When a native speaker dies

The information that the last native speaker of Caddo died, the language of the Native American Caddo tribe of Oklahoma. Well, technically it’s a confederacy, with 6000 members, 3044 of whom live in Oklahoma. The death of the last native speaker of Caddo does not mean that the Caddo language has died out, but it does mean that even those Caddos who know some Caddos may not be very good at it.

I’m reminded of a dear friend, now no longer with us in this vale of tears, who was inarticulate in Urdu, Punjabi, and English. I suppose the speakers of Caddo will probably be a little like him. Another analogy is exceedingly common among my relatives. There was a Punjabi-speaking generation that insisted on speaking Urdu to their children. So you had a couple who spoke Punjabi to one another but who spoke Urdu with the kids. The kids naturally learned no Punjabi, unless it was from the servants. And then those children started getting married. So here you have two native speakers of Urdu, albeit with thick Punjabi accents (learned from the parents that you could cut with a knife). They spoke Urdu with one another and naturally did so with their children. Of course, the accents of parents and children were so strongly Punjabi that a true Urdu speaker, whether affiliated with either Delhi or Lucknow, would weep.

I’m thinking of what a couple from the Caddo tribe, native English speakers who had learned some Caddo, would do to the language. I’m expounding about the Caddo at such length because of the Native American contribution to the science of linguistics. While the Europeans got into linguistics by having to deal with ancient texts (Chaucer needs translating but is discernibly English, but earlier texts are basically German, only no modern German can follow them), the American scholars had to deal with the Native American languages. And the application was not just historical but practical. Missionaries spreading Christianity had to do a lot of work, and for a number of languages, the first book is a translation of the Bible.

Well, that’s all in the background. In the foreground is the question of whether he was indeed the last native speaker? I mean, who did he speak it with? Others who had learned it as a second language? Well, you can’t speak natively with such a person. Going back to the Urduphone couples I mentioned, they’re native speakers because they’re not translating from a ‘native’ language as they go along, but use Urdu as their language of thought, both abstract and concrete.

Why am I waffling on about Native American linguistics? Well, because I don’t really want to talk about the bus attack in Kalat. That must count as a new low. Previous bus attacks have seen Punjabi passengers pulled off the bus and killed. And by the way, should NADRA share in the credit for that? I mean, the terrorists have usually identified the Punjabis from their ID cards. If the permanent address on the cards is somewhere in Chinot district, even if the holders swears in accentless Balochi or Brahui that he is a Baloch,

But these were qawwals. I mean, being a terrorist doesn’t mean you have no appreciation for good music, or any of the other finer things in life, but durely pulling them off the bus and shooting them is a sign that you are getting out of hand. Next thing you know, they’ll start going against rock stars. And maybe rappers. In fact, one way of showing you’re a true rapper is to get shot. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the rappers got shot for being bad musicians.

One person who won’t be shot would be Shan Masood, the Pakistani Test captain. Look, if no irate fan did the needful after Bangladesh whitewashed us at home, and none bothered after the historic loss against England, clearly fans are a peaceful lot. Now, there’s no reason to.

Footnote to these notes: I see Trump has been expressing gratitude for the Nobel Peace Prize nomination by Pakistan by saying that Pakistan shot down five Indian jets in the confrontation over Pahalgam.

Indians have gone ballistic, accusing Trump of being pro-Pakistan. Wonder why? Is Trump going to make India talk about Kashmir? Or even about restoring the Indus Waters Treaty?