Chamling is one of the Kirati languages spoken by the Chamling (Mansungcha, Lipungchha, Malekungchha, Maidhung, kherasung,Rakhomi,Rodung, etc) of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

. Alternate renderings and names include ''Chamling'', ''Chamlinge'' and ''Rodong''. It is closely related to the Bantawa (some Bantawa-speaking communities call their language "Camling") and Puma languages of the Kiranti language family in eastern Nepal, and it belongs to the broader

Sino-Tibetan language family Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

.Ethnologue report on Camling
/ref> Chamling has SOV word order.

History

The Chamling language is one of the languages of the ancient Kiranti culture, which existed well before vedic period 3500–5000 in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

. Important versions of the '' Mundhum'' — the main

religious text Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual prac ...

forming the religious foundation of the Kirant Mundhum religion and the cultural heritage of the various Kirati people — are composed in Camling; such versions are distinctive to the Camling-speaking tribes and a guide to their distinctive religious practices and cultural identity.

Distribution

The Chamling language is used by small communities in eastern

Sagarmatha Zone Sagarmāthā Zone ( ne, सगरमाथा अञ्चल) or Sagarmatha Anclal ( ne, सगरमाथा अञ्चल) was one of the fourteen zones of Nepal until the restructuring of zones into provinces. The headquarters of Sagarmat ...

, in central Khotang District, Bhojpur District and scattered areas in northern Udayapur District and a few more districts of eastern Nepal, the southeastern neighbour

n state of

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...

, the hill city of

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...

Kalimpong Kalimpong (Hindi: कलिम्पोंग) is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The re ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

and the kingdom of

Demographics

Despite its geographic prevalence, the actual number of Chamling speakers is estimated to be 10,000, spread across small tribes and villages. Many members of the Chamling ethnic and tribal communities are no longer fluent in the Chamling language, which is taught only in remote areas in the Udayapur District. Like Bantawa, Chamling is an endangered language. Many people in these areas speak a variety of Chamling that is mixed with the

Nepali language Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a '' lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian st ...

, which is the official language of Nepal. Most Chamling-speaking people are

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s or practitioners of Kiranti Mundhum.

Phonology and voice

*Phonology Consonants Vowels *Voice #''Phuima'' = pluck #''Toma'' = see, experience #''Ityu'' = brought from above #''Dhotyu-cyu' = assembled them #''Bhuima'' = pound #''Doma'' = close #''Idyu'' = gave him #''Dhodyu-cyu'' = stabbed themPhonology - The Rosetta Project

Bound Morphemes

Chamling uses many bound morphemes, many of which denote possession or the change of possession of something.

Phrase Structure Rules

NP —> (D) N VP —> (NP) (A) (Adv) V (Adv) CP —> C S S —> NP examples: This is 3. an example of a sentence that is formed by an NP and a VP. The NP contains a determiner and a noun, and the VP contains a verb. This is an example of a sentence that is formed by a NP and a VP. The NP contains a noun and a VP contains a verb and an adverb. This is an example of two NP's forming a sentence. One NP contains "khamo nung" ("''your name"'') and the second NP contains "de" ("''what").''

References

8.Rai, Tara Mani and Sizar Tamang (2014) A sociolinguistic survey of Chamling: A Tibeto-Burman language.https://cdltu.edu.np

External links

Global Recordings - Camling language recordings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camling Language Kiranti languages Languages of Nepal Languages of India Languages of Bhutan Endangered Sino-Tibetan languages