The concept of H- and L-Kannada: a disease called "diglossia"

There is widespread belief among Kannadigas that there are two types of Kannada, one of high prestige (H-Kannada) and one of low prestige (L-Kannada). The definition of what constitutes high prestige and what low prestige is nowhere written down, but somewhat implicitly understood by almost every Kannadiga, whether he belongs to the H-Kannada camp or the L-Kannada camp. The H-Kannada camp pats itself on the back that it uses the "correct" Kannada, while the L-Kannada camp simply deems itself to have been born with an impaired tongue.

This is a sociolinguistic phenomenon called "diglossia". In this short essay, we will show how Kannada's diglossia is detrimental to both the unity and progress of the Kannadiga people, then urge our readers to first wake up to this fact and second to stop either feeling a sense of pride for belonging to the H-tribe or a sense of impairment for belonging to the L-tribe. Both the feelings are false, and both break our unity and oneness of purpose.

H-Kannada is generally used for written Kannada (with the conspicuous exception of quotations or dialogue), as well as for any "decent" public usage -- such as in a public function or conference or meeting. H-Kannada has an abundance of Sanskrit words used without any modifications, while L-Kannada has very few Sanskrit words (with the handful borrowed Sanskrit words having been modified to suit the Kannada tongue) and has in general no difference between aspirated and unaspirated consonants unlike languages such as Sanskrit and Hindi. The lack of differentiation between aspirated and unaspirated consonants is a linguistic feature present in Kannada from thousands of years (from the days of Halagannada or old Kannada).

People of both the H and L tribes express discomfort if someone uses L-Kannada in situations such as public discourses or writing, considering the user to be unscholarly, uncouth and unpolished. In open defiance of glaring linguistic proofs, the H-tribe has even perpetuated the wrong theory that Kannada has been derived from Sanskrit. This wrong theory is implicitly assumed to be right by the H-tribe, and no proof is asked for. The fact that this unscientific behaviour stems from weak minds with lack of understanding of the basics of linguistics and lack of appreciation for the real worth of Sanskrit (which is, in one word, spirituality) is a different matter, and warrants a separate article.

The L-tribe, which is at the receiving end of the flawed theory that Kannada is derived from Sanskrit, stomachs it for want of erudition. The proof against this flawed theory, which is nothing less than a human population of nearly 4 crore Kannadigas, is openly ignored, openly neglected. This neglect, which overflows from the drawing board of flawed proofs into day-to-day neglect of 4 crore Kannadigas by the H-tribe is the first reason for the death of Kannadiga unity attributable to diglossia, and the first reason for Karnataka's stunted growth. The first is because neglect creates a rift between the neglecters and the neglected. The second is because the H-tribe which thinks it has the ability to take Karnataka forward in the right direction itself neglects nearly all of Karnataka, deeming it a relief from engaging with those whom it considers as "unscholarly, uncouth and unpolished".

Diglossia is a disease, nay an epidemic, which is slowly ripping apart Kannadiga from Kannadiga and destroying our oneness of purpose. It's high time the H-tribe stops pulling the legs of people from the L-tribe and instead works on ways of bridging the gap. It's high time the H-tribe stops patting on its own back thinking out of ignorance that it speaks the "real Kannada"! It's high time the L-tribe stops thinking of its version of Kannada as that of a lesser God. No, the Kannadiga tongue is golden and every way of speaking Kannada is to be worshipped and equally "real" and "correct"! There is no high, no low! It's all one and the same mother tongue! It's only an illusion that one version of Kannada is H and another L!

Arise O Kannadiga! Awake! Unite! Destroy the reason for our disunity! Destroy diglossia!

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your article need not be right.Their is no need to worry about such things.It happens all the time.Their is opinion among very few scholars that kannada was some kind of H tongue during proto dravidian when it and tamil were one languauge.well that is history.

Standard spoken kannada(kannada of shimoga and not written kannada) is definatly sweet compared to other tongues(north karnataka or chamarajnagar).Definatly I am not saying that they are ot good.But if people insist for something more beautifull why deny it.

PS: I am a born bangalorean and have absolutly nothing to do with shimogga in personal.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I don't think you understood the article. The author is talking about differences b/w different castes and not regions.

Anonymous said...

Well, its a global phenomena. The difference in language and pronunciation should be accepted as a diversity. If you observe closely,so called H-Class hails fools paradise. They think whatver crap they utter, people buy it...

Rohith B R said...

The Anons dont seem to be getting this right I guess..

Well, to clear your misunderstanding of this whole matter, lets take an example here:

At home when you talk about going to the place where you cook food, if you're really a kannadiga, and in this example hail from southern regions of Karnataka, you'd be saying "ಅಡಿಗೆಮನೆ" right? Whereas the same when appears on printed matter, and especially when on boards put up in, say, convention halls, the inferiority of the word "ಅಡಿಗೆಮನೆ" kicks in, and auto-transforms itself into "ಭೋಜನಗೃಹ" - a word formed by the union of ಭೋಜನ and ಗೃಹ - both being hard core sanskrit words.

This is where diglossia in Kannada is ruling over the inferiority in Kannadigas' minds and spoiling the language that Kannadigas speak in public - slowly creeping into the veins of the system, thus deleting Kannada from places where language is of prime importance.. the public space.
Whether it is a public toilet, or be it road safety boards/placards/road-signs, or public/private administrative language, Kannada words are constantly being replaced by their Sanskrit cousins in such a way that its users are fast forgetting that there are equivalent kannada words for the same meaning!!

And of course the point here, is not just about adige-manes and bhojanagruhaas.. its far deeper I am sure..

I guess the point is clear now..

ram said...

Other examples are using megha for moda(cloud),maarga for raste or daari or beedhi etc and naming places after ending with nagara instead of halli or a ooru ex:kankanahalli was named after sanskritised word kanakapura..

@Anonymous
who told u that north karnataka kannada and chamarajnagar kannada are not sweet??..They are the sweetest among all the dialects of kannada and contain less sanskrit words..

i wanted when in kannada we started replacing ha for pa ex:hennu(old kannada pennu)...at what time(century) did this happen?... anyone has idea?

Anonymousadmirer said...

Well...@ Sumsumne...I guess aDigemane is a word used in both spoken and written kannaDa for kitchen. Bhojana griha is used more for place where meals are had...like chathras :)

Coming to the article I feel a few examples of the two forms of kannaDa which the author is talking about would have given better understanding into what he is saying. I usually see a lot of people replacing the 'ha' sound with 'a' and vice versa. This is simply not correct and such things cannot be hidden under the pretext of H/L kannaDa(s).

Besides there are various flavours of kannaDa some harsh to the ears, some sweet. They are all very pure flavours nevertheless and none better than the other.

--
Peace

Anonymous said...

Ram has raised a very good point. If your memories are strong enough, then you remember "Kotibande", now its renamed to "Maruthi Nagara".

The L-tribe so inferior about the words, they want transmogify themselves to H-tribe by adopting Sankritized words.Few days back a group sumbitted memorandum to Govt to ban the word "HAJAMA", instead they should be referred as "KSHAURIKAS".

-Shantha

Anonymous said...

How cool, hajama is niether sanskrit nor kannada word.Its a persian/urdu based word.

How do you know which is pure sanskrit word and pure kannada word.Words like beedhi or katthe or bega are amalgation of sanskrit.Go reject it and find alternatives.

hogutte is said as hoytadhe and hoktadhe.Lets keep all these colloqial words to where they belong and not in written kannada.Written kannada is beautifull.It has lot of beautifull words like haage,heege(only examples) which are very sweet compared to their counterparts which are in spoken kannada(haange,heenge).

Overall it looks like kannada fighters are going the way of tamilains i.e pure tamil concept.Dont copy their ways.Come up with your own ways to develop kannada here.

BTW,I think author is targetting brahmans indisguise of H's and L's words.

One more point, I am the one who replied in the first post here.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous - I think you missed the point and instead induling in caste politics.

Coming to the blog itself, most of my views are aired through this article. First we had sankrit vyamoha, then english vyamoha, and now hindi vyamoha...

Our government and poets (few) do not pitch for kannada words. For example, what was the need to name our paalike as Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Paalike? When we could have named it Dodda Bengaluru PaTTaNa Paalike?

imagine if our poorvajaru had done the same thing, dodda baLLapura, chikkabaLLapura, chikkamagaLuru irtha irlilla.

innu namma BDA ya baDaavaNegalanthu bidi... paaLya, doDDi, kuppe, haLLi, beeDu, ori, ella bittu Nagar gaLu, enclaves, layouts bandvu.

Our KSRTC buses have been named Airavata, Rajahamsa, Sheetal. Couldnt we have named them Aane, BaathukoLi, ThangaaLi?

Even toilets bear sankrit names Purasharu, Sthriyaru. Doesnt Gandasaru, Hengasaru convey the meaning?

Recently I was pained to see mahaadwaara written in kannada instead of hebbagilu. Even our hardcore kannadigas are made to feel that sanskrit is superior, and it a must to borrow and kannadise words.

Coming to our movies, the latest hindi craze has reached a limit. Bindaas anthe... bere hesaru siklilva? Bombaat, Chindi, KuLe ityaadi. even the dialogues in the movie had words like zindagi, duniya antha. kannada dalli padagaLe ilva? prapancha, baaLu antha?

namma bhaTTru kooda koncha mosa maadidaru. hani hani prem kahaani, eega - manada mugilalli muhabbat antha heli.

avan yaaro hrudaya shiva anthe... lyricist for movie savi savi nenapu. in one of the songs, he writes haadu baaro dil se dil se, nodu baaro pyaar se se, ee zamaana nammade ne... halkat nan maga.

duniya antha chitra maadudru, thumba oLLe cinema, aadre prapancha / badudku antha hesaru idabahudagittu alva? eega yaavdo hosa chitra zindagi antha barth aide... innen helbeku..

thoo idannella nodtha idre bevarsi gaLaag bittidivi ansta ide... nammatana bittu bere yavara hatra kai oDtha idivalla... naachike aagbeku...

Anonymous said...

ದಂಡು ನಿಲ್ದಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ, ವಿಮಾನ ನಿಲ್ದಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ - ಆಗಮನ, ನಿರ್ಗಮನ ಅಂತ ಹಾಕಿದಾರೆ. ಬದಲಾಗಿ, ಹೋಗುವುದು, ಬರುವುದು ಅಂತ ಮಾಡಬಹುದಲ್ವ?

ಮರಾಠಿಗರು, ನಾವಿ-ಮುಂಬೈ ಅಂತ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ, ಹೊರತು ನಮ್ಮ ಕೀಳರಿಮೆ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ತರಹ ನವ್ಯ-ಮುಂಬೈ ಅಲ್ಲ.

ಅವರು ಎಲ್ಲ ತರಹದ ಬಾತ್‍ಗಳನ್ನ ಪ್ರಚಾರ ಮಾಡಿದರು, ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ ಹೊಟೆಲ್‍ನವರು (ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿ ಉಡುಪಿ, ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನವರು) ಕೊನೇಪಕ್ಷ ಮೊಸರನ್ನ ಅಂತ ಕೂಡ ಕರಿಯೊಲ್ಲ್. ಕರ್ಡ್‍ರೈಸ್, ರೈಸ್ ಬಾತ್ ಅಂತಾನೆ ಕರಿಯೋದು.

Anonymous said...

"BTW,I think author is targetting brahmans indisguise of H's and L's words."

Oh.. ya.. Brahmans are they only people about whom every body talks.. what foolish!!!!

This kind of idea was suggested by B.M.Sri( a Brahman ) too. and D N Shankara Bhat( another Brahmin ) :)

The article is very clear in its point.! Nothing about caste. It is about the CLASS..

Even non-Brahman politicians, writer etc used the H Kannada.

Kuvempu's works uses a lot Sanskrit words..because at that and even today such kind of Kannada is/was considered refined and high level.

The article is completely about linguistics.

Sanskrit died because nobody speaks/spoke it. Similarly the H Kannada is like a dead language nobody speaks it and as people writing in Kannada decrease it is going vanish.

heege vs henge
haage vs hange is meaning less..

because old Kannada forms were
ippange => ihange => hinge =>heege
appange => ahange => hange =>haage

just like

maDangu => madagu
unguru => uguru [ remember ungura ]
eRanke => rekke
iRumpe => iruve
paanpu => haanvu(still used in Darwad/Hubli) => haavu
iRpan => ippan => ihan => haan( Gulbarga side equivalent of iddaane/iruvanu )


Writer,
well done. good job.!

Anonymous said...

gurugale idra melu swalpa gamana harsi dayavittu....
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/mar/17guest2.htm
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/mar/19guest.htm
wr,
-/dg

Rohith B R said...

@ anonymous talking about hani hani..
you were partly right in mentioning the influence of hindi too on Kannada of-late. what with people talking about uppittu and dOse, but referring them as upma and dosa in the written so-called "Kannada." What a joke, isnt it?!

But the part where I think you crossed the border was in the names and words being used in Kannada movies nowadays - its okay to have a few words and lines of other languages in Kannada movies.. Anything of that kind only mixes with a huge amount of Kannada and gets diluted and merged with Kannada. It only increases the taste of Kannada in those movies I guess.

But of course your cautionary tone will bear meaning when the percentage of these words and phrases crosses a limit where they start dominating Kannada counterparts. Also such usage should only be limited to making the Kannada song/name sound/feel richer, and not better, just because of its presence..

@ mahesha
as always you've been rich in contributing useful linguistic data.. nice!

Rohith B R said...

@anon-admirer
in that case bhojana gruha is also not apt for what you can easily call "ಊಟದ ಮನೆ/ಕೋಣೆ"!! isnt it?!

Anonymous said...

@sumsumke

nanna kelavu northi friendsu helodu - hindi/samskruta padakke 'a', 'e' 'u' erisidare kannada agutte antha... matte ee cinema hesarugalannu keli, kannadadalli aa padagaLe illaveno antha andukondiddaranthe...

i think it was with the same intention of enriching kannada that our poets used so much samskruta that today kannadigas are made to feel that kannada is derived from samskruta.

sarvagna ne heliruva haage, bereyavarinda olleyadu thagobeku nija, yaavaga?? nammalli korathe iddaaga.. ella iddu bhikshe bedodalla...

adeno heltharalla, sumnirok aagde irve bitkondru antha... olle nudi iddu, adanna haal madkondang aythu...

neeve helrappa, zindagi, joshu, duniya, muhabbat, kahaani, antha baLasidare, namma kannadada sogasu hecchaadithe??

Anonymous said...

@above anonymous..

The article is not about purity of language. It is about the flexibility and ease of use.

As I read, the intention of the author is not to purify, rather he/she wishes to have a flexible and easy written Kannada which can bridge the amongst Kannadigas.

Generally i.e obviously with exception Sanskrit words lend to be complex(since same word carry different meanings) to understand and pronounce. That is why, any discussion on simplification of written Kannada favors less usage of Sanskrit words. [ PS not because of any caste or religious hatred ]

There a lot of borrowed / foreign words which are very simple and used by a lot of people
like coffee, tea, ready, sudden, sound, bus, car, rail, nakali, asalu, mEju, kaarana etc..
and many in the Kannadized forms like anubava(anubhava), abyasa(abhyaasa), jarooru(zaroor), aapeesu(office), seeTu( seat) etc etc..

BUT...
To preserve the identity and to avoid native kannada words from going out of usage, I think, one must try as hard as possible to use the pure kannada words unless it makes reading very tough. ex kuttu is as simple as danger, apaaya.

Thanks for such a good discussion

hamsanandi said...

This phenomenon is seen in every language, including English. And those languages have not died down.

I'm not going to drop my ’ಹ’ and 'ಭ’ just because some others do! Yes, there is a difference between how I speak, and how I write - but that is a matter of choice.

Harish Kumar said...

Very good article. The author needs to be complimented for it. He has taken a brave step towards it. It is indeed true that those who speak sanskritised kannada consider themselves superior. The charge that he is targetting brahmins is baseless.

In fact when we read kannada boards it looks like we are in a country where the language spoken is sanskrit. Even toilets as the author has pointed out are named in sanskrit.

Also what is wrong in pure tamil concept ? If there is a tamil word for every sanskrit word why should not tamilians use it ? I think the people who don't have kannada pride are mistaking pride for intolerance. One can be proud of ones language and speak using the words in one's own language ,that does not mean one hates other languages.

Throughout the world , except karnataka people speak in their mother tongues , using words available in their vocabulary. Only in KRN it is considered intolerance and narrowmindedness. One needs to use words from as many languages as possible one sentence to prove ones "broad mindedness"

Harish Kumar said...

I agree.Many of my northie friends thing that just by adding "u" to hindi one becomes kannada.

Harish Kumar said...

"Overall it looks like kannada fighters are going the way of tamilains i.e pure tamil concept.Dont copy their ways.Come up with your own ways to develop kannada here."

If an idea is good we will borrow it from others. What is wrong in that ? I thought kannada culture stood for tolerance. Oh I see, it is tolerance only when we borrow sanskrit and hindi words ! Not ideas by tamils or maharashtrians ?

If you can copy sanskrit words , we can copy tamil ideas. You cannot say copying sanskrit and hindi words when kannada words are available is a sign of broadmindedness , but copying tamil ideas is blind copying !

It clearly reveals the authors contempt for anything dravidian.

Anonymous said...

What is stupidity of borrowing from Tamils? :)

Kannada already had simplification once during Basavanna period( Nadugannada ). So thats not new...

Even Kannada literature( like Shivarama Karanth, Bhairappa, etc) by my new poets is not Sanskritized.. Only our govt and newspapers uses highly Sanskritized language.

There a lot of essays available on internet arguing about the failure of Tamils on their language policy( They are successful as an ethic group, but language engineering they failed. Thats why they use English a lot )

We Kannadas have already found our way of dealing with things. We are not at all following any Dravidian movement(which finally turned to be mere caste hatred and unneccessarity xenophobic).

Hamsanandi sir,

Who asked YOU to change? It is not about YOU or ME changing. It is about the flexibility and ease for the majority L Kannada people.

Obviously many of H Kannada people consider L as inferior and reject the idea.

Harish Kumar said...

What do you mean Tamils failed in their language policy ? Tamils know Hindi much better than kannadigas. In terms of both quality and quantity. More tamils than kannadigas know hindi and also the quality of hindi they speak is much much better. What kannadigas know is tapori hindi "deewaana , mastaana , parvaana" hindi which will take them no where. Tamils dominate IAS and armed forces thanks to their excellent knowledge of hindi and I am talking about non-brahmins.

Major reason for poor representation of KRN in armed forces is pathetic knowledge of good hindi. Kannadigas mainly learn bollywood hindi for status purposes and showing off and cannot match the tamils in their breadth and depth of proper hindi.

Also the idea that tamils are xenophobic is nonsense. Every linguistic groups has made their living successfully and thank tamilians for giving them an oppurtunity to succeed and make their dreams come true.

There is ofcourse only one condition. You much learn tamil and adapt to tamil customs and traditions. Which they are willing to do gladly.

This is a condition which every nation puts on outsiders and there is nothing wrong in it.

Anonymous said...

"Tamils know Hindi much better than kannadigas. In terms of both quality and quantity. More tamils than kannadigas know hindi and also the quality of hindi they speak is much much better. What kannadigas know is tapori hindi "deewaana , mastaana , parvaana" hindi which will take them no where. Tamils dominate IAS and armed forces thanks to their excellent knowledge of hindi and I am talking about non-brahmins.
Major reason for poor representation of KRN in armed forces is pathetic knowledge of good hindi. Kannadigas mainly learn bollywood hindi for status purposes and showing off and cannot match the tamils in their breadth and depth of proper hindi.
"

:) : ) WOW..

Does this has any relation to the topic? I think, it doesn't


Please read my statement again...( calmly.. need not to be Xenophobic[ i.e feeling of somebody is making my language down, they think we are low kind-of thinking.. which makes people loose calm ] )

"There a lot of essays available on internet arguing about the failure of Tamils on their language policy( They are successful as an ethic group, but language engineering they failed. Thats why they use English a lot )

We Kannadas have already found our way of dealing with things. We are not at all following any Dravidian movement(which finally turned to be mere caste hatred and unneccessarity xenophobic)."

What do we understand here?

1) search the INTERNET about language policy adopted by Tamil politicians and we will find article speaking about how it failed because of too much importance of purity.

Still majority of the Science, Commerce in TN are taught and learned in English. That is what I said. Tamils(as ethnic group) are successful because gave importance to English.

As Harish Kumar says they are successful in armed forces etc etc not because they have good knowledge of Tamil, but because they know good Hindi :) ! This is how Tamil language policy failed. Tamils have to learn English or Hindi for Knowledge and work ( as we Kannadas )

Tamil language policy failed because they went to purify( ultra purify ) Tamil. They replaced many easy Sanskrit and English words with hard to understand OLD-Tamil words [ an article describes this as a serious DIAGLOSSIA ]

This is the similar to the problem Kannada is facing. Here we use hard Sanskrit words.!

2) About Dravidian Movement.. again do your own research.. [ this is not related to this topic.. ]

Rohith B R said...

ಗೆಳೆಯರೆ,
ಇಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಚಾರ ತಮಿಳಿನ ಕಡೆ ಏಕೆ ಹೋಯ್ತೋ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಇರ್ಲಿ.. ಈಗ diglossia ಬಗೆಗೆ ಮಾತಾಡೋಣ್ವೇ? ಈ ರೋಗದ ನಿಜವಾದ ತಿರ್ಳು ಯಾರಿಗಾದ್ರು ಗೊತ್ತಿದ್ರೆ ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಉತ್ತರ ಕೊಡಿ.

ನನ್ನ ಅನಿಸಿಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊಡ್ತೀನಿ:

ಕನ್ನಡದೊಳಗೆ ವಿನಾಕಾರಣ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತ ಅಥವಾ ಬೇರೊಂದು ಭಾಷೆಯ ಪದದ ಬಳಕೆ, ಮತ್ತು ಹೀಗೆ ಮಾಡಿದ ಬಳಕೆಯಿಂದ್ಲೇ ಕನ್ನಡ "ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ" ಮತ್ತು "ಅಂದವಾಗಿ" ಕೇಳಿಸುತ್ತದೆ, ಮತ್ತು ಮಾತಾಡುವ ಹಾಗೆ ಬರೆಯೋದು ಬರೆಯೋನ್ಗೆ ಅವಮಾನ, ಅಂತೆಲ್ಲಾ ಅನಿಸೋದೇ diglossia ಈ ಬ್ಲಾಗು ಬರ್ದೋರ ಪ್ರಕಾರ. di-glossia ಪದದ ಅರ್ಥವನ್ನ ಆ ಪದವನ್ನ ಬಿಡಿಸಿದ್ರೇ ಗೊತ್ತಾಗತ್ತೆ. di ಎಂದರೆ ಎರಡು (ನಿಜಕ್ಕೂ ಇದೇ ಆಂಗ್ಲ ಪದ ಅಲ್ಲ!!) => ಅಂದ್ರೆ diglossia ಅನ್ನುವುದು ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಒಂದು ಉಪ್ಯೋಗಕ್ಕೆ ಒಂದು ಭಾಷೆ, ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಉಪ್ಯೋಗಕ್ಕೆ ಅದೇ ಭಾಷೆಯ ಹೆಸರಿನಡಿ ಬೇರೊಂದು ಭಾಷೆಯ ಉಪ್ಯೋಗ.

ನಮ್ಮ ಈ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಮನೆಯೊಳಗೆ ಬಚ್ಚಿಲಮನೆ, ಹೊರಗಿನ ಜಗತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರೊಡನೆಯೇ ಆಗಲಿ ಅದು ಶೌಚಾಲಯ! ಇದು ಮುಂದೆ ಬರಲಿರುವ ಭಾಷೆಯ ಅವನತಿಗೆ ನಾಂದಿ ಅಂತ ಅನ್ನೋದ್ರಲ್ಲಿ ಏನೂ ತಪ್ಪಿಲ್ಲ. ಇಂತಹ ವಸ್ತುಗಳ ಪದಗಳಲ್ಲದೆ ಈಗಾಗ್ಲೇ ನಮ್ಮ ನಡುವೆಯೇ ಕಾಣುವ ಜನರ (ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ) ಹೆಸರೇ ನೋಡಿ - ಪೂಜಾ, ರಾಹುಲ್, ಸಚಿನ್, ವಿಶ್ವಕ್ಸೇನ, ಪಾರ್ಥ, ಅಮೀನಾ, ಹೀಗೆ ನಮ್ಮದಲ್ಲದ ಬಗೆಯ ಹೆಸರುಗಳ ಬೇಡಿಕೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದೆ. ಅದೇ ಮಾದೇಗೌಡ, ದೋಡ್ಡಣ್ಣ, ಸಣ್ಣಪ್ಪ, ಮೆಣಸಿನ್ಕಾಯಿ ಇತ್ಯಾದಿ ನಮ್ಮದೇ ಆಗಿದ್ದ ಶೈಲಿಯ ಹೆಸರುಗಳು ಬೇಡಿಕೆ ಕಳ್ಕೊಳ್ತಿವೆ. ಇದು ನೈಸರ್ಗಿಕ ಬದಲಾವಣೆ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿ ತಳ್ಳೀಹಾಕಲು ಅಸಾಧ್ಯ. ಹೆಸರು ಇಡೋದು ಇನ್ನೂ ಮನುಷ್ಯರೇ. ಕಾಲ ಬದಲಾಗಿದೆ ಅಂತ ಮಗು ತಾಯಿಯ ಹೊಟ್ಟೆಯಿಂದಲೇ ಹೆಸರು-ಮಣೆ ಪಡ್ಕೊಂಡೇನ್ ಬರ್ತಿಲ್ಲ ಅಲ್ವ? ತನ್ನ ಮಗುವಿನ ಹೆಸರನ್ನೇ ತನ್ನ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇಡಕ್ಕೆ ಹೇಸಿಗೆ ಅನಿಸುವಷ್ಟು ಕೀಳರಿಮೆ ಇಂತಹ diglossia ಪ್ರಭಾವಿತರಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲ್ಲೆಡೆ ಕಂಡುಬರತ್ತೆ..

ಇದೆಲ್ಲಾ ಒಂದು ಭಾಷೆಗೆ ಮತ್ತದರ ಹಿಂದಿರುವ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಗೆ ಒಳಿತಲ್ಲ. diglossia ಎಂಬ ಪೆಡಂಬೂತದಿಂದ ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೆ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರ ಮನದಲ್ಲೇ ಕೀಳಮಟ್ಟ ದೊರಕಿರುವುದು ಸರಿಹೋಗಬೇಕು, ಇನ್ನು ಮುಂದೆಯೂ ಆಗದಂತೆ ಇರಬೇಕು. ಇದೇ ಈ ಬ್ಲಾಗಿನ ತಿರ್ಳು..

Harish Kumar said...

The problem of course is striking the right balance. Sanskrit is essential for spiritual purposes due to terminology reasons so it can be retained there. But not for everyday purposes.

Anonymous said...

ಸುಮ್‌ಸುಮ್ನೆ..

ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಅರಿಕೆಗಳಿಗೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ನೋಡಿರಿ.

ಅ http://www.sampada.net/blog/mahesha/12/04/2007/3686

ಆ http://sampada.net/image/7414

ಇ http://thatskannada.oneindia.in/literature/my_karnataka/310707kannada_language_grammar.html

ಈ http://thatskannada.oneindia.in/literature/my_karnataka/010807kannada_language_grammar.html

ನುಡುಗನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಗೆ ವಚನಕಾರರು, ದಾಸರು ಕನ್ನಡವನ್ನು ಸರಳವಾಗಿ ಮಾಮೂಲಿ ಮಂದಿಗೆ ತಲುಪಿಸಿದರೋ ಅದೇ ಈಗಲು ನಡೆಯ ಬೇಕಾದುದು.

ಹೊಸಗನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೊಂದು ಹೊಸನಡುಗನ್ನಡ ಬೇಕು :)

D.N.ಶಂಕರಬಟ್ಟರ ಹೊತ್ತಗೆಗಳನ್ನು ಓದಿ.

@Harish Kumar..

Kannada has non-Sanskrit spiritual literature. Even for spirituality Sanskrit is not necessary.

Only Vedic spirituality is Sanskrit based whereas Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Christianity, Shintoism, Judaism etc etc etc are not in Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is not the only spiritual language on this earth.

And this point too is irrelevant to the topic...

Here we are talking about language to be used by common Kannadiga. The Kannada for very common usage[ bus stand, railway station etc etc] not to translate Bhagwadgeethe

Please all stick the core of the topic.

Anonymous said...

Ishtu maathaduvavaru illi thamma makkalannna gundamma, lakshmawwa antha hesaridali. I will appreciate all this discourse on diglossia or whatever rot! And after they name their children, I would like to hear the opinion of their children on their lovely names! Guys, grow up! Every language changes itself. Next thing, the English guys will want us conversing in Thou, Thy style! That will indeed be the day! By being rigid about a language, you are only killing it. About Sanskrit, ho hum...I love the language and prefer it any day over my mother tongue. That is my personal opinion. For that matter, I even love Urdu and Persian better. About H and L, people are moving to the more sophisticated form, like it or not. If you so wish, you can go around speaking enge, baaratha, and all that the society will look down on.

Harish Kumar said...

Still majority of the Science, Commerce in TN are taught and learned in English. That is what I said. Tamils(as ethnic group) are successful because gave importance to English.

As Harish Kumar says they are successful in armed forces etc etc not because they have good knowledge of Tamil, but because they know good Hindi :) ! This is how Tamil language policy failed. Tamils have to learn English or Hindi for Knowledge and work ( as we Kannadas )

Tamil language policy failed because they went to purify( ultra purify ) Tamil. They replaced many easy Sanskrit and English words with hard to understand OLD-Tamil words [ an article describes this as a serious DIAGLOSSIA ]


I think you are seriously mistaken here. Language policy in TN has been a resounding success. Prior to the Dravidian Movement , most brahmins spoke in a tamil called manipravala , which is 50% sanskrit and 50% tamil. And they looked down upon the non-brahmins. Now today most brahmins speak pure tamil and sanskrit words have come down to 20%(tamilized sanskrit). Of course they have their own accent but the words are all tamil only.

As far as the non-brahmins are concerned , there was some 30-40% sanskrit influence and this has been removed. The tamil they speak contains only 20 % sanskrit. But even this 20% has been so tamilized that it does not look like sanskrit at all.

More over there is no difficulty in speaking pure tamil and it is very easy. When a sanskrit word is replaced by a tamil word , it becomes easier to speak and goes with the natural flow of the language. There is no problem in talking.

What is difficult is trying to replace the 20% tamilized sanskrit as well with pure tamil which then becomes very literary and looks a bit strange. Some tamil professors speak like that but common public does not.

There are Unievrsities in tamil which teach science and commerce and other modern subjects in tamil only. They have tamil names for scientific and commercial terms and even computer science can be wholly learnt in tamil. Ofcourse such persons cannot find employment outside tamil.

Naturally if you are looking for IAS , you should know hindi and if you wish to go abroad , you should know English. That does not mean the tamil language policy has failed. Its success lies in the fact the tamil the masses speak pure tamil (with 20% tamilized sanskrit)and the brahmins language of manipravala is dead and nobody looks down upon "pure tamil".

I was born and brought up in tamil nadu and I didnt have any difficulty in speaking pure tamil.

Please dont go by internet articles.Go to TN and see for yourself.

Tamil's have own words for compter , software and internet and this words look natural and feel like natural tamil words and dont feel clumsey. Sanskrit and Tamil are so different that its only the addition of sanskrit that makes speaking tamil difficult.

I dont have to do any research in dravidian movement as I was born and brought up in TN and lived there till I was 26 years old.

Basically the dravidian movement restored to the tamils , a pride in their language and literature and their country which is largely responsible for their success as an ethnic group. They no longer felt inferior in respect to the brahmins , who claimed superiority due to their sanskritized tamil.

Anonymous said...

Mr Harish,

Where are your Brahmins by the way? Most of them are in the US or other states. What the Dravidian movement did was to move the creme da le creme populace of your state to other places. The rest who remain obviously revel in their identity.

I like the Tamil pride thing. Unfortunately, that pride kinda goes pfffft the moment you step out of your state and realize that not many people share your pride with you :)

Seenu Subbu said...

I am not sure "Adige mane" vs "Bhojana griha" was an adequate example, but this article, while a genuine concern, I feel is mucha do about nothing, or a proverbial storm in the teacup.

There are differences in North Karnataka, Mangalore/Udupi, Mysore, Gulbarga/Raichur Kannada, not to mention the rustic flavour of Mandya. They add beauty to an already beautiful language.
No matter how much you deny it, Sanskrit is the mother of all Indian languages, though the Dravidian naysayers might derive some pleasure in insulting the "Brahminical superiority".

Having said that, Kannada literature is vast and diverse, from the likes of Baragur Ramachandrappa to Kuvempu, and Kannada in all its flavours gets a reasonable representation.
What is of concern is the spread of Kannada literacy, and once you teach the population to read and sustain literature, they will surely be flexible to adapt the "H and L" varieties without any issues.

Seenu Subbu said...

Ethiopians and Haitians have pride in their language too, come to think of it. I derive a great deal of kick in singing "Naavaduva nudiye Timbuktu nudi, naaviruva thaanave.."
How does "Vishwanathan" replaced by "Ulaganathan" make any difference, while you hold on to "Nathan" which is still Sanskrit? If you consider Sanskrit to be poison to your language, 20% or 50% does not matter, potency is still the same :)
I like the fact that there could be many varieties of expressing the same word, and it's sad to learn that non-Brahmins of Tamilnadu felt "inferior" because of their choice of words. Why kill a language or the populace that speaks the language, if you can live with both the sub-sets? What have you accomplished by driving out the Brahmin accented Tamil from your populace and memory?
University courses and spread of literacy could have been accomplished without cultural genocide.

Harish Kumar said...

Plus why are you getting upset that the tamils prefer Ulaganathan to Vishwanathan ? That is their choice. There is nothing wrong if they want to go ahead and replace all sanskrit words with native tamil words to the best of extent possible. Ulaganathan is certainly more tamil sounding than Vishwanathan and even NI do not recognise the "nathan" ending.

Harish Kumar said...

Can you please back up your statement that Sanskrit is the mother of all Indian languages with some hard evidence please ?

Harish Kumar said...

Tale Harate is a classic example of somebody who has lost his self-respect and his sense of identity thanks to the higher status given to H-Kannada.

Now even North Indians do not make the preposterous claim that Tamil comes from Sanskrit. When a North Indian hears tamil words , he knows instantly this language has nothing to do with sanskrit . In sound , words, diction and flow , sanskrit is so vastly different from tamil.

He knows Tamil belongs to a vastly different family of languages.

But Tale Harate thinks otherwise.

PB said...

I am truly fed up of these ignorant people. They are so sure that Sanskrit is the origin of every language that they'll lecture the false belief everywhere. I have equal respect for all languages, I know Sanskrit and Kannada, but I do not mix the two together, as it just sounds and looks horrendous.

Tale Harate is a perfect example of this ignorance. People like Tale Harate have lead to our streets being crowded with things such as chikitsAlaya, when aaspatre would be understandable by a much larger population. There are simply too many examples to give.

It's unfortunate that Karnataka's politicians feel such a need to kiss up to the Pro-Hindi and Pro-Sanskrit government that they are prepared to sacrifice their mother tongue. I really hope some movement takes place in Karnataka soon, but I doubt this as I've seen people get ridiculed in Bangalore for peaking in Kannada. Truly sad times.

Harish Kumar said...

"I like the Tamil pride thing. Unfortunately, that pride kinda goes pfffft the moment you step out of your state and realize that not many people share your pride with you :)"

I don't think so. Tamils retain their pride wherever they go. Kannadigas do not have their pride even in Karnataka.

"What have you accomplished by driving out the Brahmin accented Tamil from your populace and memory?"

Brahmins tried to drive out non-brahmin tamil out Tamil Nadu and the non-brahmins revolted and hit back. It was just an act of self-defence.

Swami Vivekananda himself many times admonished South Indian Brahmins for looking down upon the non-brahmins and also tamil language, and has extolled the glory and greatness of tamil civilization and language.

Obviously in Tale Harate's concept of spirituality, Swami Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Ramanuja and Kanakadasa do not exist.

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