A good piece of work by Farzana and I am very much impressed by the fact that we are ignoring our rich cultural values just in the name of so called modernity and globalization impact.Any nation who does not respect it’s positive culture values always suffer degradation. It does not mean that we should ignore global means of communication, but should not sacrifice our own identity just for the sake of others.
Chitral is an abode of numerous dialects and some of them are on the verge of extinction and there is a dire need of preserving our such unique cultural heritage and this kind of activities in the print media a suitable platform for making result based discussions.
Well done keep it up.
Our sister has produced an impressive write up on the topic which has been subject to many discussions at the national level in the past (unfortunately ending without a conclusion). The power of local language or dialect cannot be ignored as she has rightly put in her write up that it helps you understand the local values, norms and to an extent traditions also. In a nutshell what that means is-it educates you about you, your surroundings, your people, and helps shape your personality in a positive way.
I studied Pashtu as a course for two years during my school days in Peshawar which helped me a lot throughout my life. It gave me the confidence to speak the language with ease and fluency and did also exposed me to the Pashtun culture as a whole. Similarly if Khowar is taught in the middle school years, it may help the youth understand our cultural values and would help them understand the Chitrali way of life-which is of course totally distinct from the rest of the country. But there is a huge draw back or disadvantage to it when we look at the practicality of teaching khowar as a course in schools; and that is the limited vocabulary we have. For example one word is used to describe different actions or verb such as “Ulitai” or “Uluitai”. The same word is used for flying, dropping of water/liquid on any surface, and to refer to a fallen wall.
These types of shortcomings make it difficult for a language to progress and reach out to a larger audience. I am not a linguist thus I wouldn’t know how to deal with it. But I strongly feel that in order to expand the horizon of Khowar the linguists, poets, writers and intelligentsia of Chitral should sit together to discuss and deal with the issue of limited vocabulary in Khowar.
Sincerely,
Saif.
IK says
I think the writer has deliberately missed the conclusion part and left it on the commentator to give a sensible shape and conclusion to the discussion she started. Discussion on the topic should not end unless the senior Chitrali linguists, poets and writers do not conclude this with practical recommendations.
A good piece of work by Farzana and I am very much impressed by the fact that we are ignoring our rich cultural values just in the name of so called modernity and globalization impact.Any nation who does not respect it’s positive culture values always suffer degradation. It does not mean that we should ignore global means of communication, but should not sacrifice our own identity just for the sake of others.
Chitral is an abode of numerous dialects and some of them are on the verge of extinction and there is a dire need of preserving our such unique cultural heritage and this kind of activities in the print media a suitable platform for making result based discussions.
Well done keep it up.
Our sister has produced an impressive write up on the topic which has been subject to many discussions at the national level in the past (unfortunately ending without a conclusion). The power of local language or dialect cannot be ignored as she has rightly put in her write up that it helps you understand the local values, norms and to an extent traditions also. In a nutshell what that means is-it educates you about you, your surroundings, your people, and helps shape your personality in a positive way.
I studied Pashtu as a course for two years during my school days in Peshawar which helped me a lot throughout my life. It gave me the confidence to speak the language with ease and fluency and did also exposed me to the Pashtun culture as a whole. Similarly if Khowar is taught in the middle school years, it may help the youth understand our cultural values and would help them understand the Chitrali way of life-which is of course totally distinct from the rest of the country. But there is a huge draw back or disadvantage to it when we look at the practicality of teaching khowar as a course in schools; and that is the limited vocabulary we have. For example one word is used to describe different actions or verb such as “Ulitai” or “Uluitai”. The same word is used for flying, dropping of water/liquid on any surface, and to refer to a fallen wall.
These types of shortcomings make it difficult for a language to progress and reach out to a larger audience. I am not a linguist thus I wouldn’t know how to deal with it. But I strongly feel that in order to expand the horizon of Khowar the linguists, poets, writers and intelligentsia of Chitral should sit together to discuss and deal with the issue of limited vocabulary in Khowar.
Sincerely,
Saif.
I think the writer has deliberately missed the conclusion part and left it on the commentator to give a sensible shape and conclusion to the discussion she started. Discussion on the topic should not end unless the senior Chitrali linguists, poets and writers do not conclude this with practical recommendations.