Yidgha, Dameli and Gawarbati, spoken in different valleys of the district of Chitral, and Ushojo, spoken in Swat, have joined the ranks of languages being used for written communication.
These new books contain bilingual word lists and alphabets, all the information necessary both to begin using a language for written communication and to document a language for preservation purposes, said a press release issued by FLI.
While addressing the closing ceremony, Professor Mumtaz Hussain said that preservation of minor languages of Chitral is vital to protect Chitrali Culture. “These languages on the borders of Chitral are playing a role of defenders” he added. He also appreciated the effort FLI makes for preservation of vernacular languages.
The Forum for Language Initiatives (FLI) has been striving to help the language communities of northern Pakistan to document and promote their languages through capacity building and developing new publications for more than a decade. Under this project, FLI selected two people from each language community to train in language documentation and development principles.
These individuals then later held training workshops in their respective communities and trained an average of ten people per community, enabling each community to effectively document their language. Together with support from the wider language communities, research was initiated to identify the unique sounds and elements of each language, develop their alphabets, collect folktales reflecting the rich heritage of each language’s culture, and then publish the resulting work in both written and audio formats that can be used by these communities for generations to come.
The ceremony was also addressed by Deputy District Nazim, Molana Abdul Shakoor who was the chief guest and very known writer Mola Nigah who graced the event as president. Dr. Inayatullah Faizi, Professor Karim Beg were among people who encouraged the communities who came to attend the ceremony.
In a celebratory concluding ceremony held at the same location where the project was initiated a year prior, these new linguists were acknowledged for their valuable contributions. The event followed a musical show at night where indigenous communities performed and stole the show. This was for the first time in their history that these communities were provided with such platform to display this this music.