A Sociolinguistic Survey of Lahul Valley, Himachal Pradesh
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DigitalResources Electronic Survey Report 2019-006 A Sociolinguistic Survey of Lahul Valley, Himachal Pradesh Brad Chamberlain and Wendy Chamberlain A Sociolinguistic Survey of Lahul Valley, Himachal Pradesh Brad Chamberlain and Wendy Chamberlain SIL International® 2019 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2019-006, August 2019 © 2019 SIL International® All rights reserved Data and materials collected by researchers in an era before documentation of permission was standardized may be included in this publication. SIL makes diligent efforts to identify and acknowledge sources and to obtain appropriate permissions wherever possible, acting in good faith and on the best information available at the time of publication. Abstract The main purpose of this survey of the Lahul Valley of Himachal Pradesh was to determine the best language varieties for communicating with the Lahuli people. The survey was conducted in June, July, and August of 1996. The survey was divided into three studies: a language and dialect area study; a language use, attitudes, and vitality study; and a bilingualism study. Wordlists were collected for the Pattani language, which is the largest language group in Lahul. Recorded Text Testing was used. Oral questionnaires were the means to study language use, attitudes and vitality. Self-reported levels of bilingualism in Hindi were assessed through questionnaires, informal interviews, and observation. In addition, a test based on the Recorded Text Testing procedure was used to see if minority language groups of Lahul could understand the most widely spoken Lahuli language, Pattani. Although Lahul Valley is home to only 20,000 residents, there are seven mother tongue languages: Pattani, Gahri, Tinani, Bhoti, Lohari, Chinali and Pangi. Lexical similarity study shows the seven to be distinct languages, five based on geography and two, the Lohari and Chinali, on caste. Of these languages, some exhibit significant dialect variation. In the Lahul language communities, people speak their mother tongue in all domains, particularly in the home and with others in the village. Hindi is often spoken with shopkeepers and is primarily used for trade and education. Many also sing Hindi songs. In all cases, the Lahuli communities have positive attitudes toward their mother tongue. They are proud of their languages and want to read and write their mother tongue. In addition, they appear to be positive toward their identity as Lahulis, regardless of their mother tongue. The language communities of Lahul show signs that they will continue to speak their mother tongue in the future. Information was collected to assess bilingual ability of Gahri and Tinani speakers in the Pattani language. Results suggest that the majority in these communities have some ability to understand Pattani. However, these levels are not as high as the mother tongue Pattani speakers in that language. Lahulis from all regions seem confident in their ability to use Hindi. The Bhoti-speakers are slightly less confident of their Hindi ability, while the Tinani-speakers are more confident. It appears that Hindi bilingualism is increasing, as more generations attend Hindi-medium schools. Lohars (and perhaps Chinals) are less educated on the whole than other Lahul communities, and also report a lower level of ability in using Hindi. Bilingualism levels in Hindi need to be further assessed throughout the valley. There appears to be no single language which would suit the entire population of Lahul. However, positive attitudes towards mother tongues indicate that mother tongue language work would be well received. (This survey report written some time ago deserves to be made available even at this late date. Conditions were such that it was not published when originally written. The reader is cautioned that more recent research may be available. Historical data are quite valuable as they provide a basis for a longitudinal analysis and help us understand both the trajectory and pace of change as compared with more recent studies.—Editor) Contents Figure and tables 1 Introduction 1.1 Geography 1.2 History 1.3 The Lahuli people 1.3.1 Pattani people 1.3.2 Bodh people 1.3.3 Tinani people 1.3.4 Gahri people 1.3.5 Chinal caste 1.3.6 Lohar caste 1.4 Languages of Lahul Valley 1.4.1 Pattani language 1.4.2 Tinani language 1.4.3 Gahri language 1.4.4 Bhoti language 1.4.5 Chinali language 1.4.6 Lohari language 1.4.7 Pangi language 2 Purpose and goals 2.1 Language and dialect area study 2.1.1 Lexical similarity study 2.1.2 Dialect intelligibility study 2.2 Language use, attitudes, and vitality study 2.3 Bilingualism study 3 Language and dialect area study 3.1 Discussion of sample 3.2 Lexical similarity study 3.2.1 Introduction 3.2.2 Procedures 3.2.3 Results 3.3 Dialect intelligibility study 3.3.1 Introduction 3.3.2 Results of intelligibility testing 3.3.3 Post-RTT questionnaire results 4 Language use, attitudes, and vitality study 4.1 Procedures 4.2 Discussion of sample 4.3 Results 4.3.1 Language use 4.3.2 Language attitudes 4.3.3 Language vitality 5 Bilingualism study 5.1 Procedures 5.2 Pattani bilingualism 5.2.1 Introduction 5.2.2 Results of preliminary Pattani bilingualism study (PPB) 5.2.3 Post-PPB questionnaire results 5.3 Hindi bilingualism iii iv 6 Summary and recommendations 6.1 Summary of findings 6.1.1 Dialect area study 6.1.2 Language use, attitudes, and vitality study 6.1.3 Bilingualism study 6.2 Recommendations 6.2.1 General recommendations for Lahul Valley 6.2.2 Pattani language recommendations 6.2.3 Gahri language recommendations 6.2.4 Tinani language recommendations 6.2.5 Bhoti language recommendations 6.2.6 Lohari language recommendations 6.2.7 Chinali language recommendations 6.2.8 Pangi language recommendations Appendix A: Wordlists Appendix B: Recorded Text Tests Appendix C: Language Use, Attitudes, Vitality, and Bilingualism Data Appendix D: Subject Background Information Appendix E: Lahul Community Information Appendix F: Questionnaires References Figure and tables Figure Continuum of lexical similarity among languages of Lahul Valley. Table 1. Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes in Lahul-Spiti (Kapoor 1993) Table 2. 1981 Census: Population of Lahul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh Table 3. Distribution of sample among geographic regions of Lahul Valley Table 4. Distribution of sample among languages of Lahul Valley Table 5. Wordlist language names, locations, and language classifications Table 6. Lexical similarity among the Himalayish languages and varieties Table 7. Lexical similarity among the Tibetan languages and varieties Table 8. Lexical similarity among the Indo-Aryan languages and varieties Table 9. Lexical similarity among Lohari samples and the surrounding languages Table 10. Lexical similarity averages among all languages compared Table 11. Pattani language intelligibility testing results Table 12. Summary of Post-RTT Questionnaire results Table 13. Correlation of LUAQ subject mother tongue to geographic regions Table 14. Mother tongues and second languages of LUAQ subjects Table 15. Domains of language use in Lahul Valley Table 16. Responses to the question “What languages can you read and write?” Table 17. Summary of responses to language attitude questions Table 18. Summary of responses to language vitality questions Table 19. Preliminary Pattani bilingualism study results Table 20. Summary of Post-PPB Questionnaire results Table 21. Summary of answers to question “Are there people in your village who can’t speak Hindi?” Table 22. Summary of subject confidence in Hindi ability Table 23. Specific questions of perceived Hindi bilingualism levels v 1 Introduction 1.1 Geography ‘Lahul’ refers to a region, rather than a specific language. For this survey, language research was conducted in Lahul Valley, which is part of the Lahul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, India (see map 1). Map 1. Lahul-Spiti district and its relation to Himachal Pradesh state Map hand-drawn by Brad Chamberlain. 1 2 The Lahul area is remote, bordered by towering mountain ranges. The district of Lahul-Spiti is separated in the north from the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir by the Baralacha range which has an average height of 5500 meters, and in the east is situated by the Tibet region. In the south-east the district is separated from Kinnaur district by a lofty mountain with an average height of 5000 meters. In the southwest and west the district is separated from Kulu and Chamba districts by the lofty range with an average elevation of 4500 meters (Bajpai 1987:1). This report focuses primarily on the languages of Lahul Valley, which are distinct from the region of Spiti. As shown on map 2, Lahul is made up of three separate (river) valleys. The Chandra, which includes Gondhla and Ranglo area; the Bhaga, constituted of the Gahar [Gahr] and Tod [Stod] valleys; and the Chandra-Bhaga [Chenab], including Pattan valley and the Chamba-Lahoul area, also known as Goonam. The average width of each of these valleys is barely a couple of nautical miles, while the total length is about sixty nautical miles of populated area, and another fifty nautical miles of barren mountain slopes. The total area is about 12,210 square km (Sahni 1994:19). Map 2. Lahul Valley: Map of geographical regions in Lahul Map hand-drawn by Brad Chamberlain. Questionnaire results and informal interviews reveal that Lahulis view the Chandra river valley as including Tinan Valley (around Gondhla), Rangloi Valley (surrounding Sissu), and Khoksar Valley. The Chamba-Lahul area is also referred to as Reampher Valley. 3 The Lahul-Spiti district was initially part of the Punjab. However, after the reorganization of the Punjab state in 1966, the Lahul-Spiti district along with other hill areas of Punjab were merged in the Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh, which itself received the status of full-fledged state in 1971.