Konkani texts to be digitized by Goa University

Goa University has planned to digitize and transliterate Konkani literature with an aim to reduce the linguistic and literary gap among the Konkani speakers in the state. The university on Tuesday stated that it will use Konkanverter, which was developed by the World Konkani Centre at Mangaluru in Karnataka. The Konkanverter will help in transliterating Konkani tests.

Konkani is a multi-script language, which means it can be written in Devanagari, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam, and Perso-Arabic. The initiative to digitize Konkani comes after the University’s English Department conducted detailed research on the digitization of Konkani tests and their transliteration.

According to the details provided the study explored the possibility of having a cross-orthographical readership of Konkani by using the Konkanverter which will help in increasing the readership and also produce literature. It will also help in creating a digital archive for Konkani.

The research was conducted by English Department Doctoral Scholar Palia Tukaram Gaonkar and Associate professor Dr. Andre Rafael Fernandes.

Konkani was declared as the official language of Goa in 1961 and it survived despite the political threats under the Portuguese rule and contention with Marathi. The researchers through their study elaborate that these hardships have diversified the nature of Konkani largely. The study also mentioned that Konkani is spoken in several dialects in Goa and surrounding regions and is written in five different scripts due to the migration of the people from the state over time.

Konkani communities are present in the neighbouring states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Maharashtra which is however heavily influenced by the local culture. Due to this Konkani is written in Devanagari, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam and Perso-Arabic scripts. The research also stated that this is one of the reasons which creates a linguistic and literary gap in the community of Konkani speakers.

Goa University Konkani Department Head Dr. Prakash Parienkar said that the department is extremely pleased with the research and it is important that the digitization and transliteration of the Konkani texts take which because there are valuable assets.

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