India intensifies preservation of endangered languages like Toda through Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL), AI tools, and NEP 2020 led by Toda tribe efforts.
About the Toda Tribe
- Native: The Toda tribe are a Dravidian ethnic group of people who live in the upper Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, India
- Approximately 1,600 Todas live in 69 settlements across the Nilgiri Hills.
- Language: The Todas speak the Toda language, an indigenous Dravidian language of southern India originating from the Toda-Kota subgroup of South Dravidian
- Customs: Some unique feature of Toda customs are,
- Religion: The Toda tribe’s religion is buffalo centered. They perform rituals for many dairy activities and only men who have become dairyman-priests can milk the sacred buffaloes.
- Polyandry: The Toda tribe practiced fraternal polyandry, where a woman would marry all the brothers in a family.
- Funeral rituals: The Toda tribe has a dry funeral ceremony that takes place nine months after cremation
- Embroidery: The Toda tribe’s embroidery features a symbolic color scheme of Black (representing underworld), Red for earth, and White for the celestial and is called “pukhoor”
- It is reversible and the embroidery on the left of the black stripe is called the karnol, and the embroidery on the right is called the karthal
- Flower symbolism: The Toda tribe uses flowers to indicate the season and stage of the year.
- Example: The white maw(r)sh flower flowers in the shola forests when the southwesterly monsoon is ending.
- Architecture: The Todas are known for their barrel-vaulted temples and houses.
Toda Language Preservation Efforts
- Lack of Script: Toda language lacks a native script.
- Preservation Effort: Collaboration with SPPEL to create a Toda primer in Tamil script for literacy promotion.
Linguistic Landscape of India (2011 Census)
- Monolingual: 89.59 crore people.
- Bilingual: 22.90 crore people.
- Trilingual: 8.60 crore people.
- Challenge: Dominant languages (Hindi, Bengali, Marathi) overshadow endangered tribal languages.
|
- Focus on Youth: Engaging the younger generation to learn and preserve their language.
- Digital Tools: CIIL uses advanced tools like high-end audio and video recording for linguistic analysis.
About Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages
- SPPEL is an initiative of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, implemented by the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in Mysore.
- Objective: To document and archive India’s endangered languages, particularly those spoken by fewer than 10,000 people or those that haven’t been linguistically studied previously.
- To create resources like grammar, dictionaries, and ethno-linguistic profiles to safeguard these languages for future generations.
- Key Activities:
- Fieldwork, grammar and vocabulary recording.
- Creation of bilingual and trilingual dictionaries, glossaries, ethno-linguistic profiles.
- Upload materials to global digital repositories (e.g., Sanchika website).
- Endangered Languages Documented: 117 languages identified; future goal is 500.
Global Context and UNESCO’s Role
- UNESCO Report: Collaborated with Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts; highlights urgent need to protect tribal/indigenous languages.
- International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032): Addresses the critical situation of ~50% of the world’s 7,000 languages being endangered.
- International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (August 9):
- 2025 Theme: “Indigenous Peoples and AI: Defending Rights, Shaping Futures.”
- Examples: Polynesian communities use AI for reef conservation; New Zealand’s Te Hiku Media uses AI for Māori language revitalization.
- Challenges: Lack of indigenous representation in AI development; unauthorized use of indigenous knowledge.
|
Government Support for Language Preservation
- Ministry of Tribal Affairs Initiatives:
- Tribal Research, Information, Education, Communication and Events (TRI-ECE) scheme: AI-based language preservation (e.g., Bhashini AI translation tools).
- Rs. 58.70 lakh for studying Adivasi languages and culture.
- Ministry of Culture:
- Promotes folk and tribal arts through research and digitization.
- National Manuscripts Mission: Digitizes manuscripts.
- National Mission for Cultural Mapping: Maps cultural heritage of 4.5 lakh villages.
- Janapada Sampada Division: Documents vanishing traditions via fieldwork.
- Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsavs: Showcases tribal arts for awareness.
- National Education Policy (NEP) 2020: Emphasizes multilingual education to preserve local languages.