Centre for the Study of Indian Languages (CSIL)

Indian languages, despite their diverse linguistic origins, serve as vehicles of a shared conceptual lifeworld. It is a heritage that transcends grammatical and syntactic differences. But Indian languages are faced with a twofold challenge: Indian languages are becoming increasingly “relay languages” that are parasitic on Western conceptual frameworks and as a result there is a fundamental gap where subtle indigenous distinctions that structure our experience become inexpressible within formal discourse.

An important intangible cultural heritage is our life with concepts. Such a concept-world can become distorted and inaccessible due to various historical reasons. Concept loss is every bit like livelihood loss, language loss, or biodiversity loss. However, very little attention is paid to this resource which is the very basis for a flourishing and self-sustaining cultural life, consisting of a rich matrix of actions. Lexical solutions alone cannot restore lost concepts. What’s needed is reconstructing the predicates that constitute Indian cultural knowledge. These predicates, shaped over generations, resist rapid change despite our linguistic registers getting constantly remixed. This creates an opportunity for a conceptual enquiry which can replenish lost concepts and make them available for reflection.