The Apatani Alphabet or Tanw Kennanw saw the light of the
day when its first chart was released simultaneously at Supuñ Dree and Hong
Dree at Ziro on July 5, 2015 by Dr. Hage Lodor, President, Tanw Supuñ Dùukuñ
(TSD) and Bamang Felix, Parliamentary Secretary (Education), Government of
Arunachal Pradesh respectively.
The Apatani language was written using Devanagair Script in
the 1960s but later, Roman letters became more popularly used to write the
language. Early writers struggled with the problem of representing some sounds
which are specific to Apatani and are not available either in Roman or
Devanagari script. For a long time, individual authors followed their own
innovations to address this issue. As a result, however, there was no
uniformity in how the words were spelt.
In view of this, the Apatani Cultural and Literary Society
(ACLS) organized a symposium at Ziro to standardize the writing in Apatani.
Two-days deliberations resulted in a recommendation which has been followed for
more than a decade. In the meantime, the Apatani was approved by the Government
of Arunachal Pradesh to be taught as the third languages in the schools of Ziro
valley. The primer for teaching the middle classes were prepared by the Popi
Sarmiñ Society (PSS) using the recommendations of the ACLS symposium.
With the advent of social networking sites, many youngsters
attempted communication in Apatani. Sure enough, they felt the need to review
the 1997 ACLS recommendation to make the writing more accurate. In 2012,
NgunuZiro and the Apatani Teachers’ Welfare Forum (ATWF) collaborated to
organize a workshop to explore means to improve teaching of Apatani in the
schools of Ziro. Of the many
recommendations, one of them was to constitute a language development committee
to review the 1997 ACLS script. The task was entrusted to the ACLS.
Accordingly, the ACLS constituted the Apatani Language Development Committee
(ALDC) in August 2013. The mandate of the ALDC was to review the 1997 ACLS
script and submit the report in a year’s time.
After a year-long discussions and study, the ALDC submitted
the report in a public workshop organized by the ALCS on November 30, 2014. The
participants recommended that the ACLS accept the report, study it and give
their opinion within two months. The ACLS gave technical approval to ALDC
recommended script on January 12, 2015 and forwarded it to the Tanw Supuñ Dùukuñ
(TSD), the apex body of the Apatanis, for administrative approval. The TSD gave
the formal administrative approval and entrusted the task of promoting the
script and the Apatani language to the ACLS.
The publication of the chart, accompanied by a pamphlet
entitled “AN INTRODUCTION TO APATANI ALPHABET” by the ACLS is the beginning of its
attempt to promote the Apatani language.
