Sahyadri Arts College conducts survey to understand linguistic diversity on campus in Shivamogga

Sahyadri Arts College, a constituent college of Kuvempu University, conducted a language landscape survey among students to mark International Mother Language Day. The survey, according to the college authorities, exhibited a miniature of ‘multilingual India’ existing in the college campus in Shivamogga.

Among the respondents, 74% said their mother tongue is Kannada. Around 50 students said their mother tongue is the Lambani language, and 24 students’ mother language is Urdu. There are students who come from families whose primary languages are Tamil, Marathi, Telugu, and Malayalam, among others.

Of the total, 98% of students use Kannada for daily communication. Around 14% use Urdu for communication at home and within the community, and 8% of students converse in Lambani at home. Around 45% of the students communicate in English for educational purposes.

The survey results were presented during a programme organised to mark International Mother Language Day at the college on February 21. Professor M. Purvachar presented a summary of the survey.

Prof. Siraj Ahmed, principal of the college, stated that the survey was conducted to understand the linguistic diversity on campus. “The survey has shown interesting results. We have students with different mother tongues. For most of them, English has become the medium of instruction. A majority of them have stressed the need for bilingual pedagogy. These outcomes are necessary to formulate policies on education and ensure mother-tongue-based multilingual education,” he said.

The principal mentioned that he plans to expand the survey to other colleges in the coming days in consultation with the vice-chancellor of the university.

Meti Mallikarjun, Professor of Linguistics, who was coordinator of the committee that conducted the survey, said that the committee framed questions and sought responses from the students by circulating a Google Form. “Out of 1,300 students enrolled in the college, 750 responded. We had only a couple of days to complete the survey. Otherwise, many more would have responded,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of the day, Mr. Mallikarjun stated that UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day, commemorating the martyrs of the Bengali language movement. “The only thing that separates human beings from animals is language. We speak. Therefore, we exist. 22 State languages are included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. However, 19,526 languages are spoken in India, according to the 2011 census,” he said.

Noted theatre personality Nataraj Honnavalli inaugurated the programme by reading out an excerpt from the play Aa Laya Ee Laya, a translation of South African playwright Lewis Nkosi’s The Rhythm of Violence.

Students and teaching faculty from different language backgrounds presented songs, poems, and dialogues in their mother tongues as part of the programme. There were presentations in Lambani, Telugu, Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Marathi.