Krishna PARAJULI
Central Department of Linguistics
Tribhuvan University, Nepal
27th of March 2014
Email: kepiparajuli@gmail.com
Nepal
Highest mountain: Sagarmatha
(Mount Everest, 8848 masl)
Birthplace of Gautam Buddha
Nine-storey-palace, Kathmandu
Fifty-five-window-palace, Bhaktapur
Kumari: The living Goddess
Pashupati temple: Famous Hindu shrine
Swyambhunath: Famous Buddhist
shrine
Nyatapola: A five-storey temple built in
Pagoda style
Krishna temple: Famous for its
Shikhara style
Tentative plan of presentation
 Nepal at a glance
 Languages in the past and the present: An overview
 Language policy
 Status of languages at present
 Status of language documentation and institutional efforts…
Linguistic Society of Nepal (LSN), Nepal Academy (NA)
 Central Department of Linguistics (CDL, TU)
 National Foundation for Development of Indigenous
Nationalities (NFDIN) and others
 Scripts

1. Nepal at a glance
 Total population
26,494,504 (About 27 million) as of June 22, 2011
 Distance from the East to the West
885 KM
 State of Nepal
Nepal is an independent, indivisible, sovereign, secular, inclusive and
federal, democratic republican state (The Interim Constitution of Nepal
2063 BS (2007 AD) Part 1: 4 (1)
 Mother Tongue
There are 122 languages spoken as mother tongue reported in
census 2011. (but 124, including others and not reported)
1. Nepal at a glance
 Area
1,47,181 Sq KM
 Caste/Ethnicity
125 caste/ethnic groups
 Religion
There are ten types of religion categories reported in the census
 The highest literacy rate
86.3 (Kathmandu district)
(Source: Volume 01, National Population and Housing Census (NPHC) 2011 (National
Report) Government of Nepal National Planning Commission Secretariat, Central
Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Kathmandu, Nepal November, 2012)
2. Languages of Nepal: Past and present
Year
 1952/54 (AD) 2009/2011 (BS):
 1961 (AD) 2018 (BS):
 1971 (AD) 2028 (BS):
 1981 (AD) 2038 (BS):
 1991 (AD) 2048 (BS):
 2001 (AD) 2058 (BS):
 2011 (AD) 2068 (BS):
(Source: Reports of CBS)
No. of languages
44
36
17
18
31
92 (and 93 including others)
122 (but 124 including others
and not reported
3. Constitutional provisions on
language-issues
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990
 Each community shall have rights to operate schools upto the
primary level in its mother tongue for imparting education to the
community’s children.
 The constitution has guaranteed the right to preserve and promote
the languages, scripts and cultures (Article 18.1)
The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063 BS (2007) AD
3. 5. Language of the Nation:
(1) All the languages spoken as mother tongues in Nepal are
the languages of nation.
3. Constitutional provisions on
language-issues
(2) The Nepali language in Devanagari script shall be the
official language.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in Clause ( 2), nothing
shall be deemed to prevent the using of any language
spoken as the mother tongue in a local body and office.
17. Right relating to education and culture
1. Every community shall have the right to get basic
education in its own mother tongue, as provided in law.
3. Every community residing in Nepal shall have the right
to preserve and promote its language, script, culture, cultural
civilization and heritage. (Page:10)
4. Linguistic profile of Nepal
 Out of 124 languages,
 121 belong to four major language families:
 Indo-Aryan branch of Indo-European (IE) language family
(Some of them even in IE family)
 Tibeto-Burman (Trans-Himalayan)/Sino Tibetan
 Dravidian
 Austro-Asiatic
4. Linguistic profile of Nepal




Language isolate: Kusunda
Sign language: 1
One of the groups is categorized as others
The last one is under the category of not reported
(Source: CBS, 2011)
5. Languages by percentage











Nepali
Maithili
Bhojpuri
Tharu
Tamang
Newar
Bajjika
Magar
Doteli
Urdu
Others:
44.6% (11,826,953) of the total population
11.7% (3,092,530)
”
6.0 % (1,584,958)
”
5.8% (1,529,875)
”
5.1% (1, 353,311)
”
3.2% (8,46,557)
”
3.0% (7,93,418)
”
3.0% (788530)
”
3.0% (7,87,827)
”
2.6% (6,91,546)
”
12%
”
(Source: CBS report, 2011)
6. “In languages we live” or we leave
the languages: A search for identity
 Kusunda
28
 Kaike
50
 Bankariya
69
 Kagate
99
 Sadhani
122
 Lingkhim
129
(Source: CBS, 2011) (Less than 150 speakers)
6. “In languages…
 Kurmali
 Dadeldhuri

 Sonaha








227
Khariya
238
Malpande
247
Surel
287
Phangduwali
290
Dhuleli
347
Manange
392
Sam
401
Khamchi (Raute) 461
Byansi
480
 Belhare
 Lhomi
 Jumli
488
579
599
808
851
(Source: CBS, 2011) (Less than
1,000 speakers)
7. Caste/Ethnicity and mother tongues
One caste/ethnic group and one language
Tharu, Tamang, Gurung, Limbu, Sherpa, Bote, Kumal, Rajbanshi, Majhi,
Danuwar, Bhote, Dhimal, Thakali, Darai, Lepcha, (Lapche), Byangshi,
Raute, Raji…
One caste/ethnic group and several languages
Rai-Kirati: Bantawa, Chamling, Thulung, Kulung, Nachhiring, Wambule,
Lohorung, Koyee, Sunuwar, Chhintang, Puma, Mewahang, Sampang,
Chhiling, Bahing, Dumi, Dungmali, Waling/Walung, Yamphu/Yamphe,
Belhare, Yakkha, Phangduwali, Athpahariya.. etc
Several caste/ethnic groups and one language
Newar..
(Based on the report of National Languages Policy Recommendation Commission,
1994 and CBS report 2011)
8. Status of language documentation and
preservation
Central Department of Linguistics (CDL) at Tribhuvan University (TU)
 Language Documentation



Chhintang and Puma Documentation Project (CPDP) (Under
the financial and technical support of Volkswagen Foundation,
MPI, DOBES and University of Leipzig, Germany)
http://dobes.mpi.nl/projects/chintang/
Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of Baram
(LEDB) (Under the financial support of SOAS , UK)
 Prepared a grammar, multilingual dictionary and history and
culture of the Baram language.
http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0007
8. Status of language documentation and
preservation
 Multilingual dictionary (in collaboration with the National
Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities
(NFDIN)
 Theses: MA (43 languages; 116 Theses)
 Ph. D. Dissertation (25) in more than 7 languages
 Linguistic Survey of Nepal (LinSuN)
8. Status of language documentation and
preservation
Nepal Academy
 Multilingual dictionary
 Bhojpuri-Nepali-English dictionary
 Maithili-Nepali-English dictionary
 Limbu-Nepali-English dictionary
 Grammars
 Grammar of the Limbu language (1. Limbu 2. Nepali)
 Classical Limbu language: Grammar of the Mundhum
 Standardization of the Limbu language
 Grammar of the Magar language (Dhut) (मगर भाषा (ढुट व्याकरण) by
Lok Bahadur Thapa Magar)
8. Status of language documentation and
preservation
 History and literature
History and literature of the Newar language
 History and literature of the Tamang language
 A collection of seminar papers and mother tongue poetry
recitation (संगोष्ठीपत्र तथा मातभ
ृ ाषा कविता सँगालो) organized to
mark the Mother Tongue Day, 2010). It consists of 28 languages
 Magazines, journals and reference materials in many languages
Pragya, Kavita, Samakalin sahitya Sayapatri, Journal of Nepali
literature and culture (Half yearly), Aagan, Thaybhu, Phaktanglung,
Nepalka matribhasa (नेपालका मातभृ ाषा: भाग १ ) (mother tongues of Nepal) I
and more to mention

8. Status of language documentation and
preservation
National Foundation for Development of Indigenous
Nationalities (NFDIN)
 NFDIN has provided the researchers with the resources in
more than 40 languages
 It has started to conduct Ethno Linguistic Survey of Nepal
(ELSUN) and very recently conducted the survey on 12
different languages spoken in Dolakha district.
 It has also produced multilingual dictionaries (10
languages) and documentation in (18 languages) in
collaboration with the Department of Linguistics at
Tribhuvan University (These are as follows):
8. Status of language documentation
and preservation










A Basic Dura-Nepali-English dictionary
A Basic Mugali-Nepali-English dictionary
Dictionary of the dialect of Mahottari Danuwars (with
CD)
Kumal-Nepali-English dictionary
Gurung-Nepali-English dictionary
Kumal-Nepali-English dictionary
A Basic Lohorung-Nepali-English dictionary
A Basic Sherpa-Nepali-English dictionary
A Basic Mewahang-Nepali-English dictionary
A Basic Baram-Nepali-English dictionary
8. Status of language documentation and
preservation
 NFDIN
 Language documentation (18 languages)
 The documentation of the Hayu language
 The documentation of the Bhujel language
 The documentation of Kodku Pahari lanuage
 The documentation of the Meche language
 The documentation of the Bahing language



The documentation of the Rajbanshi language
The documentation of the Byanshi language
The documentation of the Boto boli (Raute/Khamchi) language
8. Status of language documentation and
preservation










The documentation of the Kaike language (with CD)
The Documentation of the Jhagar Language (with CD)
The documentation of the Santhali language
The documentation of the Kissan (Sadri) language
The documentation of the Bankariya language
The documentation of the Done bhasa (Danuwar) language
The documentation of the Thakali language
The documentation of the Dumi language
The documentation of the Raji language
The documentation of the Koyee language
(Source: NFDIN and CDL, TU)
8. Status of language documentation
and preservation
9.4. Gorkhapatra Corporation
From the 18th of September 2007(1st of Asoj 2064 BS), Government of
Nepal started to publish news, views, and other activities of the mother
tongue speakers via its official media the Gorkhapatra (the official
newspaper of the Government of Nepal) in 29 languages.
8. Status of language documentation and
preservation (The news coverage is in the Devanagari script and the
language is Kumal an Indo-Aryan language)
8. Status of language documentation and
preservation
 Community involvement: Lohorung
 Multimodal dictionary
 http://desceco.org/lohorung/browse/detail/4KSV4KWA4KSD4K
Ss4KS http://desceco.org/lohorung/browse/detail/4KSV4KWAOuCkrOC
kvg
 Spoken corpora
 Audio-visual materials
 Linguistic Society of Nepal
9. Scripts
 Devanagari
Nepali and many other languages
of Nepal
 Sambota/Tibetan/Uchchayan Tibetan, Sherpa
 Ranjana
Newar
 Bhujinmo (भुज ँमो)
Newar
 Pachunmo (पचँुमो)
Newar
 Golmo (गोलमो)
Newar
 Litumo (ललतम
Newar
ु ो)
 Kunmo कुँमो
Newar
 Gurumukhi
Panjabi
 Bangla/Bangali
Bangla/Bangali
9. Scripts…










Sirijunga
Rong
Tamu/Khema
Aakkha
Arabi
Roman
Mithilakshar /Tirhuta?Kaithi
Santhali/Olchiki/Olchemet/Ol
Tamhik
Kaithi
Kirat and Limbu
Lepcha
Gurung
Magar
Urdu
English
Maithili
Santhal
Tamang
Bhojpuri
(Source: : A collection of seminar papers and mother tongue poetry recitation
(संगोष्ठीपत्र तथा मातभ
ृ ाषा कविता सँगालो) organized to mark the Mother Tongue
Day, 2010, Appencix 2).
10. Resources in mother and other
tongue
12.Resources…
Raute: Nomadic group of Nepal
Rautes appointed as forest
guards (Source: The Kathmandu Post, Thursday, March 4, 2014)