Hyderabad: “Language basically is a storehouse of knowledge. Language is a rule-governed phenomenon that helps us to understand and analyze. All languages have an organized structure behind and it is formed by the rules of grammar” said Padma Shri Prof. Anvita Abbi, Adjunct Professor of Linguistics, Simon Fraser University, Canada today at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU). She was delivering a special lecture “Eco-Diversity Language & Culture” organized by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Chair, MANUU. Prof. Syed Ainul Hasan, Vice-Chancellor presided over the lecture.
Further continuing her address, Prof. Anvita Abbi informed that there are at least 800 to 1000 languages in our country that are spoken well because they are spoken at home. The culture and indigenous knowledge hidden in these languages are unmatched. Prof. Abbi described linguists as speech detectives and said that linguists love all kinds of languages – those dying, thriving and also those which have been spoken long ago. They basically try to analyze the languages to unearth the structure of language. Talking about the importance of mother tongues she said most of us learn mother tongue easily without any teacher or school. We learn it by ourselves and because of the capability of learning human language we detect rules of that language and once you learn rules then you know how to generate meaningful sentence, she added. Keep speaking your mother tongue because it is a store house, your community, culture and indigenous knowledge, she advised.
Prof. Ainul Hasan in his presidential remarks appreciated and acknowledged the work which linguists do and said that Prof. Abbi’s work is internationally recognized and that she is a known linguist and compassionate towards her work.
Prof. Shugufta Shaheen, OSD-I welcomed and convened the programme and Prof. Ishtiaque Ahmad, Registrar proposed vote of thanks. Prof. Syed Imtiyaz Hasnain, Professor, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Chair introduced the guest speaker.
After her motivational lecture, she also answered many questions from the participants.