Konkani, Goa’s official language, which enabled this tiny State on the western coast of the country get its statehood, is a very unique language with its own nuances. The language is rooted in praising the Lord. In fact, the Archdiocese of Goa is credited for promoting Konkani. However, this beautiful language, is falling prey to its ‘anglicisation’ by Goans.
Every greeting in Konkani refers to the Almighty. ‘Good morning’ for example is ‘Dev boro dis dium’. This translates as ‘may God give you a good day’. The Konkani response to this greeting is ‘Jezu kurpa dium’. However, most Goans respond to it by saying ‘Tukai bhi’, which is absolutely wrong, as this translates to ‘wish you the same’. This is probably done because in English the response to good morning is repeating the same two words. However, the Konkani response ‘Tukai bhi’ sounds like the English response while greeting someone for any festival like Christmas or Easter.
In recent times, the Catholic church commences its Eucharistic celebration by greeting the faithful. For the Konkani service, the priest generally says ‘Dev boro dis dium’, and the congregation’s generally replies ‘Tukai bhi’. But this is not the correct response. Another mistake that is very often heard is the pronunciation of the Konkani word for mercy. Mercy in Konkani is ‘kaklut’, however, many mispronounce it as ‘kakut’. In the process of swallowing the ‘l’, the language is totally distorted as there is no such word as ‘kakut’ in Konkani.
A very common destruction of the Konkani language is the anglicising of names. Many Catholic names of those aged above fifty years are either biblical names or those of saints. It is very common for persons whose birth certificate calls them Pedro, Anton or Maria to introduce themselves as Peter, Anthony or Mary’, and they are also referred to by these anglicised names. The problem with this is that most of the official documents, including Aadhaar Card, Voter Id card, sale deeds and bank accounts are in the anglicised names. Following their death, it is their descendants or heirs who face undue hardships to claim their inheritance. Very often as old official records are destroyed due to their mishandling and mismanagement by the authorities, even getting a Discrepancy Certificate becomes a herculean task.
Another common spectacle where Konkani is abused is by ignoring it at birthday celebrations. While the language of communication at these is generally Konkani, the birthday song is always sung in English, which is disturbing as there are quite a few beautiful songs in Konkani to greet a person on his or her birthday. But in recent times to give due credit, at some functions a Konkani birthday greeting is sung, but unfortunately the first song to be sung is always in English.
While history notes that the Portuguese tried to destroy the Konkani language, it survived and even flourished in places beyond Goa, especially in Mangalore where Goans had fled to escape Portuguese persecution. After Konkani became Goa’s official language, the Government amended its education policy to make Konkani and Marathi the medium of instruction at the primary school level, for schools to be eligible to get government grants. However, in many schools the children are mostly taught in English, due to which Konkani is not really used the way it should be. Therefore, it is not so surprising that Konkani is rarely used by the government for correspondence, even though it is the Official language of Goa.
The saving grace is that Antruzi Konkani, that is generally spoken by the Hindus, is not much affected by this clamour to anglicise. Hindus by and large converse among themselves in Konkani, while Catholics usually prefer to use English. It is only when Catholics are outside Goa that they use Konkani as they realise that all and sundry can understand what they are speaking in English. It is high time that Goans follow what Alfred Rose had sung years ago ‘Tika salant hadun man divunk zai’. Konkani has to be given the respect it deserves!