Gondi script and font unveiled

A team from the University of Hyderabad developed the script using manuscripts recovered six years ago from Adilabad’s Gunjala village

The Gunjala Gondi Lipi font being released at the University of Hyderabad's Centre for Dalit and Adivasi Studies and Translation at Gachibowli on Friday. - Photo: K. Rahul Kumar

The script and font of Gondi, a widely-spoken tribal language, was released here on Friday on the occasion of International Mother Tongue Day, thus earning the language a rare distinction of being available on the digital media.

The ‘Gunjala Gondi Lipi Font’ was developed under the aegis of the Centre for Dalit and Adivasi Studies and Translation (CDAST) of the University of Hyderabad, after manuscripts of the Gond language were found in Gunjala village in Adilabad district about six years ago.

Apart from developing the script and font based on the existing manuscripts, the language was also developed in Unicode characters for easy translation on a computer and other digital platforms.

Justice L. Narsimha Reddy of the A.P. High Court, who was the chief guest of the event, expressed concern that local languages were being neglected.

“We fail to distinguish between the languages of life and livelihood. Even our education system is such that emphasis is only on languages like English, and this has come at the cost of destroying our tradition and culture,” he said.

R. Tirumal Rao, visiting professor at CDAST, said the project was completed with the help of scholars of the language from Gunjala village.

He also said the Gond language would be taught in 15 government schools where tribal population was high.