First post-1947 linguistic survey planned

Patna: India will conduct its first post-independence "National Linguistic Survey" from April next year to know the exact number of languages in this nation.

"The survey will be the first of its kind in post-independence India," said Udaya Narayana Singh, director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL). It will take 10 years to complete.

George Abraham Grierson, a British government official, conducted the first Linguistic Survey of India (LSI) in 1898-1927. It was then mainly conducted in southern India.

Five-year plan

"No survey of Indian languages has been conducted since 1947," said Singh, who is here in connection with the release of his book. Grierson had taken 17 years.

In the 11th five-year plan (2007-12), Rs2.8 billion (Dh233 million) has been sanctioned for the project. It has been classified into two sections - New Linguistic Survey of India and Survey of Minor and Endangered Languages.

"Over 2,000 people from various fields will be involved in the survey and over 100 training workshops held," Singh said. The 1991 census revealed the existence of 1,576 "mother tongues" with separate grammatical structures and 1,796 languages classified as "other mother tongues".

"The survey will come out with data of endangered languages and those which became extinct over the years," Singh said. India currently has 23 major languages, including 17 "official" ones and 22,000 distinct dialects.