200-odd Languages Of Northeast India Find Beacon Of Hope For Survival By SAR NEWS
GUWAHATI, Assam (SAR News) -- The more than 240 languages of Northeast India could get a new lease of life and fight the looming threat of extinction, if the communities join hands with three organisations that are striving to preserve and promote their endangered languages. The organisations are the Salesian-run Don Bosco Communications (DBC), Guwahati, a centre for promotion of communication, local languages and literature, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) International, a UN-affiliated NGO which works in about 40 countries, and the State Resource Centre (SRC), Assam, engaged in literacy and language promotion. Together with the participation of the communities, these organisations have launched a series of programmes in order to provide training, language promotion activities, gathering of data and setting up of local literature committees and financial assistance to support publications. DBC, SIL and SRC have sponsored four workshops during the last two years to promote mother tongue education, orthography and production of literature. These workshops were guided by literacy and language consultants from the SIL, with the assistance of the Department of Linguistics, Gauhati University, and other partners. Each of these workshops has enabled the participants to prepare primers, storybooks, spelling guides, number books, wordbooks and rhyme books in their respective languages. The books are illustrated by artists from the communities. The latest in the series of workshops was a two-week sessions for 29 participants from six languages of Northeast which concluded in Guwahati, October 8. Eunice Tan from Malaysia, the chief consultant at the workshop, said each language group had made three or four books in their respective languages, and they would take back copies to their communities for testing before they are approved for printing. The workshop, she said, was able to achieve much since the participants were highly motivated, creative and hard working. SIL’s team of resource persons included Nori Mastsura from Japan, Virginia Phillips, David Phillips, Karl and Sharon Koapish from the USA and Liza Guts from Russia. They were assisted by Salesian Father George Plathottam, DBC, Zeenath Tabassum from Gauhati University, Hyacinth Minj, Deepanjali Das, an artist, and Wilie Mathew, a printing and publishing expert. “Languages are people’s powerful property,” Father Plathottam, founder-director of Don Bosco Communications. “Language death,” he said, “is a serious threat as it leads to loss of culture and ethnic identity. Without our mother tongue we cannot sing our songs or tell our stories effectively. When languages die, our culture, too, will face extinction,” he added. Don Bosco Communications has organised several workshops and programmes for promoting indigenous languages, and published books in these languages. The centre is currently collaborating with the Bible Society for the publication of an ecumenical edition of the Assamese Bible. SIL representative for Northeast India, Dr. Erik Andvik, said the aim of the workshops were identifying and training writers and overseeing the development of appropriate norms and guidelines for writing hitherto unwritten languages. “We aim at meeting the needs and aspirations of the communities, and help the community in the process of bringing the manuscripts to a publishable form.” Dr. Borkatoky, director of SRC, said that the workshops had been able to deepen the knowledge and skills for promoting education in mother tongue and promoting literacy. The skills and attitudes of the writers, artists and the members of these communities have been enhanced through these workshops and fifteen language groups have participated in them. These include Aka, But Monpa, Thangsa, Galo, Nockte from Arunachal Pradesh, Lamkang, Thangkul, Maram from Manipur, Rabha, Hajong from Meghalaya, Deuri, Sadri, Tiwa, Karbi, Amri Karbi from Assam. More language groups are showing keen interest in joining hands with the three organisations in order to promote their languages. Northeast India has an estimated 240 languages and dialects spread across the seven states of the region. Most of these languages are spoken only by a few thousand speakers, and have no written form. T.K. Goswami from the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Assam, speaking at the valedictory function of a recent workshop, said CIIL would be happy to join hands with the efforts of the three organisations in promotion of Northeast India’s languages. He lauded the efforts of SIL, DBC, SRC and the various language communities for their work to promote indigenous languages. Father Joe Almeida, Salesian Vice-Provincial of Guwahati, gave certificates to the participants of the workshop.
