The Sociolinguistic Survey of Himachal Pradesh is the earliest attempt in India at sociolinguistic enquiry at such great depth and so extensive in character. It was a time when anything but linguistic theory was frowned upon by academics in the University. The Institute was facing its teething trouble and yet we took it as a challenge.
The present volume embodies the method and result of this survey. We have learnt from this survey more about the lost possibilities of what more could have been achieved. This helped me design the International Seminar on Sociolinguistics, the results of which are published in the volume Papers in Indian Sociolinguistics. Based on this experience, the Institute has completed a survey of Arunachal Pradesh.
Since then, we have come a long way in training personnel, in sharpening tools and techniques, in analysing the data and reaching insightful conclusions. But even today, I must admit, the greatest weakness of sociolinguistics in India is the thinness of linguistics.
The volume is presented as a milestone in our unfinished education. If this helps others in improving upon their projects and provides stimulation to further research, then our efforts would be rewarded.
I congratulate all my colleagues, past and present, who in the face of heavy odds brought the project to successful completion and those responsible for bringing out this volume.
Sociolinguistic research about language use, language choice and language planning in various speech communities has recently assumed a great significance in the context of complex and vexing language problems of developing societies. Research problems posed and studied, research designs pre-pared and used and tools and techniques of data collection developed in predominantly monolingual societies have failed to provide suitable models for research in the multilingual societies. Multilingual speech communities need to develop their own research tools, research strategies and techniques of data collections if sociolinguistic research has to have a relevance for solving their language problems concerning language use, standardization and modernization. From the very inception, the Central Institute of Indian Languages was concerned with applied research in sociolinguistics. A National Seminar-cum-Workshop in Sociolinguistics was organized in 1972 by the Institute to develop and augment man-power resources in the country for such work. Soon after the Workshop, a sociolinguistic survey of Himachal Pradesh was planned. The State Government of Himachal Pradesh, in view of its complex language problems, also requested the Institute to undertake such a survey in the State and promised to provide necessary physical facilities. Thus, the survey was launched in the later part of 1972.
As the survey was to be undertaken on a large scale and no language use survey had earlier been conducted in the country, it was felt necessary to carry out a Pilot Survey. The nature of the survey required that the linguists should draw upon the sociologist and the statistician at various stages of the survey like preparation of the research design and schedule, and coding and processing of the data. Thus, an interdisciplinary team was found necessary for the survey.
The Pilot Survey conducted in September-October 1972, formed the basis for planning the present large-scale survey. After the finalization of the research design, schedule and the sample, data were collected during the latter part of 1974 and early 1975. Dr. Raj Shekhar of the Institute was mainly responsible for the operations at the data collection stage. The research staff of the Data Processing Unit of the Institute Mrs. J. Sakuntala Sharma, Shri B.D. Jayaram and Shri D. Basavayya assisted in drawing the sample and coding of the schedules. Other members of the research staff of the Institute were also pressed into service at the coding stage.
A format for processing the data including the nature and type of multivariate tables to be prepared was finalized after a detailed and intense discussion among the members of the team Dr. B.G. Misra, Dr. H.R. Dua, Dr. Raj Shekhar, Mrs. J. Sakuntala Sharma, Shri B.D. Jayaram and Shri D. Basavayya. Then the computer processing of the data was undertaken. After the final computer output was available, various frequency tables were prepared for the interpretation of the data. The staff of the Data Processing Unit of the Institute were responsible for the computer processing and tabulation of the survey data. Shri D. Basavayya left the Institute during this period. Computer processing and tabulation of the data was completed in early 1976. Then the work on the interpretation of the data and the preparation and finalization of the report was initiated by the linguists. Dr. B.G. Misra was responsible for the direction and super-vision of the survey from its inception. After Dr. Misra's leaving the Institute in 1977, Dr. Dua took up the task of interpretating and preparing the report. Initial drafts of the sections on research design and collection and computer processing of the data (Chapters 2 & 3) were prepared by Dr. Raj Shekhar and Mrs. J. Sakuntala Sharma. Finalization and editing of the entire report has been done jointly by Dr. B.G. Misra and Dr. H.R. Dua.
As part of the present survey, Dr. H.R. Dua and Miss Rekha Sharma did the field work in collecting material in the major dialects, Chambeali, Kangri, Mandeali, Kulvi, Mahasui and Sirmauri for phonological study. The purpose of the study was to make a typological analysis of the phono-logical structure of these dialects and discover an overall phonological pattern. The data are being processed and a separate monograph will be prepared as a sequel to this report.
Many individuals and institutions have extended their co-operation at various stages of the survey. Shri S. Chakravarty, the then Governor of Himachal Pradesh, with his foresight on the complexity of the language problem in the State entrusted its study to the CIIL. Our grateful thanks are due to him. Our special gratefulness is due to Dr. D.P. Pattanayak, Director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages, who conceived the, project, and with his initiative, dynamism and his insightful suggestions and comments has been a source of great strength to the survey team at various stages of the work. Suggestions and comments of Dr. E. Annamalai, Deputy Director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, and Dr. S.K. Verma of the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, who reviewed the preliminary version of the report, have been valuable and our thanks are due to them. The authorities of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, are to be thanked for their co-operation for extending computer facilities to us. The State Government of Himachal Pradesh, and the personnel of the State Department of Education, are to be thanked for providing us generous help without which it would have been extremely difficult to conduct the survey.
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