Chief Minister Pema Khandu releases book on endangered tribe

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: A book titled 'The Tangams: An Ethnolinguistic Study Of The Critically Endangered Group of Arunachal Pradesh' by the Centre for Endangered Languages (CFEL) under Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies (AITS) of Rajiv Gandhi University here, was released by Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Monday.

The book is based on the Tangams, a critically endangered speech community of Arunachal Pradesh domiciled at Kugging village in Upper Siang district.

The Tangams are one of the lesser-known ethno-linguistic groups within the Adi tribe of the State. 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.

Releasing the book, Khandu 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 CFEL at Kugging village.

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.

The event was attended by RGU Vice Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha, Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Amitava Mitva among others.

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