Currently, young people in Nagalim cannot converse in their native languages, using Nagamese as a lingua franca and studying English as the primary language. Concerned with the potential categorization of Naga languages as endangered, a Forum on Naga Languages (FNL) will be organized monthly to gather researchers and language teachers and promote research-based development of Naga languages and their preservation.

Below is an article published by the Morung Express:

‘Nagas face big threat in promoting or preserving their languages’

Ura Academy president Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu on Saturday asserted that young people cannot converse in their mother tongues beyond their boundaries, for which they converse in Nagamese which is more or less circumstantial and not very healthy for the growth of local languages.

“As of today, Nagamese, is a lingua franca and not a language,” he said adding “God forbid, but at this rate Nagamese may swallow many Naga languages.”

Quoting Russ Rymer that one language dies every 14 days, Dr. Lieizietsu, who is also president of Naga People’s Front (NPF) said “By the next century nearly half of the roughly 7000 languages spoken on earth will like disappear, as communities abandon native tongues in favour of English, Mandarin or Spanish.”

Stating that the fastest growing language in the Naga society today is ‘Nagamese,’ State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) director Vipralhou Kesiezie said Nagamese first started as a market language amongst the various tribes and eventually it has come to be accepted by all section of the society. Read more.

See: UNPO

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