ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Santali, an indigenous language spoken in east India, as it has a long tradition of alphabetic writing, but will extend the discussion to other tribal languages as well. The Roman script has been extolled by missionaries as being more flexible in representing Santali sounds than Indic scripts, primarily because it is alphabetic and 'lends itself easily to various diacritical marks. In addition to the Roman script and regional scripts Santali writers from the early 20th century until the present day have continued to experiment with the creation of new scripts. While Ramchand Murmu's script still commands a following, especially in Bengal, the most successful independent Santali script was developed in the late 1930s by the Santali dramatist and poet Raghunath Murmu. Santali writers argue that Bidhu and Chandan are the spiritual embodiment of the script; Bidhu, the male lover, represents child or ol, the graphic sign; and Chandan, the female lover, represents arang or voice.
