(Samaj Weekly)- Everybody communicates. Language is imperative to communicate. It is everywhere on globe no matter what your nationality is.
From the moment of conception, child is in communication with the mother. Even in the womb, there is a direct link between the two, which is of vital importance throughout the rest of it’s life. In particular, at this early stage, the health and lifestyle of the mother is messages, guiding the child’s development.
A miscommunication at this time can mean a ruined life or a happy one, but while this is almost automatic relationship, after the birth, the mother’s communication language, verbal and non-verbal is equally important.
A first language, also called as ‘native language, mother-tongue, arterial language, or L1’, is the language a person has learnt from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and is so it is often the basis for socio-linguistic identity.
In some countries, the terms native language or mother -tongue refers to the language of one’s ethnic group rather than one’s first language.
The language one first learned, the language one grew up with,, one’s native language is the mother language. It is the language spoken by one’s ancestors. Everyone should feel pride in one’s own language.
Mother-tongue is the genuine identity of a person. It is the connection between the child and his or her motherland. Like mother’s touch and mother’s milk, mother-tongue has no substitute.
Children brought up speaking more than one language can have more than one native language. But mother-tongue is the first language that one learns from his or her mother.
You may have learnt so many languages, or lived and interacted with different people around the world for so many years, but the ease of expression is best felt in one’s own language, the language of the mother. The magic of emotions in our own language cannot be matched in any other language. The warmth of expression is best felt in the mother-tongue. There are traditional proverbs and anecdotes that one can use to best convey his or her point of view to the listeners.
International Mother Language Day {IMLD} is a worldwide annual ceremony held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by 102 million native speakers worldwide, making it the 10th most widely spoken language in the world. It is the native language of the Punjabi people who inhabit the historical Punjab region of India and Pakistan. It is the only living language among the Indo-European languages which is fully tonal language.
Punjabi is the most widely spoken language in Pakistan, the 11th most widely spoken in India and the 3rd most spoken native language in the Indian Sub Continent. Punjabi used to be the 2nd most spoken language in UK but is now the 4th most spoken language in the UK. It is the 3rd most spoken native language in Canada. The Punjabi language also has a significant presence in the USA, Australia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
The influence of Punjabi as a cultural language in the Indian Sub-Continent is increasing day by day due to Bollywood. Most Bollywood movies now have Punjabi vocabulary mixed in, along with a few songs fully sung in Punjabi. At any point in time, Punjabi songs in Bollywood movies now account for more than 50% of the top of the charts listings.
Just as our mother understood our language when we could not speak in the early part of our lives similarly we should understand the language of the mother in later parts of her life when she may not be able to speak properly as before.
TARLOCHAN SINGH VIRK
CO-ORDINATOR
PUNJABI LISTENERS CLUB
LEICESTER
