About the Event
Centre for Linguistic Justice and Endangered Languages, National Law University, Delhi is organizing a two-day International Seminar on Linguistic Justice and Endangered Languages on March 20-21, 2020).
Linguistic Justice has been one of the core concepts inherent in the Constitution of India and a focal point in various articles of the Constitution. The issue becomes all the more crucial in view of the recognition of several endangered languages that need to be proactively supported for their survival. The preamble to the constitution of India lists ‘Justice, social, economic and political;’ as one of its goals. The emphasis on ‘justice’ is so great that it has been elaborated that it is not restricted in meaning and scope rather it covers almost all perceivable spheres of human existence, viz. social, economic and political. If we examine the domain of society, we will find that languages represent an important aspect of social reality. The important role of language in society is aptly recognized in the polity of India and it has been organized into linguistic states. The constitution has further in articles 29, 30, 347, and 350A explicitly ensured the protection of linguistic rights.
This shows the importance of linguistic justice that rightly guides our country. Linguistic justice is often tied closely with the overall well being of the communities, so much so that linguistic health of a community can act as an indicator or marker of that particular community’s development, or in other words it can be used as a test of whether social, economic and political justice is being done to it or denied not.
We often see that the languages of the linguistic communities that are at the bottom of the social pyramid face endangerment and extinction, followed by a cultural and identity crisis. “Many languages around the world are becoming endangered and are dying. This phenomenon is seen in India too. The death of a language is not just the loss of a language: it has serious accompanying social implications. The online version of UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger lists 197 Indian languages as being endangered. This number is an interesting coincidence and grim reminder because the 2001 census of India also lists 197 languages as mother tongues in Delhi, many of which are in fact endangered“(Moseley 2010,” – Prasannanshu, 2018).
The UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages (2003) characterizes a language as endangered “when it is on a path toward extinction,” and they go on to add that “a language is in danger when its speakers cease to use it, use it in an increasingly reduced number of communicative domains, and cease to pass it on from one generation to the next. That is, there are no new speakers, adults or children” (UNESCO 2003).
Linguistic diversity and heterogeneity appears to be under threat across the globe. No doubt, language isn’t only by far the most suited fundamental basis of human communication and cognition, but also an integral part of the social identity and ethnicity of a group. To preserve a social group’s, or tribe’s cultural identity it is essential to help them preserve their language. The proposed two-day course aims to focus on linguistic justice and endangered languages and the issues that bear upon them.
Other important information
Please find the link for the invitation for this event here.
Please find the schedule for the event here.
How to register
Organizing Team
- Prof. (Dr.) Prasannanshu
- Mr. Shiv Ram Tandon
- Mr. Abhishek Jain
- Mr. Rum Shoute
Centre for Linguistic Justice and Endangered Languages 