VII
The way, in which things are managed now, must prove fatal to the
language itself. Educated natives, if asked, why they do not use their
Vernacular in public, would tell us, that things cannot be expressed pro
perly in Malayālam. There is no doubt about it, that if fresh material is
not introduced into the language, if most of the spiritual work is done in
another language, the use of Malayālam being restricted only to house-keep
ing or bazaar transactions, the language must ultimately be impoverished.
But this is no peculiarity of the Malayālam language, the same would take
place with English or any other language, if neglected. The same diffi
culties would occur in every language, as often as a new science is intro
duced. Let science be taught for some years in the Vernacular and let us
ask again, whether there be anything too sublime to be expressed in
Malayālam.
Bishop French, in the lecture mentioned above dealt also with the
difficulty of teaching physical science in the native language, and he is of
opinion, that the difficulty may easily be overcome by importing technical
words just as they have been imported into English. As to the new ter
minology necessary for a first book of this kind not more new words need
be introduced than in any other language. In this respect Dr. Gundert's
Malayālam Dictionary, a work of which the language might be proud,
has been a mine of the most valuable material to me. If one can
help it, no English word should be used, as the two languages are hetero
geneous. There is hardly anything more ridiculous and shocking than
some specimens of official Malayālam, in which without any necessity but
merely for convenience' sake words like "കേസുകൾ, ടെമ്പൊററി, രുൾ, ലോ
etc." are introduced; it is the more to be pitied, as this want of taste is
also more and more gaining ground in colloquial language and in the issues
of the Malayālam Press. If we are in want of scientific terms in English
or German, we resort to Latin or Greek. As into Malayālam Sanskrit
terms may be introduced ad libitum, what could be more natural than
supplying our want of physical or metaphysical terms by borrowing
from Sanskrit, the classic language of the East.
As to the Malayālam of this book Your Highness in a speech delivered
on the occasion of the distribution of prizes to the students of Trevandrum
College has pointed out the want of a standard Malayālam, which might
be made the criterion of what is good and what is bad Malayālam. Every
language is divided into dialects and the language of books or the language
