Mother Tongue
Read this insightful article : http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/index_feature.html It covers the gradual demise of a native-Indian language and the efforts which are on to document it before it loses all it's speakers. It is sad to see a language die but dominant languages can do that to the other languages in the region. It reminds me of the reduced usage of Punjabi and how I find more and more people in Punjab preferring to talk in Hindi. The saddest part is when I see Punjabi people (especially who live outside Punjab) speak in Hindi to their kids but talk in Punjabi themselves. Pray why ? The children will learn Hindi/English when they interact with other kids and in the community, but they will not pick up their mother tongue elsewhere. I wish my daughter learns Punjabi, though I am not able to give her the environment to do so as I am married into a Hindi-speaking family. She is very good with Hindi and her vocabulary in English is also picking up since we moved to Bangalore....