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With over one hundred languages from four major families (and at least one isolate), and a similarly high number of caste-clan and ethnic groupings, Nepal is a country of undisputed ethno-linguistic diversity (CBS 2012; Kansakar 2006; Gurung 1998). It is also a country of increasingly rapid social, cultural, political and economic change with ensuing geographic movement and language displacement (Angdembe 2013; Rai 2013; Tumbahang 2012). The purpose of this study is to examine the intersection of traditional language practices and cultural diversity with these modern changes as they are relevant for a group of four languages spoken inside of the political boundaries of Manang, Nepal.
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Areal Analysis of Language Attitudes and Practices: A Case Study from Nepal
This paper has two aims. One aim is to consider non-structural (language attitude and use) variables as valid in the field of dialect and linguistic geography in an inner Himalayan valley of Nepal, where four languages have traditionally co- existed asymmetrically and which demonstrate different degrees of vitality vs. endangerment. The other aim is an application of modified spatiality as it aligns with speaker attitudes and practices amidst recent and ongoing socio-economic and population changes. We demonstrate that variation in self-reported attitudes and practices across languages in this region can be explained as much with adjusted spatial factors (labeled ‘social space’) as with traditional social factors (e.g. gender, age, formal education, occupation, etc.). As such, our study contributes to a dis- course on the role and potential of spatiality in sociolinguistic analyses of smaller language communities.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1149639
- PAR ID:
- 10057924
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Language documentation and conservation
- Volume:
- 13
- ISSN:
- 1934-5275
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 152-179
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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