VII. LANGUAGE MENAGEMENT

A. State and societal

I. Language planning

Language planning is one of the most important challenges that lie before the kom. Kom tong, though consider as a standard kom, is not as standard as it should be in a real sense of the term. There is no proper planning of the language. The kom tong, which was the language of the majority and the few educated people of that time, was chosen as the language to write the religious scripture and the hymns in Komrem. There was some effort to develop the language by encouraging the people to read the religious books and hymn written in the language. However, there is no effort to modernize the language to suit the speakers who have other varieties of their own. The language has not undergone the required processes of standardization in the strictest sense of the term. There is no standard grammar does not have the required standard dictionary. There is one dictionary published in 1992, which does not have much linguistic significance.

Problems: The high degree of variation in kom is one of the biggest problems. No afford by anybody to uplift, enrich and revitalize the language. The neglect of the government to develop, preserve and promote the language. The low status of the language in the societal and economic front is one of the reasons. The non-availability of the required text for academic use and also the provision for teaching in the school is the set back to the language.

Policy: The kom people must make sure that they love, speak and learn their own language. The government and other related agencies need to come out to protect the language from dying. The speaker of the language must be given the opportunity to use their own language by allowing them to use in the academic and other administrative institutions. The government must encourage the people by providing the funds to develop the language. Text books needs to be written and the language must be allowed to teach in schools at least in primary level or as an optional subject in the high school or secondary levels.

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