Now, Konda Doras can read and write their mother tongue

By SNV Sudhir/Visakhapatnam

Now, the Kondadoras of the agency areas of the district can read and write their own mother tongue . Jacob and Susan George, Masters degree holders in Linguistics, from the University of Arlington, Texas gave the written script as a gift to this tribal group. It all started in the year 1979 when the couple wanted to do some research on the tribal languages in India and strayed into the remote village Lakshmipuram in Ananthagiri mandal of the Visakha agency. The earnest desire of the illiterate people to read and write, prompted Jacob and Susan to learn the spoken Konda and develop a script based on Telugu language. From that day they lived among the Kondadoras, ate their food and slept with them. With their close association with this tribe they could assimilate the sounds of their spoken words. They have also prepared storybooks in the Konda language to make them understand their mother tongue in a better way. Jacob and Susan also strived hard to translate the New Testament of the Holy Bible in to the Konda language, which was released very recently. Now these Konda Doras can read the holy book in their mother tongue. Konda language is mainly spoken by this tribal group comprising a population of approximately 20,000. They live in the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh and parts of Koraput district in Orissa. This language belongs to the Dravidian family. The literacy rate was 2 per cent among them. Konda language consists of 32 letters whereas Telugu has 56. For an illiterate Konda it is easy to learn these 32 letters, which helps him first to read and write his mother tongue. Then with the help of the bridge premier, a book designed by them will introduce the rest of the alphabets in Telugu, so that they could read Telugu language. “What we observed while interacting with these Konda Doras that they were not interested in education as it was taught in Telugu which they do not understand at all. Now they are showing interest in going to schools. Once these tribals are taught in their own mother tongue it will develop some interest initially and motivates them to learn more. And education makes a person perfect for better living”, said Jacob. He admitted that they could not take the written script to many places of the agency to teach the Kondas their own language as they have their own constraints like manpower, infrastructure etc.The state government also observed the need for the education in one’s own mother tongue and is introducing the Konda medium at primary levels in 50 schools of agency on experimental basis, says D Annapurnamma, DEO of Paderu. "This is the beginning we will soon learn to write songs in our own language. This written script will help us in creating interest among our children to go to schools" says Someli Ghasi,a farmer.A first book on Phonemic Summary of Konda language was brought out in 1981. The then District collector C S Rao said in his foreword of the book that Jacob and Susan made a systematic attempt to organize the materials in a meaningful manner. He also added that they have analyzed the basic sound units and patterns in an intelligible way into vowels and consonants and graded them into syllables and words in varying their placements. “Initially we learned the Telugu language for six months and then learned to speak Konda. Later we analysed the sound system and developed the grammatical structure,” says a contended Susan.