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The Journey of Nepal Bhasa from Decline to Revitalization — Resha Maharjan Master of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies May 2018

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The Journey of Nepal Bhasa from Decline to Revitalization — Resha Maharjan Master of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies May 2018 Center for Sami Studies Faculty of Humanities, Social Science and Education The Journey of Nepal Bhasa From Decline to Revitalization — Resha Maharjan Master of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies May 2018 The Journey of Nepal Bhasa From Decline to Revitalization A thesis submitted by Resha Maharjan Master of Philosophy in Indigenous Studies The Centre of Sami Studies (SESAM) Faculty of Humanities, Social Science and Education UIT The Arctic University of Norway May 2018 Dedicated to My grandma, Nani Maya Dangol & My children, Prathamesh and Pranavi मा車भाय् झीगु म्हसिका ख: (Ma Bhay Jhigu Mhasika Kha) ‘MOTHER TONGUE IS OUR IDENTITY’ Cover Photo: A boy trying to spin the prayer wheels behind the Harati temple, Swoyambhu. The mantra Om Mane Padme Hum in these prayer wheels are written in Ranjana lipi. The boy in the photo is wearing the traditional Newari dress. Model: Master Prathamesh Prakash Shrestha Photo courtesy: Er. Rashil Maharjan I ABSTRACT Nepal Bhasa is a rich and highly developed language with a vast literature in both ancient and modern times. It is the language of Newar, mostly local inhabitant of Kathmandu. The once administrative language, Nepal Bhasa has been replaced by Nepali (Khas) language and has a limited area where it can be used. The language has faced almost 100 years of suppression and now is listed in the definitely endangered language list of UNESCO. Various revitalization programs have been brought up, but with limited success. This main goal of this thesis on Nepal Bhasa is to find the actual reason behind the fall of this language and hesitation of the people who know Nepal Bhasa to use it. Simultaneously, it tries to find the ways to revitalize the language. To find the main reason for the weakening of this language, I conducted semi-structured in- depth interviews to elicit the view of Newar people on this topic. A survey was conducted with the same purpose. With the help of my primary and secondary data I prove that due to the Linguistic hegemony of Nepali language, supported by Nepal’s government, the area of Nepal Bhasa is curtailed hence gradually leading it to the verge of extinction. The study also reveals how the government maintains the hegemony of Nepali language through its biased policy. At the end I present ways to revitalization as per the view of informants. Keywords: Nepal Bhasa, Newar, Revitalization, Linguistic Hegemony, i II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to pay my gratitude to my mom, Durga Devi Maharjan and my dad, Gambhir Man Maharjan for all the support and love. Though in different countries and physically unavailable, you guys inspired me day and night to chase my dream and complete this thesis. You believed in me that made me confident and kept going. I am thankful to Goddess Saraswati for all the blessing and strength that she has poured upon me during this thesis. I owe a big thank to my husband, Pramoj Prakash Shrestha for his patience and support and my children Prathamesh and Pranavi for sparing time for me to complete this thesis. I am also highly obliged to my father-in-law, Ananda Prakash Shrestha, and mother-in-law, Brinda Devi Pradhan, for their immense support and love. Not by birth but by act you are my dad and mom. Without your support I would have never set on this journey. I would like to offer my gratitude to my sisters, Reeju and Ramani and brother, Rashil for all their time and support. I acknowledge the Centre of Sami Studies (SESAM) and my professors for the wonderful opportunity to be a part of this study. I would like to especially thank Professor Eystein Dahl for supervising me in the initial difficult stage and Associate Professor Torjer Andreas Olsen for the supervision in the later part inspite of his busy schedule. I cannot thank you enough for your valuable guidance. My special thanks go to Associate Professor, Rachel Issa Djesa (you were with me throughout this journey), Academic Co-ordinator, Else Grete Broderstad and Associate Professor Camilla Brattland for their support and suggestions. I am also thankful for the fund granted to me for field work and more than that the extensions provided. The later one played a crucial role for the completion of my thesis. I am grateful to Marina Pantcheva for the proofreading; I would have given up if you hadn’t hold my back in the last moment. I would like to convey my special regards to Mr. Subhash Ram Prajapati for his valuable time and guidance which helped me to move forward with my thesis. I am thankful to Mr. Dipak Tuladhar for sparing time for me despite his busy schedule and providing me with important information. I am also thankful to all my informants who came forward to help me in such short notice and trusted me with their views. Last but not the least, I am thankful to my friends, Abukari Kwame, Ranju Kafle, Deepak Sapkota, Jasmine Kaur, Simranjit Singh, and Anuj Khanal for bearing with me when I went crazy working on this thesis. ii CONTENTS I Abstract .........................................................................................................................................................................i II Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................ ii III Nepal Bhasa Consonants in Ranjana Alphabet ........................................................................................... v IV List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................. vi V Table of Figures ..................................................................................................................................................... vii VI List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 About Newar and Nepal Bhasa ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Previous Research and Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Language Revitalization 3 1.3 Description of the Research Problem ................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Research Aim and Objective ..................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Research Question ........................................................................................................................................ 6 1.6 Relevance .......................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.7 Insider-Outsider Dilemma ......................................................................................................................... 7 1.8 Source of Motivation .................................................................................................................................... 9 1.9 Methods and Data ......................................................................................................................................... 9 1.10 Thesis Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Previous Work and Theoretical Aspect ................................................................................ 13 2.1 Works on Cause of Language being Threatened ........................................................................... 13 2.2 Theoretical Aspect ..................................................................................................................................... 19 2.2.1 Hegemony ............................................................................................................................................ 19 2.2.2 Cultural Hegemony .......................................................................................................................... 20 2.2.3 Linguistic Hegemony ....................................................................................................................... 21 2.3 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 3: Methods and Methodology ........................................................................................................ 25 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 25 3.2 Study Area ..................................................................................................................................................... 25 3.3 Selection and Size of the Research Participants Pool .................................................................. 26 3.4 Data Collection ............................................................................................................................................ 28 3.4.1 Primary Data......................................................................................................................................
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