Phaltan Education Society (PES) in coordination with Linguasphere Observatory, Sontheimer Cultural Association, Centre for Communication Studies and Baroda-based Bhasha Research and Publication Centre will pave the way for projects in linguistics.

The founding director, Dr. David Dalby, currently working on the project told The Indian Express: ``It's like reviving a dream. The first ground-station of Linguasphere Observatory should take the form of a sphere, rising from the southern face of a hill in a multilingual area of the world. The inside of the sphere itself would serve as an electronic exhibition area''.

PES veterans including Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, noted poet and a senior office bearer of Sontheimer Cultural Academy, Dilip Chitre, will accompany Dr. Dalby to Phaltan on Thursday. The team is expected to give final touches to the choice of the site for the proposed ground-station.

The Linguasphere Observatory set up in 1983 has its research base at Hebron in Wales, UK, and recently completed the Linguasphere Register. The document will be the first roll-call of languages and `speech-communities', Dalby said.

The station would be a major contribution to languages, Chitre, a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award said.

It would track all the languages, folklore and study the interrelations between languages, he said.

India was selected for the ground-station because the country may have the largest number of English-speaking people by 2010, Dalby said. ``Moreover, it is the land of ancient traditions and literature has remained young in its mind and heart. Here, scholars are not afraid of mixing poetry and philosophy with science and statistics. The young can converse freely with the old,'' he added.

Phaltan, has been a major trade centre for long and it would be the ideal host for a linguistic venture, independent MLA Naik-Nimbalkar said. It was a feudal state in the 16th century, according to researchers, and finds mention in early 6th century scriptures as a major junction of the trade routes.