In what is seen as a significant step to keep vanishing tribal languages in circulation, the Odisha government has come out with lexicons of 21 such languages.
The bilingual tribal dictionaries will be used in multilingual education (MLE) initiated by the State government at the elementary level in tribal-dominated districts.
“The bilingual tribal dictionaries for MLE and trilingual tribal language proficiency modules in all the 21 tribal languages have been formulated by the Special Development Council. Both will help in enhancing proficiency in tribal languages,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, releasing the dictionaries here on Saturday.
Mr. Patnaik said the tribal museum had been upgraded as the Odisha State Tribal Museum.
Unique tribal profile
Odisha has a unique place on the tribal map of India for having the maximum number of Scheduled Tribe communities. The State is home to 62 different tribal communities, including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups. These tribes speak 21 languages and 74 dialects. Of the 21 tribal languages, seven have their own scripts. However, Odia is used as the medium of communication in the dictionaries.
“Adoption of more widely spoken competitors, such as Odia, Hindi, English and dominant tribal languages, has hastened the disappearance of rare dialects. Preparation of the dictionaries is a small step towards ensuring that they are preserved and promoted,” said A.B. Ota, director of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute.
He said: “Very few States have attempted preparing dictionaries in all tribal languages. Going forward, it will help everybody, including students, researchers and government officials.”
“Although the dictionaries are not full-fledged, covering small details, we have laid the foundation for more exhaustive research,” said P. Patel, senior tribal language expert at the Special Development Council.
“The trilingual tribal language proficiency module is a radical step to bring government functionaries closer to tribal communities,” said Mr. Ota.
