[Indic-computing-users] 'Vernacular' in HindustanTimes

[LinuxLingam <lin...@bh...>]

from the HindustanTimes post on the article by kuber on 'Linux' published in 
the 5th may 2003 issue, delhi:

[heavy SNIP]

Vernacular
> > Yet another benefit of using linux would be availability of an operating
> > system in Indian languages. 

okay, here comes the Know Linuxlingam's Phrase Definitions (K.L.P.D.) by 
Niyam Bhushan:


[ K.L.D.P being]
the word 'verna' means home-born slave.
so vernacular basically means 'of the home-born slave'.

obviously, 'vernacular languages' *was* a term used by the british empire to 
speak derogatically of the languages of the slaves of the colonial empire, 
not just indian.

not the emphasis on 'was' in the above statement, then read on:

'vernacular languages' *is* a term used by most of the former slaves of the 
british empire, especially indians, to refer to their own languages.
this probably explains the pathetic state of affairs of indic-language 
computing despite two decades of efforts.

the indic-computing project prefers to use the term "indic-languages' and 
this is a far-sighted and visionary term. for in its domain, it also covers 
languages that are closely linked to the brahmi script, the devanagri, 
dravidian, urdu/persian, and other source languages of the region. for 
example, languages spoken in bangalesh, nepal, tibet, etc, to name a few.

should an indian or any citizen of the modern world go to some unknown island 
in the middle of the pacific ocean and wish to refer to the non-indic 
language spoken there, use the term 'indigenous language'.

for example, this rather large island straddling the atlantic and the pacific 
ocean, formerly of the red-indians, has an indigenous language called 
'american-english' which has only a faint resemblence to 'the queen's 
english' or 'oxford english' spoken in the much smaller island off the 
atlantic, called Britain.

[ K.L.D.P. end]

thanks to dr pavanaja of vishwakannada-fame to pointing this out originally 
to the mailing lists.

:-)
LL