Book Review: Anvita Abbi's 'Voices from the Lost Horizon' chronicles the literary heritage of the Great Andamanese
The HinduI N January 2010, when the media mourned the passing of the last ‘speaker’ of the Great Andamanese Bo language, the linguist Anvita Abbi had publicly paid obeisance to both the speaker, Boa Sr, and the language. Renowned for her work on endangered languages, especially the Great Andamanese, and awarded the Padma Shri in recognition of this effort, Prof. Anvita Abbi’s research in the field has been ongoing. Boa Senior’s yearning Anvita Abbi, who is known for identifying a sixth language family in the dying Great Andamanese tongues, has been globally feted by her peers for her linguistic expertise, as evidenced by the multiple endorsements and the preface and afterword included in the book. Unique to this book is not only the self-avowed ‘first ever’ transcription and translation of Great Andamanese folk tales and folk songs but a verbalised, warm and intimate insight into the difficult elicitation process from ‘rememberers’ who have no listeners or responders in their own language.
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