Himalayan Languages Project
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Himalayan Languages Project
The Himalayan Languages Project, launched in 1993, is a research collective based at Leiden University and comprising much of the world's authoritative research on the lesser-known and endangered languages of the Himalayas, in Nepal, China, Bhutan, and India. Its members regularly spend months or years at a time doing field research with native speakers. The Director of the Himalayan Languages Project is George van Driem; other top authorities include Mark Turin and Jeroen Wiedenhof. It recruits grad students to collect new field research on little-known languages as the topics for their Ph.D. dissertations. The Himalayan Languages Project was officially commissioned by the government of Bhutan to devise a standard romanization of Dzongkha. Since George van Driem's move to the University of Bern, many members of the Himalayan Languages Project are now based out of Switzerland. Languages studied Many of the languages studied by the Project are believed to be doomed to extin ...
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Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Leiden for its defence against Spanish attacks during the Eighty Years' War. As the oldest institution of higher education in the Netherlands, it enjoys a reputation across Europe and the world. Known for its historic foundations and emphasis on the social sciences, the university came into particular prominence during the Dutch Golden Age, when scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic due to its climate of intellectual tolerance and Leiden's international reputation. During this time, Leiden became the home to individuals such as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza and Baron d'Holbach. The university has seven academic faculties and over fifty subject departments w ...
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Pattani Language
Pattani, also known as Manchad, is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Names The language has a variety of names, the most prominent being Manchati, Manchad kad, Patani, Mellog kad, Chamba Lahuli, Swangla, Songloboli or Changsapa Boli. Its native name is ''Hendubhashe''. The Indian census erroneously includes the language as a dialect of Gujarati. Distribution Pattani is spoken in the Lahul Valley, Pattan, Chamba-Lahul, and lower Mayar valleys. There are also some speakers in Kullu and Manali cities, and in Kishtwar district, Jammu and Kashmir. General information There are about 10,000 people in the western Himalayas who speak the Pattani Language. Pattani Language has several names. One of them is Manchad, which was given by the Tod valley people who live in the area where Manchad was originated. The religious belief of Manchad speakers is either Hinduism or Buddhism. Almost all of them can speak English or Hindi, and Manc ...
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Bumthang Language
The Bumthang language ( dz, བུམ་ཐང་ཁ་, ); also called "Bhumtam", "Bumtang(kha)", "Bumtanp", "Bumthapkha", and "Kebumtamp") is an East Bodish language spoken by about 20,000 people in Bumthang and surrounding districts of Bhutan. Van Driem (1993) describes Bumthang as the dominant language of central Bhutan. Related languages Historically, Bumthang and its speakers have had close contact with speakers of the Kurtöp, Nupbi and Kheng languages, nearby East Bodish languages of central and eastern Bhutan, to the extent that they may be considered part of a wider collection of "Bumthang languages." Bumthang language is largely lexically similar with Kheng (92%), Nyen (75%–77%), and Kurtöp (70%–73%); but less so with Dzongkha (47%–52%) and Tshangla (40%–50%, also called "Sharchop"). It is either closely related to or identical with the Tawang language of the Monpa people of Tawang in India and China. Grammar Bumthang is an ergative–absolutive lan ...
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Dhimal
The Dhimal or Dhemal(in Nepali:धिमाल) are an Kirati ethnic group residing in the eastern Terai of Nepal. They are a Sino-Tibetan-speaking ethnic group of the eastern Terai. They mainly reside in Morang and Jhapa districts of Nepal and Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India. They are respected as the "First Citizens" of Damak municipality. Ethnicity and language They are an indigenous group of Nepal and belong to Sino-Tibetan group. They are culturally close to Limbu and Koch of Terai and of the northern hills. Dhimals consider themselves of Kirati descent. They consider the Limbu, the Rai of the hills and the Mech, and Koch people of the tarai as their brethren. According to Hodgson the Mech, Bodo, Koch and Dhimal tribes are of the same race; however, comparison of language does not support so close a connection, he added. He stated that "… but it is difficult to suppose the Bodo and Dhimal languages other than primitive". He also stated that the Dhima ...
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Chulung Language
Chulung (Chɨlɨng) is a Kirati languages spoken in Ankhisalla VDC, Dhankuta District, Koshi Zone Kosi or Koshi ( ne, कोसी अञ्चल, ne, :ne:कोशी अञ्चल, कोशी अञ्चल ) was one of the fourteen List of zones of Nepal, zones of Nepal until the restructure of zones to Provinces of Nepal, provinces ..., Nepal. References {{Kiranti languages Kiranti languages Languages of Nepal Languages of Koshi Province ...
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Lepcha Language
Lepcha language, or Róng language ( Lepcha: ; ''Róng ríng''), is a Himalayish language spoken by the Lepcha people in Sikkim, India and parts of West Bengal, Nepal and Bhutan. Population Lepcha is spoken by minorities in the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal, as well as parts of Nepal and Bhutan. Where it is spoken, it is considered to be an aboriginal language, pre-dating the arrival of the Tibetan languages ( Sikkimese, Dzongkha, and others) and more recent Nepali language. Lepcha speakers comprise four distinct communities: the Renjóngmú of Sikkim; the Támsángmú of Kalimpong, Kurseong, and Mirik; the ʔilámmú of Ilam District, Nepal; and the Promú of southwestern Bhutan. Lepcha-speaking groups in India are larger than those in Nepal and Bhutan. The Indian census reported 50,000 Lepcha speakers, however the number of native Lepcha speakers in India may be closer to 30,000. Classification Lepcha is difficult to classify, but George van Driem (2001) su ...
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Gyalrong Language
Gyalrong or rGyalrong (), also rendered Jiarong (), or sometimes Gyarung, is a subbranch of the Gyalrongic languages spoken by the Gyalrong people in Western Sichuan, China. Lai et al. (2020) refer to this group of languages as East Gyalrongic. Name The name ''Gyalrong'' is an abbreviation of Tibetan , ''shar rgyal-mo tsha-ba rong'' , "the hot valleys of the queen", to which the queen being Mount Murdo (in Tibetan, ''dmu-rdo'').Prins, Marielle. 2011. A web of relations: A grammar of rGyalrong Ji omùzú, p. 18. Mount Murdo is in the historical region of Kham, now mostly located inside Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. This Tibetan word is transcribed in Chinese as 嘉绒 or 嘉戎 or 嘉荣, ''jiāróng''. It is pronounced by speakers of Situ. It is a place-name and is not used by the people to designate their own language. The autonym is pronounced in Situ and in Japhug. The Gyalrong people are the descendents of former Tibetan warriorsat the border, ...
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Chɨlɨng Language
Chulung (Chɨlɨng) is a Kirati languages spoken in Ankhisalla VDC, Dhankuta District, Koshi Zone Kosi or Koshi ( ne, कोसी अञ्चल, ne, :ne:कोशी अञ्चल, कोशी अञ्चल ) was one of the fourteen List of zones of Nepal, zones of Nepal until the restructure of zones to Provinces of Nepal, provinces ..., Nepal. References {{Kiranti languages Kiranti languages Languages of Nepal Languages of Koshi Province ...
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Gongduk Language
Gongduk or Gongdu (, it is also known as Gongdubikha) is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken by about 1,000 people in a few inaccessible villages located near the Kuri Chhu river in the Gongdue Gewog of Mongar District in eastern Bhutan. The names of the villages are Bala, Dagsa, Damkhar, Pam, Pangthang, and Yangbari (''Ethnologue''). Gongduk has complex verbal morphology, which Ethnologue considers a retention from Proto-Tibeto-Burman, and is lexically highly divergent.Blench, R. & Post, M. W. (2013)Rethinking Sino-Tibetan phylogeny from the perspective of Northeast Indian languages/ref> On this basis, it is apparently not part of any major subgroup and will probably have to be assigned to its own branch. The people are said to have come from hunters that would move from place to place at times. The language is notable for only being discovered by linguists in 1991. Currently, George van Driem is working towards the completion of a description of Gongduk based on his w ...
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Sampang Language
Sampang language is a subgroup of Central Kiranti languages. Geographical distribution Sampang is spoken in the following locations of Nepal (''Ethnologue''). *Khotang district, Province No. 1 (Khotang dialect): Tap Khola river villages, Baspani, Khartamcha, Phedi, and Patheka * Bhojpur District, Province No. 1: in Okharbote around the Lahure Khola river headwaters *Syam Khola area: Kimalung, Nigale, Talakharka, and Surke *Dingla Bazaar: a few elderly speakers use the Phali dialect in Bhojpur District, Kosi Zone Kosi or Koshi ( ne, कोसी अञ्चल, ne, कोशी अञ्चल ) was one of the fourteen zones of Nepal until the restructure of zones to provinces. The headquarters of Kosi Zone was Biratnagar which was also its largest cit ... Sampang language The different branch of Sampang people # Rana Sampang # Samaru Sampang # Bhalu Sampang # Wakchalee Sampang # Repsona Sampang # Rangkham Sampang # Rodu sampang # Herang Sampang # Maremlung Sampang # Da ...
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Lhokpu Language
Lhokpu, also ''Lhobikha'' or ''Taba-Damey-Bikha'', is one of the autochthonous languages of Bhutan spoken by the Lhop people. It is spoken in southwestern Bhutan along the border of Samtse and Chukha Districts. Van Driem (2003) leaves it unclassified as a separate branch within the Sino-Tibetan language family. Classification George van Driem (2001:804) notes that Lhokpu, although unclassified, may be more closely related to the Kiranti languages than to Lepcha. Gerber, et al. (2016) also notes a particularly close relationship between Lhokpu and Kiranti. Furthermore, van Driem (2001:804-805) notes that Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan, may in fact have a Lhokpu substratum. Grollmann & Gerber (2017) consider Lhokpu to have a particularly close relationship with Dhimal and Toto. Name Lhokpu is spoken by the Lhop—a Dzongkha term meaning "Southerners"—, who "represent the aboriginal dungDung population of western Bhutan. Locations According to the ''Ethnologue'', ...
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