On the First Computer Science Research Paper in an Indian Language and the Future of Science in Indian Languages

Abstract

I describe my experience writing the first original, modern Computer Science research paper expressed entirely in an Indian language. The paper is in Telugu, a language with approximately 100 million speakers. The paper is in the field of distributed computing and it introduces a technique for proving epistemic logic based lower bounds for multiprocessor algorithms. A key hurdle to writing the paper was developing technical terminology for advanced computer science concepts, including those in algorithms, distributed computing, and discrete mathematics. I overcame this challenge by deriving and coining native language scientific terminology through the powerful, productive, P\=aninian grammar of Samskrtam. The typesetting of the paper was an additional challenge, since mathematical typesetting in Telugu is underdeveloped. I overcame this problem by developing a Telugu XeLaTeX template, which I call TeluguTeX. Leveraging this experience of writing an original computer science research paper in an Indian language, I lay out a vision for how to ameliorate the state of scientific writing at all levels in Indic languages -- languages whose native speakers exceed one billion people -- through the further development of the Sanskrit technical lexicon and through technological internationalization.