Nepalese Linguistics

Mewahang Verbs and the Proto-Kiranti Verbal Agreement System

Narayan P. Sharma — 2022-11-14

The purpose of this paper is to overview the historical status of conjugations observed in the Mewahang language based on a comparison of Proto-Kiranti verbal agreement system. The provenance of Proto-Kiranti affixal agreement paradigms is presented by investigating the conjugations of Mewahang. While some Mewahang suffixes are identical with the Proto-Kiranti morphemes, a few are cognate with the Proto-Kiranti reflexes.

A Preliminary Sketch of Phonology of Limbu Spoken in Sikkim

Jyoti Sharma — 2022-11-14

This paper aims to provide a preliminary sketch of Limbu phonology based on the field recordings conducted under an ongoing Sikkim’s Endangered Language Documentation Project (SELDP) in Sikkim University, India. In the Limbu variety spoken in Sikkim there are 18 consonant phonemes that contrast in the manner and place of articulation. A complementary distribution is observed between various pairs, especially between voiceless and voiced obstruents. Limbu has 11 monophthongs but lacks diphthongs. The canonical form of a syllable is (C)(C)V(C). The rule that regulates syllabication is the Maximal Onset rule. This paper focuses on the analysis of phonological and syllabification rules followed by the language.

Lexical Correspondences between Baram and Thami

Krishna Prasad Chalise — 2022-11-14

Baram and Thami share seventy-two PTB reflexes. Eighteen of them are identical in both languages indicating a higher level of shared retention. Twenty-four of them are identical in Baram and Thami, depicting a higher level of shared innovations. The similarities in the remaining thirty reflexes show the shared retention, and the similar patterns of phonological changes in Baram and Thami present the situation of shared innovations. Twenty similar roots in Baram and Thami, but not Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB) reflexes, present further evidence of shared innovations. All the pieces of evidence justify the very close genetic affinity between Baram and Thami.

Implications of Domains of Language Use and Attitude for the Implementation of the Magar Languages as Official Languages in Nepal

Dan Raj Regmi — 2022-11-14

Language Commission has recommended the Magar language as official language in two provinces, viz. Gandaki and Karnali. However, implementation has been a Hercules task due to some extra-linguistic and linguistic problems. The languages spoken in the Magar community are not vibrantly used due to the weak ‘instrumental’ attitude. To implement the Magar languages as official languages some extra-linguistic strategies have to be executed. Moreover, effective linguistic strategies have to be framed to bring them to sustainable use.

Sociolinguistic Profile of Sherpa in Sikkim

Wichamdinbo Mataina — 2022-11-14

The study is based on the primary data collected during 2017 and 2018 in Sikkim using the questionnaire designed by the Centre for Endangered Languages, Sikkim University. Information about number of speakers, language vitality, domains of usage and causes of language endangerment were collected from the consultants who were both male and female from age 26 to 85 years with various occupational background. The study found that though the Sherpa speakers are positive towards their language, it is quite worrisome about the sustainability of Sherpa language in practice.

Tense Categories and the Polysemous -a in Raji

Dubi Nanda Dhakal — 2022-11-14

This paper compares the tense system in three Raji varieties and explains the semantics of the polysemous suffix -a in Purbiya Raji. The Raji variety spoken in Kumaun India differs significantly from the rest of the varieties in marking the tenses. It is argued that this suffix has multiple related meanings, such as past tense, perfective meaning in adverbial clauses, conditional and simultaneous meaning. It can be said that the polysemous suffix -a was related to two broad categories, viz. past and perfective, and conditional including simultaneous meaning. Out of these two, the semantics of the perfective meaning gradually extends to refer to the past time.

A Study on Bilingual Verbal Fluency Task to Measure the Effect of Instruction in First and Second Language Performance

Lekhnath Sharma Pathak — 2022-11-14

Verbal Fluency Task is a neuropsychological tool to measure lexical organization and retrieval in an individual. We used Phonetic Fluency Task and Semantic Fluency Task to study bilingual advantage in L1 (Nepali) and L2 (English) with two group of government school students with mean age of 14.46 years (SD 2.02 years). Participants were given 60 seconds each to create words from the given semantic category or letter/phonetic category. One group received instruction in L1 and another in L2. We found that the participants receiving instruction in L2 performed better even in L1 compared to the participants receiving instruction in L1.

Language and Content in Graffiti: A Case of Chittagong

Ghazi Shahadat Hossain — 2022-11-14

This study analyzed the content and language in graffiti prevailing in Chittagong. The aim of the research was to examine how and why graffitists utilized graffiti. The data were collected from various places of Chittagong. Two frameworks i.e., Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and Brown and Clarke’s thematic content analysis, were used to analyze data and the research method used in this study was qualitative. The findings reveal that graffitists used this form of art for a variety of purposes (such as political ideologies, social concerns) and they used diverse codes to express their meanings.

The Trans-Himalayan Copula #ni and its Secondary Functions

Scott DeLancey — 2022-11-14

No abstract.

41st Annual Conference of Linguistic Society of Nepal (LSN)

Krishna Prasad Chalise — 2022-11-14

No abstract