Bishnupriya Manipuri Dictionary and Language Science Project

Introduction

The Bishnupriya Manipuri Dictionary and Language Science Project (বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী ওয়াহিকলা বারো ঠারবিজ্ঞান) is an ongoing effort to collect, digitize, analyze, and expand the lexical resources of the Bishnupriya Manipuri language.

The project has two closely related goals. First, it aims to build a comprehensive digital dictionary that preserves the vocabulary of the language and makes it accessible for modern users. Second, it aims to study the structure of the language through computational methods such as phonological analysis, pronunciation modeling, and speech synthesis.

Although Bishnupriya Manipuri has a long literary history, its lexical resources are scattered across printed dictionaries, personal collections, and community knowledge. Many of these sources exist only in printed form and have not yet been systematically digitized.

This project therefore attempts to bring together several important dictionaries into a unified digital framework while documenting their linguistic differences and orthographic traditions.

Source Dictionaries

The present project primarily draws upon three major sources.

• Dr. K. P. Sinha’s Bishnupriya Manipuri–English Dictionary. This dictionary provides a valuable bridge between Bishnupriya Manipuri and English vocabulary and is widely used by students and researchers.
• L. K. Sinha and Santosh Sinha’s Bishnupriya Manipuri–Bishnupriya Manipuri Dictionary. This work focuses on lexical explanation within the language itself and reflects another important orthographic tradition.
• Additional lexical material gathered from community usage, literary texts, and personal word lists.

These dictionaries represent two different spelling schools within the language. Rather than attempting to erase one tradition in favor of another, this project intentionally preserves both.

The goal is not to impose a single orthographic authority, but to document linguistic reality and allow future generations to evaluate and refine the writing system.

Orthographic Diversity

Bishnupriya Manipuri has developed multiple orthographic traditions over time, influenced by Sanskrit scholarship, Bengali orthography, regional usage, and modern linguistic analysis.

The two dictionaries used in this project reflect these different traditions. Consequently, many words appear with slightly different spellings, phonological interpretations, or morphological analyses.

Instead of forcing all entries into a single standardized spelling, the digital dictionary records these variants whenever possible.

This approach allows the dictionary to serve both linguistic research and community usage without prematurely resolving debates that are still evolving within the language community.

Data Collection and Ongoing Work

Building a digital dictionary is not simply a matter of copying words from printed sources. Each entry must be verified, normalized, and sometimes corrected.

For more than a year, the present project has involved continuous work collecting, reviewing, and refining lexical data. This includes:

• manual digitization of printed dictionaries
• OCR correction
• removal of typographic errors
• normalization of spelling variants
• identification of duplicate entries
• verification of meanings

Even after extensive processing, the dictionary remains a living resource that continues to grow and improve as new entries are discovered and existing entries are refined.

Language Science Goals

Beyond lexicography, the dictionary project also supports broader language science goals.

The structured lexical database enables computational research in areas such as:

• phonological analysis
• automatic IPA generation
• phoneme and diphone inventory development
• speech synthesis
• digital language preservation

These technological tools are not intended to replace traditional language study. Rather, they provide new ways to document, analyze, and teach the language in the digital age.

A Living Dictionary

The Bishnupriya Manipuri Dictionary and Language Science Project should be understood as an evolving archive rather than a finished book.

As new words, variants, and linguistic insights emerge, the dictionary will continue to expand and improve.

The hope is that this work will provide a foundation for future scholars, speakers, and developers who wish to preserve and advance the Bishnupriya Manipuri language.