The People’s Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) was initiated in 2010 by Prof. G.N. Devy at the Language Confluence hosted by Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Vadodara and envisions the creation of a Linguistic Survey rooted in people’s perception of language. Conceived as a project to capture how people identify, name and perceive what they speak, the survey in its published form will also contain the stories of people’s origin, dispersal and relationship with the neighbouring cultures.
PLSI as a nation wide survey is being carried out by members of respective communities, writers, cultural activists, scholars of intangible heritage, practitioners of oral arts and traditions, responsible citizens interested in working out alternate ways of development and scholars who believe in maintaining organic links between scholarship and the social context.
PLSI is an authentic and a comprehensive survey carried out by persons who belong to the respective speech communities or have worked closely with it over a considerable period of time.
The mandate of the PLSI as adopted by its voluntarily constituted Editorial Collective, at their meeting on 7th August 2011 at Vadodara is as follows:
The Peoples’ Linguistic Survey of India is a right based movement for carrying out a nation-wide survey of Indian languages as people perceive them, to identify, document and understand them; especially languages of fragile communities such as nomadic, coastal, island, hill and forest communities.
The PLSI is carried out by scholars, writers and activists in partnership with members of different speech communities.
The main objectives of the PLSI are to:
Provide an overview of the living languages of India as evolved by 2011 and as perceived by people.
Create an action network of members, committed to sustainable development and of community custodians of life-enhancing knowledge systems and traditions, irrespective of diverse social and cultural contexts.
Avert extinction of linguistic, cultural and biological diversity, nurtured trans-generationally by speech communities.
Build bridges among diverse language communities, and thereby, strengthen foundations of multilingual, puricultural Indian society and strengthen the process of building India as a single linguistic and culture area.
Build closer links between the government and linguistic communities, and to bring universal developmental strategies of the government in harmony with diverse ecological and cultural contexts.
Develop teaching material and capability for promoting education in mother tongue.
Provide a baseline for any future survey of India’s linguistic and cultural heritage.
Protect one of the few surviving bastions of linguistic diversity in the world, in the interest of human security and survival.
The PLSI is not
A repeat, substitute, replacement or a sequel to Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India, or a sample survey or part of Census survey.
It is not an exhaustive survey of each and every language in existence in India.
It is not an exercise in standardizing or fixing the writing or the speech of Indian Language communities.
The PLSI is
A quick, non-hierarchical, public consultation and appraisal, intended as an aid to cultural impact assessment of development, and as an acknowledgement of the self-respect and sense of identity of all, especially, endangered speech communities of India.
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
The Legal Holders of the PLSI:
Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Est. 1996, are and will remain the Legal Holders of the People’s Linguistic survey of India. The BRPC shall carry out an independent audit of all activity and funding involved in the PLSI activity, and will present the work and funding audit report to the Board of Trustees of the BRPC.