'India's Ability To Be Multi-Lingual Has Kept Us Together'

New Delhi: What with 900 languages alive and kicking, possibly the most for any country in the world, it is this multi-lingual ability that has kept the Indian fabric together, says G.N. Devy, the man whose monumental People's Linguistic Survey of India (PLSI), a 13-year effort with the help of 3,000 volunteers, showed up the county with its "many complexities".
In the light of the present research and documentation, "I can say that India is the only country to have 900 languages," he said.
Devy is now determined to work with the network put in place for documenting the Indian languages and doing his bit to save languages that are dying because they have no written history.
IANS interviewed the 63-year-old Devy, who is also the founder of the Vadodara-based Bhasha Research and Publication Centre.
Excerpts:
Q: The PLSI report is an expansive gamut of information. How did the idea germinate? How many people have been associated with the project?
A: India has many complexities and because of that it took us 13 years to formulate a common framework. In 2010, only after I was confident that we can carry forward the idea to the next level that we decided to conduct the survey. Therefore, it took us about four years when we worked closely with people of the communities and trained them through several workshops. About 3,000 people, from farmers to a vice-chancellor, helped us. And now with this network in place, the work will continue.
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