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Philosophische FakultätData Center for the Humanities

Archiving and Cataloguing Endangered Indigenous Languages of West Bengal, India (Asur, Birhor and Shershabadia)

Description

This dataset comprises language profiles and both textual and audiovisual cultural materials documenting three endangered languages of West Bengal: Asur (asur1254), Birhor (birh1242), and Shershabadia (Glottolog code unavailable). On the scale of linguistic endangerment, Asur is classified as definitely endangered and is spoken in parts of North Bengal; Birhor is critically endangered and primarily spoken in the Purulia district; and Shershabadia, spoken across Malda, North and South Dinajpur, and Darjeeling, belongs to a community officially recognised as socially and educationally backward. Each language occupies a distinct ecological and social niche within the multilayered linguistic landscape of the region and faces severe attrition due to the dominance of Bengali, Hindi, and English in both public and private domains. Their preservation through systematic documentation and archiving is therefore an urgent linguistic and cultural priority.

Core team

Project Information

Project title: Archiving and Cataloguing Endangered Indigenous Languages of West Bengal, India (Asur, Birhor and Shershabadia)
Funder: Humboldt University, Berlin
Grant ID: https://4memory.de/aktivitaeten/fellowships/

Cite as

Guha, Swati & Maitrayee Mukherjee 2025. Archiving and Cataloguing Endangered Indigenous Languages of West Bengal, India (Asur, Birhor and Shershabadia). Data Center for the Humanities. https://doi.org/10.18716/dch/a.00000055

Archive Information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18716/dch/a.00000055
Date of the archival: 2025-12-02
Size of the package: 2 GB
Contact Name: Felix Rau (DCH) -

Data formats

  • Texts: jpeg
  • Images: jpeg
  • Videos: mp4