DOCSLIB.ORG

A DICTIONARY of KHAM: Taka Dialect

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A DICTIONARY of KHAM: Taka Dialect A DICTIONARY OF KHAM: Taka dialect (a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal) David E. Watters Published by Central Department of Linguistics Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur Kathmandu, Nepal © David E. Watters 2004 First published 2004 Printed at Jagadamba Press Hattiban, Lalitpur, Kathmandu, Nepal Ph: 5543017 Cover: Taka alpine sheep camp ISBN 99933-52-65-9 hardback Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements iv Abbreviations v Maps ix Figures xi Tables xii Introduction 1 1. Language and classification 1 2. Language contact 1 3. Phonology 2 4. Dialects and reconstruction 6 5. Structure of an entry 15 6. Part of speech categories 21 7. Order of alphabet 28 Kham–English Dictionary 30 English Index to Kham Entries 359 References 439 iii Acknowledgements I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the many speakers of Kham I have been privileged to know in the districts of Rukum, Rolpa, and Baglung. Almost without exception, they have extended to me an extraordinary degree of hospitality and warmth. Whether in their villages, on the trail, or in their alpine sheep camps, they have generously shared with me their very best, including the warmest spot beside their hearths. My deepest debt of gratitude goes to Hasta Ram Budha Kham, the ex-Gurkha soldier who was my teacher and lifelong friend. He worked tirelessly with me for many years, sharing in hardships and sharing in joys. Whether travelling in the scorching sun or bivouacked deep in the snow, he was a cheerful and loyal companion. He patiently answered my incessant questions about his language, and opened for me a storehouse of intellectual wealth found nowhere else. I am forever indebted to him and his people. He passed away on August 29, 2002. I and all who knew him will miss him greatly. Portrait of Hasta Ram Budha Kham painted by Hyatt Moore http://www.hyattmoore.com used with permission iv Abbreviations Dialects and languages. Dialects referred to in the etymological field are listed here in alphabetical order. For a description of the phonological conservatism contributed by each of the dialects, see §4 (Dialects and reconstruction), page 6. Bhj Bhuji/Bhujeli Bur Burmese Chan Chantyal Chep Chepang Gam Gam(ale) Ghus Ghusbang(i) Gur Gurung Hind Hindi Jang Jangkot Kai Kaike Kh Kham Khal Khaling Kot Kotgaon Luk Lukum(el) Mag Magar Mht Mahat(ale) Mk Maikot(i) Nep Nepali Nis Nisi/Nisel Nw Newari P-Kham Proto-Kham Ses Ses(i) Sk Sanskrit Sun Sunwar Tam Tamang TB Tibeto-Burman Thak Thakali Tib Tibetan Tk Taka(le) WT Written Tibetan v vi Part of speech categories. Abbreviations for part of speech categories are given here in alphabetical order: adj. adjective adv. adverb adv.suff. adverbial suffix case case marker comp.root compound root coord. coordination corelative corelative adverb deictic.prim. deictic primitive dem. demonstrative expr.adv. expressive adverb g.num. grammatical number gen.n. generic noun greet. greeting indef.adv. indefinite adverb interj. interjection interrog. interrogative interrog.root interrogative root loc. locative loc.case locative case loc.root locative root n. noun neg. negative nom. nominal num.clsf. numeral classifier num.pref. numeral prefix numeral numeral part. particle pass.part. passive participle pers.pron. personal pronoun poss.pref. possessive prefix poss.pron. possessive pronoun poss.root possessive root prop.n. proper noun quant. quantifier quant.adv. quantifying adverb rel.n. relator noun vii temp.adv. temporal adverb v.aff. verb affix v.bt. bitransitive verb v.evt. eventive verb v.recip. reciprocal verb v.refl. reflexive verb v.stem irregular verb stem vi.agt. intransitive agentive verb vi.dat. intransitive dative verb vi.pat. intransitive patientive verb vi.sta. stative intransitive verb vt.sta. stative transitive verb voc.n. vocative noun vt. transitive verb vt.evt. transitive eventive verb Kin terms. Abbreviations for kin terms used throughout the dictionary are given below. They can be combined to create complex relationships, as in: FaElBrSi – father’s elder brother’s sister. Br brother Da daughter El elder Fa father Hu husband Mo mother Si sister So son Wi wife Yo younger General abbreviations. All other abbreviations, mostly editorial, occurring within entries are as follows: abbrv. abbreviation allomorph allomorph also also Alt.root alternate root ant. antonym viii approx. pop. approximate population arch. archaic asc. associative cf. compare DEW David E. Watters e.g. for example elev. elevation esp. especially euph. euphemistic fig. figurative gen. generic Instr. instrument K-M Kham-Magar lit. literally Obj. object prob. probably qq.v. all of which see qv. which see recip. reciprocal shamanic shamanic S.I. Survey of India s.o. someone s.th. something set set Usu. usually var. variant vulg. vulgar Map 1 NEPAL Dhaulagiri ix Annapurna Mt Everest Kathmandu 10,000 foot contour line Area shown in Map 2 18250 17296 Map 2 15449 19430 20790 KHAM 18531 21442 15843 SPEAKING 23750 24158 Ranma • TERRITORIES Kharbang • • Maikot 16799 Hukam • • Pelma Nakha • WESTERN Rangsi • showing five major PARBATE dialect groupings: Kol • • Padmi • Taka 14250 15199 15445 15016 • Kengsi Sera • • • Kakri x MAHATALE Matah • Lukum EASTERN Western Parbate 12400 c13191 PARBATE 10020 Eastern Parbate • Thabang • Dhorpatan 12877 • Mirul 12089 13267 12750 Telkhola • Gamale 11754 • Bhuji 9250 • Wa •Bhalkot 10600 • Dhangsi • Ghusbang Sesi Bhabang • • Nisi • Inabang • Seram GAMALE • Sulpabang Jelbang • Mahatale SESI • Jangkot • Gam 11937 Tapnang • 10811 (Altitudes in feet) Figures page Figure 1. The syllable in Kham 4 Figure 2. The dialects of Kham 6 xi Tables page Table 1. Vowel phonemes in Takala Kham 2 Table 2. Consonant phonemes in Takale Kham 3 xii Introduction 1. Language and classification Kham is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the upper valleys of the Rukum, Rolpa, and Baglung districts of Mid-Western Nepal by more than 50,000 people. Scattered populations also exist in Jajarkot, Dailekh, Kalikot, Achham, and Doti. The language should not be confused with Tibetan Khams of eastern Tibet. The majority of Kham speakers are Budhas, Puns, Ghartis, and Rokas—all classified ethnically as subtribes or clans of the Magar caste. However, it should not be assumed apriori that because speakers of Kham are ethnically Magar their language too is a dialect of Magar. Kham and Magar are vastly different languages. To avoid confusion with Tibetan Kham, and to link the language with the ethnicity of its speakers, the language has sometimes been referred to as Kham–Magar (Watters and Watters, 1973). Kham is known to Nepalis of the region as “Khamkura,” which, roughly translated, means Kham-talk or Kham-speech. The word Kham itself is of obscure origins and means simply language in its broad sense, and The Language in its strict sense. In Mid-Western Nepal, where Kham is spoken, the Nepali use of the word Kham or Khamkura has the more generalized meaning of a local, non-Nepali dialect. Consequently, at least two other languages in the region, Chantyal, and Kaike, have received the Nepali appellation Khamkura, though neither of them is related to the Kham of this dictionary (except as Tibeto-Burman languages). Before 1971, there were no word lists or descriptions of Kham, and the language was unheard-of in any of the linguistic classifications of the time. After the publication of a few elementary materials on Kham in the early 1970s, linguists were quick to add Kham to Shafer’s West-Central Himalayish along with Magar, Chepang, Raute, and Raji—a group of languages classed together because, in Shafer’s words “they have more in common with each other than with any other language or group of languages” (1966). The classification has persisted for about thirty years now, but in recent years, because of a lack of obvious shared innovations, the inclusion of Kham into a single subgroup with Magar and Chepang has become more cautious (Thurgood and LaPolla 2003). I continue to classify Kham under a Central Himalayish node (Proto-Kham-Magar- Chepang) as a sister node to East Himalayish (Kiranti) as proposed by Bradley (1997). The grounds for this classification are given in Watters 2003b. 2. Language contact Kham, situated in the western third of modern Nepal, would have been one of the first Tibeto-Burman languages encountered by the Khas speaking Aryans on their eastward migration out of northwestern India into the Himalayan foothills that now make up Nepal. 2 Introduction –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Though the higher caste Hindu Aryans, the Brahmins and Kshatriyas, never settled in the high, remote regions of the Kham homeland, the influence of their powerful Malla kingdom in Jumla, at its zenith in the 13th and 14th centuries, certainly spread to the remotest regions of western Nepal and left its indelible mark on the local languages. Perhaps more influential linguistically were the lower caste Kamis and Damais (blacksmiths and musicians), who finding ready employment in the remote Kham villages, settled down with the Tibeto-Burmans. Through the centuries Kham has borrowed scores of words from the Aryan immigrants, much of it from the material culture of the resident artisans, so that today a full 25% of the vocabulary can be traced to Indic sources, much of it predating modern Nepali. Purists may object to the inclusion of so many Indic loans, but today, such words are fully ensconced as a part of the modern Kham working vocabulary. 3. Phonology Following is a phonological synopsis for Taka Kham (spoken in the village of Taka), the Kham dialect of this dictionary. The symbols presented here are those used throughout the dictionary. 3.1 Vowels There are nine vowels in Taka Kham, six of which are basic, and three of which can be traced to secondary developments resulting from the loss of consonants. The six basic vowels are two front, /i/ and /e/, two central, /˙/ and /a/, and two back, /u/ and /o/.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Four Ana and One Modem House: a Spatial Ethnography of Kathmandu's Urbanizing Periphery
    I Four Ana and One Modem House: A Spatial Ethnography of Kathmandu's Urbanizing Periphery Andrew Stephen Nelson Denton, Texas M.A. University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, December 2004 B.A. Grinnell College, December 2000 A Disse11ation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology University of Virginia May 2013 II Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: An Intellectual Journey to the Urban Periphery 1 Part I: The Alienation of Farm Land 23 Chapter 2: From Newar Urbanism to Nepali Suburbanism: 27 A Social History of Kathmandu’s Sprawl Chapter 3: Jyāpu Farmers, Dalāl Land Pimps, and Housing Companies: 58 Land in a Time of Urbanization Part II: The Householder’s Burden 88 Chapter 4: Fixity within Mobility: 91 Relocating to the Urban Periphery and Beyond Chapter 5: American Apartments, Bihar Boxes, and a Neo-Newari 122 Renaissance: the Dual Logic of New Kathmandu Houses Part III: The Anxiety of Living amongst Strangers 167 Chapter 6: Becoming a ‘Social’ Neighbor: 171 Ethnicity and the Construction of the Moral Community Chapter 7: Searching for the State in the Urban Periphery: 202 The Local Politics of Public and Private Infrastructure Epilogue 229 Appendices 237 Bibliography 242 III Abstract This dissertation concerns the relationship between the rapid transformation of Kathmandu Valley’s urban periphery and the social relations of post-insurgency Nepal. Starting in the 1970s, and rapidly increasing since the 2000s, land outside of the Valley’s Newar cities has transformed from agricultural fields into a mixed development of planned and unplanned localities consisting of migrants from the hinterland and urbanites from the city center.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender and Identity in a Shaman's Song from Nepal
    HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies Volume 22 Number 1 Himalayan Research Bulletin No. 1 & Article 7 2 2002 The Nine Witch Sisters: Gender and identity in a Shaman's Song from Nepal Linda L. Iltis University of Washington Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya Recommended Citation Iltis, Linda L.. 2002. The Nine Witch Sisters: Gender and identity in a Shaman's Song from Nepal. HIMALAYA 22(1). Available at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/himalaya/vol22/iss1/7 This Research Article is brought to you for free and open access by the DigitalCommons@Macalester College at DigitalCommons@Macalester College. It has been accepted for inclusion in HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Macalester College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Nine Witch Sisters: Gender and Identity in a Shaman 's Song f rom Nepal Linda L. litis University ofWashington In 1974, John T. Hitchcock published "A Shaman's Song nature and origins of sickness and suffering. While the song and some Implications for Himalayan Research," and in­ is about shamans and witch-evil, it appears to be influenced cluded a brief summary of a lengthy shaman's song that he by the broader Hindu and Buddhist worldview which Magars had recorded during the course of his field research among also encounter and embrace in other ritual contexts. In this the Magars in Nepal's Bhuji Valley. 1 He compared the pat­ story, characters with classical Hindu names-Manu, Rama, terns of ambiguity found in the song with the ambiguities in Parmeswar, and Sita-interact with other characters hav­ the shaman's social status and those associated with wife­ ing local Magar names, bridging this story with other clas­ givers and wife-receivers in the "system of .
    [Show full text]
  • The Biography of a Magar Communist Anne De Sales
    The Biography of a Magar Communist Anne de Sales To cite this version: Anne de Sales. The Biography of a Magar Communist. David Gellner. Varieties of Activist Ex- periences in South Asia, Sage, pp.18-45, 2010, Governance, Conflict, and Civic Action Series. hal- 00794601 HAL Id: hal-00794601 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00794601 Submitted on 10 Mar 2013 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Chapter 2 The Biography of a Magar Communist Anne de Sales Let us begin with the end of the story: Barman Budha Magar was elected a Member of Parliament in 1991, one year after the People’s Movement (jan andolan) that put an end to thirty years of the Partyless Panchayat ‘democracy’ in Nepal. He had stood for the Samyukta Jana Morcha or United People’s Front (UPF), the political wing of the revolutionary faction of the Communist Party of Nepal, or CPN (Unity Centre).1 To the surprise of the nation, the UPF won 9 seats and the status of third-largest party with more than 3 per cent of the national vote. However, following the directives of his party,2 Barman, despite being an MP, soon went underground until he retired from political life at the time of the People’s War in 1996.
    [Show full text]
  • The Double Life of Development: Peasants, Agrarian Livelihoods, and the Prehistory of Nepal's Maoist Revolution a DISSERTATION
    The Double Life of Development: Peasants, Agrarian Livelihoods, and the Prehistory of Nepal’s Maoist Revolution A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Dinesh Paudel IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Vinay Gidwani and Abdi Samatar October 2012 © Dinesh Paudel 2012 Acknowledgements This dissertation is the cumulative outcome of the efforts of many individuals, institutions and communities. Any attempt to list them all — let alone offer sufficient appreciation and acknowledgment — will remain incomplete. I am forever indebted to them for their constant and transformative inspiration and intellectual and moral support, which made this work possible. The formality of “Acknowledgements” does not really capture and leaves far too understated my appreciation to my advisors Vinay Gidwani and Abdi Samatar for their tireless intellectual guidance, inspiration, patience, critical insights and unconditional support over the last five years. I have been privileged to learn from their academic acumen and commitment to change. Their incisive comments and thorough engagements in various stages of my research have taught me nuanced ways of approaching political praxis, geography and development. My sincere gratitude to them for their help in shaping my academic path and ways of thinking about the world that I hope to carry with me into my future endeavors. Likewise, I am indebted and grateful to Eric Sheppard and Dean Current, who served on my committee and also remained a special source of intellectual inspiration and academic support in my research. Their ideas are imprinted in this dissertation. I feel particularly fortunate to have worked with many scholars at the University of Minnesota.
    [Show full text]
  • The Kham Magar Country, Nepal: Between Ethnic Claims and Maoism Anne De Sales (Translated by David N
    41 The Kham Magar country, Nepal: Between ethnic claims and Maoism Anne de Sales (translated by David N. Gellner) Identity politics were unheard of in the early 1980s, when I carried out my first fieldwork among the Kham Magar, a Tibeto-Burman population of west Nepal. If people felt like comparing or defining themselves, they focused on very local dif- ferences: on the dialects of different villages, their specific festival calendars, their different ways of covering haystacks (by means of a cover made of goatskin or with a straw roof), the different itineraries they followed with their flocks, or the boundaries of their communal territories. Subjects like these were discussed again and again. Such conversations presupposed a common shared identity, of course, but there was no context in which Kham Magars needed to articulate it. For exam- ple, relations with their cousins, the Magar, the largest minority in Nepal, were undefined and the exploration of differences between Kham Magars and Magars did not appear to be important, at least to the Kham Magar themselves. In sum, Kham Magar villagers preferred to see themselves and to be seen as the inhabitants of one ‘country’, deß in Nepali (the term has been adopted into the Kham Magars’ Tibeto-Burman language). A ‘country’ is a given natural environment in which one is born and where one lives alongside others similar to oneself. It is the Kham Magars’ ‘country’ that has turned out to be the stronghold of the ‘People’s War’ launched four years ago by the revolutionary Maoist movement. The life of the Kham Magar has been turned upside-down by this, and many of them have died.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Exclusion and Social Change: Access To, and Influence Of, Community-Based Collective Action Programs in Nepal
    SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND SOCIAL CHANGE: ACCESS TO, AND INFLUENCE OF, COMMUNITY-BASED COLLECTIVE ACTION PROGRAMS IN NEPAL by Meeta Sainju Pradhan A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor William G. Axinn, Chair Professor Thomas E. Fricke Assistant Professor Sarah Burgard Associate Research Scientist Dirgha J. Ghimire © Meeta Sainju Pradhan All rights reserved 2011 DEDICATION For Pratik, Prabir and Priya As you move ahead in life please keep in mind those who you do not see…..… look for them in the corner of your hearts and mind. and For all those who work towards a world of equality and justice. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Coming back to graduate school after over a decade of working in the field has been a journey of new learning – about my chosen area of work and about my own self. This journey has been possible due to the tremendous support of a wonderful group of people, all over the world. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and express my sincere gratitude to them. Professor William Axinn has been a steady influence in my life, ultimately succeeding in convincing me to return to graduate studies and extending all the support possible. His patience, guidance and encouragement, as a friend and a mentor, have been very valuable. I appreciation his continuing research interest in Nepal and particularly his support in building capacity for state-of-the-art social science research in the country. Professor Arland Thornton and Professor Sarah Burgard have always patiently and carefully read my work, giving serious attention to all the finer details and providing me with valuable feedback as I formulated and refined my work.
    [Show full text]
  • Population Monograph of Nepal Volume II
    POPULATION MONOGRAPH OF NEPAL VOLUME II (Social Demography) Government of Nepal National Planning Commission Secretariat Central Bureau of Statistics Ramshah Path, Kathmandu, Nepal 2014 Published by Central Bureau of Statistics Ramshah Path, Kathmandu, Nepal Supported by United Nations Population Fund First Edition, 2014 : (2,000 copies) Price: Rs. .............. ISBN : 978-9937-2-8972-6 Printed at: Multi Graphic Press Pvt. Ltd. Phone No. 4274651/9851020809 Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of CBS PREFACE The National Population Census 2011 has provided a wealth of information that is required to understand various socio-economic and demographic changes that have occurred in the country during the intervening period of the two censuses. The Population Monograph of Nepal 2014, an analytical report of the census 2011 presented in three volumes contains in-depth analysis of different topics related to the population of the country prepared by the eminent professionals dealing with such issues in their professional work. The first volume contains 12 chapters related to the population dynamics of Nepal, such as size and structure of the population, nuptiality, fertility, mortality, migration and population projections. The second volume contains 10 chapters on social demography dealing with caste/ethnicity, language, ageing, socioeconomic characteristics, status of gender, education, adolescents and youth, children and disability. Similarly, the third volume consists 9 chapters which include important interlinkages of population and economic variable such as economic activities, urbanization, economic development, environment, status of agriculture and other poverty indicators. Data has been disaggregated by caste, ethnicity, gender and spatial distribution wherever possible.
    [Show full text]
  • A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY of MAGAR (As Spoken in Myagdi District)
    A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY OF MAGAR (As Spoken in Myagdi District) A thesis Submitted To The Central Department of Linguistics The Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences Tribhuvan University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for The master's degree in Linguistics By Kasi Raj Gautam Second year exam roll no. 5638 T.U. Regd. No. 1765-99 Central Department of Linguistics Kathmandu, Nepal 2010 Letter of recommendation Date: 2067 This is to certify that Mr. Kasi Raj Gautam has completed this dissertation on the topic A Sociolinguistic Study of Magar (As Spoken in Myagdi District) under my guidance and supervision. I recommend this dissertation for evaluation. ___________________________ Mr. Lekhnath Sharma Pathak Lecturer Central Department of Linguistics Tribhuvan University Kathmandu, Nepal 2 Letter of Approval This is to certify that A Sociolinguistic Study of Magar (As Spoken in Myagdi District) a dissertation submitted by Mr. Kasi Raj Gautam in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master's degree in Linguistics has been duly approved for acceptance. ______________________ Dissertation Supervisor ______________________ External Examiner ______________________ Head of the Department Date: 2067 3 Acknowledgements First of all, I am profoundly indebted to my respected supervisor Mr. Lekhnath Sharma Pathak, Lecturer of Central Department of Linguistics, T.U., Nepal for his scholarly and insightful guidelines, constant encouragement, co-operation and constructive suggestions for successful accomplishment of the present thesis. I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude and honor to Dr. Dan Raj Regmi, Head of Central Department of Linguistics. I am very much thankful to him for his valuable remarks, guidelines and insightful comments.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethnic Politics in Nepal Shyamu Thapa Magar
    Ethnic Politics in Nepal Shyamu Thapa Magar (Ph.D) National Foundation for the Development of Indigenous Nationalities 2015 Ethnic Politics in Nepal ............................................................................................................................................. Author : Shyamu Thapa Magar (Ph.D) Copywrite © : Author Publisher : National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities Jawalakhel, Lalitpur E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.nfdin.gov.np Executive/Managing Editor : Sarina Gurung Cover Designer : Kamsingh Chepang Cover Picture : Borrowed from NEFIN Edition : June 2015 Publication Copies : 500 Copies ISBN : 978-9937-8439-4-2 No authorized photocopying All rights author. No part of this publication my be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of authors, or as expressly permitted by law. Printed in Nepal Dedicated to my parents in Laws Late Bal Dhoj Thapa Magar (1970-2060 B.S.) and Man Maya Thapa Magar (1990-2066 B.S.) and All indigenous ethnic people of the country who are fighting for their equal rights. Shyamu Thapa Magar (Ph.D) 2015 PUBLISHERS NOTE ational Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN) was established under the NFDIN ActN 2058 -2002_by The government of Nepal with the goals of comprehensive development of indigenous nationalities of Nepal. The academy has completed its fourteenth years. Since its establishment the NFDIN has been working for the promotion and social development of indegenours People's language, literature, religion, and culture through its yearly program. In addition to this NFDIN has accomplished different academic tasks of research and publication on the aspects of indigenous nationalities of Nepal. The academy has its regular yearly program of partial economic supports to the publication of quality literary articles and books on the endangered language of indigenous people.
    [Show full text]
  • Linguistic Survey of Nepal
    1 LINGUISTIC SURVEY OF NEPAL (LinSuN) ___________________ A Proposal Prepared on behalf of National Planning Commission Government of Nepal ___________________ Drafting Team LinSuN Central Department of Linguistics Tribhuvan University June 27, 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1 PAGER) ..................................................................................................... 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (4 PAGER) ..................................................................................................... 3 1 BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE ................................................................................................. 8 2 CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN NEPAL ............................................................. 9 2.1 VARIOUS ESTIMATES ...................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 GENETIC AFFILIATION .................................................................................................................... 11 2.3 WRITING SYSTEMS ......................................................................................................................... 11 2.4 LANGUAGE AND ETHNICITY ........................................................................................................... 13 2.5 SECOND LANGUAGES AND LINGUA FRANCAS ................................................................................. 14 2.6 EXISTING LEGAL PROVISIONS ........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Tibeto-Burman Replaces Indo-Chinese in the 1990S: Review of a Decade of Scholarship*
    Ji!! ~ ~ ELSEVIER Lingua Ill (2002) 79-102 www.elsevier.com/locate/lingua Survey article Tibeto-Burman replaces Indo-Chinese in the 1990s: Review of a decade of scholarship* George van Driem Himalayan Languages Project, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2350 RA Leiden, The Netherlands Received 15 January 2001; revised version 21 February 2001 Abstract Tibeto-Burman is one of the world's greatest language families, second only to lndo-Euro­ pean in terms of populations of speakers. Advances made in the course of the decade have led to a major paradigm shift in Tibeto-Burman historical linguistics and phylogeny. The numer­ ous contributions to the field in the 1990s are reviewed in a statement on the current state of the art. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Tibeto-Burman; Language stock phylogeny; Grammatical description; Lexical documentation; Endangered languages; Historical linguistic comparison; The Indian subcon­ tinent; The Himalayas; Southeast Asia; Tibet; China 1. A fin de siecle paradigm shift The last decade of the 20th century saw a revival of the old Tibeto-Burrnan the­ ory and its slow but steady ascendance above the Indo-Chinese or Sino-Tibetan the­ ory. Tibeto-Burrnan dates from the 18th century when scholars observed that Burmese and Tibetan were genetically related. The contours of the language family were delineated by Julius Klaproth in 1823. In its original formulation, the language family encompassed Tibetan, Burmese and Chinese and those languages which Lingua is launching a series of survey articles called 'The decade in ... '. We aim to publish overview articles that will give nonspecialist linguists an insight into the way in which specific areas of expertise have developed in the last 10 years.
    [Show full text]
  • Posture Verbs in Two Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal1 Michael Noonan & Karen Grunow-Hårsta University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
    Posture Verbs in Two Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal1 Michael Noonan & Karen Grunow-Hårsta University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 0. Introduction: In this paper we will examine the syntax and semantics of expressions which, either currently or historically, contain verbal expressions denoting posture [‘stand’, ‘sit’, ‘lie’] in two Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal: Chantyal [Tibeto- Burman: Bodic: Bodish: Tibetic: Tamangic] and Magar [Tibeto-Burman: Bodic: Hima- layish: Kham-Magar]. The genetic relationship of these languages to each other and to other members of the Bodic Division of Tibeto-Burman is outlined in Figure 1. 1. Posture verbs in Chantyal 1.0 Introduction: The Chantyal language is spoken by approximately 2000 of the 11,000 ethnic Chantyal.2 The Chantyal live in the Baglung and Myagdi Districts of Ne- pal; the villages where the Chantyal language is spoken are all located in the eastern portion of the Myagdi District and include the villages of Mangale Kh‚ni, Dw‚ri, Ghy“s Khark‚, Caura Kh‚ni, Kuine Kh‚ni, Th‚r‚ Kh‚ni, P‚tle Khark‚, M‚l‚mp‚h‚r, and Malk‚b‚ng. There is relatively little linguistic variation among these villages, though where differences exist, it is the speech of Mangale Kh‚ni that is represented here. The Chantyal language is a member of the Tamangic group and, within the group, it is lexically and grammatically closest to the Thakali Complex. Assessment of the internal relations within the group is complicated by a number of factors, among which is the fact that shared innovations may be the product of geographic contiguity as much as shared genetic background.
    [Show full text]