‘Language is the foundation stone for civilisation’

A civilisation is lost when the language of communication ceases to exist, which is why languages should be preserved, opined Prof H M Maheshwariaiah, vice chancellor of the Central University, Kalaburagi.

The professor was delivering the inaugural address during a workshop on language enrichment organised by the Akhila Bharatiya Sahitya Parishat at Canara First Grade College in Mangaluru on Sunday.

“Many languages have been lost in the last 50 years. Studies are being conducted on languages that are on the verge of extinction,” said the professor.

He further said that India is a cradle of languages, housing more languages than any other country in the world. Languages have always played a significant role in the bonding of the people, and Kannada is one such language, he said.

Stating that the coastal region is also an abode of a multilinguistic culture, Prof Maheshwaraiah said that 4% of the people in the region can speak their mother tongue and 96% of the people can converse in multiple languages.

“Learning a language only improves one’s knowledge, communication skills and
emotional bonding. Such relations can be witnessed in the coastal region,” said the professor.

Dr Mohan Alva, chairperson of the Alva’s Education Foundation, presided over the programme.

“The impact of Sanskrit can be seen in the usage of regional languages. All languages tend to change with time. Efforts, however, should be on to retain the original flavour of the languages. Languages like Kannada and Tulu are inseparable from our culture. One should not let foreign languages weaken the regional languages,” said Dr Alva.

He called upon both media houses and the film industry to pay attention to retaining the sanctity of languages.

Raghunandan Bhat, Akhila Bharatiya Sahitya Parishat state general secretary, and Narayana Shevire, organising secretary, were present on the occasion.