A new word a day to keep disunity at bay

Contrary to what people may think, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent suggestion that Indians learn a new word every day in a different language was probably not prompted by a desire to diminish the importance of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s logophilous crusade. While the Thiruvananthapuram lawmaker must be commended for adding such useful words as farrago and rodomontade to the English-reading Indian’s vocabulary, the PM’s entreaty opens up the field to garrulous glossophiles of all shades.

It may be noted that the 2011 Census lists 1,369 ‘rationalised mother tongues’ — spoken by 10,000 or more Indians — distilled into 121 distinct languages including the 22 named in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. In that context, the PM also asking the media to provide synonyms for a word in only 10 or 12 languages seems too modest. Of course, care must be taken to prevent over-enthusiasm from leading to verbum cultro — word overload.

Given that most Indians know a minimum of three — often more — languages already, thanks to the education system, imbibing yet more new words from unknown lingos would not pose a challenge. But instead of learning 300 separate words from diverse languages a year, a more useful alternative could be the translations of popular proverbs, which can add a pan-Indian flavour to conversations.