Rung community dialect to be in ‘Devnagri’ script
Rung community dialect to be in ‘Devnagri’ script
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Jan 22
Rung dialect, spoken by tribals of Vyans, Darma Chaudans valleys of Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand in India and Tinkar region of Nepal, will be available in written script for the first time as the Rung scholars are in the last phase to develop a script for the hitherto unwritten dialect of this border region. “The Rung words will be expressed in ‘Devnagri’ script,” said a Rung scholar.
The work of developing a script to express the words of Rung dialect is being developed by ‘Rung Kalyan Santha’ and ‘Nadan Nyas’, formed by Rung speakers of the dialect in India and Nepal.”The Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also praised works of ‘Rung Kalyan Sanstha’ being done towards developing a script, in his ‘Man Ki Baat’, episode, a year ago,” said Ashok Nabiyal, a member of ‘Rung Kalyan Sanstha’.
“The work of developing a written form for dialect was actually started some 42 years ago, when Nand Ram Lala, a Rung community businessman from Tinkar region of Nepal donated a sum of Rs. one lakh for the purpose of getting written form of the ancient tribal dialect which is rich in its culture and heritage,” said Krishna Garbiyal, chairperson of the committee formed by Rung community for the purpose.
According to Krishna Garbiyal, after several discussion sessions with Rung scholars in order to find a script for the language, it was found that over 95 percent of dialect could be expressed in ‘Devnagri’ script.”We have to hold four sessions with Rung scholars to get the exact expressive words in ‘Devnagri’ for the remaining five percent words of the dialect,” said the committee chairperson.
According to Garbiyal, some words of the dialect, that differ somewhat in expressing the same thing in separate regions will be standardised. “We have slight different twisting for same word in Darma, Chaundas, Vyans and Tinkar regions of Rung speaking areas. These words will be standardized to make one expression for these words,” said Krishna.
Rung scholars claim that the Rung dialect was in vogue in this region since time immemorial. “ The comparison of Rung dialect with languages prevalent in western Tibet cannot be accepted as Rung dialect prospered in the shadow of Mount Kailash in Indian sub- continent. The Rung has no connection with the Bon language of western Tibet,” said Mohan Singh Bangyal, a Rung scholar and a retired IPS officer, who has written a dictionary of Rung dialect.
“The community has done several sacrifices for the Nation during 1962 Indo-China war but all these events were missed by community due to lack of written form of dialect ,” said Ashok Nabiyal another member of ‘Rung Kalyan Sanstha’.
