Bangladesh can justly claim to be a nation born of language, but its status as a cradle of linguistic diversity is under threat from nationalist pride and economic growth.
Of the more than 30 recognized languages spoken in Bangladesh, experts say 20 are now on the verge of extinction.
Many like the Laleng language spoken by the 2,000-strong Patra tribe in the country’s far northeast are inherently vulnerable, having no script and relying instead on a rich but fragile oral tradition of folk songs and story telling.
The current head of the tribe, Laxman Lal Patra, smiles as he talks of a Laleng lullaby his mother used to sing when he was a child but then frowns as he tries to recall the actual words, eventually managing just a single verse. “Our fairy-tales, poems and songs are gone as we don’t have a written script to preserve them. Even my daughter-in-law these days hums Bangla lullabies to my grandson,” the 70-year-old said.
Bangla, or Bengali, is the undisputed heavyweight in Bangladesh’s linguistic arena, spoken by 95 percent of the population and the sole passport to a decent education and career.
National pride in the Bangla language runs deep and is cemented with the blood of the “language martyrs” — students shot dead by police on Feb. 21, 1952, when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan. The students were protesting the Pakistani government’s Urdu-only policy and demanding that Bangla be recognized as an official language. The deaths triggered the start of a nationalist struggle that finally ended with the creation of Bangladesh after victory in the 1971 independence war with Pakistan. Feb. 21 is feted as a heroic national holiday in Bangladesh and is designated by UNESCO as International Mother Language Day to highlight the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world.
But now Bangla’s dominance in schools, the workplace and cultural life in general is threatening those rights in Bangladesh itself.
“Most of us can still talk in Laleng. But we’re learning Bangla fast, replacing even the most essential Laleng words,” said Patra.
“Young boys pick up Bangla expressions from schools and Bengali neighbors and never forget.”
An expanding economy, which has brought roads, electricity and television sets to all but the remotest villages, has helped smother the life out of indigenous languages that were already struggling for survival.
Dhaka University Linguistics professor Shourav Sikder, whose 2011 book “Indigenous Languages of Bangladesh” highlights the seriousness of the situation, reels off a long list of languages that are now dead or dying.
“No one talks in Mahali, Malto, Razoar and Rajbangshi these days,” he said, laying the blame squarely on the overriding state patronage and promotion of Bangla.
According to Shikder, only two tribal languages can claim to be secure, largely thanks to the fact that they have written scripts.
Mesbah Kamal, whose Research and Development Collective charity works with indigenous people, believes the loss of tribal languages verges on “cultural genocide” given the loss of identity that inevitably follows. “And if the indigenous people lose their language, it’s not only their loss,” Kamal said. “We are also losing diversity and plurality in our cultural life, and that will create intolerance.
Bangladesh tribals fear linguistic genocide
Bangladesh tribals fear linguistic genocide
Eating snow cones or snow cream can be a winter delight, if done safely
- As the storm recedes, residents of lesser-affected areas might be tempted to whip up bowls of “snow cream”
- Fassnacht said he tried “snow cream” for the first time last year when some students made him some
WASHINGTON: Take two snowballs and call me in the morning?
Dr. Sarah Crockett, who specializes in emergency and wilderness medicine, doesn’t explicitly tell her patients at New Hampshire’s Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to swallow snow, but she often prescribes more time outside. If that time includes eating a handful of ice crystals straight or adding ingredients to make snow cones and other frozen treats, she’s all for it.
“To stop and just be present and want to catch a snowflake on your tongue, or scoop up some fresh, white, untouched snow that’s collected during something as exciting as a snowstorm, I think that there’s space in our world to enjoy that,” Crockett said. “And while we need to make good choices, I think these are simple things that can bring joy.”
Getting outdoors to enjoy simple pleasures is unlikely to be front of mind for people in a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of the United States where a massive weekend storm brought deep snow and bitter cold. Freezing rain and ice brought down power lines and tree limbs, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power or heating in the South, while snow upended road and air travel from Arkansas to New England.
As the storm recedes, residents of lesser-affected areas might be tempted to whip up bowls of “snow cream” — snow combined with milk, sugar and vanilla — after seeing techniques demonstrated on TikTok. Others might want to try “sugar on snow,” a taffy-like confection made by pouring hot maple syrup onto a plate of snow.
Despite its pristine appearance, snow isn’t always clean enough to consume. Crockett and other experts shared advice for digging in safely while digging out.
The science of snow
Whether it’s rain or snow, precipitation cleans the atmosphere, picking up pollutants as it falls, said Steven Fassnacht, a professor of snow hydrology at Colorado State University. But snowflakes pick up more impurities because they fall more slowly and have more exposed surface areas than raindrops, he said.
That means snow that falls near coal plants or factories that emit particulates into the air contains more contaminants, said Fassnacht, who was in Shinjo, Japan, last week studying the salt content of snow. He said he wouldn’t have hesitated to take a taste there because there weren’t any big industrial complexes upwind.
“Snow can be eaten, but you want to think about the trajectory. Where did that snow come from?” he said.
Timing is another consideration, according to Crockett. The first wave of snow holds the most particulate matter, she said, so waiting until a storm is well underway before putting out a bowl to collect falling snow is one precaution to take.
Ground contamination is an additional factor, experts say. Avoiding yellow snow, which may be tainted by urine or tree bark, is conventional wisdom, but it’s also a good idea to stay away from any snow pushed by snowplows and packed with road salt, deicing chemicals and debris.
Snack versus survival
What about eating snow to survive? Crockett, who oversees the wilderness medicine program at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine, says that’s a bad idea.
The energy it takes to melt snow in your mouth as you’re eating it essentially counteracts the hydration benefit, plus it decreases your core body temperature and increases the risk of hypothermia. While outdoor enthusiasts who plan to spend days in the mountains often melt and boil snow to purify it for drinking, it shouldn’t be viewed as an immediate hydration source, she said.
“If you are disoriented on a local hike, I would say your number one priority is to try to reach out for help in any way you can, ... not ‘Can I eat enough snow?’” Crockett said.
Focus on rewards, not risks
Fassnacht, who has studied snow for more than 30 years, said he tried “snow cream” for the first time last year when some students made him some. He described it as a fun experience that got him thinking about flavors and textures, not contaminants.
“It’s a whimsical thing,” he said. “It made me think about what are the characteristics of that freshly fallen snow, and how does that change the taste sensation?”
Crockett likewise is a fan of finding inspiration and wonder in nature. She worries that overprotective parenting has contributed to anxiety in some young people, and that excessive warnings about eating snow could add to that.
“We have to strike that right balance of making sure we’re avoiding danger while not being so protective that we encourage this ‘Everything is going to harm me’ mentality, particularly for children,” she said.
Crockett has four children, including a daughter she described as a “passionate snow eater.” As the recent winter storm got underway, she asked her why she liked eating snow so much and was told, “It makes me feel connected to the Earth.”
“That is actually something that’s really important to me, that we all have this connection to nature,” Crockett said.
