Srinagar, Sep 2: The Kashmir University vice-chancellor, Prof Riyaz Punjabi, on Wednesday launched the first trilingual English-Kashmiri-Hindi online dictionary.
 The dictionary named Kashmiri Zaban [Kashmiri language] has been compiled by the varsity’s Department of Linguistics and contains over 12,000 entries. It involves three scripts including Roman script for English, Devnagari script for Hindi and Modified Persio-Arabic script for Kashmiri. The Beta version of the e-dictionary is available online at: www.kashmirizaban.com.
 A Unicode compliant Kashmiri font (AFAN KOSHUR) was developed by the Language Technology Group of the Department of Linguistics.
 This led to work on Kashmiri Corpora, Tagging, Morph Analyzer and Dictionary building.
 Speaking on the occasion, Prof Punjabi said the launch of the dictionary was a historic moment for the varsity. “The dictionary will be of great use to people, especially the non-Kashmiris for whom we are launching a course named ‘Kashmiri for non-Kashmiri’ soon,” he said while congratulating the department for the work.
 The dictionary was launched during the inaugural function of the five-day workshop on “Dialect Survey on Kashmiri.”
 “The dialectical variations persist in the Valley and it is linguistics that helps you to unravel the mysteries of dialect,” said Prof Punjabi, adding the subject was fascinating. “I am happy that the department is doing a commendable job vis-à-vis promotion of Kashmiri language.”
 Prof Peri Bhaskararao from the University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, said the varsity must have a centre for Dialectology. “There is need to have this centre and acquire the funding from different quarters for the same,” he said. “The department of Linguistics can help in undertaking different dialectical works with regard to different languages.”
 Prof Bhaskararao will be evaluating the department’s project titled “Dialect Survey on Kashmiri.”
 The principal, Urdu Teaching and Research Centre of the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Lucknow, Prof M K Koul, said the CIIL was closely monitoring the work carried out by the KU’s Linguistics Department. “We are highly satisfied with the work it has done on the project,” he said.
 The KU registrar, Prof S Fayyaz Ahmad, complimented the department on launching the e-dictionary.
The head, Department of Linguistics, Prof Nazir A Dhar, underlined the aims and objectives of the workshop. “We are committed to work on different projects on languages which will ultimately benefit our society,” he said.
Dr Adil Amin Kak conducted the proceedings while Dr Aejaz Muhammad Sheikh presented the vote of thanks.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 2 Sep 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 2 Sep 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 3 Sep 2009 00:00:00 IST