RONO HILLS, 21 Feb: A weeklong celebration of the International Mother Language Day began at Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) here on Tuesday.
The celebration is being organised by the university’s English and Hindi departments.
Addressing the inaugural function, RGU Vice Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha spoke on the importance of preserving and promoting mother languages.
Prof Simon John of RGU’s Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies in his address stressed on the importance of preserving one’s mother tongue in the contemporary world. “This can be achieved through constant use of the mother language,” he said, and lamented the lack of proper documentation of the languages of Arunachal Pradesh.
Dr Arun Kumar Pandey advocated speaking in one’s mother tongue at home, in order to preserve the mother languages, while Prof SS Singh deliberated on endangered languages. “Many languages in Arunachal Pradesh were under similar threat due to prominence of other languages as a means of communication by the younger generation,” he said.
Prof Oken Lego and several faculty members also spoke about their mother languages.
The inaugural programme was attended also by RGU Languages Dean Prof SS Singh, English HoD Prof Bhagabat Nayak, faculty members, research scholars and students of the English and the Hindi departments.
“The inaugural address was followed by presentations by students of the English and the Hindi departments. The students made presentations in their mother languages. The presentations included folksongs, description of idioms and proverbs, storytelling and songs,” the university informed in a release.
The day was celebrated also by the English and the Hindi departments of the Arunachal University of Studies (AUS) in Namsai headquarters on Tuesday.
“The programme included performances by AUS students, including Galo solo song, poem recitation in various dialects and languages such as Nocte, Bengali and Bhojpuri; speech, short story on Idu Mishmi dialect, and group dance,” the university informed in a release.
In his address, AUS arts & social sciences assistant dean Dr Biplab Tripathy apprised the participants of the origin of the International Mother Language Day, and highlighted the linguistic diversity of Northeast India.
He appealed to the participants to “preserve the local language with developing scripts for the native languages.”
AUS vice chancellor Prof DS Hernwall said that “mother language is the language through which one can connect with others heartedly and can express his or her feelings in more efficient way.”
He also emphasised on preservation of the native languages. AUS PR director HN Dubey also spoke.
Prof DS Hernwall, Dr Dinachandra Singh Chingakham and Ksh Manoj Kumar Singha of the university’s education department released four books associated with pedagogy of language teaching, co-authored by them.
