Nubri language explained

Nubri
Also Known As:Kutang Bhotia, Larkye
Nativename:ནུབ་རི, लार्क्या भोटे
States:Nepal
Speakers:2,000
Date:2001 census
Ref:e25
Familycolor:Sino-Tibetan
Fam1:Sino-Tibetan
Fam2:Tibeto-Burman
Fam3:Tibeto-Kanauri
Fam4:Bodish
Fam5:Tibetic
Fam6:Kyirong–Kagate
Dia1:Lho
Dia2:Sama
Dia3:Prok
Script:None
Map2:Lang Status 60-DE.svg
Iso3:kte
Glotto:nubr1243
Glottorefname:Nubri

Nubri (Tibetan: ནུབ་རི;) is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by about 2000 ethnically Tibetan people living in Nubri Valley in northern Central Nepal,[1] upper Gorkhā District of Gandaki Province.[2] Nubri has at least three dialects as typified by the Prok, Lho and Sama village varieties.[3] Nubri is largely undocumented and undescribed, with the exception of a lexicon.[4] Nubri is perhaps most closely related to neighbouring Tsum language and the Kyirong variety of Tibetan spoken just across the border in Tibet. It has also been claimed to be closely related to Gyalsumdo. Like these languages it is tonal and shares many Tibetic grammatical features, but is uniquely different in many ways.

The Nubri language project started in 2017 at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) with the aim of studying and documenting this language. Recent work includes studies of the case marking[5] and tone[6] [7] as well as a valley-wide sociolinguistic survey which confirmed its classification as "definitely endangered."[8] [9] Building from this, a recent effort towards language maintenance involved initiating community discussions about a writing system for Nubri. This was carried out in May 2019 in conjunction with a cataract clinic funded by the same HKU Knowledge Exchange grant (PI Cathryn Donohue).

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Glottolog 3.3 - Lho. glottolog.org. 2019-01-08.
  2. Web site: Did you know Nubri is threatened?. Endangered Languages. en. 2019-01-08.
  3. Donohue, Cathryn (2019) A comparison of linguistics minorities in Hong Kong and Nepal. Invited presentation at the University of Chicago Workshop on Linguistic Minorities in Asia. 23 March 2019. https://www.uchicago.hk/events/workshop-on-linguistic-minorities-in-asia/
  4. Book: A Nubri Lexicon. Dubi Nanda Dhakal. 2018. Lincom Europa. 9783862888597. 1023376430.
  5. Donohue. Cathryn. 2018. Case marking in Nubri. Nepalese Linguistics. 33. 28–33. 10.3126/nl.v33i1.41078 . 244879992 . free.
  6. Donohue, Cathryn and Mark Donohue (2018) Tone in Nubri. Paper presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Linguistics Society of Nepal.
  7. Donohue . Cathryn . Donohue . Mark . The complexities of tone in Sama Nubri . Nepalese Linguistics . 2019 . 34 . 18–25. 10.3126/nl.v34i1.41161 . 244888196 . free .
  8. Web site: Endangered languages: the full list. Evans. Lisa. 2011-04-15. the Guardian. en. 2019-01-10.
  9. Donohue. Cathryn. 2019. A preliminary sociolinguistic survey of Nubri Valley. Nepalese Linguistics. 34. 10–17. 10.3126/nl.v34i1.41160 . 244891521 . free.