ITANAGAR, Jul 6: Chief Minister Pema Khandu today released a book on ethno-linguistic study of Tangams, an Arunachal tribe whose language is critically endangered as per the UNESCO.
The book titled ‘The Tangams: An Ethnolinguistic Study Of The Critically Endangered Group of Arunachal Pradesh’ was published by Centre for Endangered Languages (CFEL) under Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies, Rajiv Gandhi University. It is based on the Tangams, a critically endangered speech community of the State domiciled at Kugging village in Upper Siang district.
“The book will be useful not only to the future generations of Tangam community and linguists along with anthropologists but also to the educators and the policy-makers,” the Chief Minister said.
While laying stress on the timely preservation of the mother tongues of Arunachal Pradesh, Khandu said, “Language loss is the reason for cultural erosion.”
Tangams are one of the lesser known ethno-linguistic groups within the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. 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 is an outcome of four years of extensive field research and documentation carried out by the research team of CFEL, RGU at Kugging village.
The book release event was attended by RGU Vice-Chancellor Prof Saket Kushwaha, Pro-VC Prof Amitava Mitva, Registrar Prof Tomo Riba, AITS Director & and CFEL coordinator Prof S Simon John, among others.
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