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Speaking the tongue of the devil

The escalating influences of sinicisation and globalisation are challenging the Tibetan linguistic identity, both inside and outside Tibet today

By Chime Tenzing | Tibet Sun

Chime Tenzing Photographer unknown

Recently one of my friends returned to Dharamshala during his annual vacation from an American University, where he had gone to study for his MA in English literature. He invited me to lunch together at a hotel, and talking between bites and sips, we unravelled a great deal of similar tastes in Western and English literature. But when I hesitantly admitted that I do not have a similar taste for Tibetan literature, he said with a raised eyebrow, that as a Tibetan it is important to know Tibetan. He went on to say that as a Tibetan, however well-versed you are in any other languages, if you do not know Tibetan you are like a one-eyed man. This, he recounts, is from his own experience studying in America and the interactions he had with his American friends and teachers. Therefore, he said, he chose to come back to Dharamshala during his vacation instead of running after dollars in the U.S., and spend his time honing his Tibetan language skills at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.

The meeting left with me a lasting impression, and brought a paradigm shift to my attitude toward the Tibetan language. I gradually started putting effort into reviving my interest in learning Tibetan by trying to read in Tibetan as much as I could. It began to dawn on me how important it is to know Tibetan to be Tibetan, not only as an individual, but also as a community, as a whole unit — to preserve our rich cultural heritage and identity through the use of our own mother tongue. My newfound concern for the language gave way to the discovery that today the Tibetan language is dying a forced as well as natural death.

For the linguist Edward Sapir , language is not only a vehicle for the expression of thoughts, perceptions, sentiments, and values characteristic of a community; it also represents a fundamental expression of social identity. Sapir said: “The mere fact of a common speech serves as a peculiar potent symbol of the social solidarity of those who speak the language.” In short, language retention helps maintain feelings of cultural kinship. So, it is indeed a worrying state for the Tibetan language, as it is threatened with assimilation due to the widespread use of Chinese language all over Tibet, even in the so-called “Tibetan Autonomous Region.” If this dangerous trend continues for long, the very identity of Tibetans will eventually be lost, and the victory of evil over good will be complete.

While Tibetans in Tibet are forced to speak the tongue of the “devil”, Tibetans in the free world are compelled to speak in other tongues in order to “move with the changing times” — to meet the growing demands of globalisation for getting jobs and communicating with the world. But in the process, the importance of using our own mother tongue is severely affected. Therefore, the time has come for Tibetans to give serious thought to the state of Tibetan language today, both inside and outside Tibet, and to work towards safeguarding it before our rich linguistic tradition is lost forever.

The latest bare-all critique by Woeser, If Tibetans took to the streets for the Tibetan language , freshly confirms our fear of the prevailing threat to the Tibetan language under Communist China with appalling details and real-life accounts. It is obvious that China is making every attempt to replace Tibetan with Chinese, in the name of “unifying the country under one language.” The article rightly points out why China is pressing so hard to wipe out Tibetan language: They believe “the higher the level of the Tibetan language, the stronger the religious consciousness and as a result the stronger reactionary behavior.”

China’s White Paper of 25 September 2008 claims that the Tibetan language is part of the Chinese language. However, despite what the Chinese claim, in the annals of Tibetan literary history it is indisputably recorded that the Tibetan language is spoken in numerous regional dialects which, although sometimes mutually intelligible, generally can be understood by the speakers of the different oral forms of Tibetan. It is employed throughout the Tibetan plateau and Bhutan , and is also spoken in parts of Nepal and northern India , such as Sikkim . In general, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa), Kham , Amdo , and some smaller nearby areas, are considered Tibetan dialects. Other forms, particularly Dzongkha , Sikkimese , Sherpa , and Ladakhi , are considered by their speakers, largely for political reasons, to be separate languages. However, if the latter group of Tibetan-type languages is included in the calculation, then “greater Tibetan” is spoken by approximately 6 million people across the Tibetan Plateau. Tibetan is also spoken by approximately 150,000 exile speakers who have fled from Tibet to India and other countries.

Although spoken Tibetan varies according to the region, the written language, based on Classical Tibetan , is consistent throughout. This is probably due to the long-standing influence of the Tibetan empire, whose rule embraced (and extended at times far beyond) the present Tibetan linguistic area, which runs from northern Pakistan in the west to Yunnan and Sichuan in the east, and from north of Qinghai Lake south as far as Bhutan. The Tibetan language has its own script which it shares with Ladakhi and Dzongkha , and which is derived from the ancient Indian Brāhmī script.

Commenting on why the Tibetan language has suffered greatly after the Chinese invasion of Tibet, a Tibetan scholar from the Translation Bureau of the Tsolho [Ch: Huangnan] “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture”, Kalsang Lodoe, writes: “In the Tibetan autonomous areas, Tibetans are supposed to be the nationality that exercises autonomy and Tibetan language the commonly-used language. Since the ‘liberation’ of Tibet, however, the principal leaders and heads, as well as those performing secretarial jobs, in all the offices of the administration and specialised/professional departments, as well as the business or commercial enterprises, have all been sent from China. And if there are knowledgeable Tibetans who desire to serve politically, they are not utilized by calling them reactionaries …”

As a teacher of Chatsang Primary School in Sabgang Township of Kangkar (Ch. Kangma) County, Samdrup Chungdhing, writes: “although Tibetan is purportedly taught in the so-called ‘Tibetan Classes’, these exist in form only, and the standard of these schools is pathetically poor. Some students do not know how to write their own names in Tibetan without making spelling mistakes, while others do not understand [the basic Tibetan grammar of] where to put mgo-rtags and dogs-rtags. With such a low level of Tibetan linguistic knowledge, they are bound to face problems even in their own works, let alone in maintaining or upholding the culture of Tibet .”

With this stark reality challenging our century-old linguistic tradition and our identity as Tibetans today, there is an urgent need to realise the importance of preserving our language for the common good of the Tibetan race, before it is wiped out from the surface of earth. While there is little choice for the Tibetans inside Tibet, Tibetans living in a free society could make a difference by promoting the language within their family, friends, neighbourhood, schools, community and society at large. Unless we realise this and take the responsibility of safeguarding our language with a sense of urgency, there is no other way to challenge the advocates of the devil in our dialects.

Copyright © 2010 Chime Tenzing

Published in Tibet Sun