other language other than Kannada, even though Kannada Catholics constitute only 30% of the Catholic population in the Archdiocese. Konkani activists and associations have been demanding Konkani language mass and services for a long time. It is still the official language of the Mangalore Archdiocese. Multilingualism According to the Census Department of India, Konkani speakers show a very high degree of multilingualism. In the 1991 census, as compared to the national average of 19.44% for bilingualism and 7.26% for trilingualism, Konkani speakers scored 74.20% and 44.68% respectively. This makes Konkanis the most multilingual community of India. This has been due to the fact that in most areas where Konkanis have settled, they seldom form a majority of the population and have to interact with others in the local tongue. Another reason for bilingualism has been the lack of schools teaching Konkani as a primary or secondary language. The bilingualism of Konkanis with Marathi in Damaon Goa and Maharashtra has been a source of great discontent because it has led to the belief that Konkani is a dialect of Marathi and hence has no bearing on the future of Goa. Scripts and dialects The problems posed by multiple scripts and varying dialects have come as an impediment in the efforts to unite Konkani people. The Goa state's decision to use Devnagari as the official script and the Antruz dialect has been met with opposition both within Goa and outside it. Critics contend that the Antruz dialect is unintelligible to most Goans, let alone other Konkani people outside Goa, and that Devanagari is used very little as compared to Romi Konkani in Goa or Konkani in the Kannada script. Prominent among the critics are Konkani Christians in Goa, who were at the forefront of the Konkani agitation in 1986–87 and have for a long time used the Roman script, including producing literature in Roman script. They demanded Roman script be given equal status to Devanagari. In Karnataka, which has the largest number of Konkani speakers after Goa, leading organisations and activists have similarly demanded that Kannada script be made the medium of instruction for Konkani in local schools instead of Devanagari. The government of Karnataka has given its approval for teaching of Konkani as an optional third language from 6th to 10th standard students either in Kannada or Devanagari scripts. Phonology The Konkani language has 16 basic vowels (excluding an equal number