International Mother Language Day Highlights Urgent Need to Protect Linguistic Diversity

PUKMEDIA

Little girl writing in Kurdish.

Languages — whether spoken by hundreds of millions of people or by only a few thousand — connect communities and are inseparably linked to their cultures. Yet, according to the UNESCO, one language disappears approximately every two weeks, representing an irreparable loss to the world’s shared cultural heritage.

Observed annually on 21 February, International Mother Language Day promotes awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as multilingualism. The day was proclaimed by UNESCO’s General Conference on 17 November 1999 and was later formally recognised by the United Nations, underscoring the importance of preserving and promoting mother tongues as vital instruments for safeguarding traditions, culture and history.

The observance traces its origins to the 1952 Bengali Language Movement in what is now Bangladesh, where students sacrificed their lives demanding recognition of Bengali as a state language. On 21 February 1952, Bengalis in the then Pakistani province of East Bengal protested to secure official status for their mother tongue, rather than having it relegated to a provincial language.

The day continues to be widely commemorated in Bangladesh and among Bengali communities in India, particularly in the states of West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Tripura, as well as in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

UNESCO’s recognition of the day aims to sustain and develop mother tongues worldwide and to safeguard the linguistic heritage of humanity. However, indigenous languages — like many ethnic cultures — face increasing marginalisation amid globalisation, economic integration and the dominance of major international languages in trade and commerce.

According to UNESCO estimates, nearly 1,500 ethnic languages are at risk of extinction. As global markets expand and economic incentives favour widely spoken languages, many minority languages are gradually being displaced, reducing the richness and diversity of the world’s linguistic landscape.

This year’s International Mother Language Day, according to UNESCO, highlights the role of young people in shaping the future of multilingual education. Youth voices on multilingual education emphasises that language is more than a means of communication: it is central to identity, learning, well-being and participation in society. The celebration underscores the importance of education systems that recognise and value every learner’s language to support inclusion and learning outcomes.

Here are some known facts prepared by the UNICEF about different languages:

- There are about 6700 mother languages around the globe

- Since 1950, about 200 ethnic languages have become extinct 

- 184 languages are used by less than 10 people in the world

- Half of the languages around the globe are under threats of extinction

Language is the identity and the pillar of life, as well as the right of every nation. Any nation deprived of using its mother language will vanish and any nation that preserves its mother language will never die even if it did not have independence or a state.

The Kurdish language is part of the living languages of the world. It is ranked the 40th in the world list of most used languages even though Kurds don't have a state and geographic barriers have been put between them by dividing them over 4 countries of different cultures. Despite all that, the Kurdish language has developed highly in the southern and eastern parts of the great Kurdistan as it is the official language in schools of the south of Kurdistan which is now the Kurdistan Region-Iraq.

Although the land of the Kurds have been cut off and divided for so many years and they have always faced genocide attempts along with attempts to change their culture and language, but the Kurds have been able to stand against all that and preserve their language the attempts of the occupiers never came to fruition as the Kurds have their own special language like each nation of the world and this language has many dialects such as (Kurmanji, Sorani, Goran... etc).

In the south of Kurdistan-the Kurdistan Region of Iraq- and after the fall of the former Iraqi Ba'ath Regime, the Kurdish language is recognised as the second language in Iraq and its the study and writing language.

All of these are proof that despite not having a state, we Kurds have managed to preserve our identity through our ethnic and mother language.



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