The Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) is a comprehensive survey of the languages of British India, describing 364 languages and dialects.[1] The Survey was first proposed by George Abraham Grierson, a member of the Indian Civil Service and a linguist who attended the Seventh International Oriental Congress held at Vienna in September 1886. He made a proposal of the linguistic survey and it was initially turned down by the Government of India. After persisting and demonstrating that it could be done using the existing network of government officials at a reasonable cost, it was approved in 1891. It was however formally begun only in 1894 and the survey continued for thirty years with the last of the results being published in 1928.
An on-line searchable database of the LSI[2] is available, providing an excerpt for each word as it appeared in Grierson's original publication. In addition, the British Library has gramophone recordings in its sound archive[3] which document the phonology.
Grierson made use of Government officers to collect data from across the British Raj. He made forms and guidance material for the officers who gathered the information. There were numerous problems in ensuring uniformity of data gathering and clarity of understanding. One officer noted the difficulty even of noting the name of the language from a household. Interviewees would name their language after their caste.[4]
The maps and boundaries indicated by Grierson have often been used by political groups seeking reorganizations of state boundaries.[4]
List of volumesedit
The list of volumes published by Grierson from 1898 to 1928 are:
I. Part I Introduction
Part II Comparative Vocabulary of Indian Languages
A second Linguistic Survey of India project was initiated by the Language Division of Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India in 1984. This project is ongoing and at the end of year 2010 approximately 40% of the survey has been completed. This survey has a limited objective to trace the changes in the linguistic scenario after Grierson’s study.[5] Several professional linguists have criticized the project for repeating Grierson's methodological mistakes – like choosing local language teachers or government officials as informants rather than laypersons for collecting the linguistic data.
The 1991 census of India found 1,576 "mother tongues" with separate grammatical structures and 1,796 languages classified as "other mother tongues". Calls for a more complete and exact Linguistic Survey of India soon followed. It was noted that Grierson's works had relied on untrained field workers and neglected the former province of Burma, Madras and the then princely States of Hyderabad and Mysore. The result was that South India was under-represented in the LSI.[6][7]
The Government of India announced an ambitious project to expand and revise the Linguistic Survey of India. In the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007–12) Rs. 2.8 billion was sanctioned for the project. It was classified into two sections: a New Linguistic Survey of India and a Survey of Minor and Endangered Languages. Under the auspices of the Central Institute of Indian Languages[8] in Mysore, and under the direction of Udaya Narayana Singh, the project was expected to involve over 54 universities, 2,000 investigators and 10,000 linguists and language specialists working over a period of ten years.[6]
An April 2010 article in the online Times of India[9] mentions that the above project has been abandoned but then announces a new initiative following up on the original Grierson survey: the People's Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) under the auspices of an NGO called the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, and with Ganesh N. Devy as Chairperson. The project will begin with a survey of Himalayan languages. Rajesh Sachdeva, director of CIIL at the Bhasha Confluence, said the exercise of New Linguistic Survey of India had to be abandoned with “the government developing cold feet”, in the fear that this survey may lead to revival of linguicism or linguistic imperialism.[10]
^See British Library Sound Archive 2010-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
^ abPandit, Prabodh B. (1975). "The linguistic survey of India - perspectives on language use". In Ohannessian, Sirarpi; Charles A Ferguson; Edgar C. Polome (eds.). Language surveys in developing nations: papers and reports on sociolinguistic surveys(PDF). Arlington, Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics. pp. 71–85. (PDF) from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
^""Preface, Linguistic Survey of India Sikkim Part-I", Language Division, Office of the Registrar General, INDIA, (November, 2009)" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 2011-06-26. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
Grierson's Linguistic Survey of India - The searchable database
from the Linguistic Survey of India, containing more than 240 audio files and the corresponding transcriptions. (1913–1929)
All volumes of the Linguistic Survey of India (1898-1928)
April 26, 2024
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The Linguistic Survey of India LSI is a comprehensive survey of the languages of British India describing 364 languages and dialects 1 The Survey was first proposed by George Abraham Grierson a member of the Indian Civil Service and a linguist who attended the Seventh International Oriental Congress held at Vienna in September 1886 He made a proposal of the linguistic survey and it was initially turned down by the Government of India After persisting and demonstrating that it could be done using the existing network of government officials at a reasonable cost it was approved in 1891 It was however formally begun only in 1894 and the survey continued for thirty years with the last of the results being published in 1928 George Abraham Grierson the man behind Linguistic Survey of India photo from the National Portrait Gallery London An on line searchable database of the LSI 2 is available providing an excerpt for each word as it appeared in Grierson s original publication In addition the British Library has gramophone recordings in its sound archive 3 which document the phonology Contents 1 Method and critiques 2 List of volumes 3 Subsequent surveys 4 Gallery 5 See also 6 Further reading 7 References 8 External linksMethod and critiques editGrierson made use of Government officers to collect data from across the British Raj He made forms and guidance material for the officers who gathered the information There were numerous problems in ensuring uniformity of data gathering and clarity of understanding One officer noted the difficulty even of noting the name of the language from a household Interviewees would name their language after their caste 4 The maps and boundaries indicated by Grierson have often been used by political groups seeking reorganizations of state boundaries 4 List of volumes editThe list of volumes published by Grierson from 1898 to 1928 are I Part I Introduction Part II Comparative Vocabulary of Indian Languages II Mon Khmer amp Tai Families III Part I Himalayan Dialects North Assam Groups Part II Bodo Naga amp Kochin Groups of the Tibeto Burman Languages Part III Kuki Chin amp Burma Groups of the Tibeto Burman Languages IV Munda amp Dravidian Languages V Indo Aryan Languages Eastern Group Part I Bengali Assamese Part II Bihari amp Oriya VI Indo Aryan Languages Mediate Group Eastern Hindi VII Indo Aryan Languages Southern Group Marathi VIII Indo Aryan Languages North Western Group Part I Sindhi amp Lahnda Part II Dardic or Pisacha Languages including Kashmiri IX Indo Aryan Languages Central Group Part I Western Hindi amp Panjabi Part II Rajasthani amp Gujarati Part III Bhil Languages including Khandesi Banjari or Labhani Bahrupia Etc Part IV Pahari Languages amp Gujuri X Eranian Family XI Gipsy LanguagesSubsequent surveys editA second Linguistic Survey of India project was initiated by the Language Division of Office of the Registrar General amp Census Commissioner of India in 1984 This project is ongoing and at the end of year 2010 approximately 40 of the survey has been completed This survey has a limited objective to trace the changes in the linguistic scenario after Grierson s study 5 Several professional linguists have criticized the project for repeating Grierson s methodological mistakes like choosing local language teachers or government officials as informants rather than laypersons for collecting the linguistic data The 1991 census of India found 1 576 mother tongues with separate grammatical structures and 1 796 languages classified as other mother tongues Calls for a more complete and exact Linguistic Survey of India soon followed It was noted that Grierson s works had relied on untrained field workers and neglected the former province of Burma Madras and the then princely States of Hyderabad and Mysore The result was that South India was under represented in the LSI 6 7 The Government of India announced an ambitious project to expand and revise the Linguistic Survey of India In the Eleventh Five Year Plan 2007 12 Rs 2 8 billion was sanctioned for the project It was classified into two sections a New Linguistic Survey of India and a Survey of Minor and Endangered Languages Under the auspices of the Central Institute of Indian Languages 8 in Mysore and under the direction of Udaya Narayana Singh the project was expected to involve over 54 universities 2 000 investigators and 10 000 linguists and language specialists working over a period of ten years 6 An April 2010 article in the online Times of India 9 mentions that the above project has been abandoned but then announces a new initiative following up on the original Grierson survey the People s Linguistic Survey of India PLSI under the auspices of an NGO called the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre and with Ganesh N Devy as Chairperson The project will begin with a survey of Himalayan languages Rajesh Sachdeva director of CIIL at the Bhasha Confluence said the exercise of New Linguistic Survey of India had to be abandoned with the government developing cold feet in the fear that this survey may lead to revival of linguicism or linguistic imperialism 10 Gallery edit nbsp Linguistic Survey of India map of Dravidian languages nbsp Linguistic Survey of India map of Munda languagesSee also editLinguistic history of IndiaFurther reading editGeorge Abraham Grierson Linguistic Survey of India 11 Vols in 19 Parts Delhi Low Price Publ 2005 ISBN 81 7536 361 4 Majeed Javed 2018 08 31 Colonialism and Knowledge in Grierson s Linguistic Survey of India Routledge ISBN 978 0 429 79937 2 References edit Linguistic Survey of India Britannica Online Archived from the original on 2023 08 19 Retrieved 2023 08 19 See DSAL Archived 2017 07 04 at the Wayback Machine See British Library Sound Archive Archived 2010 10 10 at the Wayback Machine a b Pandit Prabodh B 1975 The linguistic survey of India perspectives on language use In Ohannessian Sirarpi Charles A Ferguson Edgar C Polome eds Language surveys in developing nations papers and reports on sociolinguistic surveys PDF Arlington Va Center for Applied Linguistics pp 71 85 Archived PDF from the original on 2016 08 04 Retrieved 2016 07 24 Preface Linguistic Survey of India Sikkim Part I Language Division Office of the Registrar General INDIA November 2009 PDF Archived PDF from the original on 2011 06 26 Retrieved 2011 06 21 a b Sharath S Srivatsa New Linguistic Survey of India to begin in April next year The Hindu November 16 2006 New linguistic survey from April 2007 Monsters and Critics Dec 26 2006 Central Institute of Indian Languages Archived 2004 12 13 at the Wayback Machine Darshana Chaturvedi Phase 1 of survey to map Himalayan languages to begin soon The Times of India April 4 2010 Anosh Malekar The case for a linguistic survey Infochange media August 1 2011 usurped External links editGrierson s Linguistic Survey of India The searchable database Gramophone recordings from the Linguistic Survey of India containing more than 240 audio files and the corresponding transcriptions 1913 1929 All volumes of the Linguistic Survey of India 1898 1928 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Linguistic Survey of India amp oldid 1181587631, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
