The International School of Dravidian Linguistics (ISDL), Thiruvananthapuram, is the brainchild of VI Subramaniam, an eminent linguist and one of the pioneers in the academic study of Dravidian languages and culture. Founded in 1977, the 27-acre institute is dedicated to research in the field of linguistics, presaging the need to preserve the Dravidian languages — Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tulu — in their most pristine form.
The institute aims at producing Dravidian linguistics who know the region’s folklore, folk literature, speech variations and cultural history. “Our main objective is to initiate advanced study and research in all aspects of Dravidian language, art, history, philosophy, culture and religion,” says Naduvattom Gopalakrishnan, senior fellow at the institute. The school is backed by grants from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
M Rama, the institute’s director says that the linguists act as a bridge between the rich cultures of the language families. “Very few know that linguists are a much sought-after group. There are a lot of hidden gems in languages. To unearth them and familiarise the common man with such work, we need genuine language experts. Only a trained linguist can translate a work and also preserve its essence,” he says.
ISDL conducts fellowship programmes for research scholars in September. The scholars live on campus and undertake projects in different facets of language. An expert academic committee reviews the projects and awards fellowships to the scholars. Orientation and refresher courses spanning three months in Dravidian languages are also offered by the institute. The students from other states are given training in different languages and certificates will be issued at the end of the three-month course. “Learning of languages is not something that has to be despised. Language is the major factor that binds different people and cultures,” offers Gopalakrishnan.
The school has already produced a three-volume Dravidian encyclopaedia and has also published a series of monographs on grammatical theories of Dravidian languages. The library has over 30,000 books, national and international linguistic journals and has a huge collection of classic literary works in Dravidian literature. A speech lab at ISDL also trains the hearing-impaired.
Despite a lack of job prospects for linguists, the institute still gets students who think “job is just a secondary option.” Viplav Dutta, a student of Malayalam says, “I have always had a liking for languages. Hence I had no reservations on coming to ISDL after my MA in Bengali. Here, I learn Malayalam which, though difficult, is very interesting.”
The scholars and learners of language get monetary support from their respective governments for the work they put in.
Studies and research on variations in dialects of different regions, compilation of expressions, colloquial terms, mutual borrowings, specialised words in history, business and commerce with adequate meaning and explanation are also undertaken by the scholars of ISDL. Currently, the institute is attempting to trace the evolution of tribal languages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and has also identified 22 undeveloped languages that are scattered across the country.
—aswin@expressbuzz.com