CIIL workshop aims to develop learning resources for Nicobarese Languages
2 min read
Mysuru: In a landmark initiative to preserve and promote the linguistic diversity of India, the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, hosted a workshop from September 16 to October 3, 2024.
This workshop focused on creating primers, pictorial dictionaries and grammatical sketches for the Car Nicobarese and Nancowry languages, which are spoken in
the Nancowry Islands of the central Nicobar archipelago.
This effort is part of a broader project led by CIIL aimed at developing educational materials and primers for 121 Scheduled and Non-Scheduled languages across the country. The Car Nicobarese and Nancowry languages were chosen for their unique linguistic characteristics and cultural significance.
On September 16, the workshop was inaugurated by Prof. Shailendra Mohan, Director of CIIL, who emphasised the importance of grammatical sketches as essential tools for linguistic research.
During the workshop he provided valuable insights into effective data collection methodologies aligned with CIIL’s framework for preparing educational texts.
The workshop brought together esteemed experts, including S A Awaradi, former
Director of Andaman Nicobar Tribal Research and Training Institute (ANTRI), Port Blair,
and Dr. Pramod Kumar, Assistant Professor at Indira Gandhi National Tribal University
(IGNTU), Amarkantak, who guided the team of resource persons throughout the workshop.Under the guidance of Prof Shailendra Mohan, workshop coordinator Dr Sujoy Sarkar, alongside Dr Aleendra Brahma and Dr L R Prem Kumar both Lecturer cum Junior Research Officers at CIIL played essential roles in supporting the expert team. Their contributions were particularly significant in the audio recording of language texts, enhancing the overall quality of the program.
Five language informants from the Nicobar Islands participated in the workshop, providing authentic language data that will serve as the foundation for the learning materials.
The language data for Car Nicobarese was collected from informants Martin Luther,
Secretary, Tribal Council, Car Nicobar, Nicobar Islands, Josheph Edgar and John
Valiant, while Cecilia and J K Allen provided data for the Nancowry language.
A dedicated team of resource persons from CIIL schemes, including Dr Nagaraju S, Dr Hilal Ahmad Dar, Dr Rajakrishna, Thokcham Sandeepkumar Singh, Dr N Brojen Singh and
Rakesh Kajle, focused on the Car Nicobarese language. Simultaneously, Dr Rajasingh,
Ngaineiting Baite, Pushpa Thounaojam, Dr D Jenifer and Ankita Tiwari concentrated on the Nancowry language.
Following thorough analysis, the workshop concluded with the successful recording of keywords and sentences in both languages at CIIL’s studio. These recordings will enhance the learning resources, providing an invaluable auditory component to the newly developed materials.
– Team Mysoorunews
Mysooru News
