The Himalayan Languages Project, launched in 1993, is a research collective based at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...
and comprising much of the world's authoritative research on the lesser-known and endangered languages of the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
, in
Nepal
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Bhutan
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
, and
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. 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. Project members include
Mark Turin and
Jeroen Wiedenhof. The project recruits graduate students to collect field data on little-known languages for their Ph.D. dissertations.
The Himalayan Languages Project was officially commissioned by the government of
Bhutan
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
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
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
Languages studied
The project has completed comprehensive grammars of the following languages:
*
Limbu
*
Dumi
*
Dzongkha
*
Wambule
*
Kulung
*
Jero
The project is currently working on comprehensive grammars of the following languages:
*
Manchad
*
Lohorung
*
Thangmi
*
Sunwar
*
Lhokpu
*
Sampang
*
Gongduk
*
Olekha
*
Gyalrong
*
Lepcha
*
Chulung
*
Dhimal
The project has completed grammatical sketches of the following languages:
*
Bumthang
*
Byangsi
*
Puma
*
Rabha
*
Rongpo
Members of the project are currently working on grammatical sketches of the following languages:
*
Baram
*
Dura
*
Toto
The project has also studied
Kusunda, a
language isolate of Nepal.
Himalayan Languages Symposium
Members of the Himalayan Languages Project also regularly organise the Himalayan Languages Symposium, an annual conference on Trans-Himalayan languages. Conferences have been held annually since 1995.
Below is a list of past conferences.
See also
*
Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus
The ''Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus'' (commonly abbreviated ''STEDT'') was a linguistics research project hosted at the University of California at Berkeley. The project, which focused on Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan hi ...
*
References
External links
* official website
The Kirat Rai Association's web portal
{{Leiden University
Linguistic research
Organizations established in 1993
Leiden University
1993 establishments in the Netherlands
*
Linguistics projects
Himalayan culture