19.03.2024

Acknowledgements

It is difficult to list everyone who made this project possible.

We would particularly like to thank the following individuals for their help:

Mahendra Kumar Mishra, wonderful folklore researcher, for introducing us to our first Munda language respondents;

Ajay Kumar Rout, head of Bhubaneswar tourist department;

Himanshu, David and Michael Lima for providing us with shelter in the Gajapati district and for helping us to establish contacts with the speakers;

Centurion University at Paralakhemundi in the Gajapati district, https://www.cutm.ac.in, for giving us an opportunity to study Sora;

Srinivas Gomango, our main Sora respondent, collector and performer of Sora folklore and tutor of the Sora language at the Centurion University;

Enam Gomango, author of MLE textbooks in Sora, for his in-depth interview;

Melsiyer Gomango and Johny Sabar for their help with transcribing and translating numerous texts;

Mukunda Sabar, publisher of autochthonous books in the Sorang Sompeng script, for being our guide in the Rayagada district where the script is used and worshipped;

Father Joseph Palayur, from the Church of Vallada (Christnagar), for providing us with the Catholic literature in the Sora language and for his in-depth interview;

Sarat Kumar Routray, tourist guide in the Koraput district, for his invaluable help with getting in touch with the speakers;

Asha Kiran Society, https://www.ashakiransociety.org, has worked with the tribes of Koraput and Malkangiri districts for many years, providing them with medical care and promoting education in local languages. They kindly provided us with shelter and helped to establish contacts with the speakers. We would particularly like to mention:

Mathews Chacko, founder of the Asha Kiran Society, and his hospitable family;

Shyamasan Mandal, MLE Project coordinator;

Simon George, program writer and curator of the MLE Bonda language project;

Arjun Majhi, program creator and curator of the MLE project for Desiya;

Herald Rajan and Jamuna Rajan, authors of the Gutob grammar and program coordinators of the MLE project for the Gutob language;

Last but not least we would like to thank:

Sergey Kulikov, our friend and tutor, for teaching us the basics of web design;

Anna Smirnitskaya, our friend and colleague for translating this website into English.

Thank you all ever so much. We could not have done it without you!