Mysuru/Mysore: The 2-day National Seminar on ‘Documentation of lesser-known Languages: Deliberation and Medium,’ organised by Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru and Regional Centre of Central Institute of Hindi (CIH), Mysuru, at the CIIL premises here, will conclude today.

In his inaugural address yesterday, Prof. Rajesh Sachdeva, former Director, CIIL, said: “to preserve lesser-known languages and the diverse multilingual society of the nation, all regional languages must go together harmoniously and efforts should be made on documentation, description and development of the concerned mother tongues and paying individual attention.’ 

He also emphasised on the research and development of lesser-known languages while undertaking fieldwork, survey and data collection, research, analysis, archiving and documentation of indigenous languages. For this, one should go to proximity of the particular language speaking community and use the technologies to study their livelihood and culture. 

Prof. Shilendra Kumar Singh, Head, Department of Linguistics, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, in his keynote address, said that the documentation of lesser-known languages is very important in safeguarding the individual speech of the community. Further, he added that to achieve this, the researcher should be imparted proper training and technical knowledge with the vast knowledge of descriptive and socio-linguistic studies.  

Prof. D.G. Rao, Director, CIIL, in his presidential remarks, said “We are taking everything from society, so our research activity must cater to the needs of the society. During documentation of lesser-known or endangered languages, research should have a reasonable time frame and should be completed in time with concrete parameters and uniform output. The research output should be primarily in Indian languages with a focus on Hindi and other major Indian languages of the region.”

Dr. Narayan Choudhary, Assistant Director (Admin.), CIIL, welcomed the gathering. Dr. Parman Singh, Regional Director, CIH, Mysuru, proposed a vote of thanks. Dr. Biresh Kumar compered the programme.