Jad is spoken by a tribe named Jad or Rongpa/ Rongba presently inhabiting in the hilly region of Garhwal, Uttarakhand. Historically, the community belongs to the Nilang and Jadong valley, living on the banks of Jad Ganga near the border of Tibet. According to Sri Bhagwan Singh Rana there are around 400 families having approximately 2547 members in Bagori village.

The whole Jad community is bilingual/multilingual and is quickly shifting towards the dominant languages (Garhwali and Hindi) of the area. At home though the older people speak Jad language among themselves without code-mixing but the younger generation uses a highly mixed variety. A lot of parents are not transferring Jad to the younger generation as many of them have a negative attitude towards their language. 80% of Jad speakers think that their language is difficult to learn and speak. The whole community unanimously wants their children to learn Hindi, Garhwali and English which is not a very encouraging situation for a language.

Following the framework established by Wurm and the stages of threatenedness discussed in Fishman’s GIDS (1991), Jad can be assessed as ‘severely endangered and at between stage 6 and 7 which means the language is at risk.’ Absence of a written form also plays a negative role in its development. It is a proven fact that Orthography gives stability to a language and not only conserves it but also helps in its standardization process. Some positives of writing an oral language include – written language documentation for language survival; expansion of language use to other domains; empowerment of the community. So, scripting a language is one of the most essential components of language documentation.

Funded by SEL, the objective of this project is to develop a writing system for this endangered oral language that will help in the development and preservation of this indigenous language and culture in addition to building up resource material to impart education in native voice.

The following team is handling the project-