Our Correspondent
Kohima, Aug. 25 (EMN): The ‘Anglo-Phom dictionary’ published by the department of Art and Culture was released by M Shayung Phom, additional secretary of Home and member of Phom Literature Board, in Kohima on Thursday.
The dictionary is a collection of works by scholars, language experts, and the efforts of the Art and Culture's department to document the language of the Phom community from a linguistic perspective.
“Much care has been made to ensure that the words in the dictionary are closest and truest to their English equivalent,” the book stated in its summary.
It expressed hope to serve the curiosities and requirements of the Phom speakers, non-Phom speakers as well as students and scholars engaged in the research. It also believed that the efforts would only be a stepping stone in the documentation and development of the Phom language and literature for future generations to work, build, and rebuild on those foundations.
In his address, Shayung urged on the need to preserve one’s own dialect.
‘We don’t want our own dialect; it’s not only the Phom but other tribes also. We all want to speak Nagamese, which is not a dialect at all,’ he rued.
He urged upon the parents to teach one’s own language to their children if they wanted to be identified. He also encouraged all to make proper use of the dialects.
He further stated that corrections would be made if mistakes are found in the dictionary.
The secretary of Art and Culture, Athel O Lotha, said the dictionary is an outcome of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs programme under ‘support to tribal research institutes,' which was implemented by the department of Art and Culture. The main aim of the project, according to her, was to document the current status of the language with the firm belief that having such a database of words in the Phom language would be a boost to the tribe and enable people as well as scholars who are interested in learning the language and gain an entry point into the language acquisition process.
The editors and research consultants of the project were Yanbeni Yanthan and Dr. Imlienla Imchen. The book is priced at INR 500.