The Konkani Language...Language of Goa

The Konkani Language...Language of Goa


The Konkani language is the most widely spoken mother tongue of people in each and every part of Goa and is highly responsible for unification of the Goan population.

It is being made as the official language amidst a lot of disputes over its acceptance. Hindus use the Devnagri script while Roman Catholics add the Roman accent to the existing Devnagri script. Although it is widely spoken in Goa, it has a limited use in administration purposes, hence Marathi is made use of for such purposes. Its use as an official language is a major topic of discussion in debates, some favouring it while others going against it.

The Konkani language was initially banned by the Portuguese who destroyed all literary works and books written in Konkani and insisted that Portuguese should be the medium of learning at educational level and used in administrative purposes. It was only in the mid 19th century that the restriction on the use of Portuguese language was lifted due to the extreme difficulty that the Goans faced in using Portuguese for communication as well as commercial purposes. Although Portuguese is not used recently, there are quite a handful of people who still tend to use some Portuguese accent in their conversation, although this is rapidly reducing and only a mere sprinkling of words here and there is observed. Constant debates have been fought over the language to make it official as opposed to Marathi, which is believed to be derived from the Konkani language.

The educational system in Goa follows the Marathi medium of instruction in 80% of the institutes, while only 0.25% follow the Konkani medium. But on a higher scale, English is the most preferred medium of instruction in schools and colleges where 96% of students are taught English. Steps are being taken to include Konkani in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The use of English is by far the largest, justified by 3 of the local and national newspapers, which are printed in English.