Turi is considered to be one of the most endangered indigenous languages in the world. There is no verifiable database on the number of Turi speaking people or where they are mostly based.
Informal surveys, however, suggest that over 42,000 use Turi as a language of common communication. Turi speakers in India mostly work in the manufacture of bamboo products such as winnowers.
They are mainly based in Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, parts of Assam and Bangladesh.
Some 18 months ago, President Droupadi Murmu, then Jharkhand Governor and Chancellor of state universities, had begun a programme for the conservation of Turi and many such indigenous languages faced with the threat of extinction.
She formally set the ball rolling on February 21, 2021 — International Mother Tongue Day. A 10-day seminar-cum-workshop was organised at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University (DSPMU) in Ranchi.
Veteran linguists and anthropologists — including John Michael Peterson of Kiel University of Germany, Alex Gracia from Barcelona University of Spain and Mandana Seyfeddinipur from University of London — assembled to work out modalities of the programme. Many other experts from Indian and foreign research institutes joined them.
It was agreed to make optimum use of new technologies for the documentation of the ‘most vulnerable’ Turi language.
Despite repeated Covid-19 lockdowns hitting research, extensive interactive sessions with Turi speaking people were taken up. Since then, 284 Turi words have found a place on the ‘swadeshi list’ after translation.
A ‘Chitramala,’ or pictorial book, on the basics of Turi language is all set to hit the stands. A short documentary film too has been prepared.
Dr Abhay Sagar Minz, Director of International Documentation Centre for Endangered Indigenous Languages and Culture at DSPMU, tells theindiantribal.com, “Some Turi speaking people from Odisha have requested rectification of pronunciation parameters used in the Chitramala. These are being corrected before the book is publicly released.”
Replying to a question, Minz said this research has also found a place on the official website of the University of London, which is a unique achievement for DSPMU and Jharkhand. He maintained that more such projects would be taken up in the coming days.
The work towards preservation of the endangered Turi language is on the right work. The experts feel there is an urgent need to make similar sustained efforts to preserve other endangered languages too.
