MARATHI
SCRIPT AND SPELLING FORM MOVEMENTS
Conceptual
Preliminaries
Language is primarily speech; writing is
secondary though of great cultural importance. What is writing a record
of? Not so much of speech sounds as of a text composed in a language.
The writing system can be plugged into the language system proper
at any various points:
(A) Stenography: proto-writing, sense-writing.
(B) Logography : proto-writing,
grammar-writing.
(C) Phonography: syllable-writing
segment-writing, feature-writing.
A given
systems may be and usually is mixed, but with one mode predominating.
If segment-writing predominates (as in Devanagari) we call it an alphabetic
system. Further, a writingsystems operates at two levels-a lower
level of script or the calligraphic systems and a higher level of
spelling or the orthographic system. The classification given earlier
is essentially an orthographic one. The same script may serve many
languages and the same spelling may be rendered in many scripts. The
technology and the ethnography and folklore of writing will concern
us only in so far as they affect the writing system proper. While
we are very intimately identified with our language, the same is not
true or is less true of our writing systems. We are moreover more
self-conscious about the latter. Consequently writing may fall out
of step with language and it may be reformed more readily both in
respect of script and of spelling. The reform may be radical or piecemeal.
Script Reform
The
language of India have been subject to similar pressures towards script
reform. Marathi is one of those that have responded more vigorously.
These pressures are:
(A)
Spread of communication-density and extension through speech and time.
(1) Inter-language.(2) Intra-language.(3) Standardization for
printing and typewriting and for teaching.
(B)
Ease of operation at all phases, (1) Ease of learning. (2) Ease of
transmission and retransmission (reading out dictation, copying directly
or from memory). Pressures militating against reform are also not
waiting.
(A)
Attitudes or their lack, (1) Inertia and indifference. (2) Conservatism(3)
Group-feelings. (4) Emotional attachment.
(B)
Vested Interests: newspapers rather than book publishers have favoured
reform.
(C) Cost considerations. (1) Cost in technology
and education for any change over.
(2) Loss through older
material becoming unusable.
Turning to Marathi, some
observations can be made at the outset.(1) One language one script
. Principle asserted. itself and made for the loss of Modi and the
dominance of Devanagari (Balabodh). (2) Adoption of Western
customs of spacing of Western customs of spacing and punctuations
was universal.(3)Unlike Tamil and Telugu. Marathi has resisted the
use of the so-called Arabic numerals as used in the West, but has
adopted vulgar and decimal fractions in favour of the Reghi fractions
( 1 or 1.25) rather than the Reghi
version (/) Before
we turn to specific reforms let us point out that Marathi shares the
Devanagari script with other South Asian languages like Hindi. Nepali,
and of course Sanskrit .
The script reform proposals
are largely a matter of individual efforts in second quarter of the
20th century. V.D Savarkar. Kaka Kalelkar. And Vinoba Bhave
are some of the prominent names. More recently there has been governmental
effort.
The proposals can be reviewed under the following
heads:
(1)
Providing for distinctions so far not provided: For : thus an
were proposed and accepted for the open e and open o vowels distinct from
close e and close o. Marathi does it for words assimilated
from English like э
---distinction proposed by some between blade-and-palate versions
of c. j jh has not been widely accepted.
(2)
Removal of regional variation:
There are certain difference between Devanagari as used for Marathi
and as used for Hindi:
Marathi :
Hindi :
1 5 8 9 5 8
a ṛ ch jh ṇ ḷ kṣ
j
The following adjustments
ensuring uniformity have been more or less widely accepted. Respectively--
1 5 89
(3) Removal of minor anomalies
: (a) The conjunct
is sought to be replaced by the more transparent Some have accepted
it. (b) The following consonant-vowel ligatures are anomalous
Some replace them by Many carelessly write or even print
for both
and eliminate an available distinction. (c) In consonant-consonant
ligatures the consonant r has many variants as seen in: rka, kra ry (distinct from ryy) and
rh (distinct from rhh)
dra. Thus, there are basically three forms independently and
in ligatures. Some proposed that (with the ligature
form
-) be used
everywhere:
etc.
This has not been widely
accepted. (d) The post consonantal
form
for be used everywherethus, eliminating ,
in favour of in favour of Many have accepted this. The proposal to use
for ˍ was two modes of consonant-consonant
ligatures: with some one can write either to top-to bottom or left-to-right
(write) with some, one can write only top-to-bottom () ; with some
one can only go left-to-right ( ) The reformists has argued that.
In view of the overall left-to-right direction of the line. The top-to-bottom
of the line, the top-to-bottom ligatures should be avoided. Thus most
persons especially of the younger generation now write and not a few persons especially of the younger
generation now write and not a few persons write
and not a few persons write or write in place of the traditional
left-to-write (which often gets confused with the
traditional handwriting and smaller print). (1) Some have proposed
and in place of and
to bring bout the following proportionality ˍ = : = : (g) ligature some consonants optionally base
them on their older forms: by the side of (as in )
by side of (already
touched upon ). Many now prefer
to ֓ to
(4) Removal
of major anomalies (affecting a large portion of writing) : (a)Some
seek to climinate top-to-bottom and right-to-left consonant vowel
ligatures of the type ,
, . The use of is now common. With others they are
alternate proposals such as for None of
them is acceptable. (b) Some seek to have a single form for each vowel.
Thus in stead of the traditional pairs /, / / , some propose
, , throughout (yielding , for
example). The latter proposal have found favour with some persons.
(c) Some prefer for though could be interpreted
as the unattested + .) (d) Of the optional forms
or , or the first in each
pair is now preferred as less likely to be confused
with and (c) Some have proposed that aspirates be replaced
by consonant plus lt sequences. (1) Some have a sought to replace by ֵ
ֲ, This has not found acceptance,(g) Some have sought to
replace both for by .
This has not found acceptance.(h) Some have sought to replace the
three post vocals ̐: shapes on line with the other letters. This has not
found acceptance. Problems of specific to each Indian language. The
pressures that operated in the case of Marathi are:
(A)
Spread of communication.(1) Greater self-consciousness.(1) Greater
self-consciousness about the treatment of Sanskrit . Perso-Arabic,
English and other loanwords and of proper names.(2) Inter-language
: emergence of a standard from among the dialects. (3) Standraozation
for teaching.
(B)
Ease of operation. Ease of learning and democratization of
literary culture; spread of literary.
Pressures militating against reform are also not
wanting.
(A)
Attitudes or their lack. (1) Inertia. (2) Conservatism.(3) Emotional
attachment.
(B)
Cost considerations: (1) Cost of any charge-over.(2) Loss through
order material becoming unsable. The spelling reforms are as much
individual efforts are as much individual efforts as institutional
achievements. Sane. Patwardhan. N.C Kelkar and Maharashtra Sahitya
Parishad are some of the important names. The Government has played
its part too.
The proposals can be reviewed under the following
heads:(1) Ansvāra.(2) Length of i u, (3) Use of virāma sign
with final consonants. (4) Use of y.v as glides (thevuna. deuna).(5) Spacing problems
(bar ā ca asbar ā
ca barās ā as barā sā).
Broad Principles for script
and spelling reform are the following: General: (1) Consistency of
the plug in principle. (2) Fewest changes so that those brought up
in the old systems can learn the new one with ease and those brought
up in the new system learn the old one with case so as to cope with
the old material; continuity of communication; argument for piecemeal
reform; Script reform (1) Economy and ease of strokes. (2) The shapes
are suffeicently distinctive.(3) Consistency of shape and value correlations.
Spelling reform: (1) Identity of phoneme through diatopic and diachronic
variations. (2) Identity of morpheme and lexical word through variation.
(3) Predictabillity of pronunciation from spelling at least if not
that of spelling from pronunciation also. (4) More formal, less casual
style be the norm; it lends to have more distinctions than the less
formal, more casual style.
