단 3명만이 사용하는, 소멸돼가는, 파키스탄 산악지역의 Badeshi 언어- 엄마힘 증명.

파키스탄의 북쪽 산악지역은 Badeshi dialect 널리 사용됐었는데,  세대가 바뀌면서, 젊은이들이 고향을 등지고 살기가 편한 곳으로 빠져 나가면서, 또는 다른지역에서 시집온 엄마가 사용하는 방언을 그들의 Motheer Tongue으로 사용해 오면서, 이지역에는 이제 그들이 자손 대대로 사용해 오던 그지역의 방언(Dialect)이 지구상에서 완전히 없어질 위기에 있다는 소식이다.

인생의 마지막 황혼기를 살아가고 있는, 사진에서 보는 3명만이 그들의 방언을 사용하고 있는것으로 파악되고 있다고 한다.  이들이 삶을 마감하는 순간, 그들의 방언은 세상에서 사라지게 된다는 염려가 전문가들 사이에서 회자되고 있다.

Would you like to learn a few words of a language only three people in the world speak?

방언이 사라지게되는 사연이 가슴을 뭉클하게 한다.  이사연은, 요즘 한국의 많은 젊은 청년들이 외국에서 신부감을 들여온다는 것과 맥을 같이 하는것 같아, 정치적 지도자들에게 경종을 주는 것으로 이해된다.

이지역의 청년들이 결혼 적령기가 되면서, 신부감을 다른 언어를 사용하는 지역에서 데려와 결혼생활을 하고, 아이들이 태어나면, 자연적으로 아이들은 엄마가 사용한 Mother tongue을 사용하게 되는게 자연의 순리라는것을 보여주는 뚜렷한 증거가 된다. 

Jewish사회에서도, 남자가 다른 민족의 여성과 결혼하게되면, 그남자는 더이상 Jewish 사회의 일원으로 취급되지 못하고, 반대로 Jewish여성이 타민족의 남성과 결혼하면, Jewish사회의 일원으로 간주하게 되여온 전통이 오늘날에도 그대로 전수되고 있다는 논리와 맥을 같이 한다.

Bishigram Valley에서 결혼적령기에 달한 남성들은 Torwali 방언을 사용하는,다른지역의 여성을 아내로 맞아 들여, 그들의 자손들은 엄마가 사용하는 언어를 자연적으로 사용하게 되여, 오늘의 재앙이 발생하게 됐다는 것이다.  

아래에 그 뉴스를 옮겨왔다.

Badeshi used to be spoken widely in a remote snow-clad valley, deep in the mountains of northern Pakistan. 

But it is now considered extinct.

Ethnologue, which lists all of the world's languages, says it has had no known speakers for three or more generations. 

But in the Bishigram Valley, we found three old men who can still speak in Badeshi. You can hear them in the video below.

"A generation ago, Badeshi was spoken in the entire village", says Rahim Gul. He doesn't know how old he is, but looks over 70. 

"But then we brought women from other villages [for marriage] who spoke Torwali language. Their children spoke in their mother tongue, so our language started dying out."

Torwali is the dominant language in the area, which is itself under pressure from Pashto, but has pushed Badeshi to the brink in this valley. 

"Now our children and their children speak Torwali," said Said Gul, Rahim Gul's first cousin. "So who should we speak our own language with?"

Said Gul also doesn't know his own age. When he said he was 40, somebody corrected him. "It's more like 80!" Said Gul quickly shot back, "No, may be 50, but not 80!"

There are no job opportunities in the area, so these men have spent a lot of time in touristy Swat District, where they have picked up the Pashto language, and that is mainly how they communicate.

'I do regret it'

Because of a lack of opportunities to use Badeshi, over the decades even these three men have started forgetting the language.

While they were talking in Badeshi, Rahim Gul and Said Gul regularly forgot a word or two, and could only remember after prodding from the others. 

Rahim Gul has a son, who has five children of his own, but all of them speak Torwali. 

"My mother was a Torwali speaker, so my parents didn't speak any Badeshi in the house. I didn't get a chance to pick it up in childhood. I know a few words, but don't know the language. All my children speak Torwali.

"I do regret it, but now that I'm 32 there is no chance I can learn Badeshi. I'm very sad at the prospect that this language will die out with my father."

Sagar Zaman is a linguist affiliated with the Forum for Language Initiative, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the promotion and preservation of endangered languages of Pakistan. 

"I travelled to this valley three times, but the inhabitants were reluctant to speak this language in front of me," he says.

"Other linguists and I were able to collect a hundred or so words which suggested that this language belongs to Indo-Aryan sub family of languages."

Zaman Sagar says Torwali and Pashto speakers look down upon Badeshi, so there is a stigma attached to speaking it. 

Perhaps it's too late to save Badeshi, but at the very least, you can learn a few words to keep the memory of the language alive:

• Meen naao Rahim Gul thi - My name is Rahim Gul
• Meen Badeshi jibe aasa - I speak Badeshi 
• Theen haal khale thi? - How do you do?
• May grot khekti - I have eaten
• Ishu kaale heem kam ikthi - There is not much snowfall this year

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43194056