The first volume of a study of the vitality of written Indian languages explains a computerized system for rating vitality and tests certain demographic variables, with statistical analysis, to determine their influence on the vitality rating. An introductory section examines the concept of linguistic vitality and issues of its measurement. The first part of the main report describes the history of the project to inventory written Indian languages and the development of the computerized system for it. In this section, the eight domains of language use considered in the measurement of vitality are explained: religion, school, mass media, administration, courts, legislature, manufacturing industry, and sales and service enterprises. Technical aspects of the study are also detailed. The second part of the report outlines the statistical analyses used for the project and explains how the statistical models were chosen. Appended materials include: a list of the languages studied; a list of regions of India; a computer printout of a sample completed questionnaire; written, oral, and global ratings of vitality for each language domain in each locality for one language; and a printout of the data used for regression calculations. (MSE)