TOTO
SHABDA SANGRAHA – ART & CULTURE
News:
A dictionary to save a
language from extinction
What's
in the news?
●
A language spoken by barely 1,600 people
living in parts of West Bengal bordering Bhutan is to get a dictionary, thanks
to the efforts of a professor at the University of Calcutta.
Toto
Shabda Sangraha:
●
It’s a forthcoming dictionary focused on
the Toto language.
Objective:
●
It aims to preserve the Toto language,
primarily oral until now, by documenting its vocabulary.
Languages
Included:
●
Will feature Toto words translated into Bengali and English.
Script
Used:
●
Utilizes the Bengali script, as it is more familiar to the Toto community.
Compilers:
●
The dictionary has been compiled by Bhakta
Toto, and professor Mrinmoy Pramanick is closely associated with the project.
Release
& Publication:
●
It will be released in Kolkata on October
7, and is published by the trust and Bhasha Samsad.
Go
back to basics:
Toto
language:
●
It is a Sino Tibetan language spoken by the tribal Toto people and is written
in the Bengali script.
●
A prominent community member Dhaniram Toto
developed a script as recently as in 2015.
●
It is spoken by barely 1,600 people living
in parts of West Bengal bordering Bhutan.