science

People's Linguistic Survey of India

People's Linguistic Survey of India is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand People's Linguistic Survey of India rather than just read about it. In short: The People's Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) is a linguistic survey launched in 2010 in order to update existing knowledge about the languages spoken in the modern republic of India. The survey was organized by the NGO Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Baroda, founded by G.

Key takeaways

People's Linguistic Survey of India belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reproduce the core statement of People's Linguistic Survey of India from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The People's Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI) is a linguistic survey launched in 2010 in order to update existing knowledge about the languages spoken in the modern republic of India. The survey was organized by the NGO Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Baroda, founded by G. N. Devy, a social activist, and was conducted by 3500 volunteers, including 2000 language experts, social historians. It has identified 780 languages in India. The 35,000 page survey is being published in 50 volumes. The first six volumes were released at the Bhasha Vasudha Global Languages Conference in Vadodara on January 7, 2012. The survey was completed in December 2012 and several of its volumes are being published by the publishing house Orient Blackswan.

Survey format The publications of the survey include the following information:

Name of the language. Brief history. Geographical region where the language is spoken. Short bibliography. Sample oral songs with translation. Sample oral stories with translation. Colour terms. Relational terms. Terms for time and space. For scheduled languages, the survey also provides a broad cultural overview of each language.

Relevance The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India recognizes 22 scheduled languages, excluding English, and the linguistic policies and funding of the Indian government are organised around this information. However, this information does not adequately convey the linguistic diversity of India. The 1961 Census of India had recorded 1652 languages being in use in India. However, it was decided to exclude languages spoken by less than 10,000 people in the 1971 Census, which brought down the figure to 108 languages. PLSI has followed the policy of including all languages in the survey, irrespective of the number of users. For example, it records a language called Chaimal in Tripura, which is spoken by only five people. PLSI also highlights the phenomenon of dying languages. "On 26 January 2010, a lady who belonged to a community called Bo died in the Andaman Islands and she was the last speaker of her language that was also called Bo. Sadly, along with her, the continuous line of wisdom of 65,000 years was also gone." said G. N. Devy, the Chairperson of Bhasha Research and Publication Centre. Observing a link between changing economic realities and the survival of languages, Devy contends that "a language disappears when the livelihood options of the speech community disappear."

Selected findings Of all the languages documented by PLSI, 480 are languages spoken by tribals and nomadic tribes, while about 80 are coastal languages. Arunachal Pradesh is the state with the highest number of languages, with as many as 66 languages spoken there, while West Bengal has the highest number of scripts, nine, and around 38 languages. The scripts that exist in Bengal are Ol Chicki (Santhal), Kol Ho, Barangh Kshiti, Lepcha, Sadri and Limbu besides Bengali, Urdu and Nepali. Languages with increasing numbers of speakers are Byari in Karnataka, Bhojpuri in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Khasi in Meghalaya, Mizo in Mizoram, Kumouni in Uttarakhand, Kutchhi in Gujarat and Mewati in Rajasthan. 400 million of the Indian population speak Hindi and it remains the most popular language of India, while the number of Indian people with English as their mother language has gone up from 187,000 in 1971 to 10 million in 2011.

Volumes There are 50 volumes in total. The names and parts of those volumes are as follows- 1. The Being of Bhasha: A General Introduction

Part One: Hindi By G. N. Devy

Part Two: English By G. N. Devy

2. The Languages of Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Part One: Hindi Edited by M. Sreenathan

Part Two: English Edited by M. Sreenathan

3. The Languages of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana

Part One: Hindi Edited by A. Usha Devi

Part Two: English Edited by A. Usha Devi

Part Three: Telugu Edited by A. Usha Devi

4. The Languages of Arunachal Pradesh

Part One: Hindi Edited by Lisa Lomdak

Part Two: English Edited by Lisa Lomdak

5. The Languages of Assam

Part One: Hindi Edited by Bibha Bharali & Banani Chakravarty

Part Two: English Edited by Bibha Bharali & Banani Chakravarty

Part Three: Assamese Edited by Bibha Bharali & Banani Chakravarty

6. The Languages of Bihar

Part One: Hindi Edited by Vibha Chauhan

Part Two: English Edited by Vibha Chauhan

7. The Languages of Chhattisgarh

Part One: Hindi Edited by Chitta Ranjan Kar

Part Two: English Edited by Chitta Ranjan Kar

8. The Languages of Goa

Part One: Hindi Edited by Madhavi Sardesai

Part Two: English Edited by Madhavi Sardesai

9. The Languages of Gujarat, Diu, Daman and Dadra & Nagar Haveli

Part One: Hindi Edited by Kanji Patel

Part Two: English Edited by Kanji Patel

Part Three: Gujarati Edited by Kanji Patel

Images of the cover pages

References

External links https://www.bhasharesearch.org/plsi

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with People's Linguistic Survey of India

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what People's Linguistic Survey of India claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to People's Linguistic Survey of India before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about People's Linguistic Survey of India ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of People's Linguistic Survey of India

In research: People's Linguistic Survey of India appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses People's Linguistic Survey of India in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: People's Linguistic Survey of India is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Languages of India, Linguistic history of India, Linguistic research in India, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for People's Linguistic Survey of India outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study People's Linguistic Survey of India in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is People's Linguistic Survey of India in simple terms?

Why does People's Linguistic Survey of India matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study People's Linguistic Survey of India?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on People's Linguistic Survey of India.