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ManandCulturesintheFaceofThreat...
JoshuaFishman,oneofthepioneersofthescienceofsociolinguistics,was
fondofthetermlanguageloyalty11.ItisthisloyaltythattheCornishandthe
Hawaiianshaveunderstoodattheeleventhhour.
Ifthereaderfeelscuriousaboutthis“Cornish”(Iassumeheknowsthesound
ofHawaiianfromsongs),letushaveasample:
Anlavarcothyulavarguir
Bedhdarnnever,dhantavasrehir
Mezdennebdavazagallazidir.
Strange?SoletushaveitinEnglish:
What’ssaidofold,willalwaysstand:
Toolongatongue,tooshortahand,
Buthethathadnotongue,losthisland.12
Letmenowreturntotheopeningpointofthisessay.Havinggivenabovemy
researcher’sstatementoffaithIwouldnowpickuptheattemptatexplainingwhy
thethreestudiespresentedbelowshouldbeseenasthreepartsofalargerwhole.
Itwasinthefallof1972,duringmyfirststayinIndia-Iwasthenabona
fidestudentattheDepartmentofBuddhistStudies,UniversityofDelhi-that
Icamefacetofacewiththeproblemofminoritiesandidentitiesforthefirsttime.
ThiswaswhenIbeganmyresearchesamongtheTibetans.Allmyinterlocutors,
youngorelderly,menorwomen,highorlow,monksorlay,voicedthesame
overallquestion:howtosurviveonaforeignsoilandremainoneself?Howto
convincethechildrentospeakthelanguageoftheirparents?Howtopreserve
andpassonourculture,ourtraditions,everythingweholdholy?Itseemsalmost
symbolicthattheTibetanwordngo‘phrod(thisisinWylie’stransliteration,the
approximateEnglishpronunciationwouldbesomethinglikeŋochrö)thatdic-
tionariestranslateas“identity”reallymeans“recognizingoneself”.Whilethe
elderlywerefeelingthelossoftheirownworldmostpainfully,theyoung,keen
onchangesandthenew,keptaskingwhetheronecouldremainaTibetanwithout
strictadherencetotherigidculturalpatternsofthelostworldoftheirparentsand
grandparents.WhatisitreallythatmakesmefeelTibetan?Totheparents,the
answerwassimpleandobvious:theBuddhistfaith,respectformonksandmon-
noaccesstoitatpresent,butthewordsmadesostronganimpressionuponmethatIhavenever
forgottenthemandcanguaranteetheaccuracyofthequotation.
11SeehisworkLanguageLoyaltyintheUnitedStates,TheHague1966,forthefulldiscus-
sionoftheterm.
12Cf.Ellis,op.cit.,p.103.
