Bhopal News: Madhya Pradesh Adivasi Lok Kala Evam Boli Vikas Akademi prepares ‘Talking Dictionaries’ To Save State's Tribal, Nomadic Dialects From Extinction

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh Adivasi Lok Kala Evam Boli Vikas Academy has drawn up a plan to save the dialects spoken by the tribal and nomadic communities resident in the state from extinction. As part of the plan, ‘Talking Dictionaries’ of ten nomadic communities have been prepared.

Dictionaries of the dialects of five nomadic communities - Kanjar, Kalbeliya, Banchhada, Nat and Kalandar - are ready and would be unveiled on the Republic Day this year. ‘Talking dictionaries’ of dialects spoken by the Banjara, Gadia Lohar, Bedia and Kuchbandiya nomadic communities have been uploaded on the website of the Akademi.

Madhya Pradesh is home to 51 nomadic communities and 42 tribes. Nomadic groups include Nat, Bedia, Kalbeliya and Kuchbandiya while major among the tribes are Gond, Bhil, Saharia, Baiga, Kol, Korku and Bharia.

“Efforts are being made to preserve and conserve the dialects of tribal and indigenous people all over the world. Otherwise, these dialects will become extinct. And the death of a language means the death of a civilisation,” says director of the Akademi Dharmendra Pare.

According to him, only a few dictionaries of tribal dialects are available in the countries. Dictionaries of dialects spoken by nomadic communities are almost non-existent. The Academy has opted for ‘Talking Dictionaries’ which allow the user to hear the pronunciation of any word by clicking it, besides their meaning in Hindi.

Pare said that compiling dictionaries of dialects of nomadic communities is quite a challenging job. “They are socially isolated, and possessive and secretive about their dialects. Moreover, they are suspicious of outsiders,” he said. The task is even more difficult with regard to the Bedia and Banchhada communities, traditionally engaged in prostitution. “Research scholars fear even entering the camps of Bedias and Banchhadas,” Pare said.

Pooja Saxena, who did the fieldwork for collecting data on the dialect spoken by the Kalandar community, said, “The Kalandars are no longer into their traditional occupation of making bears and monkeys perform for entertainment. With the change in occupation, the youngsters have almost forgotten their dialect. It will disappear with the current generation.”