Multiscriptality in South Asia and language development

The paper raises a few old debates in the field of language development, such as the one between a "free" vs a "monitored" policy, treading of a "known" or a "novel" path of progression, or the cost & consequences of a decision to develop a writing system, or the sociopolitical factors that may contribute to such multilinguality or multiscriptality. It suggests that so far wrong questions have been raised: eg, whether one is talking about a language or a dialect, or whether the variety of speech has a script, or could it have its own grammar, etc. In raising such questions, one overlooks the fact that both in the developed western communities & in South Asia, different languages employ the same or similar writing systems & yet remain different. The study discusses a few actual cases of plurality & multiscriptality in South Asia & the problems arising out of plurality of scripts. It is argued here that in civil societies, all linguistically minority communities have the right to develop their own languages & choose or create their own writing systems. 22 References. Adapted from the source document.