Tribal Languages of Ladakh (Part 1)

The present volume on Tribal Languages of Ladakh is the first part of the Vol. VI of series Studies in Tibeto-Himalayan Language. It has been devoted to porok-skad, a little known tribal language of Brog-yul, in the Himalayan district of Ladakh. The aim of this volume is to present a detailed descriptive account of a language which, due to geographical reasons, has remained unexplored, though occupies an important place among the speeches of Dardic groups, on account of being the only surviving speech of the Daradas of ancient India in N.W.E.P. and has been able to preserve to a great extent, the order forms of it, which in other speeches of this group have undergone tremendous changes. As such, from the historical point of view too, it has a special significance among the speeches of Tibeto-Himalayan groups in general and among the speeches of Dardic groups in particular. Moreover, it is for the first time that a detailed synchronic analysis of this little known language has been presented through this volume. Besides, in the introductory section of it considerable light has been thrown on historical and comparative aspect of it, viz. on its position among the languages of Dardic groups, its relationship with Tibeto-Himalayan languages of this region, its relationship with OIA, etc. As such, this volume on prok-shad not only partially fulfils the long standing need of a detailed survey of the speeches of Himalayan region as a whole, but also is sure to provide fresh information on the historical and synchronic linguistic scenario of the western regions of the Himalayas.

Professor D.D. Sharma (b. 1928), a renowned scholar of Sanskrit and Linguistics, served Panjab University, Chandigarh for nearly 28 years. He obtained Ph.D, in Sanskrit from the Benaras Hindu University in 1958 and later on Ph.D and D.Litt in Linguistics from the Panjab University, Chandigarh, besides the highest Oriental title, viz. Sahity¯ach¯arya (Varanasi) and Diploma in French, German and Persian. Professor Sharma is well acquainted with nearly two dozen Indian and foreign languages and has to his credit 20 research volumes and scores of research papers on the subjects of languages, culture and literature, published in research journals of national and international repute. In Linguistics he has made substantial contribution in the fields of descriptive, historical, comparative, contrastive linguistics, sociolinguistics and semantics. It was in recognition of his contribution to Linguistics that he was awarded the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship (1984-86) to undertake the linguistic survey of the Himalayan languages from Ladakh to Bhutan. In the field of Sanskrit language and literature too his contribution is equally substantial. His research work on Kalidasa bagged him an award from the Sanskrit Academi, Uttar Pradesh. On his retirement from the Panjab University in May 1989 he was awarded Emeritus Fellowship by the U.G.C. for the completion of his 12 volumes research project, Studies in Tibeto-Himalayan Languages of which 5 volumes have already appeared. Currently, he is actively engaged in the completion of the remaining volumes of the above mentioned project.