Interviewer: Shahram Ahadi - Deutsche Welle Persian - February 22, 2005
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| Dr. Mohammad Reza Bateni |
Deutsche Welle: Dr. Bateni, how do linguists generally define mother tongue, and are there different definitions of this term?
Mohammad Reza Bateni: As the term suggests, mother tongue refers to the language that a child first hears from their mother and learns. This is the same in both linguistic and non-linguistic terms. However, this term can sometimes be misleading. For instance, imagine an Iranian mother who speaks Persian and a German father living in Germany. There’s no necessity for them to teach their child Persian. Therefore, it's unlikely that they would teach their child Persian from the beginning, and they might start by teaching German instead. For this reason, "mother tongue" can be misleading, and today linguists use the term "first language" instead. They refer to the language a person learns later as the second language, and so on.
Deutsche Welle: In multi-ethnic countries like Iran, where various ethnic and linguistic groups live together, what is the general view or perception of mother tongue?
Mohammad Reza Bateni: In multi-ethnic and multilingual countries, the situation is much more complex. I believe that in the final analysis, for countries like Iran, Iraq, and many others like us, a federal government is the solution. A federal government, in terms of central policies, would make key decisions on matters like budgets and similar issues, while people would have the right to decide on their own language and daily life planning in the short term. So, this federal or federated system is gradually replacing authoritarian programs that have prevailed in some countries. However, it must be said implicitly that if these countries do not want to discuss disintegration, and if people want to live under one country, they must learn a national language. This language has traditionally been Persian in our country. Fortunately, we don't have much debate on this issue. Everyone traditionally considers Persian as their own language. People regard Ferdowsi’s language as their own, and he is recognized as Iranian and Persian by everyone. Therefore, for such countries, this issue should be approached with great caution, and no form of coercion or uniformity should be applied in these matters because it is very dangerous.
Deutsche Welle: What interests me is the situation of bilingual individuals, for example, those who speak both Persian and Turkish. Does their level of proficiency in both languages affect their identification of which one is their mother tongue?
Mohammad Reza Bateni: Of course, this issue cannot be answered universally. Someone might be Azerbaijani and come to Tehran at the age of 5, while another might come at the age of 35 or 40 and speak broken Persian. However, when it comes to national pride and identifying as Turkish or Azerbaijani, the situation changes. The same child who came at the age of 5 and now speaks Persian without an accent may still say, "I am Azerbaijani," and may even participate in the Azerbaijani community in Tehran. Therefore, this is a very case-specific issue.
Deutsche Welle: Do the media indirectly standardize the concept of mother tongue in Iran, meaning do they give the impression that the mother tongue of Iranians is Persian?
Mohammad Reza Bateni: Radio and television, in general, can have a significant role in either suppressing and eradicating an ethnic or national language or in nurturing and promoting it. I can't comment too much on the current situation, but it can be said that during the previous regime, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for local languages to be spoken. They didn’t prohibit them, but they didn’t encourage them either. I believe the situation is still the same today. The media do not encourage people to speak Kurdish or Turkish, but undoubtedly, if they wanted to, they could be very successful in this regard. As I mentioned earlier, the way forward is a federal central government, where people have complete freedom in learning, teaching, and speaking their local languages, while also being familiar with a national language as a tool for work and daily life.
The link to the original article in Farsi on Deutsche Welle Persian:
نگاهى به زبان مادرى در ايران / گفتگويى با دكتر محمدرضا باطنى