love of Romi. No such thing happened during the monsoon session that ended yesterday.
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Standardization of Romi Konkani orthography may never happen as we see very few Konkani scholars like Felicio Cardozo, Fr. Freddy J. Da Costa, etc, appearing in this generation; nor a recognized body to function or champion the cause.
Ofcourse, we cannot sideline the efforts of well-known editors Fausto Visitacao DaCosta (Gulab), Jose Salvador Fernandes (Fuddari), Michael Jude Gracias (Jivit), Herald’s Konknni Daiz editors ( Vincy Quadros and Fr. Myron Jeson Barreto), and the Pilar fathers.
We must first ask ourselves why Konkani is written in 2 scripts?
If Konkani had its ORIGINAL script like Malayalam or Tamil, this question of 2 scripts would not arise ofcourse.
During the early years after Goa’s liberation, a claim about Devnagri Konkani being a Marathi dialect and Konkani speakers being Marathis began to take shape.
Since Romi Konkani did not have an established identity, people began to write their own version - just like how Mangaloreans write in their Romi Konkani - understood by whoever writes it (whereas their Kannada script is more conventional).
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Earlier, it was understood that only people of the Konkan region spoke Konkani, and people who spoke this language were called Konknne. But not necessarily.
In Goa, everyone will agree that Konknno means Hindu, history tells us Konkani Catholics do not address themselves as Konknne as they were apparently banned by the Portuguese from referring themselves this way.
If Goans are called as Konknne, and Konknne are Hindus which perhaps we all were before the Portuguese, then the Hindus have every right to claim Devnagri as their official language for Goa; Hindus are fluent in Devnagri, they do not follow Romi Konkani except a handful maybe.
We must not forget that Hindus constitute over 65% Hindus, they normally refer to Konkani as Amgeli Bhas or our language, but they do not definitely mean their 'bhas' to be Romi Konkani.
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History tells us, that the Jesuits have been been the greatest advocates of Romi Konkani, but they were expelled from Goa in the late 18th century.
The Portugez decreed that children should be prohibited from speaking Konkani in schools. and seminaries. In the late 19th century, Konkani was completely banned in schools.
The result of this language displacement was that Konkani in Goa became the lรญngua de criados (language of the servants). So Hindu and Catholic elites turned to Marathi and Portuguese, respectively.
Konkani at present, is certainly the 'cement' that binds all Goans across caste, religion and class and is affectionately termed Konkani Mai Bhas.
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It should be noted that Goa could not get Statehood till it had an official language.
In 1986, when I was just in school, I had little knowledge of what was happening. But I was part of the bloodiest agitation that Goa ever witnessed – the Konkani Language Agitation led by Konkani Porjecho Avaz; I was in the buses of people who were arrested and taken to Altinho. At that time, we fought for the glory of Konkani.
The fight continues – for the script – of yet another drama.
In 1987, Konkani in the Devnagri script was made the sole official language of Goa, provided that Marathi may also be used ‘for all or any of the official purposes’.
Although, an ordinance passed by the government of Goa allows the use of Roman script for official communication.
Why was Romi Konkani not included?
Because 2 scripts for one language would create confusion; all official work would need to be done in 2 languages which would be double-work, and not feasible. Every Govt employee would have to know both scripts.
๐ฟ๐๐๐๐ผ๐๐๐ ๐ซ/๐จ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐
According to sources, the Official Language Act has not been fully implemented in Goa yet which few know.
If both Devnagri & Romi script are included in it now, then whatever is done for the implementation of Konkani language could be a waste.
Government of India (8th Schedule), Sahitya Academi has only Devnagri script approved under them.
Thousands of Goan children take Devnagri Konkani as the third language in schools/colleges; Romi is still under the bed, and no sign of its development since 1987; infact it is on the decline.
Apart from the ‘Povitr Pustok’ and ‘Gaianacho Jhelo’ that remain popular among self-taught Catholics, other rich resource of Konkani literature written in the Romi script goes unnoticed and unrewarded.
Romi is not taught anywhere, other than the seminaries maybe. It is only Tiatrists and priests, and a handful of newspapers & magazines that have kept Romi Konkani alive for ages now.
Special mention must be made for the valuable contribution made by Vavraddeancho lxtt (Goa’s oldest weekly), Dor Mhoineachi Rotti, Novem Goem, and Gulab magazine in the development of Konkani language.
They adopted certain rules for spelling Konkani words and this consistency has given a certain stability to Konkani orthography.
Even the first Romi magazine ‘Udentechem Sallok’ (first published in1889) needs to be applauded for its simple lexis. An extract from its first editorial:
“Sangata vinnem monxachean vanchum nozo, ani ekvottavinnnem ek sangat fuddem sorum nozo, punn zanv sangat, zanv ekvott, bhaxe vinnem kedinch funded vosum nozo.” (Man cannot live without companionship and no companionship can flourish without language).
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It is safe to conclude that Konkani may not be as advanced as Marathi, and we cannot deny the fact that increased knowledge of English has eaten into Romi Konkani’s readership.
And in today’s world, it is evident there are more viewers (of videos) than readers (of newspapers or books) especially on social media.
Over the years, I have observed the decline in quality and creativity of Konkani writers and poets in our Konkani magazines and books.
We hardly come across top writers exhibiting world class originality in writing such as Damodar Mauzo, Chandrakant Keni, N. Shivdas, etc, and some of the poems published in some magazines are a lowest example to children – way below the class of Manoharrai Sardesai or Bakibab Borkar – legendary poets of the bygone century.
How many of our Romi writers fall in the Sahitya Akademi Award calibre, leave alone the Jnanpith Award - the highest Indian literary award given in our country.
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As we all know, after India’s independence, the Government of India faced objection in the non-Hindi speaking belt of the country over its plans to make Hindi the sole official language of the country.
Since then, both Hindi and English are used as the official languages of the country.
English is widely spoken, written and understood in Goa. So, alongside Devnagri Konkani and Marathi, English language continues to be used.
I do support and sympathize with everyone who demands recognition for Romi Konkani in preserving Goa’s rich Romi heritage.
Only Romi script can enhance the growth of our language, I believe, if Konkani is to develop, it will do so only if the Roman script is adopted.
I may be wrong in my views, but I would like to have some healthy debate on this subject from our experts.
However, my prediction, and anyone’s guess: Goan business activities in future will all be conducted in English.
๐ฆ๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด? ๐๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ “๐ธ๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐๐น๐ผ ๐๐๐น๐น๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ท๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฝ!” 