From Documentation to Participation: Ethnographic Reflections on Tribal Language Preservation in Eastern India

Abstract

Community-led initiatives in digital and cultural innovations play a pivotal role in preserving and promoting the endangered Santali, Mundari and Ho languages in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. For generations together these languages have survived through vibrant oral tradition of knowledge sharing and most of the time with no definite written script. Although festivals, music, dances, farming and other collective cultural activities have played a pivotal role in preservation of the languages yet the digital world has prominent challenges to overcome when it comes to achieving accuracy in translation and transmission of these tribal languages. This paper seeks to explore how these three respective languages of Eastern India experience, negotiate and reshape digital and cultural innovations for language preservation within their everyday social practices. The research highlights a shift from mere documentation of tribal languages to participatory preservation. Addressal to two main questions will be made: How have these digital platforms reshape everyday linguistic practices? And what were the challenges encountered by them while incorporating such technological advancements? The current affairs on language preservation of tribal languages and government efforts through NEP 2020 has been kept as the background focal point of the research.