This publication Writings in Mizo Manuscripts, a culmination of seminar papers, is an in-depth study on the foundation and structure of Mizo language and its manuscripts.
Writing in the Mizo language has a history of less than one and half century. Before the advent of the British, there was nothing in Mizo scripts. The credit to the formal writing of the Mizo language, using Roman scripts based on the Hunterian system of orthography, is due to Thomas Herbert Lewin, the then Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Hill Tracts, in 1874. He published, since then, a few informative books in the Lushai dialect of the Mizo language. Subsequent to it was a scholarly effort Grammar of the Lushai Language by Brojo Nath Shaha, a Civil Medical Officer of Chittagong in 1884. This was followed by a compilation of Mizo grammar by a British officer, C.A. Soppit.
However, a significant breakthrough happened in the language development with the arrival of two Arthington missionaries, the Rev. F.W. Savidge and the Rev. J.H. Lorrain, on the scene. By 1894, these missionaries developed Mizo alphabet and many of the Bible books got translated into the Mizo language. By 1940, they could bring out a Mizo dictionary. Along with, and subsequent to the efforts of these two missionaries, there were many who contributed to the growth of the Mizo language in its different dialects like Lushai, Dzo or Kuki and Rangkhol.
This volume talks about the uniqueness of Mizo language; select Mizo manuscripts, importance of manuscripts in a language; story of lost manuscript; Mizo alphabet and its properties; among a few more interesting topics.
I hope this effort will open a new vista for academicians and language lovers alike and will unearth many a piece of information on the minor languages spoken and written across the Indian subcontinent.
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