Nepalese Linguistics Volume 28 November 2013 Chief Editor Prof. Dr. Dan Raj Regmi Editors Dr. Balaram Prasain Mr. Krishna Prasad Chalise Office Bearers for 2012-2014 President Krishna Prasad Parajuli Vice-President Bhim Lal Gautam General Secretary Kamal Poudel Secretary (Office) Bhim Narayan Regmi Secretary (General) Kedar Bilash Nagila Treasurer Krishna Prasad Chalise Member Dev Narayan Yadav Member Netra Mani Dumi Rai Member Karnakhar Khatiwada Member Ambika Regmi Member Suren Sapkota Editorial Board Chief Editor Prof. Dr. Dan Raj Regmi Editors Dr. Balaram Prasain Mr. Krishna Prasad Chaise Nepalese Linguistics is a journal published by Linguistic Society of Nepal. It publishes articles related to the scientific study of languages, especially from Nepal. The views expressed therein are not necessary 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 400/- (Nepali) IC 350/-(India) USD 10 Life membership fees include subscription for the journal. SPECIAL THANKS TO NEPAL ACADEMY AND UNESCO OFFICE IN KATHMANDU Nepal Academy (Nepal Pragya Pratisthan) was founded in June 22, 1957 by the then His Late Majesty King Mahendra as Nepal Sahitya Kala Academy. It was later renamed Nepal Rajkiya Pragya Pratisthan and now it is named as Nepal Pragya Prastisthan. This prestigious national academic institution is committed to enhancing the language, culture, philosophy and social sciences in Nepal. The major objectives of Nepal Academy include (a) to focus on the creation of original works in the fields of languages, literature, culture, philosophy and social sciences in Nepal (b) to translate outstanding works from foreign languages into Nepali and other native languages and vice versa (c) to organize talks, lectures, seminars workshops, conferences, exhibitions, etc., on topics related to language, literature, philosophy, culture and social sciences, and to participate in international programmes of such nature (d) to maintain relations between Nepal Academy and various related international organizations (e) to honour and present awards to distinguished native and other scholars in recognition of their significant contributions to language, literature, art, crafts, music, drama, culture and social sciences (f) to promote a congenial atmosphere for facilitating the works of individuals and organizations devoted to such areas (g) to offer life and honorary memberships to distinguished scholars, artists and organizations. Similarly, the UNESCO Office in Kathmandu contributes to building peace, alleviating poverty, and fostering sustainable development and intercultural dialogue in Nepal through education, science, culture, communication and information. UNESCO works to attain a quality Education for All, focusing on gender equality and adult literacy, to mobilize scientific knowledge and science policy for sustainable development, to preserve cultural heritage, promote cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, and to empower people through the free flow of ideas and access to information and knowledge. To achieve these objectives, UNESCO actively participates in the work of the UN Country Team in Nepal and closely cooperates with other development partners in the country. In this context, Nepal Academy and UNESCO Office in Kathmandu have shown their generosity to collaborate in supporting and publishing this volume of NEPALESE LINGUISTICS, the annual journal of Linguis tic Society of Nepal (LSN), a premier organization devoted to the study of languages in general and the Nepalese languages in particular. The LSN extends its sincere gratitude and thankfulness to Nepal Academy for sponsoring the publication of the present issue of NEPALESE LINGUISTICS, Vol 28. Published with the financial support of Nepal Academy and the UNESCO Office in Kathmandu Contents Shifting linguistic identity of Chepangs Rishiram Adhikari & 1 Ramesh Kumar Limbu Words of human body parts, birds, animals and other insects used among the Boro, Garo, Rabha, Dimasa and Kokborok languages Phukan Ch. Basumatary 7 Coordination in Baram Laxman Chalise 12 Relative clauses in Magahi Shweta Chandra 15 Case marking in Balami Binod Dahal 25 Verb agreement in Majhi Dubi Nanda Dhakal 31 Evidence and stance in Kusunda Mark Donohue and Bhoj Raj Gautam 38 An acoustic analysis of Balami basic vowels Bhoj Raj Gautam 48 Mother tongue-based education and the heritage languages of Nepal Laxman Ghimire 55 Age-related sociolinguistic variation in sign languages, with particular reference to Nepali sign language Upendra Khanal 64 Case marking in Dhimal Karnakhar Khatiwada 71 Clitic -e in Bhojpuri Gopal Thakur 77 Participant Tracking in Nepali Sign Language Narrative Michael W Morgan 86 Negation: evidences from the Dura language Kedar Bilash Nagila 95 Person, number and gender system in Bodo Parijat Narzary 100 Exploring strategies for translation of onomatopoeic words: A case of Muglan Nabaraj Neupane 109 Lexical reduplication in the Chitoniya Tharu Krishna Prasad 117 Paudyal Issues of v-v compounds in Chintang Netra Prasad Paudyal 125 Finite State Approach to Nepali Adjectives Balaram Prasain 132 Subordination in Dumi Netra Mani Rai 137 Discourse continuity in Koyee Tara Mani Rai 146 A Contrastive Study of Chhintang and English Pronouns: Problems and Teaching Strategies Ichchha Purna Rai 155 Multilingualism, domains of language use and language vitality in Magar Kaike Ambika Regmi 160 Contact induced changes in Bhujel Dan Raj Regmi 167 Some perspectives on Maithili Krishna Kumar Sah 177 State restructuring and language policy in Nepal Suren Sapkota 187 Dynamic of Nepali public’s opinion on the linguistic issue Pawan Kumar Sen 197 Puma phonology: a descriptive analysis Narayan Sharma 209 Interactive evaluation of quasi-synonyms extracted from the bilingual dictionaries Potemkin 216 Font identifier and unicode converter for Hindi UmrinderPal Singh, Vishal Goyal 223 Relativization in Maithili Indresh Thakur 228 Tense system in the Bahing language Rajendra Thokar 236 The interaction of weight effects and extrametricality in Nepali phonetic stress assignment Daniel M. Tucker 245 Status of Limbu mother tongue education in Nepal Govinda Bahadur Tumbahang 251 Linguistic context and language endangerment in Nepal Yogendra P Yadava 260 Importance of paralanguage in learning English as second language Ayesha Zafar 273 Presenditia Presidential speech Krishna Prasad 281 Parajuli List of the life members of linguistic society of Nepal 286 Shifting linnguistic identity of Chepangs Rishiram Adhikari and Ramesh Kumar Limbu This paper presents the impact of attitude on ongoing economic activities, etc. have created language and identity of Chepangs living in pressure to minority language group to shift from Chitwan. The Chepang is one of the indigenous their traditional language practice in Nepal. nationalities having distinct linguistic identity. Minority languages have been falling under crisis. The main concern of this papeer is to explore socio As a result of being a small linguistic group and economic impacts and speakers’ attitude on the contact with Nepali and English languages are Chepang language. It discusses how settlement, also key contributing factors for disappearance of socio economic status, education and modernity indigenous languages. impact on shifting language on Chepangs. The The decline of indigenous languages is one of the paper presents three case studies of residents in main causes of shifting linguistic identity from the study area and finds out the factors that show old to new. It also results in a loss of distinct the shifting nature of Chepang language. linguistic identity. Dominant linguistic group 1 Introduction gives pressure to minority language group through creating hegemony. Rai (2008) states that Speakers' attitude and their socio economic status the linguistic hegemony is the main cause of are responsible to the growth and flux of language language shifting in Nepal . Due to causes of in particular community. Moreover, globalization and modernization minority industrialization, globalization and modernization languages and cultural groups are influenced by are the processes that may have impacct upon the dominant linguistic group. At this juncture, language shifting in indigenous communities. this paper briefly seeks to investigate the factors This paper discusses language shifting situation that make small linguistic and cultural group shift on Chepangs living in Shaktikhor VDC of into the larger one. Chitwan, located in southern central part of Neepal. The paper specifically focuses on how the 2 Chepangs and their Geoographical Settlement Chepang language is rapidly shifting froom this Chepang is one of the indigenous nationalities of area. To study the language shifting situation of Nepal inhabiting the centre hilly region mainly in Chepang community, researchers visited the field Chitwan , Makawanpur, Gorkga, Dhading and its and collected data and analyzed the obtained data surrounding areas. The region is scattered on by using cases study research design. Mahabharat range and its basin. It is located at the Some years back, the situation of Chepangs altitude from 600 meter to 1400 meter. Total language was encouraging in Shaktikhor. The population of Chepangs is 68,368 (CBSS, 2011), mother tongue retention was very high in whereas, Chepang language speakers are 36,807 Shaktikhor, particularly in hill area. In this regard which is 0.16%