ABSTRACT
The choice of a script for a language should, on the face of it, be the least contentious of issues. In most cases the script itself, the shape each distinctive sound of the language in question has acquired over centuries of construction and usage, is a settled issue but for periodic minor disagreements over its minutiae among scholars. A similar ‘cultural confrontation’ over the most proper choice for the Konkani language whose correlatives are the Devanagari/Marathi script versus the Roman script periodically breaks forth and is yet to be resolved. The controversy over what should be the proper script for the Manipuri language has all these elements, and more. School textbooks, government records, newspapers and a whole variety of intellectual and academic activity of the last 250 years are recorded in the Bengali script. The government has made several promises about taking steps to restore the ancient script, but with little follow-up action, barring some symbolic steps.
