Arunachal: RCML, AITS-RGU and THC-PF organized Outreach cum Book Distribution Program at Nyereng Village
The main goal of the program was to propagate awareness about the importance of promoting and revitalizing the mother language.
TUTING- Book Distribution cum Outreach Program on Promotion and Revitalization of Mother Language was held today at Nyereng Village, Tuting Circle, Upper Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh. The program was jointly organized by the Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies, Rajiv Gandhi University (AITS-RGU), RIWATCH Centre for Mother Languages (RCML) and Tribal Health Collaborative, Piramal Foundation (THC-PF).
The main goal of the program was to propagate awareness about the importance of promoting and revitalizing the mother language. The book titled, Dictionary and Grammar of Ashing: A Moribund Language of Arunachal Pradesh jointly authored by Mechek Sampar Awan, Kaling Dabi, S. Simon John, Tame Ramya, Kombong Darang and Tailyang Nampi was distributed to the native speakers of Ashing (Adi). The book was published by the Centre for Endangered Languages (CFEL, AITS-RGU) in collaboration with the North Eastern Council, Government of India.
Arunachal: Congress legislature party leader Lombo Tayeng joins BJP
Addressing the event, Prof. S Simon John, Director of AITS-RGU, who is also the Coordinator of CFEL expressed his gratitude to the native speakers of Ashing for their cooperation and active participation in the documentation of their language and culture. Encouraging the Ashing speakers to have the pride of speaking their mother language, he asserted that the vitality of a language solely depends on the native speakers’ attitude towards it. He handed over the book to the native speakers of Ashing.
Sharing his happiness over the successful outreach program, Vijay Swami, Executive Director, Research Institute of World’s Ancient Traditions Cultures and Heritage (RIWATCH) shared that the RCML is created not only to document the mother languages but also to promote them. Our team is putting all effort to contribute as much as possible in the process of language documentation and promotion of indigenous communities, he added.
RCML’s Coordinator and first author of the aforesaid book, Dr. Mechek Sampar Awan spoke about how a language becomes endangered and how to revitalize and protect it from the endangerment. He urged the native speakers of Ashing (Adi) to let their children acquire the language in a natural setting by regularly conversing in it.
Click and Join our WhatsApp Channel
Dr. Kaling Dabi, a representative from the Tribal Health Collaborative (THC) at Piramal Foundation, addressed the implications of language extinction and emphasized the importance of community ownership in preserving one’s own language.
Dr. Kombong Darang, Research Officer, RCML’s stressed upon the importance of community participation in the process of language documentation. He said that the documentation of language is a two-way process. The researcher and the community members have to coordinate each other for a successful documentation of any language, he added.
Arunachal: Nabam Tuki visits TRIHMS and meets Accident Victim
During the program, Gommang Tamut donated traditional attires worn bt the Ashing (Adi) community to the RIWATCH Museum located at Roing, Lower Dibang Valley.
Dugbang Lipir, Tailyang Nampi and native speakers of Ashing (Adi) viz. Gommang Tamut, Chitut Dawa Danggen, Dongkong Sibo and Nuni Sibo also spoke during the program. The program was attended by the Ashing native speakers from Nyereng village and Kugging village. After the formal program, RCML team elicitated linguistic and cultural data from the native speakers for compiling children’s illustrative pictorial glossaries of the Ashings (Adi).
