Acquirement of one’s native language is not something that falls into the categories of survival and other practical living benefits – it is a thing of the development of one’s consciousness, it is an asset in the mental sophistication. The use of the native language strengthens one’s psychological identity. Identity is one of the basic infrastructures of the architecture of mind. A man without a strong identity is like a leaf in a storm, a house without a form, a writing without a structure. Human psychological identity provides the glue which shapes the natural human emotions. Examples of the identity-deficient people can be seen in the big cities like New York, where many people have come from broken homes, poor and undemocratic countries, personal perilous experiences, with the hope of a new life. Many of these people have fractured identities.
A thinking person can not follow the common herd of humanity. KP’s are shallow-minded in many ways. A KP’s low self-esteem makes him copy other people and discard his own ways.
He suffers from an inferiority complex which is highly protected by the armor of his ego.
A man can live happily without knowing to speak his native language, but he will make his life richer if he knows to speak his native language.
A child has to be encouraged to speak his native language – that is his parents’ responsibility. But if the person either shows a repulsion to the language or later in his life prefers to give it up, it is his prerogative.
One of the many reasons why the western culture has succeeded so well is that it never had to change its language.
A language is an outlet and shaper of emotions and emotions are the fabric of human life. A well-woven emotional fabric, which has a capability to mend itself if needs be and create new fabric as necessary, is the desired fabric of life. A person deficient in his native language may be somehow deficient in emotional connections to his past and ,therefore, his identity. Emotional deficiencies lead to moral and intellectual deficiencies.
I hope the above comments delineate my thoughts on native language and personality development, even though they are only in an outline . Longer presentation will take time. May be in the next edition of our new magazine Kasheer I should write a full-fledged article on the subject.
Do not give up on teaching your daughter Kashmiri in spite of what Kasmiris say – it is your moral obligation.
