Bunan, also known as Gahri, Ghara, Lahuli of Bunan, Boonan, Punan, Poonan, Erankad or Keylong Boli, is a Tibeto-Burman minority language, largely spoken in the Keylong block of

Lahaul and Spiti district The Lahaul and Spiti district is a high-altitude district in Himachal Pradesh, north India. This entirely mountainous district consists of two geographically distinct as well as formerly separate political-administrative units, called Lahaul ( ...

, in the northernmost region of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

, India. The number of people speaking the language is only approximately 4,000 in India. The Tibeto-Burman language family consists of fourteen languages spoken in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and Bunan is assigned to the West Himalayish branch.

Status

The

Endangered Languages Project The Endangered Languages Project (ELP) is a worldwide collaboration between indigenous Language planning, language organizations, linguists, institutions of higher education, and key industry partners to strengthen endangered languages. The foun ...

classifies it as a ‘threatened’ language due to the changing economic landscape of the Lahaul region and the migration of Bunan speakers to other areas of the country, especially the younger generation migrating for education and employment. In the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

list of endangered languages, Bunan is mentioned as ‘definitely endangered’ from extinction. The language has its own grammar, as documented by various scholars. The Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages organisation worked extensively on the documentation of the Bunan language. Other commonly spoken languages of the Bunan community are Hindi, Tibetan, Manchad, and English. The language has 37% lexical similarity with Lahauli Tinan language, 24% lexical similarity with

Lhasa Tibetan Lhasa Tibetan or Standard Tibetan is a standardized dialect of Tibetan spoken by the people of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the traditional "three-branched" ...

language, and 34% lexical similarity with Central Tibetan languages.

Geographic distribution

According to ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'', Bunan is spoken in the Gahr Valley along the Bhaga River from its confluence with the Chandra River and upstream about . Bunan is also spoken in Barbog, Bokar Gompa, Billing, Chhelling, Gozang, Greimas, Gumlink, Gumrang, Gyuskhar, Lepchang, Katchra, Kardang, Kardang Gompa, Mongwan, Mangmore, Namchia, Paspara, Pyaso, Pyukar, Sasure Gompa, Sikkeling, Styingri, Tayule, and Yurnad regions. The Bunan language is sometimes confused with the Bunun language, which is spoken in Taiwan and belongs to the

Austronesian language The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken b ...

family.

References

Languages of Himachal Pradesh West Himalayish languages Endangered languages of India Languages written in Devanagari {{st-lang-stub

Status

Geographic distribution

See also

Further reading

References