– NET Web Desk

A three-day workshop on the language and culture documentation of the Bogun Bokang (Adi) community began today at Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), Arunachal Pradesh.

In the inaugural session, Tatin Medo, Secretary-General of the Bogun Bokang Welfare Society (BBWS) informed that the Bogun Bokang (Adi) speech variety is spoken in the villages located in Upper Siang District stretching from Bomdo, Janbo, Mosing, Migging, Pango, Ningging, Purung, Gome, Rishing and Tuting.

One of the resource persons of the workshop, Akeng Nitik (72 years old), Head Gaon Bura, Janbo village said “ We are Adis but as a  community member we want to share that the people residing in the above villages refer to themselves as Bogun Bokang since time immemorial. We have differences in aspects of language and culture with other subgroups like Ashing, Shimong, Karko and Tangam. There has been no or scanty reference to misrepresentation in existing works of literature. Today we have come forward to state that we are recognised as one of the subgroups of Adi.”

Resource persons Linggong Ninggo (66 years old), Gaon Burah of Migging village, and Lire Ninggo (72 years old) from Janbo Village said that the community will wholeheartedly extend all support to the research team in the documentation process of their language and culture.

The resource persons of the workshop are Akeng Nitik (Janbo), Lire Ninggo (Janbo), Linggong Ninggo (Migging), Gebong Lonchung (Migging), Bango Duggong (Migging), Kalen Jongkey (Ningging), Tatin Medo (Rishing) and lone female participant Pedong Patuk (Migging).

Prof. Sarit K. Chaudhuri, Head of the Department, Anthropology, RGU appreciated the efforts made by the Centre for Endangered Languages affiliated with the Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies in the documentation and dissemination of knowledge of the lesser-known communities of Arunachal Pradesh.

Prof. Jumyir Basar, Director, AITS in her brief address highlighted the work done by the ATIS in documenting lesser-known communities of Arunachal Pradesh. Lisa Lomdak, Assistant Professor, AITS highlighted the importance of native speaker’s for the vitality of languages.

Prof. Simon John, the Principal Investigator of the project “Documentation of Endangered Languages, Oral Narratives and Cultures of the Lesser-Known Tribal Communities of Arunachal Pradesh” supported by the North Eastern Council (NEC), Govt. of India, extended his gratitude to the resource persons for accommodating and supporting the research team during their fieldwork. He also expressed his gratitude to Prof. Saket Kushwaha, Vice-Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University for his constant support and encouragement to carry out research activities.

The workshop is being organised by the Centre for Endangered Languages (CFEL), Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies (AITS), RGU under the project “Documentation of Endangered Languages, Oral Narratives and Cultures of the Lesser-Known Tribal Communities of Arunachal Pradesh” supported by the North Eastern Council (NEC), Govt. of India.