[lg policy] Language matters Language plays an important role in the sociopolitical and education systems of a country. It acts as an important identity marker at the individual and societal levels and is thus a highly sensitive issue. During the Pakistan movement when we were pleading our case that Muslims are a separate nation, the premise of the case was that Muslims had a different religion, different, culture and different language. In this case, Urdu was presented as a language associated with Muslims. Thus at the time of independence in 1947, Urdu was declared as the official language of Pakistan. In the presence of Bangla and Punjabi, which were the languages of the two large communities in terms of population, Urdu, the language of a small minority, was chosen for two major reasons: first, its association with Muslims as an identity marker during the Pakistan movement; and second, its intelligibility across provinces. This decision sparked opposition in the then East Pakistan (now
Harold Schiffman
haroldfs at gmail.com
Sat Feb 23 15:50:20 UTC 2019
- Previous message (by thread): [lg policy] Still a lot to be done Rashad Ahamad | Published: 23:23, Feb 20, 2019 | Updated: 23:29, Feb 20, 2019 The use of Bangla in all spheres of life is still limited to some empty rhetoric as two Supreme Court directives and Bengali Language Introduction Act 1987 remain largely unimplemented. Not only at individual level but also at government level, disregard for the language has been blatant, belying the spirit of the historic Language Movement of 1952. For distortions, academics have blamed the apathy of the ruling elites, lack of awareness and government policy for language development. Abdus Salam Rony runs a sports item shop at Bangabandhu Avenue named Bangladesh Sports. When asked why he hung the signboard of his shop only in English, Rony said it was comfortable for him as his clients prefer English cash memo and other papers. In many mass media, Bangla is pronounced in foreign accents while different businesses are still displaying signboards written in English in the ci
- Next message (by thread): [lg policy] Bangla must be used in all spheres Published: 00:00, Feb 23, 2019 | Updated: 23:35, Feb 22, 2019 THE use of Bangla in all spheres of life is still limited to empty rhetoric as two Supreme Court directives and the Bengali Language Introduction Act 1987 remain largely unimplemented. But people from all walks of life, both at home and abroad, on February 21, observed Shaheed Dibas or International Mother Language Day, paying homage to the martyrs of the 1952 language movement. It needs to be noted that at the government level, disregard for the language has been blatant, belying the spirit of the language movement of 1952. For this negligence, as New Age reported on Thursday, academics blamed the apathy of the ruling elite to introduce a policy for language development. Different businesses display signs written in English across the country in defiance of the court order. Academics, therefore, urged the government to take pragmatic steps to ensure the use of Bangla in all sphe
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Harold F. Schiffman
Professor Emeritus of
Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305
Phone: (215) 898-7475
Fax: (215) 573-2138
Email: haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/
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- Previous message (by thread): [lg policy] Still a lot to be done Rashad Ahamad | Published: 23:23, Feb 20, 2019 | Updated: 23:29, Feb 20, 2019 The use of Bangla in all spheres of life is still limited to some empty rhetoric as two Supreme Court directives and Bengali Language Introduction Act 1987 remain largely unimplemented. Not only at individual level but also at government level, disregard for the language has been blatant, belying the spirit of the historic Language Movement of 1952. For distortions, academics have blamed the apathy of the ruling elites, lack of awareness and government policy for language development. Abdus Salam Rony runs a sports item shop at Bangabandhu Avenue named Bangladesh Sports. When asked why he hung the signboard of his shop only in English, Rony said it was comfortable for him as his clients prefer English cash memo and other papers. In many mass media, Bangla is pronounced in foreign accents while different businesses are still displaying signboards written in English in the ci
- Next message (by thread): [lg policy] Bangla must be used in all spheres Published: 00:00, Feb 23, 2019 | Updated: 23:35, Feb 22, 2019 THE use of Bangla in all spheres of life is still limited to empty rhetoric as two Supreme Court directives and the Bengali Language Introduction Act 1987 remain largely unimplemented. But people from all walks of life, both at home and abroad, on February 21, observed Shaheed Dibas or International Mother Language Day, paying homage to the martyrs of the 1952 language movement. It needs to be noted that at the government level, disregard for the language has been blatant, belying the spirit of the language movement of 1952. For this negligence, as New Age reported on Thursday, academics blamed the apathy of the ruling elite to introduce a policy for language development. Different businesses display signs written in English across the country in defiance of the court order. Academics, therefore, urged the government to take pragmatic steps to ensure the use of Bangla in all sphe
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