Nepalese Linguistics Volume 24 November 2009 Chief Editor: Jai Raj Awasthi Editors: Ganga Ram Gautam Bhim Narayan Regmi Office Bearers for 2008-2010 President Govinda Raj Bhattarai Vice President Dan Raj Regmi General Secretary Balaram Prasain Secretary (Office) Krishna Prasad Parajuli Secretary (General) Bhim Narayan Regmi Treasurer Bhim Lal Gautam Member Bal Mukunda Bhandari Member Govinda Bahadur Tumbahang Member Gopal Thakur Lohar Member Sulochana Sapkota (Bhusal) Member Ichchha Purna Rai Nepalese Linguistics is a Journal published by Linguistic Society of Nepal. This Journal publishes articles related to the scientific study of languages, especially from Nepal. The views expressed therein are not necessarily shared by the committee on publications. Published by: Linguistic Society of Nepal Kirtipur, Kathmandu Nepal Copies: 500 © Linguistic Society of Nepal ISSN – 0259-1006 Price: NC 300/- (Nepal) IC 300/- (India) US$ 6/- (Others) Life membership fees include subscription for the journal. TABLE OF CONTENTS Strategies for teaching mother tongues in Nepal C. M. Bandhu 1 Mewahang language: an introduction Goma Banjade 11 Morphological analysis of verbs in Nepali Santa B. Basnet 21 Shailesh B. Pandey Subject personal pronouns in Mende Krishna Prasad Chalise 31 Pluri-functionality in the Magar nominalization system Karen Grunow-Hårsta 37 Towards developing a tagset for Kashmiri Aadil Amin Kak 49 Nazima Mehdi Aadil Ahmad Lawaye Nasality of Kashmiri vowels in optimality theory Aadil A. Kak 61 Oveesa Farooq Sociolinguistic situation of the Baram language Tej Ratna Kansakar 69 Yogendra P Yadava Krishna Prasad Chalise Balaram Prasain Dubinanda Dhakal Krishna Paudel What use is phonetics? Sajan Kumar Karn 79 Managing the languages of Nepal: the educative process Anju Khadka 89 Causativization in Raji Ramesh Khatri 101 Subgrouping in Thakali Kuber Singh Limbu 113 Linguistic change and continuity in culture with reference to Limbu Palam Ramesh K. Limbu 125 Rishi Ram Adhikari (Subash) Subordination in Taplejunge Limbu Sakindra Limbu 135 Passivization in Bhojpuri Gopal Thakur Lohar 143 In search of the Tibeto-Burman genes Kamal P. Malla 153 On the etymology of Nepali jhyāl Boyd Michailovsky 165 Wh-question forms: evidences from the Dura language Kedar Bilash Nagila 169 Negativization in the Kumal language Krishna Prasad Parajuli 181 Case markers in Ghale Krishna Paudel 189 The syntactic alignments across three-argument verbs in Nepali Netra Prasad Paudyal 201 Linguistic stratification and language planning: a critical ethnography of Nepalese context Prem Bahadur Phyak 213 Mood and modality in Dhankute Tamang Kedar Prasad Poudel 225 Honorificity in Newar Jyoti Pradhan 233 Morphosyntax of Sampang nominals: a brief discussion Ichchha Purna Rai 243 TAM in Dumi language Netra Mani Rai 253 Morphosyntax of Koyee nominals: an introductory outline Tara Mani Rai 263 Language loss and their preservation in Nepal Vishnu S Rai 273 Reduplication in Thenthi dialect of Maithili language Kaushal Kishor Ray 285 Converb clauses in Kaike Ambika Regmi 291 Participant reference in Bhujel, Chepang and Banakariya Dan Raj Regmi 299 Pronominalization in Raji Krishna Kumar Sah 311 Ramesh Khatri A morphosyntax of relativization in Uranw (Dhangar/Jhangar): a functional typological perspective Suren Sapkota 317 Sherpa orthography in Sambhota script Gelu Sherpa 327 The grammar of Gama: Omkareshwor Shrestha 335 Linguistic human rights: in the context of Nepal Rajendra Thokar 341 Personal pronoun in Done Bhasa (Danuwar) Padma Timilsina 351 Rabindra Prasad Das Brian H. Hodgson's contribution to Himalayan linguistics Sueyoshi Toba 359 Reflexive verb in Limbu Govinda Bahadur Tumbahang 363 Pronominalization in Uranw-Kudux Ram Kisun Uranw 369 Saadri (Kisaan) language: a brief introduction Ram Kisun Uranw 379 Dev Narayan Yadav The communicative approach to Nepali teaching in China Lin Wei 391 A study of the language transfer phenomenon and some enlightenments to Nepali language teaching in China Xing Yun 401 Linguistic survey of Nepal: executive summary Yogendra P. Yadava 411 Presidential address Govinda Raj Bhattarai 419 List of the members of Linguistic Society of Nepal 425 STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING MOTHER TONGUES IN NEPAL C.M. Bandhu [email protected] Discussing on the use of mother tongues in primary education , this paper emphasizes on its oral use while preparing textbooks and reading materials for children. It also discusses briefly the linguistic, literary, educational and administrative issues which need to be addressed while implementing mother tongue education in Nepal. Background Teaching of the mother tongues started in the country with the beginning of this century when primary schools were established in different parts of the country.1 Some language schools, which used the Nepali language, opened by Rana Prime Minister Deva Shamsher were limited in number and more schools were opened throughout the country after the advent of democracy in 1951. During the last six decades since then, the primary education of Nepal has taken a great stride but in comparison to other countries, Nepal is still lagging behind. For years, it was assumed by the administrators and education planners that every child knew the Nepali language and textbooks for children were prepared only in that language. When complains were made about the difficulties of the non- Nepali speaking children, teachers were allowed to explain the subject matter of the texts orally in their mother tongues. Most of the studies that were made about the problems and issues of primary education were directed towards the 1 This is a revised version of a paper presented at a seminar on 23rd September, 1992 organized by Chetana Samaj in Kathmandu. Nepalese Linguistics, Vol. 24, 2009, pp. 1-10. 2 / Strategies for teaching mother tongues ... enrolment and drop-outs, parental awareness, quality of instruction, management and physical facilities etc. The linguistic problems and issues of the primary school children of this multi-lingual country were almost neglected. Even the Unesco recommendation for mother tongue education was left unnoticed and the linguistic causes of the lack of efficiency and relevancy in primary education were not properly investigated. Only after the restoration of democracy in the country, the intellectuals freely expressed their views on several language issues of the country including mother tongue education. Constitutional provisions The Constitution of Nepal 1990 not only identified Nepal as a multi-lingual country but also recognized all the languages of Nepal as national languages. The constitution of Nepal also guaranteed the right of every language community which reads as follows: (1) Every community residing within the kingdom of Nepal shall have the right to conserve and promote its languages, scripts and cultures. (2) Each community shall have the right to establish schools for imparting education in the mother tongue of the concerned child. (Article 18, Cultural and Educational Rights.) The state policy of the nation given in the Directive Principle of the State also strengthens the constitutional right for the promotion of the languages, literature, scripts, arts and cultures of all, which reads as follows: The state shall while maintaining the cultural divergence of the country adapt a policy towards the strengthening of the national unity by promoting healthy and cordial social relations among the various religious groups, casts and Bandhu / 3 classes, communities and linguistic groups of the society and by helping in the promotion of the languages, literatures and scripts, arts and cultures of all. (Article 26, State Policies). The report of the National Education Commission submitted in the middle of 1992 discussed several factors of primary education and has recommended for mother tongue education. The commission suggested in the style of the constitution that a linguistic group can open a school to teach its children in their mother tongue. The commission recommended that in the absence of the textbooks in the mother tongue, the teachers should explain the content of the book in the mother tongue to accelerate children's learning activities. For this commission recommended for employing the teachers who know students' mother tongues. Commission also suggested for the inclusion of mother tongues as a subject of study in and beyond the primary classes. The writing systems Nepali, Newari, Maithili, Tibetan, Lepcha and Limbu are the languages with written records and literature. The first three of these are taught in the university up to the higher level and the Tibetan is used by the Buddhist in the monasteries while the Urdu is used by the Muslims and is taught in the traditional type of Madarasa in some Muslim populated centres. These and other languages of Nepal have been written down in Devanagari and some books are published in these languages. The Indo-Aryan languages like Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Rajbansi and others can easily be written in the Devanagari script but the Tibeto-Burman languages pose problems as they have special sounds. Importance of mother tongue education The importance of the mother tongue in primary education need not to be explained. Scholars claim that the language reflects our own culture, use of mother tongue in childhood 4 / Strategies for teaching mother tongues ... education becomes a symbol of group identity. Mother tongue is also a means of socialization in early childhood. The use of mother tongue in primary education leads to bridge