Table Of ContentCENTRAL INSTITUTE OF INDIAN LANGUAGES
DICI'IONARY SERIES- I
Editor .
E. ANNAMALAI
Hindi Assistance
R. A. SINGH
REKHA SHARMA
I. S. BORKAR
Cl/L Dictionary SeritS- 1
AO-ENGLISH-HINDI DICTIONARY
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K. S. GURUBASA \.E GOWDA
CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF INDIAN LANGUAGES
Manasagangotri, MYSOR£·.570 006
First Published : May 1985
Val1aklul 1907
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0 <Antral lnstitlllt of Indian Lanpafll, 1985
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Price Rs. 12-GO
Publisbe:l by D. P. Pattanayalc, Director, Central Institute of
Indian Languages, Manasagangbtri, Mysore-570 006.
Printed at the CIIL Printing Pre$S by M. G. Kanakram,
Aut. Director (Admn.)
FOREWORD
Tribal developments in the country has been
vitiated due to presuppositions. It is generally taken
for granted that tribals are in the periphery of Indian
society and outside the Indian psyche. It is also
assumed that the tribals need protection and they
must be integrated into the Indian main stream.
Scholars and administrators alike believed in the
19th century that the tribals either had no or
la~uage
had limited languages. It was said for example that
So:ra language had only 700 words. The term 'culture
of silence' came in handy to reinforce the above notion.
Tribal languages are neither easy nor are they
incomplete. Structurally they are as complex as the
known major languages of India. They express all the
nuances of tribal life and are capable of expressing any
aspect of modern life if put to such use.
The Central Institute of Indian languages which
has a major programme of studying tribal languages in
all their psycho-social relations, has decided to produce
a grammar, a dictionary, a volume of folklore and
learning materials for children and adults in each
language with a view to establishing bi-directional
communication among the tribal and non-tribal
communities.
The present Ao-Engliah-Hindi Dictionary is the
first to be published in our dictionary series. By
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providing Hindi and English glosses an attempt has
been made to simultaneously expose the Ao speakers
to both the official and associate official languages of
the country. We hope that the non--Ao speakers who
will have occasion to come in contact with them either
for administrative or for trade purposes will find the
dictionary useful.
Our field workers who have worked under difficult
conditions and produced such materials as this deserve
commendation. I also put on record our appreciation
for those who are responsible for the speedy exec.ution
of the work.
(D.P. PATTANAYAK)
Director
PREFACE
The tribal people in India have for long lived in
isolation except to be exposed for exploitation. They
have not participated to their benefit in the socio
economic development of the country. To come out of
their isolation, it is necessary' for them to learn the
language of the majority people around them and a
number of them have done so. But this bridges the
communication gap only in one way and the v. hole
burden of building up this bridge is carried by the
minority group. It is necessary, however, for deve
lopings, mutual understanding and good-will, to increase
bidirectional communication between the tribal people
and the majority of people of the region. For this
purpose, the majority people, especially those who
come in contact with the tribal people for various
reasons such as civil administration, security, social
service, trade, etc., should learn their language. The
dictionary, which forms part of the package consisting
of phonetic reader, grammar and instructional materials,
is prepared to help them in their learning of _the tribal
language.
The preparation of a dictionary in a tribal language
is an important step for the codification of the langu
age. Keeping this in view the entry in the tribal
lauguage is given in the script suggested for it. It is
followed by phonemic transcription to aid pronuncia·
tion when the script is not based on Roman. The
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meanings are given in the language of the State where
the tribal language is spoken and in English and wher
ever possible, also in Hindi. This will help the literate
tribal people in their learning these language.s. The
dictionary is followed by appendices of special lexical
classes in the language in some cases.
Though the dictionary is meant to be helpful for
language learning, it is hoped that it will also be useful
to linguists. The grammatical labels are based on the
grammar of the language prepared in the Institute.
Data for the dictionary were collected in the field
primarily from one informant by elicitation through the
word list prepart:d in the Institute. They were then
cross-checked with some other informants. The list of
words may not be exhaustive and we are trying to
evolve methods to increase the words. Comments
and suggestions passed on to us will be useful to improve
our future publication in this series.
E. ANNAMALAI
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The data for this Dictionary were collected. during
my field work in Nagaland in 1970-71 and 1972 in
connection with the preparation of Ao-Naga Phonetic
Reader and Ao Grammar both of which have already
been published. During the course of my field work
I have been encouraged by the sincere cooperation of
many officers and friends of whom particular mention
may be made of the informants Mr. T akuwati Jamir
J.
Ao, Mr. Tenjenyabang Ao, Mr. Bendang Ao, Mr.
Mekenzamir Ao, Mr. Daile Namo and Pastor B. T.
Luen Ao. I cannot, however, forget the hospitality of
the officers of the Nagaland Government, viz., Mr.
Yajen Aier, Mr. Kiremwati Ao, Mr. W. Nokden Ao,
Mr. Chubanungba Ao and Mr. R. K. Sarma, without
whose affection and cooperation my work at Nagaland
would have been difficult.
It is indeed fortunate that I have always been
privileged with the stimulating guidance of Dr. D. P.
Pattanayak, Director, Central Institute of Indian Lan
guages, whose comments have always inspired me. To
him and to Dr. E. Annamalai, Deputy Director,
Central Institute of Indian Languages, who spared
much of their precious time to discuss the draft of this
book and offered valuable suggestions in bringing the
Dictionary to the present form, I am indeed indebted.
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