Gurung (Devanagari: गुरुङ), also known as Tamu Kyi (तमु क्यी, tamu kyī; Tibetan: ཏམུ་ཀི) or Tamu Bhaasaa (तमु भाषा, tamu bhāṣā), is a language spoken by the Gurung people of Nepal. The total number of all Gurung speakers in Nepal was 227,918 in 1991 and 325,622 in 2011.
The official language of Nepal, Nepali, is an Indo-European language, whereas Gurung is a Sino-Tibetan language. Gurung is one of the major languages of Nepal, and is also spoken in India, Bhutan, and by diaspora communities in countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
At higher levels, Gurung is a member of the Tibeto-Burman (or Trans-Himalayan) family. Robert Shafer classified Gurung within the Bodic division, sub-grouping that into Bodish and West Central Himalayish. Within the Bodish "Section", he located "Bodish" languages (including the Tibetan varieties) and also the "Gurung Branch", including Gurung, Tamang (Murmi), and Thakali (Thaksya). Based on lexical cognates established by Shafer and updated by George van Driem, Shafer constructed the Bodish sub-grouping into three sub-divisions: (1) Western, (2) Central and Southern (a.k.a. “old Bodish”, including Tibetan), and (3) Eastern (containing “archaic” languages like Mönpa) and mainstream languages.[3][4] Noonan referred to the Western sub-grouping within Bodish as Manange/Nyeshangte and Nar-Phu and Gurungic (containing Gurung, Thakali and Chantyal).[5][6] He noted that Chantyal is structurally deviant due to more extensive contact-induced language change from Nepali. Sten Konow classified Himalayan T-B languages into pronominalized and non-prominalized, where Gurung is located.[7] This classification is similar to Voeglin & Voeglin (1965), but within a "Gyarung-Mishmi" sub-family within Sino-Tibetan.[8]
For indigenous languages of Nepal, including Gurung, the rise of pluralism and ethnic consciousness has resulted in movements to develop and deploy community orthographies, but it has also resulted in variation and disagreements.[9]
As Noonan (2005)[10] reports, in Gurung, writing primarily has been done through the medium of another language, and so community orthographies tend to be based on pre-existing models of languages of wider communication. According to Glover (2004),[11] attempts at developing an orthography in Gurung go back to 1976, with work to compile the first dictionary of the language.[12] Glover describes the different scripts that have been under consideration by the community, each with their own potential benefits and challenges. Four scripts have been proposed: a system based on the Tibetan script, Devanagari, a Khemaa lipi script (also known as Tamu Khema Phri or Khema Phri), which is a unique alphasyllabary adaptation of Tibetan and Devanagari,[13] and a Romanized script. Glover reported that a plan was in place in 2002 for a forthcoming dictionary of Gurung which included both an (adapted) Devanagari script and also a Roman script, benefitting both literate Gurungs in Nepal and diaspora Gurungs (28-29).
Examples of Gurung language publications that employ orthographies include three books published by Tamu.[14][15][16] These use a modified Devanagari orthography, which include subscript dots for nasalized vowels and other special symbols for consonant clusters and tonal and phonation distinctions that are found in Gurung, but not in Nepali. Also included is a 2000 Gurung-Nepali-English dictionary produced by the Tamu Bauddha Sewa Samiti Nepal (Gurung Culture Organization),[17] which also uses a modified Devanagari, and which also includes numerals (e.g., मी1 /mi/ 'eye' vs. मी2 /mi/ 'name') to indicate tone category for individual words. A 2020 Gurung-English-Nepali dictionary, based on the Sikkim variety of Gurung also makes use of a modified Devanagari script, but does not indicate tone.[18]
^Official Summary of Census (2011), Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal 2012-12-02 at the Wayback Machine
^(PDF). 16 July 2014. p. 109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
^Shafer, Robert (1955). "Classification of the Sino-Tibetan Languages". Word. 11: 94–111. doi:10.1080/00437956.1955.11659552.
^van Driem, George (1994). Kitamura, Hajime (ed.). East Bodish and Proto-Tibeto-Burman morphosyntax. Current Issues in Sino-Tibetan Linguistics. Osaka: The Organizing Committee of the 26th International Conference on SinoTibetan Languages and Linguistics. pp. 608–617. OCLC 36419031.
^David (Ed.), Bradley; Randy (Ed.), Lapolla; Boyd (Ed.), Michailovsky; Graham (Ed.), Thurgood (2015). CRCL, CRCL, Pacific Linguistics And/Or The Author(S). "Language variation: Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisoff" (PDF). PL-555: 22M, xii + 333 pages. doi:10.15144/PL-555.
^Motion, direction and location in languages : in honor of Zygmunt Frajzyngier. Zygmunt Frajzyngier, Erin Shay, Uwe Seibert. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 2003. ISBN978-90-272-7521-9. OCLC 769188822.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Grierson, George (1909). Linguistic survey of India Vol. III, Part 1. Delhi: Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
^Voeglin, C.F.; Voeglin, F.M. (1965). "Languages of the World: Sino-Tibetan Fascicle Four". Anthropological Linguistics. 7: 1–55.
^Noonan, Michael (2008). "Contact-induced change in the Himalayas: the case of the Tamangic languages". doi:10.11588/XAREP.00000214. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^Noonan, Michael (2008). "Language Documentation and Language Endangerment in Nepal". doi:10.11588/XAREP.00000201. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^Glover, Warren W. 2004. Ouch! Don't print that! Paper presented at the Asia Lexicography Conference, Chiangmai, Thailand, 24-26 May, 2004.
^Glover, Warren W.; Glover, Jessie R.; Gurung, Dev Bahadur (1977). Gurung-English-Nepali dictionary. Canberra, Australia: ANU Department of Linguistics.
^Mataina, Wichamdinbo (2020-05-20). "Wordlist elicitation from Bishnu Maya Gurung". Centre for Endangered Languages, Sikkim University.
Bibliography
J. Burton-Page. (1955). Two studies in Gurungkura: I. tone; II. Rhotacization and retroflexion. Bulletin of the Society of Oriental and African Studies 111–19.
Viktor S.Doherty. (1974). "The Organizing Principles of Gurung Kinship." Kailash. 2.4: 273–301.
Warren W. Glover. (1970). Gurung tone and higher levels. Occasional Papers of the Wolfenden society on Tibeto-Burman Linguistics III, Tone systems of Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal, Pt. I, ed. by Austin Hale and Kenneth L. Pike, 52–73. Studies in tone and phonological segments. Urbana: University of Illinois.
Warren W. Glover. (1974). Sememic and Grammatical Structures in Gurung (Nepal). Publication No. 49. Norman, OK: SIL Publications.
Warren W. Glover and Jessie Glover. (1972). A Guide to Gurung Tone. Kathmandu: Tribhuvan University and Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Warren W. Glover and John K. Landon. (1980). "Gurung Dialects." In Papers in Southeast Asian Languages No. 7, edited by R.L. Trail et al., 9-77. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Kristine A. Hildebrandt, D.N. Dhakal, Oliver Bond, Matt Vallejo and Andrea Fyffe. (2015). “A sociolinguistic survey of the languages of Manang, Nepal: Co-existence and endangerment.” , 14.6: 104–122.
Pettigrew, Judith. (1999). "Parallel Landscapes: Ritual and Political Values of a Shamanic Soul Journey" in Himalayan Space: Cultural Horizons and Practices, edited by Balthasar Bickel and Martin Gaenszle, 247–271. Zürich: Völkerkundsmuseum
Nishi 西, Yoshio 義郎 (1993c). "グルン語" [Gurung (=LSI), Gūrung; Gurungkura]. In 亀井 Kamei, 孝 Takashi; 河野 Kōno, 六郎 Rokurō; 千野 Chino, 栄一 Eichi (eds.). 三省堂言語学大辞典 The Sanseido Encyclopaedia of Linguistics (in Japanese). Vol. 5. Tokyo: 三省堂 Sanseido Press. pp. 135b–143b.
External links
Manang Language Project of Kristine A. Hildebrandt
Manange, Western Gurung at Language Archive at the University of Virginia's Tibetan and Himalayan Library
Gurung language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
April 06, 2023
gurung, language, gurung, devanagari, also, known, tamu, तम, tamu, kyī, tibetan, ཏམ, tamu, bhaasaa, तम, tamu, bhāṣā, language, spoken, gurung, people, nepal, total, number, gurung, speakers, nepal, 1991, 2011, gurungtamu, tamu, bhaasaanative, tonepal, india, b. Gurung Devanagari ग र ङ also known as Tamu Kyi तम क य tamu kyi Tibetan ཏམ ཀ or Tamu Bhaasaa तम भ ष tamu bhaṣa is a language spoken by the Gurung people of Nepal The total number of all Gurung speakers in Nepal was 227 918 in 1991 and 325 622 in 2011 GurungTamu Kyi Tamu BhaasaaNative toNepal India BhutanEthnicityGurung peopleNative speakers325 622 2011 census 1 Language familySino Tibetan TamangicGurungWriting systemKhema Devanagari and TibetanOfficial statusOfficial language in India Sikkim additional 2 Language codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code gvr class extiw title iso639 3 gvr gvr a Glottologguru1261ELPWestern GurungEastern GurungThe official language of Nepal Nepali is an Indo European language whereas Gurung is a Sino Tibetan language Gurung is one of the major languages of Nepal and is also spoken in India Bhutan and by diaspora communities in countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong Contents 1 Geographical distribution 2 Classification 3 Grammar 4 Writing system 5 See also 6 References 7 Bibliography 8 External linksGeographical distribution EditGurung is spoken in the following districts of Nepal and India Ethnologue Gandaki Province Kaski District Syangja District Lamjung District Tanahu District Gorkha District Manang District and Mustang Dhawalagiri Zone Parbat district Sikkim South Sikkim West Sikkim East SikkimClassification EditAt higher levels Gurung is a member of the Tibeto Burman or Trans Himalayan family Robert Shafer classified Gurung within the Bodic division sub grouping that into Bodish and West Central Himalayish Within the Bodish Section he located Bodish languages including the Tibetan varieties and also the Gurung Branch including Gurung Tamang Murmi and Thakali Thaksya Based on lexical cognates established by Shafer and updated by George van Driem Shafer constructed the Bodish sub grouping into three sub divisions 1 Western 2 Central and Southern a k a old Bodish including Tibetan and 3 Eastern containing archaic languages like Monpa and mainstream languages 3 4 Noonan referred to the Western sub grouping within Bodish as Manange Nyeshangte and Nar Phu and Gurungic containing Gurung Thakali and Chantyal 5 6 He noted that Chantyal is structurally deviant due to more extensive contact induced language change from Nepali Sten Konow classified Himalayan T B languages into pronominalized and non prominalized where Gurung is located 7 This classification is similar to Voeglin amp Voeglin 1965 but within a Gyarung Mishmi sub family within Sino Tibetan 8 Grammar EditPhonetically Gurung languages are tonal Some miscellaneous grammatical features of the Gurung languages are CV CCV CCCV syllables Maximum of three suffixes SOV Postpositions Grammatical case expressed with preposition Genitives Adjectives and relatives before head noun Numerals after head Rising intonation in bipolar questions Prefix on negative verbs No subject or object agreement in verbs Split ergativity based on tense Causatives BenefactivesWriting system EditFor indigenous languages of Nepal including Gurung the rise of pluralism and ethnic consciousness has resulted in movements to develop and deploy community orthographies but it has also resulted in variation and disagreements 9 As Noonan 2005 10 reports in Gurung writing primarily has been done through the medium of another language and so community orthographies tend to be based on pre existing models of languages of wider communication According to Glover 2004 11 attempts at developing an orthography in Gurung go back to 1976 with work to compile the first dictionary of the language 12 Glover describes the different scripts that have been under consideration by the community each with their own potential benefits and challenges Four scripts have been proposed a system based on the Tibetan script Devanagari a Khemaa lipi script also known as Tamu Khema Phri or Khema Phri which is a unique alphasyllabary adaptation of Tibetan and Devanagari 13 and a Romanized script Glover reported that a plan was in place in 2002 for a forthcoming dictionary of Gurung which included both an adapted Devanagari script and also a Roman script benefitting both literate Gurungs in Nepal and diaspora Gurungs 28 29 Examples of Gurung language publications that employ orthographies include three books published by Tamu 14 15 16 These use a modified Devanagari orthography which include subscript dots for nasalized vowels and other special symbols for consonant clusters and tonal and phonation distinctions that are found in Gurung but not in Nepali Also included is a 2000 Gurung Nepali English dictionary produced by the Tamu Bauddha Sewa Samiti Nepal Gurung Culture Organization 17 which also uses a modified Devanagari and which also includes numerals e g म 1 mi eye vs म 2 mi name to indicate tone category for individual words A 2020 Gurung English Nepali dictionary based on the Sikkim variety of Gurung also makes use of a modified Devanagari script but does not indicate tone 18 See also EditLanguages of Nepal Languages of BhutanReferences Edit Official Summary of Census 2011 Central Bureau of Statistics Nepal Archived 2012 12 02 at the Wayback Machine 50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India PDF 16 July 2014 p 109 Archived from the original PDF on 2 January 2018 Retrieved 6 November 2016 Shafer Robert 1955 Classification of the Sino Tibetan Languages Word 11 94 111 doi 10 1080 00437956 1955 11659552 van Driem George 1994 Kitamura Hajime ed East Bodish and Proto Tibeto Burman morphosyntax Current Issues in Sino Tibetan Linguistics Osaka The Organizing Committee of the 26th International Conference on SinoTibetan Languages and Linguistics pp 608 617 OCLC 36419031 David Ed Bradley Randy Ed Lapolla Boyd Ed Michailovsky Graham Ed Thurgood 2015 CRCL CRCL Pacific Linguistics And Or The Author S Language variation Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A Matisoff PDF PL 555 22M xii 333 pages doi 10 15144 PL 555 Motion direction and location in languages in honor of Zygmunt Frajzyngier Zygmunt Frajzyngier Erin Shay Uwe Seibert Amsterdam John Benjamins 2003 ISBN 978 90 272 7521 9 OCLC 769188822 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link Grierson George 1909 Linguistic survey of India Vol III Part 1 Delhi Delhi Motilal Banarsidass Voeglin C F Voeglin F M 1965 Languages of the World Sino Tibetan Fascicle Four Anthropological Linguistics 7 1 55 Noonan Michael 2008 Contact induced change in the Himalayas the case of the Tamangic languages doi 10 11588 XAREP 00000214 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Noonan Michael 2008 Language Documentation and Language Endangerment in Nepal doi 10 11588 XAREP 00000201 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Glover Warren W 2004 Ouch Don t print that Paper presented at the Asia Lexicography Conference Chiangmai Thailand 24 26 May 2004 Glover Warren W Glover Jessie R Gurung Dev Bahadur 1977 Gurung English Nepali dictionary Canberra Australia ANU Department of Linguistics Khema alphabet omniglot com Retrieved 2022 06 14 ड ल ल जङ तम Tamu Dhillijang 2000 तम ग ह रङ Tamu Guhrang Kathmandu Nepal Jiwan Printing Sapritas Press Tamu Dilijung Dilijung 1997 Let s learn Tamu Gurung Language Nayaa Bazaar Kathmandu Jivan Printing Press ड ल ल जङ Tamu तम Dhillijang 1995 तम क य ए Tamu Kyoe Gurung Language Nepali English Dictionary Nayaa Bazaar Kathmandu Jivan Printing Press Tamu Bauddha Sewa Samiti Nepal 2000 Gurung Nepali English Dictionary Anamnagar Kathmandu Nepal Tamu Bauddha Sewa Samiti Nepal Mataina Wichamdinbo 2020 05 20 Wordlist elicitation from Bishnu Maya Gurung Centre for Endangered Languages Sikkim University Bibliography EditJ Burton Page 1955 Two studies in Gurungkura I tone II Rhotacization and retroflexion Bulletin of the Society of Oriental and African Studies 111 19 Viktor S Doherty 1974 The Organizing Principles of Gurung Kinship Kailash 2 4 273 301 Warren W Glover 1970 Gurung tone and higher levels Occasional Papers of the Wolfenden society on Tibeto Burman Linguistics III Tone systems of Tibeto Burman languages of Nepal Pt I ed by Austin Hale and Kenneth L Pike 52 73 Studies in tone and phonological segments Urbana University of Illinois Warren W Glover 1974 Sememic and Grammatical Structures in Gurung Nepal Publication No 49 Norman OK SIL Publications Warren W Glover and Jessie Glover 1972 A Guide to Gurung Tone Kathmandu Tribhuvan University and Summer Institute of Linguistics Warren W Glover and John K Landon 1980 Gurung Dialects In Papers in Southeast Asian Languages No 7 edited by R L Trail et al 9 77 Canberra Pacific Linguistics Kristine A Hildebrandt D N Dhakal Oliver Bond Matt Vallejo and Andrea Fyffe 2015 A sociolinguistic survey of the languages of Manang Nepal Co existence and endangerment NFDIN Journal 14 6 104 122 Pettigrew Judith 1999 Parallel Landscapes Ritual and Political Values of a Shamanic Soul Journey in Himalayan Space Cultural Horizons and Practices edited by Balthasar Bickel and Martin Gaenszle 247 271 Zurich Volkerkundsmuseum Nishi 西 Yoshio 義郎 1993c グルン語 Gurung LSI Gurung Gurungkura In 亀井 Kamei 孝 Takashi 河野 Kōno 六郎 Rokurō 千野 Chino 栄一 Eichi eds 三省堂言語学大辞典 The Sanseido Encyclopaedia of Linguistics in Japanese Vol 5 Tokyo 三省堂 Sanseido Press pp 135b 143b External links EditManang Language Project of Kristine A Hildebrandt Manange Western Gurung at Language Archive at the University of Virginia s Tibetan and Himalayan Library Gurung language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gurung language amp oldid 1137213584, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
