講演会「ビハール地方のことばとアイデンティティ」

Language is unique in many ways as it is indeed central to our existence. It is inconceivable to think of ourselves, our societies, our past, present, and future, and our ideas, culture, and knowledge without language. Language is a primary means of socialization. It structures our thought processes in very important ways. Language in very complex ways interacts with the social, political and economic power structures. In education, it is the primary medium for the transmission of knowledge and for the articulation of innovative ideas. In fact, language is constitutive of our identity. And since all people either utilize varieties of a language or use two or more languages to respond to a whole range of affective and interpersonal demands, language by definition must be defined as multilingualism. In this backdrop, Bihar presents a complex linguistic landscape in contemporary India. Bihar is the birthplace of multiple things that the modern world is proud of. The concept of democracy; political economy; and religious diversity originated from Bihar. Maithili is the language of ancient Mithila; Magahi is the official language of Magadh Empire; Bhojpuri is the language of the area which extends much beyond Bihar in the west. These languages including a few such as Awadhi, Bundeli, and Brajbhasha (in UP) are much older than modern Hindi, however, they are considered as dialects of Hindi. In this presentation, I address the issues of identity of the speakers of the languages of Bihar with a comparative account of how languages have become a much stronger marker of identity for speakers all over India. I present an account of the linguistic identity of the people of Bihar with respect to the languages they speak.