Konkani Language

                    Konkani is the official language of India’s western and coastal state, Goa. However, the language is spoken widely across four states- Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala, albeit in different dialects, its use is somewhat limited to coastal regions only. It is the only Indian language written in five different scripts - Devnagari, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam and Persian-Arabic. Though Konkani was recognized as the official language of Goa on January 4, 1987, it was only after five more years, on August 20, 1992, it was given status of a national language in India, through the 71st Amendment to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. Konkani now features in the 15 languages in which the value is printed on Indian Rupee currency notes.  The people: The Konkanies are said to have originally hailed from central Asia. According to the available evidence around 4000 B. C. they were settled to an agrarian life, supplemented by cattle grazing, on the banks of river Sraswathi which is a tributary of River Indus.The first Konkani newspaper O Konkani was published in 1886. The others are Salak In 1889, Rakno 1938 , Sunampranth which is published from Goa.Konkani grammar is similar to other Indo-Aryan languages. Notably, Konkani grammar is also influenced by Dravidian languages. Konkani is a language rich in morphology and syntax. It cannot be described as a stress-timed language, nor as a  ^{tonal language.}Konkani  is widely spoken in the west coast of India.  Unfortunately, it did not receive the respect or status it deserved and hence  resulted in lack of literature or patronage of the language.  The Konkani writers and scholars who enriched the Kannada, Marathi and English Literatures have done very little for their mother tongue.The language spoken by the Saraswats from time immemorial is Konkani and it must be probably  for this reason that the land occupied by them in the west coast of South India is called Konkan. Early adopters used the Brahmi script and subsequently due to the local influence, Nagari was used for the benefit of much larger audience.

KONKANI LANGUAGE

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Akshaya.P

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