NET News Desk

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu today released a book based on the Tangams, a critically endangered speech community of Arunachal Pradesh domiciled at Kugging village, Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The book titled The Tangams: An Ethnolinguistic Study Of The Critically Endangered Group of Arunachal Pradesh has been compiled by Centre for Endangered Languages (CFEL), Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies (AITS), Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Arunachal Pradesh. The book is about Tangams who is one of the lesser-known ethnolinguistic groups within the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh.

According to the CFEL field survey 2016, the total population of the Tangam community is only 253 and resides only in one village.

The outcome of the study is presented in the chapters which contain study on Tangam language intending to give crucial insights into the knowledge of language structures within the Tani group of languages.

The chapters also contain valuable primary data on endangered oral narratives like ritual songs, lamentation songs, lullaby and festival songs and cultural practices like social life, political life, religion and belief systems.

The book will be useful not only to the future generations of Tangam community and Linguists along with Anthropologists but also to educators and policymakers.

On the occasion, Chief Minister stressed on the timely preservation of the mother tongues of Arunachal Pradesh. He said, “Language Loss is the reason for cultural erosion.”

The book is an outcome of four years of extensive field research and documentation carried out by the research team of Centre for Endangered Languages, Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Arunachal Pradesh at Kugging village, Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The co-authors of the book are Kaling Dabi, Kombong Darang, Rejhoney Borang, Chera Devi, Rumi Deuri and jointly edited by Lisa Lomdak and Rejhoney Borang. The executive editor of the book is Prof. S. Simon John, Coordinator of the CFEL, RGU.

The book is published by Centre for Endangered Languages, Rajiv Gandhi University and Himalayan Publishers, New Delhi. The Centre for Endangered Languages is a University Grant Commission sponsored centre.

The Centre has been actively functioning since 2016. The main purpose of CFEL, RGU is its multidisciplinary approach.

The research team comprises of scholars from linguistics, anthropology, folklore, tribal studies and mass communication.

Presently, the Centre is focusing on field survey, documentation, outreach programmes and analysis of the critically endangered languages of Arunachal Pradesh. It is also studying these speech communities in their socio-cultural contexts.

The event was attended by Prof. Saket Kushwaha, Vice-Chancellor, RGU, Prof. Amitava Mitva, Pro VC, RGU, Prof. Tomo Riba, Registrar, Prof. S. Simon John, Director AITS and coordinator, CFEL RGU, Prof. Jumyir Basar and Kaling Dabi, Senior Research Fellow, CFEL.