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Linguistic situation in Nepal and preservation of its endangered languages: An overview

Linguistic situation in Nepal and preservation of its endangered languages: An overview. Krishna PARAJULI Central Department of Linguistics Tribhuvan University, Nepal 27 th of March 2014 Email: kepiparajuli@gmail.com. Nepal. Highest mountain: Sagarmatha (Mount Everest, 8848 masl ).

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Linguistic situation in Nepal and preservation of its endangered languages: An overview

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  1. Linguistic situation in Nepal and preservation of its endangered languages: An overview Krishna PARAJULI Central Department of Linguistics Tribhuvan University, Nepal 27th of March 2014 Email: kepiparajuli@gmail.com

  2. Nepal

  3. Highest mountain: Sagarmatha(Mount Everest, 8848 masl)

  4. Birthplace of Gautam Buddha

  5. Nine-storey-palace, Kathmandu

  6. Fifty-five-window-palace, Bhaktapur

  7. Kumari: The living Goddess

  8. Pashupati temple: Famous Hindu shrine

  9. Swyambhunath: Famous Buddhist shrine

  10. Nyatapola: A five-storey temple built in Pagoda style

  11. Krishna temple: Famous for its Shikhara style

  12. Tentative plan of presentation • Nepal at a glance • Languages in the past and the present: An overview • Language policy • Status of languages at present • Status of language documentation and institutional efforts… • Linguistic Society of Nepal (LSN), Nepal Academy (NA) • Central Department of Linguistics (CDL, TU) • National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) and others • Scripts

  13. 1. Nepal at a glance • Total population 26,494,504 (About 27 million) as of June 22, 2011 • Distance from the East to the West 885 KM • State of Nepal Nepal is an independent, indivisible, sovereign, secular, inclusive and federal, democratic republican state (The Interim Constitution of Nepal 2063 BS (2007 AD) Part 1: 4 (1) • Mother Tongue There are 122 languages spoken as mother tongue reported in census 2011. (but 124, including others and not reported)

  14. 1. Nepal at a glance • Area 1,47,181 Sq KM • Caste/Ethnicity 125 caste/ethnic groups • Religion There are ten types of religion categories reported in the census • The highest literacy rate 86.3 (Kathmandu district) (Source: Volume 01, National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) 2011 (National Report) Government of Nepal National Planning Commission Secretariat, Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Kathmandu, Nepal November, 2012)

  15. 2. Languages of Nepal: Past and present Year No. of languages • 1952/54 (AD) 2009/2011 (BS): 44 • 1961 (AD) 2018 (BS): 36 • 1971 (AD) 2028 (BS): 17 • 1981 (AD) 2038 (BS): 18 • 1991 (AD) 2048 (BS): 31 • 2001 (AD) 2058 (BS): 92 (and 93 including others) • 2011 (AD) 2068 (BS): 122 (but 124 including others and not reported (Source: Reports of CBS)

  16. 3. Constitutional provisions onlanguage-issues The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 • Each community shall have rights to operate schools upto the primary level in its mother tongue for imparting education to the community’s children. • The constitution has guaranteed the right to preserve and promote the languages, scripts and cultures (Article 18.1) The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063 BS (2007) AD 3. 5. Language of the Nation: (1) All the languages spoken as mother tongues in Nepal are the languages of nation.

  17. 3. Constitutional provisions onlanguage-issues (2) The Nepali language in Devanagari script shall be the official language. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in Clause ( 2), nothing shall be deemed to prevent the using of any language spoken as the mother tongue in a local body and office. • Right relating to education and culture 1. Every community shall have the right to get basic education in its own mother tongue, as provided in law. 3. Every community residing in Nepal shall have the right to preserve and promote its language, script, culture, cultural civilization and heritage. (Page:10)

  18. 4. Linguistic profile of Nepal • Out of 124 languages, • 121 belong to four major language families: • Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European (IE) language family (Some of them even in IE family) • Tibeto-Burman (Trans-Himalayan)/Sino Tibetan • Dravidian • Austro-Asiatic

  19. 4. Linguistic profile of Nepal • Language isolate: Kusunda • Sign language: 1 • One of the groups is categorized as others • The last one is under the category of not reported (Source: CBS, 2011)

  20. 5. Languages by percentage • Nepali 44.6% (11,826,953) of the total population • Maithili 11.7% (3,092,530) ” • Bhojpuri 6.0 % (1,584,958) ” • Tharu 5.8% (1,529,875) ” • Tamang 5.1% (1, 353,311) ” • Newar 3.2% (8,46,557) ” • Bajjika 3.0% (7,93,418) ” • Magar 3.0% (788530) ” • Doteli3.0% (7,87,827) ” • Urdu 2.6% (6,91,546) ” • Others: 12% ” (Source: CBS report, 2011)

  21. 6. “In languages we live” or we leave the languages: A search for identity • Kusunda 28 • Kaike 50 • Bankariya 69 • Kagate 99 • Sadhani 122 • Lingkhim 129 (Source: CBS, 2011) (Less than 150 speakers)

  22. 6. “In languages… • Kurmali 227 • Khariya 238 • Malpande 247 • Surel 287 • Phangduwali 290 • Dhuleli 347 • Manange 392 • Sam 401 • Khamchi (Raute) 461 • Byansi 480 • Dadeldhuri 488 • Sonaha 579 • Belhare 599 • Lhomi 808 • Jumli 851 (Source: CBS, 2011) (Less than 1,000 speakers)

  23. 7. Caste/Ethnicity and mother tongues One caste/ethnic group and one language Tharu, Tamang, Gurung, Limbu, Sherpa, Bote, Kumal, Rajbanshi, Majhi, Danuwar, Bhote, Dhimal, Thakali, Darai, Lepcha, (Lapche), Byangshi, Raute, Raji… One caste/ethnic group and several languages Rai-Kirati: Bantawa, Chamling, Thulung, Kulung, Nachhiring, Wambule, Lohorung, Koyee, Sunuwar, Chhintang, Puma, Mewahang, Sampang, Chhiling, Bahing, Dumi, Dungmali, Waling/Walung, Yamphu/Yamphe, Belhare, Yakkha, Phangduwali, Athpahariya.. etc Several caste/ethnic groups and one language Newar.. (Based on the report of National Languages Policy Recommendation Commission, 1994 and CBS report 2011)

  24. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation Central Department of Linguistics (CDL) at Tribhuvan University (TU) • Language Documentation • Chhintang and Puma Documentation Project (CPDP) (Under the financial and technical support of Volkswagen Foundation, MPI, DOBES and University of Leipzig, Germany) • http://dobes.mpi.nl/projects/chintang/ • Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of Baram (LEDB) (Under the financial support of SOAS , UK) • Prepared a grammar, multilingual dictionary and history and culture of the Baram language. http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0007

  25. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation • Multilingual dictionary (in collaboration with the National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) • Theses: MA (43 languages; 116 Theses) • Ph. D. Dissertation(25)in more than 7 languages • Linguistic Survey of Nepal (LinSuN)

  26. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation Nepal Academy • Multilingual dictionary • Bhojpuri-Nepali-English dictionary • Maithili-Nepali-English dictionary • Limbu-Nepali-English dictionary • Grammars • Grammar of the Limbu language (1. Limbu 2. Nepali) • Classical Limbu language: Grammar of the Mundhum • Standardization of the Limbu language • Grammar of the Magar language (Dhut) (मगर भाषा (ढुट व्याकरण) byLokBahadurThapaMagar)

  27. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation • History and literature • History and literature of the Newar language • History and literature of the Tamang language • A collection of seminar papers and mother tongue poetry recitation (संगोष्ठीपत्र तथा मातृभाषा कविता सँगालो)organized to mark the Mother Tongue Day, 2010). It consists of 28 languages • Magazines, journals and reference materials in many languages Pragya, Kavita, SamakalinsahityaSayapatri, Journal of Nepali literature and culture (Half yearly), Aagan, Thaybhu, Phaktanglung, Nepalkamatribhasa(नेपालका मातृभाषा: भाग१ ) (mother tongues of Nepal) I and more to mention

  28. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) • NFDIN has provided the researchers with the resources in more than 40 languages • It has started to conduct Ethno Linguistic Survey of Nepal (ELSUN) and very recently conducted the survey on 12 different languages spoken in Dolakha district. • It has also produced multilingual dictionaries (10 languages) and documentation in (18 languages) in collaboration with the Department of Linguistics at Tribhuvan University (These are as follows):

  29. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation • A Basic Dura-Nepali-English dictionary • A Basic Mugali-Nepali-English dictionary • Dictionary of the dialect of MahottariDanuwars (with CD) • Kumal-Nepali-English dictionary • Gurung-Nepali-English dictionary • Kumal-Nepali-English dictionary • A Basic Lohorung-Nepali-English dictionary • A Basic Sherpa-Nepali-English dictionary • A Basic Mewahang-Nepali-English dictionary • A Basic Baram-Nepali-English dictionary

  30. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation • NFDIN • Language documentation (18 languages) • The documentation of the Hayu language • The documentation of the Bhujel language • The documentation of KodkuPaharilanuage • The documentation of the Meche language • The documentation of the Bahing language • The documentation of the Rajbanshi language • The documentation of the Byanshi language • The documentation of the Botoboli (Raute/Khamchi) language

  31. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation • The documentation of the Kaike language (with CD) • The Documentation of the Jhagar Language (with CD) • The documentation of the Santhali language • The documentation of the Kissan (Sadri) language • The documentation of the Bankariya language • The documentation of the Done bhasa (Danuwar) language • The documentation of the Thakali language • The documentation of the Dumi language • The documentation of the Raji language • The documentation of the Koyee language (Source: NFDIN and CDL, TU)

  32. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation 9.4. GorkhapatraCorporation From the 18th of September 2007(1st of Asoj 2064 BS), Government of Nepal started to publish news, views, and other activities of the mother tongue speakers via its official media the Gorkhapatra (the official newspaper of the Government of Nepal) in 29 languages.

  33. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation (The news coverage is in the Devanagari script and the language is Kumal an Indo-Aryan language)

  34. 8. Status of language documentation and preservation • Community involvement: Lohorung • Multimodal dictionary • http://desceco.org/lohorung/browse/detail/4KSV4KWA4KSD4KSs4KS- • http://desceco.org/lohorung/browse/detail/4KSV4KWAOuCkrOCkvg • Spoken corpora • Audio-visual materials • Linguistic Society of Nepal

  35. 9. Scripts • Devanagari Nepali and many other languages of Nepal • Sambota/Tibetan/Uchchayan Tibetan, Sherpa • RanjanaNewar • Bhujinmo(भुजिँमो) Newar • Pachunmo(पचुँमो)Newar • Golmo(गोलमो)Newar • Litumo(लितुमो)Newar • Kunmoकुँमो Newar • Gurumukhi Panjabi • Bangla/BangaliBangla/Bangali

  36. 9. Scripts… • SirijungaKirat and Limbu • RongLepcha • Tamu /KhemaGurung • AakkhaMagar • Arabi Urdu • Roman English • Mithilakshar /Tirhuta?Kaithi Maithili • Santhali/Olchiki/Olchemet/OlSanthal • TamhikTamang • Kaithi Bhojpuri (Source: : A collection of seminar papers and mother tongue poetry recitation (संगोष्ठीपत्र तथा मातृभाषा कविता सँगालो)organized to mark the Mother Tongue Day, 2010, Appencix 2).

  37. 10. Resources in mother and other tongue

  38. 12.Resources…

  39. Raute: Nomadic group of Nepal

  40. Rautes appointed as forest guards (Source: The Kathmandu Post, Thursday, March 4, 2014)

  41. THANK YOU

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