Training prog for survey of tamil dialects
A nine-day training programme to enable candidates make a survey of the various Tamil dialects will be organised at the Bharathiar University from September 1.According to a release from C. Sivashanmugam, Professor and Head, Department of Linguistics of the university, the training will be imparted to 160 post-graduates from departments of Tamil, Linguistics and other allied departments.The Government of India has recently declared Tamil as a classical language. As a result, the Mysore-based Central Institute of Indian Languages has created an exclusive nodal agency called Centre of Excellence for Classical Tamil. The agency will undertake various research and development programmes. As part of its activities the centre will undertake a comprehensive survey of the various Tamil dialects. It is felt that many dialects are under threat.On the one hand there is growing neutralisation of dialect boundaries, while on the other there is reinforcement of dialect differences. The survey is expected to bring out information that will help solve such discrepancies.The university programme is expected to train and orient the surveyors to undertake the large scale exercise efficiently.
