Conference on minor languages at CIIL begins today

Workshops and seminars will be held on February 3, 4 and 5

A three-day conference is being organised at Central Instititute of Indian Languages on February 3,4 and 5, with an emphasis on discussing various aspects in endangered languages, said G Devi Prasad Sastry, conference secretary.

The conference is organised by Centre for Tribal Languages, which focuses mainly on languages that are soon going to be extinct, since they are spoken by a small group of people such as some groups in Nilgiris, Mizoram etc.

Addressing the press conference, Dr Sastry said according to 2001 census, about 6000 languages were on the verge of being extinct since the communities which used them for various forms of communication, education and other transactions, were close to being wiped out from the face of earth.

“With this, even the knowledge will be lost forever. This means loss of indigenous tradition, languages and agricultural practices, which stood the test of time for centuries,” he added. Languages are not only becoming extinct owing to dwindling numbers of people who speak it, but also because of political reasons like it is happening in Mizoram.

At the conference, mapping of time and related concepts in various languages will be discussed across about 50 papers that will be presented. In the due course of time, Dr Sastry and his team of researchers will also work on developing such languages by way of providing them with script, and tools to meet the modern needs through extensive research techniques, workshops and seminars.

“We would then leave it for the community to decide whether they want to save their only way of expression or not,” he added. These findings and tools would also be deposited on the web for the use of researchers world over. A white paper would be prepared on status of knowledge of these languages which would be used for further studies.     

Nandakumar Deb Varma, former secretary of Tripura Assembly, Dr Nicholas Evans, ANU College of Asia Pacific, Australia, and Dr Uma Rani P of North Eastern Hill University were present.

Only 25 people speak a language

There are languages in the world which are spoken by a handful of people. A language ‘Saimar’ in North East is spoken by a mere 25 people. And when they exit from the earth, a language and tradition would also breathe its last.

Members of Bheel -- small groups of tribals spread in Chattisgarh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh including Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal, Mizoram, Assam etc are facing challenges with respect to their existence, language and traditions.

Some languages are kept alive by a group of 400 - 500 people living the tradition and using it for conversation and transactions. If you want to get a feel of one such language, head straight to Sriranga in Kalamandira premises on February 4 at 6 pm to watch ‘Longtoraini Eklobya’ -- a play on Ekalavya by people who speak Longtorai language, presented by Sampili Theatre Centre, Tripura.