Gondi (Adilabad) Dictionary

This dictionary which describes the variety of Gondi spoken in Adilabad District of Telangana State is the result of several collaborative efforts. More than 40 years ago, two scholars worked on the grammar of Gondi: Dr. Neville John Lincoln, Cornell University, wrote A Descriptive Analysis of the Adilabad Dialect of Gondi and Dr. P. S. Subrahmanyam, Annamalai University, wrote A Descriptive Grammar of Gondi.

Then in 2005, Mark and Joanna Penny (of SIL International) with assistance from Pendur Durnath Rao, built on the good foundation that was laid by those earlier scholars, digitizing those resources and adding many entries to the database which resulted in the publishing of the first Gondi Dictionary in collaboration with the ITDA, Utnoor.

Between 2007 and 2009 a massive community-based Dictionary Development Programme was initiated by the Education Department as part of the Multi-lingual Education drive being implemented by various ITDAs.

In January 2017, this dictionary has finally been released to the public by means of an Android App under the directorship of Sri. R V Karnan (IAS), Project Officer, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor, Adilabad District, Telangana.

It is a dictionary BY the people and FOR the people. It is not yet perfect, and should be considered as a community-approved draft with work still in progress. The maintainers of the Gondi Dictionary database welcome all feedback - which can be immediately incorporated into subsequent electronic editions. Our hope and dream is that this App will be very useful to the Gonds of Adilabad - as they seek to preserve and develop their unique language and culture.

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