What exactly is a mother tongue? Sure it is our mother's tongue. We hear it in the womb itself . As we grow up in our babydom, by the time we are one-ish, it becomes our mode of communication, too. Actually, in a way, it is the motherese which shapes our very cognition. As we know, a child's brain grows, and fast, in the first few years. It is the parents, especially the mother, who thus shape a child's entire personality. So the notion `mother tongue'.
In this context, despite the threat of being considered conservative, I would like to say that a joint family is good for such linguistic and hence overall cognitive growth of a child as the child gets, in addition to truckloads of emotional support, a huge linguistic exposure, the bed time stories being an example, to the mother tongue, not to forget the affection resulting in a wonderful EQ, the need of the hour.
If a child's base in the mother tongue, the L1 as it is known, is thus solid, any medium of instruction, any field of study is easy to navigate. Ideally though, at least till the primary level, the medium of instruction should be the mother tongue as the threat quotient for a child grows less, as the child has to face new knowledge base through a language she is by now proficient in. There is yet another practical advantage. Most parents do not know the mother tongue efficiently, forget the foreign langauge called English. As a result, the child has none to guide her, resulting in a thoroughly confused, utterly half-baked personality.
The mother tongue is often related to the community identity as well. It grows regional, moreover. In such a scenario, it is necesary to remember that no language is superior, every langauge is a mode of communication, and every language has a great fund of experience enriching it. No language is either superior or inferior, and the more languages you know, the better for you. It has been observed, it seems, that a child who speaks multiple languages in his childhood, has a better cognitive quotient. Remember in this context that every language begins in listening and speaking, and progresses to reading and writing at a much later stage.
Yet another tricky issue related to the mother tongue is the standard language versus the multiple dialects. They are indeed worthy, but if at all regular statecraft related business is to continue, there has to be a mother tongue. Look at London, for example. There are so many languages, including the numerous dialects, that get spoken on London streets that the multi-cultural, multi-lingual metro is a proper Babel of our times. Yet all "serious" business of all the fields is executed through the standard R.P. English!
Well, let me end this piece with a truth learnt the hard way, namely, speak to a person in his mother tongue. Oh, no, this is not Business Communication gobbledygook entitled "b2c" `bond' et al. What I mean is real visceral.
It is no use talking to an insane fool in a sane language, is what I mean. He needs tongue lashings on his own terms. Sure, even then, the fool will not understand much, given his highly deficient IQ, EQ, and what have you. At least, he will think twice before bothering you.
Remember the story of the Sadhu and the serpent whom the Sadhu had to finally explain that for self defence, it is necessary to raise the hood and hiss. As Samarth Ramdas puts it, "thakasi whave maha thak, shatha si maha shath", that is to say, treat a crook the crooked way. Says Tuka, "Mau mena hu ni amhi Vishnu Das/kathin vajrasi bhedu aise". Let us summarise it as a precis. No use being soft and gentle with a rogue. Neither your mind nor your tongue sullies if you hoist him by his own petard!
pratima@ ah, to be using every language as if it were the mother tongue thus being/becoming a true `interpreter' of reality!
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