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Newari Language

Newari language

Nepal Bhasa (also known as Newari) is a language spoken by the Newar community in the Kathmandu Valley, as well as in other towns inhabitated by newar community Nepal. While in Kathmandu valley, it is widely spoken and understood, in other parts it is spoken within the community only. Also, outside Kathmandu valley, it has absorbed local dialects and hence sounds very different. It is one of the roughly five hundred Sino-Tibetan languages in the world, and belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of this family. It has the fourth-oldest literature of the Sino-Tibetan languages (the first, second and third being Chinese, Tibetan and Burmese respectively). Classical Newari is the name for the pre-1850 literary form of the language. It is no longer spoken or written, but it is an important source language for historians and philologists. Nepal Bhasa is the most Indicized of the Tibeto-Burman languages, and has had so many centuries of contact with neighboring Indo-Iranian languages that it has even developed noun inflection, a trait typical of the Indo-European family but extremely rare in Sino-Tibetan. It has absorbed other features of grammar as well, such as verb tenses. These influences are outstanding examples of funamental traits of a language being passed on through language contact.

External links

- Michael Noonan, [http://www.uwm.edu/~noonan/Recent%20Language%20Contact.pdf Recent Language Contact in the Nepal Himalaya (PDF)]. Category:Tibeto-Burman languages

Language

A language is a system of symbols, generally known as lexemes and the rules by which they are manipulated. The word language is also used to refer to the whole phenomenon of language, i.e., the common properties of languages. Though language is commonly used for communication, it is not synonymous with it. Human language is a natural phenomenon, and language learning is instinctive in childhood. In their natural form, human languages use patterns of sound or gesture for the symbols in order to communicate with others through the senses. Though there are thousands of human languages, they all share a number of properties from which there are no known deviations. Humans have also invented (or arguably in some cases discovered) many other languages, including constructed human languages such as Esperanto or Klingon, programming languages such as Python or Ruby, and various mathematical formalisms. These languages are not restricted to the properties shared by natural human languages.

Properties of language

Languages are not just sets of symbols. They also contain a grammar, or system of rules, used to manipulate the symbols. While a set of symbols may be used for expression or communication, it is primitive and relatively unexpressive, because there are no clear or regular relationships between the symbols. Because a language also has a grammar, it can manipulate its symbols to express clear and regular relationships between them. For example, imagine going on a walk with a person who only knew individual symbols, or words. If you saw a dog, he might say, "Dog scare" or "Scare Dog". Although any English speaker would have some notion of what he was talking about, the relationship between the words is unclear. Is he scared of dogs? Or just that dog? Or does he want to scare the dog off? Does he think the dog is scared? But if you respond, "I’m not scared of dogs," the relationship between dog and scare is quite apparent and hence the meaning of the utterance. Another important property of language is the arbitrariness of the symbols. Any symbol can be mapped onto any concept (or even onto one of the rules of the grammar). For instance, there is nothing about the Spanish word nada itself that forces Spanish speakers to use it to mean nothing. That is the meaning all Spanish speakers have memorized for that sound pattern. But for Croatian speakers nada means hope. However, it must be understood that just because in principle the symbols are arbitrary does not mean that a language cannot have symbols that are iconic of what they stand for. Words such as meow sound similar to what they represent, but they could be replaced with words such as jarn, and as long as everyone memorized the new word, the same concepts could be expressed with it.

Human languages

Human languages are usually referred to as natural languages, and the science studying them is linguistics. Making a principled distinction between one language and another is usually impossible. For example, the boundaries between named language groups are in effect arbitrary due to blending between populations (the dialect continuum). For instance, there are dialects of German very similar to Dutch which are not mutually intelligible with other dialects of (what Germans call) German. Some like to make parallels with biology, where it is not always possible to make a well-defined distinction between one species and the next. In either case, the ultimate difficulty may stem from the interactions between languages and populations. (See Dialect or August Schleicher for a longer discussion.) The concepts of Ausbausprache, Abstandsprache, and Dachsprache are used to make finer distinctions about the degrees of difference between languages or dialects.

Origins of human language

Scientists do not yet agree on when language was first used by humans (or their ancestors). Estimates range from about two million (2,000,000) years ago, during the time of Homo habilis, to as recently as forty thousand (40,000) years ago, during the time of Cro-Magnon man. The nature of speech means that there is almost no data on which to base conclusions on the subject.

Language taxonomy

The classification of natural languages can be performed on the basis of different underlying principles (different closeness notions, respecting different properties and relations between languages); important directions of present classifications are:
- paying attention to the historical evolution of languages results in a genetic classification of languages—which is based on genetic relatedness of languages,
- paying attention to the internal structure of languages (grammar) results in a typological classification of languages—which is based on similarity of one or more components of the language’s grammar across languages,
- and respecting geographical closeness and contacts between language-speaking communities results in areal groupings of languages. The different classifications do not match each other and are not expected to, but the correlation between them is an important point for many linguistic research works. (There is a parallel to the classification of species in biological phylogenetics here: consider monophyletic vs. polyphyletic groups of species.) The task of genetic classification belongs to the field of historical-comparative linguistics, of typological—to linguistic typology. See also: Taxonomy, Taxonomic classification—for the general idea of classification and taxonomies.

Genetic classification

The world’s languages have been grouped into families of languages that are believed to have common ancestors. Some of the major families are the Indo-European languages, the Afro-Asiatic languages, the Austronesian languages, and the Sino-Tibetan languages. The shared features of languages from one family can be due to shared ancestry. (Compare with homology in biology.)

Typological classification

An example of a typological classification is the classification of languages on the basis of the basic order of the verb, the subject and the object in a sentence into several types: SVO, SOV, VSO, and so on, languages. (, for instance, belongs to the SVO language type.) The shared features of languages of one type (= from one typological class) may have arisen completely independently. (Compare with analogy in biology.) Their cooccurence might be due to the universal laws governing the structure of natural languages—language universals.

Areal classification

The following language groupings can serve as some linguistically significant examples of areal linguistic units, or sprachbunds: Balkan linguistic union, or the bigger group of European languages; Caucasian languages. Although the members of each group are not closely genetically related, there is a reason for them to share similar features, namely: their speakers have been in contact for a long time within a common community and the languages converged in the course of the history. These are called areal features. NB. One should be careful about the underlying classification principle for groups of languages which have apparently a geographical name: besides areal linguistic units, the taxa of the genetic classification (language families) are often given names which themselves or parts of which refer to geographical areas.
Constructed languages
One prominent artificial language, called Esperanto, was created by L. L. Zamenhof. It is a compilation of various elements of different languages, and it is intended to be an easy-to-learn language. Another prominent artificial language, called Ido, is intended to be reformed Esperanto. Other constructed languages strive to be more logical than natural languages; a prominent example of this is Lojban. Other writers, such as J. R. R. Tolkien, have created fantasy languages, for literary, artistic, or personal reasons. One of Tolkien’s languages is called Quenya, which is a form of Elvish. It has its own alphabet, and its phonology and syntax are modelled on Finnish. Linguist Mark Okrand has devised Klingon and Vulcan for Star Trek, which have since been developed into full languages.
The study of language
The oldest surviving written grammar for any language is believed to be the Tolkāppiyam (தொல்காப்பியம்), a book on the grammar of the Tamil language, written around 200 BCE by Tolkāppiyar. Its classification of the alphabet into consonants and vowel was a breakthrough. The historical record of the study of language begins in North India with Pāṇini, the 5th century BCE grammarian who formulated 3,959 rules of Sanskrit morphology, known as the (अष्टाध्यायी). grammar is highly systematized and technical. Inherent in its analytic approach are the concepts of the phoneme, the morpheme, and the root; the phoneme was only recognized by Western linguists some two millennia later. In the Middle East, the Persian linguist Sibawayh made a detailed and professional description of Arabic in 760 CE in his monumental work, Al-kitab fi an-nahw (الكتاب في النحو, The Book on Grammar), bringing many linguistic aspects of language to light. In his book he distinguished phonetics from phonology. Later in the West, the success of science, mathematics, and other formal systems in the 20th century led many to attempt a formalization of the study of language as a "semantic code". This resulted in the academic discipline of linguistics, the founding of which is attributed to Ferdinand de Saussure.
Animal (nonhuman) language
While the term animal languages is widely used, most researchers agree that they are not as complex or expressive as human language; a more accurate term is animal communication. Some researchers argue that there are significant differences separating human language from the communication of other animals, and that the underlying principles are not related. In several widely publicised instances, animals have been trained to mimic certain features of human language. For example, chimpanzees and gorillas have been taught hand signs based on American Sign Language; however, they have never been taught its grammar. There was also a case in 2003 of Kanzi, a captive bonobo chimpanzee allegedly independently creating some words to mean certain concepts. While animal communication has debated levels of semantics, it has not been shown to have syntax in the sense that human languages do. Some researchers argue that a continuum exists among the communication methods of all social animals, pointing to the fundamental requirements of group behaviour and the existence of "mirror cells" in primates. This, however, may not be a scientific question, but is perhaps more one of definition. What exactly is the definition of the word "language"? Most researchers agree that, although human and more primitive languages have analogous features, they are not homologous.
Formal languages
Mathematics and computer science use artificial entities called formal languages (including programming languages and markup languages, but also some that are far more theoretical in nature). These often take the form of character strings, produced by some combination of formal grammar and semantics of arbitrary complexity.
See also

- Common phrases in different languages
- Computer-assisted language learning (a historical perspective)
- Deception
- Ethnologue, which provides a fairly complete list of languages, locations, population and genetic affiliation
- Extinct language
- FOXP2 (Language gene)
- ILR scale (defines five levels of language proficiency)
- ISO 639 (2- and 3-letter codes for language names)
- Language education
- Language reform
- Language policy
- Language school
- Linguistic protectionism
- Linguistics basic topics
- List of language academies
- List of languages
- List of official languages
- Naming
- Non-verbal communication
- Non-sexist language
- Official language
- Orthography
- Philology and Historical linguistics
- Philosophy of language
- Profanity
- Psycholinguistics
- Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
- Slang
- Symbolic communication
- Speech therapy
- Terminology
- Tongue-twister
- Translation
- Whistled language
References

- Crystal, David (1997). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Crystal, David (2001). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- Katzner, K. (1999). The Languages of the World. New York, Routledge.
- McArthur, T. (1996). The Concise Companion to the English Language. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- Kandel, Jessel, and Schwartz (1991). Principles of Neural Science. McGraw Hill (esp. p. 1173).
External links

- [http://www.zompist.com/ Mark Rosenfelder’s Metaverse] provides a useful listing of 5000 languages and dialects (grouped by their relationships), where the numbers one to ten in each language may be found
- [http://www.geocities.com/agihard/mohl/mohl_languages.html Museum of Languages]
- The [http://www.ethnologue.com/ Ethnologue], a catalog of the world’s languages
- [http://www.language-capitals.com Language Capitals] Guide to 8 major languages of the world with facts, characteristics and varieties
- [http://www.vistawide.com/languages/ World Languages and Cultures] — Practical information and resources on languages and language learning
- [http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/animals/animals.html Animal sounds in different languages]
- [http://www.netz-tipp.de/languages.html Distribution of languages on the Internet]
- [http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/ Speech accent archive]
- [http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/G_Kunkel/homepage.htm a collection of bird songs] provides many kinds of bird songs
- [http://acp.eugraph.com The Animal Communication Project]
- [http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/categories/lang.html Language Articles]
- [http://www.primitivism.com/language.htm Language: Origin and Meaning by John Zerzan] Category:Technology als:Sprache zh-min-nan:Gí-giân ko:언어 ms:Bahasa nb:Språk ja:言語 simple:Language th:ภาษา

Newar

The Newar are the indigenous ethnolinguistic group of Nepal's Kathmandu valley. According to Nepal’s 2001 census, the 1,245,232 Newar in the country are the nation's sixth largest ethnic group, representing 5.48% of the population. The main Newar language, Nepal Bhasa, is of Tibeto-Burman origin and 825,458 Nepalis speak Newar languages as their mother tongue.

History

The Newar have a rich and highly developed culture due to their long history of urban social development. Newar inhabitation of the Kathmandu valley is so ancient that it extends beyond recorded history into the realm of legend. Historians believe the Newar settled the Kathmandu valley in the early 3rd or 4th century AD. According to popular legend, the Kathmandu valley was a giant lake until the Bodhisattva Manjushree, with the aid of a holy sword, cut open the hills that surround the valley and drained the giant lake, allowing the Newar to settle the valley land. This apocryphal legend is supported by some geological evidence of an ancient lakebed and it provides an explanation for the high fertility of Kathmandu valley soil. The earliest record of Newar rule from the 5th century AD Lichchhavi dynasty. The Lichchhavi dynasty ruled for at least 600 years, followed by the Malla dynasty in 12th century AD. Nepal Bhasa script is estimated to be at least 1200 years old. Nepal Bhasa inscriptions in an ancient manuscript, Nidan, from 901 AD and on a stone tablet from 1173 AD in the courtyard of Bajrayogini Temple at Sankhu, attest to the deep roots of Newar culture in the Kathmandu valley. Newar reign over the valley and their sovereignty and influence over neighboring territories ended approximately 250 years ago with the conquest of the Kathmandu valley in 1769 by the Gorkhali Shah dynasty founded by Prithvi Narayan Shah. Even after the consolidation of the nation-state, the Newar remained a pivotal force in Nepali society as merchants and government administrators, rivalling Brahmin influence in Shah courts. The Newar maintain a highly literate culture and their members are prominent in every sphere, from agriculture, business, education and government administration to medicine, law, religion, architecture, fine art, and literature. Newar architects are responsible for inventing Asia’s hallmark pagoda architecture. Newar devotional thangka painting, sculpture and metal craftsmanship are world-renowned for their exquisite beauty. The fine temples and palaces of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur are largely the product of Newar architects, artisans, and sculptors.

Religion

Newar practice both Buddhism and Hinduism. It is believed that the Newar were originally Buddhists but the long historical process of Sanskritization (adoption of Hindu rituals), led to the development of the Newar’s unique syncretic tradition. The Newar are divided into hierarchical clan groups by occupational caste, readily identifiable by surname, such as Jyapu (farmers), Shrestha (administrators), Rajkarnikar halwai (confectioners), Bajracharya/Vajracharya (Buddhist priests), Tuladhar (weigher craftsmen), Tamrakar (copper craftsmen), Manandhar (oil pressers), Shakya (goldsmiths), Ranjitkar (dye related workers), Nakarmi (blacksmiths), Kulu (drum-makers), Chami (sweepers), etc.

Music, dance, and food

The Newar are noted for their enjoyment of music, dance, and feasting. They are accomplished musicians with a large assortment of ritual and traditional instruments and an immense repertoire of traditional love songs, mask dances, satirical performances, etc. Newar feasts are lavish and indulgent affairs, especially wedding feasts, featuring a spicy assortment of fried, roasted, jellied and curried meats (buffalo, mutton, and chicken), various rice dishes, soups, vegetable curries, sweet fruits, yoghurt, and large quantities of beer and rice liquor.

Festivals and rituals

Newar culture is very rich in pageantry and ritual throughout the year. Many festivals are tied to Hindu holidays, Buddha’s birth and the harvest cycle. For instance, an important Newar high holiday is Gunhu Punhi. During this nine-day festival, Newar men and women drink a bowl of sprouted mixed cereals, receive doro (a ritual protection cord tied on the wrist by a Brahman priest) and then offer food to frogs in the farmers’ fields. On the second day, Gai Jatra, people who have lost a family member in the past year dress up as cows and parade through town, in the belief that cows help souls enter heaven. The last day of Gunhu Punhi is Krishnastami, birthday of lord Krishna, an incarnation of lord Vishnu. Yanya Punhi is a holiday dedicated to the Hindu god king of heaven, Indra. The festival begins with the carnival-like erection of Yosin, a ceremonial pole, accompanied by the rare display of the deity Aakash Bhairab, represented by a massive mask spouting beer and liquor. Households throughout Kathmandu display images and sculptures of Indra and Bhairab only at this time of year. Finally, the Kumari, or virgin goddess, leaves the seclusion of her temple in a palanquin and leads a procession through the streets of Kathmandu to thank Indra the rain god. Many rituals are related to the stages of life stages from birth, first rice-feeding, childhood, puberty, marriage, seniority and death. The complexity and all-encompassing nature of these rituals cannot be exaggerated. For instance, Newar girls undergo a Bahra ceremony when they reach menarche. Because menstruation is considered ritually impure, girls undergo ritual confinement for 12 days. Girls are separated from all males and from sunlight for 12 days while they are doted upon by female relatives. On 12th day the girl must pay homage to the sun. Should a Newar man or women live long enough, there are five rituals, known as "junku" -which can be confusing, as the first rice feeding ceremony is referred to as "junku" as well-, performed between the age of 77 and 106. These at the age 77 years, 7 months, 7 days; 83 years, 4 months, 4 days (after one has seen 1000 full moons in one's life); 88 years, 8 months, 8 days; 99 years, 9 months, 9 days; and, finally, at 105 years, 8 months, 8 days. After these rituals are performed, the person will be regarded as a god. Husband and wife will perform their rituals together, as the events occur for the husband. Afterwards, the full complement of life cycle rituals will have been completed, until the death ceremony.

References

- [http://www.mope.gov.np/population/chapter5.php Nepal Population Report 2002]
- [http://www.jwajalapa.com A Window to Newar Culture]
- [http://www.newah.org/intro.htm Newah Organization of America]
- [http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/nepal/nepal.html Art of Newar Buddhism]
- [http://www.newah.org/newah.htm Journal of Newar Studies]
- [http://www.newapost.com.np/vijana.htm Newa Bigyan Journal of Newar Studies]
- [http://www.newapost.com.np Newa Post First Nepal Bhasha Web Magazine]
- [http://www.nepaldemocracy.org/ethnicity/nationalities_of_nepal.htm Rastriya Janajati Bikas Samiti]
- [http://www.welcomenepal.com/emuseum.asp Nepal Ethnographic Museum]
- Bista, Dor Bahadur. (2004). People of Nepal. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.
- Levy, Robert I. (1990). Mesocosm: Hinduism and the Organization of a Traditional Newar City in Nepal. Berkeley: University of California Press. Category:Ethnic groups of Nepal

Kathmandu

This article is about the city. For the furry comic book, see Katmandu (comic). Kathmandu (Nepali: काठमाडौं) is the capital city of Nepal. It is also the largest city in Nepal. It is an urban and suburban area of about 3.2 million inhabitants in the tri-city area in the Kathmandu valley in central Nepal, along the Bagmati River. The two other cities are Patan and Bhaktapur. Kathmandu is located at 27°43' North, 85°22' East (27.71667, 85.36667). [http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html]

History

Bhaktapur Kathmandu is said to have been founded by king Gun Kamdev in AD 723. According to legend, the area was a lake in the past, but Manjushri, a disciple of the Shakyamuni Buddha, cut open a hill to the south and allowed the water to flow out, making the region habitable. The origin of the present name is unclear, but one of the more likely theories is that it was named after Kastha-Mandap ("temple of wood" in Sanskrit), after a pagoda carved from the single tree on the order of King Lakshmi Narasingha Malla in 1596.

Present

The old city is noted for its many Buddhist and Hindu temples and palaces, most dating from the 17th century. Many of these landmarks have been damaged by earthquakes and pollution. Seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites are in this valley. Kathmandu has been popular with western tourists since the 1960s when it became a key stop on the hippie trail. It is also the subject of a popular Bob Seger song, because of the same reason. It is the most densely populated city in Nepal. Image:Kathmandu signs.jpg|Street full of signs in Kathmandu Image:Small stupa in Kathmandu.jpg|Small stupa in Kathmandu Image:Stone carving in Kathmandu.jpg|Stone carving in Kathmandu street Image:DSCI0441.JPG|View over Kathmandu Image:Hashish-shop-Kathmandu-1973.jpg|Hashish-shop 1973 (pre-prohibition)

External links

- [http://www.kathmandu.gov.np: Kathmandu Metropolitan City]
- [http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ktmpost.htm The Kathmandu Post]
- Category:Capitals in Asia Category:Cities and towns in Nepal ko:카트만두 ja:カトマンズ

Nepal

The Kingdom of Nepal ( ) is a landlocked Himalayan country in South Asia, bordering the People's Republic of China to the north and India to the south, east and west. Nepal has the distinction of being the world's only Hindu state, with over eighty percent of the people following this faith. For a relatively small country, the Nepali landscape is uncommonly diverse, ranging from the humid Terai in the south to the lofty Himalayas in the north. Nepal boasts eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest on the border with China. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. The exact origin of the name Nepal is uncertain, but the most popular understanding is that it is derived from Ne (holy) and pal (cave). After a long and rich history, during which the region has splintered and coalesced under a variety of absolute rulers, Nepal became a constitutional monarchy in 1990. This arrangement has been marked by increasing instability, both in the parliament and, since 1996, throughout large swathes of the country that have been fought over by Maoist insurgents . The Maoists have sought to overthrow the monarchy and establish their own form of republic; this has led to a civil war in which more than 12,000 people have died (see Nepalese civil war). On the pretext of quashing the insurgents, who now control about seventy percent of the country, the king unilaterally declared a "state of emergency" early in 2005, closing down the parliament and assuming all executive powers.

History

Neolithic tools found in the Kathmandu Valley indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least 9,000 years. It appears that people who were probably of Tibeto-Burman ethnicity lived in Nepal 2,500 years ago. Indo-Iranian / Aryan tribes entered the valley around 1500 BCE. Around 1000 BCE, small kingdoms and confederations of clans arose in the region. One of the princes of the Sakya confederation was Siddharta Gautama (563–483 BCE), who renounced his royalty to lead an ascetic life and came to be known as the Buddha ("the enlightened one"). By 250 BCE, the region came under the influence of the Mauryan empire of northern India, and later became a puppet state under the Gupta Dynasty in the fourth century CE. From the late fifth century CE, rulers called the Licchavis governed the area. The Licchavi dynasty went into decline in the late eighth century and was followed by a Newari era, from 879, although the extent of their control over the entire country is uncertain. By the late 11th century, southern Nepal came under the influence of the Chalukaya Empire of southern India. Under the Chalukayas, Nepal's religious establishment changed as the kings patronised Hinduism instead of the prevailing Buddhism. southern IndiaBy the early 12th century, leaders were emerging whose names ended with the Sanskrit suffix malla ("wrestler"). Initially their reign was marked by upheaval before the kings consolidated their power over the next 200 years. By the late 14th century much of the country began to come under a unified rule. This unity was short-lived: in 1482 the kingdom was carved into three: Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhadgaon. Bhadgaon After centuries of petty rivalry between the three kingdoms, in the mid-18th century Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Gorkha ruler set out to unify the kingdoms. After seeking arms and aid from India, and buying the neutrality of bordering Indian kingdoms, he embarked on his mission in 1765. After several bloody battles and sieges, he managed to unify Nepal three years later in 1768. This event marked the birth of the modern nation of Nepal. A dispute and subsequently war with Tibet over the control of mountain passes forced the Nepalese to retreat and pay heavy repatriations. Rivalry between Nepal and the British East India Company over the annexation of minor states bordering Nepal eventually led to the Anglo-Nepalese War (1815–16), in which Nepal suffered a complete rout. The Treaty of Sugauli was signed ceding parts of the Terrai and Sikkim to the Company in exchange for Nepalese autonomy. Factionalism among the royal family led to a period of instability after the war. In 1846, a discovered plot to overthrow Jang Bahadur, a fast-rising military leader by the reigning queen, led to the Kot Massacre. Armed clashes between military personnel and administrators loyal to the queen led to the execution of several hundred princes and chieftains around the country. Bahadur emerged victorious and founded the Rana lineage. The king was made a titular figure, and the post of Prime Minister was made powerful and hereditary. The Ranas were staunchly pro-British, and assisted the British during the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857, and later in both World Wars. In 1923 the United Kingdom and Nepal formally signed an agreement of friendship, in which Nepal's independence was recognised by the UK. 1923 In the late 1940s, newly emerging pro-democracy movements and political parties in Nepal were critical of the Rana autocracy. Meanwhile, with the annexation of Tibet by the Chinese in 1950, India faced the prospect of an expansive military and was thus keen to avoid instability in Nepal. Forced to act, India sponsored both King Tribhuvan as Nepal's new ruler in 1951, and a new government, mostly comprising the Nepali Congress Party. After years of power wrangling between the king and the government, the democratic experiment was dissolved in 1959, that a "partyless" panchayat system was made to govern Nepal until 1989, when the "Jan Andolan" (People's) Movement forced the monarchy to accept constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty parliament in May 1991. In 1996, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) started a bid to replace the parliamentary system with a socialist republic. This has led to the Nepal Civil War with more than 12,000 deaths. On June 1, 2001, the Heir Apparent Crown Prince Dipendra went on a killing spree in the royal palace, a violent response to his parents' refusal to accept his choice of wife. Following the carnage, the throne was inherited by Birendra's brother Gyanendra. In the face of unstable governments and a Maoist siege on the Kathmandu Valley in August 2004, popular support for the monarchy began to wane. On 2005-02-01, Gyanendra dismissed the entire government and assumed full executive powers to quash the Maoist movement. In September 2005, the Maoists declared a three-month unilateral ceasefire. A few weeks later, the government stated that parliamentary elections would be held by 2007.

Geography

2007 Nepal is of roughly rectangular shape, 850 km wide and 200 km broad, with an area of 147,181 km². Although Nepal shares no boundary with Bangladesh, the two countries are separated by a narrow strip of land about 24 km wide, known as the Chicken's Neck. Efforts are underway to try and make this area a free-trade zone. Nepal is commonly divided into three physiographic areas—the Mountain, Hill, and Terai Regions. These ecological belts run east–west and are bisected by Nepal's major river systems. Terai Region The Terai Plains, bordering India are part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic plains, were formed and are fed by three major rivers: the Koshi, the Narayani (India's Gandak River), and the Karnali. This region has a hot, humid climate. The Hill Region (Pahar in Nepali) abuts the mountains and varies between 1,000 and 4,000 m in altitude. Two low mountain ranges, the Mahabharat Lekh and Shiwalik Range (also known as the Churia Range) dominate the region. The hilly belt includes the Kathmandu Valley, the country's most fertile and urbanised area. Despite its geographical isolation and limited economic potential, the region always has been the political and cultural centre of Nepal. Unlike the heavily populated valleys, elevations above 2,500 m are sparsely populated. The Mountain Region is contiguous with the Hill Region and contains the highest region in the world. The world's highest mountain, Mount Everest (Sagarmatha in Nepali) 8,850 m is located on the border with China. Eight of the top ten highest mountains in the world are located in Nepal. Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest peak is also located on its eastern border with Sikkim. Deforestation is a major problem in all regions, with resulting erosion and degradation of ecosystems. Nepal has five climatic zones, broadly corresponding to altitude. The tropical and subtropical zones lie below 1,200 m, the temperate zone between 1,200 and 2,400 m; the cold zone between 2,400 m and 3,600 m; the subarctic climatic zone between 3,600 and 4,400 m, and the arctic zone above 4,400 m. Nepal experiences five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, winter and spring. The Himalaya blocks the cold winds from Central Asia in winter, and forms the northern limit of the monsoon wind patterns.

Economy

Central Asia Nepal is one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world; up to half of its people live below the poverty line. Agriculture provides a livelihood for some 80% of the population and accounts for about 40% of the GDP, With services comprising 40% and industrial output the remainder. Terrain that ranges from hilly to mountainous in the northern two-thirds of the country has made the building of roads and other infrastructure difficult and expensive. There are just over 4,000 km of paved roads, and one 59 km railway line in the south of the country. Aviation is in a better state, with 46 airports, nine of them with paved runways. There is fewer than one telephone for each 46 people; landline services are poor, although mobile telephony in a reasonable state in some parts of the country. There are around 100,000 Internet connections, but after the imposition of the "state of emergency", intermittent losses of service have been reported. A lack of natural resources, its landlocked location, technological backwardness and the long-running civil war have also prevented Nepal from fully developing its economy. The country receives foreign aid from India, China, the United States, Japan and the European Union. The government's budget is about US$665 million, with expenditures of $1.1bn. The inflation rate has dropped to 2.9% after a period of higher inflation during the 1990s. The Nepalese Rupee has been tied to the Indian Rupee at an exchange rate of 1.6 for many years. Since the loosening of exchange rate controls in the early 1990s, the black market for foreign exchange has all but disappeared. A long-standing economic agreement between Nepal and India underpins a close relationship between the two economies. Indian Rupee The distribution of wealth among the people is consistent with that in many developed and developing countries: the highest 10% of households receive nearly 30% of the national income, and the lowest 10% a little more than a tenth of that. Nepal's workforce of about 10 million suffers from a severe shortage of skilled labour. By sector, agriculture employs 81% of the workforce, services 16% and manufacturing/craft-based industry 3%. Agricultural produce—mostly grown in the Terrai region bordering India—includes rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root crops, milk, and water buffalo meat. Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce, including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain. The spectacular landscape and deep, exotic culture of Nepal represents considerable potential for tourism, but growth in this export industry has been stifled by recent political events. The rate of unemployment and underemployment approaches half of the working-age population. A lack of employment prospects has encouraged many Nepalese to move to India in search of work. Poverty is acute and many of Nepal's women are sold to Indian brothels, a figure as high as 7,000 each year. Nepal receives US$50 million a year through the Gurkha soldiers who serve in the Indian and British armies and are highly esteemed for their skill and bravery. Nepal's GDP for the year 2005 is estimated to be just over US$37bn (adjusted to Purchasing Power Parity), making it the 83rd largest economy in the world. Per capita income is around US$1,402, ranked 163rd. Nepal's exports of mainly carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute goods, grain total $568 million. Imports commodities of mainly gold, machinery and equipment, petroleum products and fertiliser total US$1.419 bn. India (48.8%), the US (22.3%), and Germany (8.5%) are its main export partners. Nepal's import partners include India (43%), the United Arab Emirates (10%), China (10%), Saudi Arabia (4.4%), and Singapore (4%).

Government and politics

Singapore Until 1990, Nepal was an absolute monarchy under the executive control of the king. In 1990, King Birendra agreed to large-scale political reforms by creating a parliamentary monarchy with the king as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. Nepal's legislature is bicameral constituting of a House of Representatives and a National Council. The House of Representatives consists of 205 members directly elected by the people. The National Council has 60 members, 10 nominated by the king, 35 elected by the House of Representatives and the remaining 15 elected by an electoral college made up of chairs of villages and towns. The legislature has a five-year term, but can be dissolved by the king before its term ends. All males and females 18 years and older may vote. The executive comprises the King and the Council of Ministers (the Cabinet). The leader of the coalition or party securing the maximum seats in an election is appointed as the Prime Minister. The Cabinet is appointed by the king on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The judiciary is made of the Sarbochha Adalat—the Supreme Court, appellate courts and various district courts. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is appointed by the monarch on recommendation of the Constitutional Council; the other judges are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Judicial Council. The Nepali Congress Party (NCP), established in the 1940s, is the oldest party in Nepal. Other major parties are the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), the pro-royalist National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-ML), a faction of the CPN-UML. Governments in Nepal have tended to be highly unstable; no government has survived for more than two years, either through internal collapse or parliamentary dissolution by the monarch. In 2005, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other ministers were placed under house arrest, and King Gyanendra dissolved the parliament and declared a "state of emergency" which lasted till April. In August 2005 Deuba was jailed after a Royal Commission found him guilty of corruption. According to a statement by Nepalese government in September 2005, parliamentary elections are to be held within the next two years. August 2005

Military and foreign affairs

:Main articles: Military of Nepal, Foreign relations of Nepal Foreign relations of Nepal Nepal's military consists of the Royal Nepalese Army which includes the Royal Nepalese Army Air Service, (the air force unit under it), and the Nepalese Police Force. Service is voluntary and the minimum age for enlistment is 18 years. Nepal spends $99.2 million (2004) on its military—1.5% of its GDP. The king is the commander-in-chief of the military, which is currently engaged in the civil war against the Maoist insurgents. Most of the equipment and arms are supplied by The Republic of India. Nepal has close ties with both of its neighbours, India and China. In accordance with a long standing treaty, Indian and Nepalese citizens may travel to each others' countries without a passport or visa. Nepalese citizens may work in India without legal restriction. Although Nepal and India typically have close ties, from time to time Nepal becomes caught up in the problematic Sino-Indian relationship. India considers Nepal as part of its realm of influence, and views Chinese aid with concern. Some Indians consider Nepal to be part of a greater pan-Indian state, an attitude that has caused Nepalese antagonism towards India. In 2005, after King Gyanendra took over, Nepalese relations with India, the US, and the UK have worsened. These three foreign countries have been vociferous opponents to the crackdown on civil liberties in Nepal. China mainly seeks cooperation with Nepal on the issues of Tibet.

Subdivisions

Nepal is divided into 14 zones and 75 districts grouped into five development zones. Each district is headed by a chief district officer responsible for maintaining law and order and coordinating the work of field agencies of the various government ministries. Divisions: # Far Western: Mahakali (9), Sethi (14) # Mid Western: Karnali (6) Bheri (2), Rapti (12) # Western: Dhawalagiri (3), Gandaki (4), Lumbini (8) # Central: Bagmati (1), Janakpur (5), Narayani (11) # Eastern: Sagarmatha (13), Kosi (7), Mechi (10)

Demographics

districts Nepal has a total population of 27,676,547 as of July 2005, with a growth rate of 2.2%. 39% of the population is up to 14 years old, 57.3% are aged between 15 and 64, and 3.7% above 65. The median age is 20.07 (19.91 for males and 20.24 for females). There are 1,060 males for every 1,000 females. Life expectancy is 59.8 years (60.9 for males and 59.5 for females). Total literacy rate is 45.2% (62.7% for males and 27.6% for females). The largest ethnic group is the Chhettri (15.5%). Other groups are the Brahman-Hill 12.5%, Magar 7%, Tharu 6.6%, Tamang 5.5%, Newar 5.4%, Muslim 4.2%, Kami 3.9%, Yadav 3.9%, other 32.7%, unspecified 2.8%. According to the 2001 census, Hindus constitute 80.6% of the population. Buddhists make up 10.7%, Muslims 4.2%, Kirant 3.6%, other religions 0.9%. Nepali is the national language with 47.8% of the population speaking it as their first language. Other languages include 12.1%, Bhojpuri 7.4%, Tharu (Dagaura/Rana) 5.8%, Tamang 5.1%, Newar 3.6%, Magar 3.3%, Awadhi 2.4%, other 10%, unspecified 2.5%. Differences between Hindus and Buddhists have been in general very subtle and academic in nature due to the intermingling of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. Both share common temples and worship common deities and many of Nepal's Hindus could also be regarded as Buddhists. Buddhists are mostly concentrated in the eastern regions and the central Terrai. Buddhism was relatively more common among the Newar and Tibeto-Nepalese groups. Among the Tibeto-Nepalese, those most influenced by Hinduism were the Magar, Sunwar, and Rai peoples. Hindu influence is less prominent among the Gurung, Limbu, Bhutia, and Thakali groups, who employ Buddhist monks for their religious ceremonies. Hinduism is the official religion of the country, making it the only officially Hindu nation. The northern mountains are sparsely populated. A majority of the population live in the central highlands despite the migration of a significant section of the population to the fertile Terrai belt in recent years. Kathmandu, with a population of 80,000, is the largest city in the country.

Culture

Thakali Culture to the south and Tibetan to the north. Similarities can be observed in the clothing, way of life, language and food. A typical Nepalese meal is dal-bhat, boiled lentils served with rice and usually vegetables. This is consumed twice daily, once in the morning and again after sunset. Between these main meals, snacks such as chiura (beaten rice) and tea are consumed. Meat, eggs, and fish are also consumed, particularly in the mountainous regions, where the diet tends to be richer in protein. Millet-based alcoholic drinks are popular, including jaad and the distilled rakshi. Folklore is an integral part of Nepalese society. Traditional stories are rooted in the reality of day-to-day life—tales of love, affection, battles, and demons and ghosts; they reflect and explain local lifestyles, cultures and belief systems. Many Nepalese folktales are enacted in dance and music. The Newar people are well-known for masked dances that tell stories of the gods and heroes. Music is percussion-based, sometimes with flutes or shawm accompanying the intense, nasal vocal lines. Musical styles are a variety of pop, religious and folk music, among other styles. Musical genres from Tibet and India have had a strong influence on traditional Nepalese music. Women, even of the musician castes, are less likely than men to play music, except in specific situations such as traditional all-female wedding parties. Musical genreThe sarangi, a four-stringed, hand-carved instrument is usually played by wandering minstrels. In recent times, Nepali rock or rock music, sung to Nepali lyrics, has become popular among youth. Soccer is the most popular sport, followed by cricket and kabaddi. The Martyrs Soccer League is the national soccer championship. There is one television service, although many networks, particularly those that originate in India, are available with the installation of increasingly popular satellite dishes. Lack of electrification makes this difficult. Radio is listened to throughout the kingdom; as of 2000, there were 12 radio stations. The Nepali year begins in mid-April and is divided into 12 months. Saturday is the official weekly holiday. Main holidays include the National Day (birthday of the king) December 28, Prithvi Jayanti, (January 11), and Martyr's Day (February 18) and a mix of Hindu and Buddhist festivals such as Dashai in autumn, and Tihar late autumn. Most marriages are arranged, and divorce is rare. Polygamy is banned by law; relatively isolated tribes in the north, such as the Dolpo, practise polyandry. Nepal has a rich tradition of ceremonies, such as nwaran (the christening of a child), and the Pasni, the day a child is first fed rice, and bratabandha (the penance ceremony) and gupha for prepubescent boys and girls, respectively. In bel baha, preadolescent girls are "married" to the bel fruit tree, ensuring that the girl becomes and remains fertile. Most houses in rural Nepal are made up of a tight bamboo framework with mud and cow-dung walls. These dwellings remain cool in summers and retain warmth in winters. Dwellings at higher altitudes are mostly timber based.

External links

- [http://www.nepalhmg.gov.np His Majesty's Government of Nepal]
- [http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/nptoc.html Library of Congress – Nepal]
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- [http://www.india-defence.com/browse/nepal/0 Latest news reports, analysis and intelligence about Nepal] on India Defence
- [http://www.nepalmonarchy.gov.np/english.php Official Site of the Royal Court of Nepal]
- [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5283.htm United States Department of State Profile of Nepal]
- [http://www.nepalonline.net/nepalimd99/ Nepal Institutional Manpower Directory]

Notes

# [http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/nepal.htm Nepal] # [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GB24Df04.html Asia Times Online]

References

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- Michael Hutt, ed., Himalayan 'people's war' : Nepal's Maoist rebellion, London : C. Hurst, 2004
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- Category:Monarchies Category:SAARC members Category:Landlocked countries zh-min-nan:Nepal ko:네팔 ms:Nepal ja:ネパール simple:Nepal th:ประเทศเนปาล

Sino-Tibetan

Sino-Tibetan languages form a language family of about 250 languages of East Asia, second only to Indo-European in terms of the number of speakers. Many of the languages are tonal, which however is usually considered to be an areal feature rather than evidence of a genealogical relationship. Chinese and Tibetan, for example, were not tonal in their earlier stages. As another example, some word pairs that can only be distinguished by tone in mainstream Mandarin have different vowels or consonants in some of the Mandarin "dialects", suggesting that tone is needed, or at least its role is reinforced, because words that might have been pronounced differently in a parent language now require tone to differentiate. A few scholars such as Christopher I. Beckwith, Roy A. Miller, and W. S. Coblin question whether the Sinitic languages are related to Tibeto-Burman. Such scholars typically point to the putative absence of regular sound correspondence between Tibeto-Burman languages. However, an increasing body of scholarship (by scholars such as James Matisoff and Gong Hwang-cherng) has shown that such correspondences do exist. Thus, while the genetic unity of the Sino-Tibetan family is not as well demonstrated as that of the Indo-European family (in that a convincing and comprehensive reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan has never been proposed) the evidence for Sino-Tibetan as a genetic grouping is compelling. Other linguists, especially in China, believe the Tai-Kadai and Hmong-Mien languages belong in Sino-Tibetan, though this view has fallen out of favor in the West, with the similarities being credited to borrowings and areal features. James Matisoff's widely accepted classification is as follows: Sino-Tibetan (Matisoff)
- Chinese
- Tibeto-Burman
- Kamarupan
- Kuki-Chin-Naga
- Abor-Miri-Dafla
- Bodo-Garo
- Himalayish
- Maha-Kiranti (includes Newari, Magar, Rai))
- Tibeto-Kinauri (includes Tibetan, Lepcha)
- Qiangic
- Jingpho-Nungish-Luish
- Kachinic (Jingpho)
- Nungish
- Luish
- Lolo-Burmese-Naxi
- Karenic
- Baic It should be noted that not all of the "branches" of Matisoff's classification are intended as genetic groupings. For example, Matisoff makes no claim that the subfamilies in the Kamarupan or Himalayish groups have special relationship to one another other than a geographic one. These are intended as categories of convenience pending more detailed comparative work on the languages in these groups. Certain linguistics, most notably George van Driem, have proposed that Chinese owes its traditional privileged place in the Matisoffian classification to cultural rather than linguistic criteria, much as Semitic was once considered a primary branch of a "Hamito-Semitic" family; and just as Semitic was later demoted to a sub-branch of Afro-Asiatic, several recent classifications have demoted Chinese to a sub-branch of Tibeto-Burman. The following classification by George van Driem is one: Tibeto-Burman (van Driem)
- Brahmaputran
- Dhimal
- Bodo-Koch (includes Tripuri, Garo)
- Konyak (includes Nocte)
- Kachinic (includes Jingpo)
- Southern Tibeto-Burman
- Lolo-Burmese
- Karenic
- Sino-Bodic
- Sinitic (Chinese)
- Bodish-Himalayish (includes Tibetan)
- Kirantic
- Tamangic
- (several isolates within Sino-Bodic)
- A number of other small families and isolates as primary branches of Tibeto-Burman
(Newari, Qiang, Nung, Magar, etc.) The essential part of this is called the Sino-Bodic hypothesis, for it proposes that the closest relatives of Chinese are the Bodic languages such as Tibetan. Advocates of the Sino-Bodic hypothesis point to two major pieces of evidence for establishing a special relationship between Sinitic and Bodish and thus placing Chinese within the Tibeto-Burman language family. First, these scholars have pointed to a number of apparent parallels between the morphosyntax and morphology of Old Chinese and modern Bodic languages. Second, van Driem and others have identified an impressive body of lexical comparisons between Chinese and Bodic languages. Opponents of the Sino-Bodic hypothesis present two rebuttals. First, they note that the existence of shared lexical material only serves to establish the relationship between two linguistic groups, not their relationship relative to one another. While it is true that some of the cognate sets presented by supporters of the Sino-Bodic hypothesis are confined to Chinese and Bodic alone, many of them are found in Tibeto-Burman languages generally and thus do not serve as evidence in any meaningful way for a special relationship between Chinese and Bodic. Second, skeptics of the Sino-Bodic hypothesis may point to the reconstruction of Proto-Tibeto-Burman produced by Benedict and refined by later scholars. This reconstruction was based largely upon data from Written Tibetan, Written Burmese, Mizo (Lushai), and Jingpho (Kachin). From these reconstructions, reflexes in each of these languages (and, has been shown, many other Tibeto-Burman languages) may be derived by the application of regular sound laws. If Chinese had a special relationship to Bodic (and therefore Tibetan) we would expect that any reconstruction that accounted properly for both Tibetan and languages outside of Bodic (such as Mizo and Jingpho) should be able to account for Chinese as well; however, Chinese forms may not be derived from these reconstructions through regular sound laws. Thus, by the canons of the comparative method, Sino-Bodic is not well supported and the burden of proof is on the advocates of the Sino-Bodic hypothesis to demonstrate that a reconstructed Proto-Sino-Bodic is not identical to a reconstruction of "Proto-Sino-Tibetan" as a whole, Like Matisoff, van Driem acknowledges that the relationships of the "Kuki-Naga" languages (Kuki, Mizo, Manipuri, etc.), both amongst each other and to the other Tibeto-Burman languages, remain unclear. However, rather than placing them in a geographic grouping, as Matisoff does, van Driem leaves them unclassified. Roger Blench comments that :it is hard not to suspect that Chinese does not have the distinct status accorded it by the Matisoffian model, but whatever evidence exists for other schemas has failed to win significant assent from the scholarly community. The second major issue is the status of the problematic ‘remnant’ languages of the Himalaya, Gongduk, Magaric and others. Either these are early branchings from the Sino-Tibetan tree or they are ‘Kusundic’, remnants of earlier language phyla that have been Sino-Tibetanised. The Kusunda language of western Nepal is often thought to a remnant of the pre-Tibeto-Burman indigenous languages of the southern Himalayas. Kusunda is thought to be on the verge of extinction, if not extinct.

External links

- [http://stedt.berkeley.edu/html/STfamily.html#TBlg Tibeto-Burman languages and their subgrouping] - James Matisoff
- [http://iias.leidenuniv.nl/host/himalaya/driem/pdfs/sinobodic_low.pdf Sino-Bodic] - George van Driem
- [http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mt26c.html Mother Tongue newsletter] description of van Driem's proposed reordering of the Sino-Tibetan language group into a new Tibeto-Burman classification.
- zh-min-nan:Hàn-Chōng gí-hē ja:シナ・チベット語族

Tibeto-Burman

The Tibeto-Burman linguistic subfamily of the proposed Sino-Tibetan language family is spoken in various central and south Asian countries: Myanmar (the Burmese language as well as the languages of minorities like the Karens and Kachins), Tibet (Tibetan language), northern Thailand (Lahu, Lisu, Akha languages), southern China, Nepal, Bhutan, India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir), and western Pakistan (Balti language). The subfamily includes approximately 350 languages; Burmese has the most speakers (approximately 32 million). Approximately six million Tibetans speak one of several related languages. Some linguists have now scrapped the idea of the Sino-Tibetan language family, and have elevated Tibeto-Burman to displace Sino-Tibetan as the top-tier language family, with the Chinese languages classified as a branch of the Tibeto-Burman family.

Classification

Following is a partial listing of Tibeto-Burman classifications.

Bradley (1997)

One of the most recent classifications is that of David Bradley. This classification is based on a much larger pool of data since between this and the previous work of Benedict and Shafer a great number of languages have been accurately documented with grammars, dictionaries, and wordlists. I. Bodic (a.k.a. Western) : A. Bodish :: i. Central Bodish (a.k.a. Tibetan) ::: a. Western Tibetan ::: b. Central Tibetan :::: i) Western :::: ii) mNgaẖris :::: iii) gTsang :::: iv) dBus (a.k.a. 'Central' Central Tibetan) :::: v) Southern Tibetan ::: c. Amdo Tibetan (a.k.a. Northeastern Tibetan) ::: d. Khams Tibetan (a.k.a. Southeastern Tibetan) :: ii. West Bodish (a.k.a. Gurung, Tamang) :: iii. East Bodish (a.k.a. Bumthang) :: iv. Tshangla (a.k.a. East Bodic) :: v. West Himalayish (a.k.a. Kanauri) : B. Himalayan :: i. Central :: ii. Kiranti II. North-East India (a.k.a. Sal) : A. Bobo-Garo :: i. Northern Naga : B. Jinghpaw : C. Luish (a.k.a. Sak) : D. Pyu III. Kuki-Chin : A. Southern Naga : B. Kuki : C. Chin : D. Arleng IV. Central : A. Lepcha : B. Western Arunachal : C. Adi-Mising- Nishi (a.k.a. Abor-Miri-Dafla, Tani) : D. Digarish 'Mishmi' : E. Keman 'Mishmi' : F. Rawang (a.k.a. Nungish) V. North-Eastern VI. South-Eastern : A. Burmese-Lolo (a.k.a. Burmic) :: i. Mru :: ii. Gong :: iii. Burmish :: iv. Loloish ::: a. Northern ::: b. Central ::: c. Southern : B. Karen

Benedict (1972)

A very influential classification is that of Benedict (1972). This was a collaborated effort of Paul Benedict and Robert Shafer (completed around 1942-1943) with editing by James Matisoff. This classification puts Tibeto-Burman under a larger Sino-Tibetan phylum: :Sino-Tibetan :# Chinese :# Tibeto-Karen :#
- Karen :#
- Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman sub-family is then composed of 7 main branches: I. Tibetan-Kanauri (a.k.a. Bodish-Himalayish) : A. Bodish (in eastern & southern Tibet) : B. Himalayish :: i. "major" Himalayish (in western Tibet, western India) :: ii. "minor" Himalayish (in Uttaranchal) :: iii. Dzorgai (in Sichuan) ? :: iv. Lepcha (in Sikkim) ? :: v. Magari (in Nepal) ? II. Bahing-Vayu (a.k.a. Kiranti) (in Nepal) : A. Bahing : B. Khambu : C. Vayu-Chepang : D. Newari ? III. Abor-Miri-Dafla (a.k.a. Mirish, North Assam) (in Sikkim, northern Assam) IV. Kachin (in northern Myanmar) V. Burmese-Lolo (a.k.a. Burmish) (in Sichuan, Yunnan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam) : A. Burmese-Maru : B. Southern Lolo : C. Northern Lolo : D. Kanburi Lawa in Thailand : E. Moso (a.k.a. Nakhi) (in western Yunnan) : F. Hsi-fan (in western Sichuan) : G. Hsi-hsia (in northwestern China) : H. Nung ? VI. Bodo-Garo (a.k.a. Barish)

Indo-Iranian languages

The Indo-Iranian languages are the eastern-most group of the living Indo-European languages. Indo-Iranian refers to India & Iran. The term Aryan is often used to refer to the Indo-Iranian languages. According to some Aryan migration theories, speakers of the Proto-Indo-Iranian language, who referred to themselves as Aryans, settled east and south of the Caspian Sea in Northern India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Their expansion is believed to have been connected with the invention of the chariot. Indo-Aryan languages:
- Sanskrit
- Assamese language
- Bengali language
- Gujarati language
- Hindi language
- Maithili language
- Marathi language
- Nepali language
- Oriya language
- Pali
- Punjabi language
- Romany language - the language of Gypsies
- Sindhi language
- Singhalese language
- Urdu Dardic languages:
- Dameli language
- Domaaki language
- Gawar-Bati language
- Kalasha language
- Kashmiri language
- Khowar language
- Kohistani language
- Ningalami language
- Pashayi language
- Phalura language
- Shina language
- Shumashti language Nuristani languages:
- Ashkun language
- Kamviri language
- Kati language (Bashgali)
- Prasuni language (Wasi-Weri)
- Tregami language
- Waigali language (Kalasha-Ala) Iranian languages:
- Eastern Iranian
- Northeastern
- Avestan language (extinct)
- Ossetian language
- Sogdian, Yagnobi
- Bactrian
- Southeastern
- Pashto language
- Pamiri
- Western Iranian
- Northwestern
- Dari language of Zoroastrians
- Balochi language
- Talysh language
- Kurdish language
- Southwestern ("Persid")
- Old Persian, Pahlavi, Persian language (including Dari, Tajik)
- Tat language

Indo-European

Indo-European was originally a purely linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. By extension, it became a collective name for cultures and religions associated with these languages. Hypothetically, these cultures arose from the expansion of an ancient people, the Proto-Indo-Europeans, from a homeland that has remained obscured, although opinion is generally divided between southern Russia and eastern Anatolia.

Language Family

See main article Indo-European languages. The Indo-European language family is attested in twelve branches, some of them extinct, with a historical distribution over most of Europe, North India, Pakistan, Anatolia, Armenia, Iran, and parts of Central Asia (East Turkistan). The word Indo specifically refers to India alone. India has the largest single Indo-European speaking population on the planet where 75% of the non-Dravidian population (some 700 million people) speak many different Indo-European languages and dialects, which are descendents of a language called Proto-Indo-Aryan by linguists. During the age of colonialism, Indo-European languages spread from Europe to all continents, and today there are over three billion speakers of Indo-European languages, distributed all over the world. The languages are traditionally separated into a Satem group in the east (Baltic, Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Armenian) and a Centum group in the west (Greek, Italic, Celtic, Germanic), according to their different treatment of PIE velar sounds. The two groups are considered paraphyletic, i.e. there are no separate proto-languages for each group and their common characteristics are likely due to prolonged contact because of their geographical proximity. Also, there is evidence that the Anatolian, Tocharian and Albanian branches belong to neither of the two groups.

Comparative Linguistics

See main article Indo-European studies. The existence of the Proto-Indo-Europeans has been inferred by comparative linguistics. The discovery of the genetic relationship of the various Indo-European languages goes back to William Jones, a British judge in India, who in 1782 observed the strong affinity of Sanskrit, Greek and Latin. The language group was briefly referred to as "Indo-Germanic", until it became apparent that the group included most of the other languages of Europe, as well. "Indo-European", the term now current in English, was coined in 1813 by the British scholar Sir Thomas Young. Franz Bopp performed extensive comparative work. At first, the related languages were simply compared, with no attempt at reconstruction. August Schleicher was the first scholar to compose a tentative text in the extinct "common source" Jones had predicted. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) represents, by definition, a hypothetical model of the common language of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, great progress was made due to the discovery of more language material belonging to the Indo-European family, and by advances in comparative linguistics, by scholars such as Ferdinand de Saussure.

Proto-Indo-Europeans

See main article Proto-Indo-Europeans.

Origins

The scholars of the 19th century that originally tackled the question of the original homeland of the Indo-Europeans (also called Urheimat after the German term), were essentially confined to linguistic evidence. A rough localization was attempted by reconstructing the names of plants and animals as well as the culture and technology. The scholarly opinions became basically divided between a European hypothesis, positing migration from Europe to Asia, and an Asian hypothesis, holding that the migration took place in the opposite direction. However, from its early days, the controversy was tainted by romantic, nationalistic notions of heroic invaders at best and by imperialist and racist agendas at worst. The question is still the source of much contention. racist according to the Kurgan hypothesis. The purple area corresponds to the assumed Urheimat (Samara culture, Sredny Stog culture). The red area corresponds to the area which may have been settled by Indo-European-speaking peoples up to ca. 1000 BC.]] In the twentieth century, Marija Gimbutas (1956) created a modern variation on the traditional invasion theory (the Kurgan hypothesis) which regards the Indo-Europeans as nomadic horsemen in what is today South Russia and Eastern Ukraine, expanding in several waves during the 3rd millennium BC. However, others have associalted the Kurgans with the Indo-Iranians. Colin Renfrew (1987) is the main propagator for another theory according to which the Indo-Europeans were farmers in Anatolia who introduced agriculture into southeast Europe around 7000 BC and assimilated the Preindoeuropeans. This is also problematic, however, as the Indo-European language had words for things such as yoke and plough which were not present at the introduction of agriculture to Europe. The rise of Archaeogenetics, which uses genetic analysis to trace migration patterns, added new elements to the puzzle. Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza recently used genetic evidence to in some ways combine Gimbutas' and Renfrew's theory.

Religion

Main article: Proto-Indo-European religion The hypothetical PIE religion was centered on sacrificial rituals where animals were slaughtered to establish good relations with the gods. The chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon, probably mirroring the position of the king in human society, was the sky-god Dyeus.

Language contact

Language contact occurs when speakers of distinct speech varieties interact. Contrary to popular opinion, multilingualism has been common throughout much of human history. Even in hunter-gatherer times, to judge by recent parallels, multilingualism was not uncommon, as bands would need to communicate with neighboring peoples, who often spoke differing languages. And in present-day areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where there is much variation in language over even short distances, it is usual for anyone who has dealings outside his own town or village to know two or more languages, as it must have been in early times when almost all languages were spoken in a small territory. Thus, language contact is a very common phenomenon in human history, and the world's present vast linguistic diversity has developed in the presence of this constant contact. When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for their languages to influence each other. Languages normally develop by gradually accumulating internal differences until one parent language splits into daughter languages. This is analogous to asexual reproduction in biology. Change due to language contact, in this analogy, is akin to the recombination that happens when separate organisms exchange genetic material.

Forms of influence of one language on another

Borrowing of vocabulary

The most common way that languages influence each other is the exchange of words. Much is made about the contemporary borrowing of English words into other languages, but this phenomenon is not new, nor is it even very large by historical standards. The large-scale importation of words from Latin, French and other languages into English in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was more significant. Some languages have borrowed so much that they have become scarcely recognizable. Albanian borrowed so many words from Iranian languages, for example, that it was at first considered a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, and was not recognized as an independent branch of Indo-European for many decades.

Borrowing of other language features

The influence can go deeper, extending to the exchange of even basic characteristics of a language such as morphology and grammar. Nepal Bhasa, for example, spoken in Nepal, is a Sino-Tibetan language distantly related to Chinese, but has had so many centuries of contact with neighboring Indo-Iranian languages that it has even developed noun inflection, a trait typical of the Indo-European family but rare in Sino-Tibetan. It has absorbed features of grammar as well, such as verb tenses. Romanian was influenced by the Slavic languages spoken by neighboring tribes in the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, not only in vocabulary but also in phonology and morphology. It is easy to see how a word can diffuse from one language to another, but not as obvious how more basic features can do the same; nevertheless, this phenomenon is not rare.

Language shift

The result of the contact of two languages can be the replacement of one by the other. This is most common when one language has a higher social position. This sometimes leads to language endangerment or extinction.

Substratal influence

However, when language shift occurs, the language that is replaced (known as the substratum) can leave a profound impression on the replacing language (known as the superstratum), when people retain features of the substratum as they learn the new language and pass these features on to their children, leading to the development of a new variety. For example, the Latin that came to replace local languages in present-day France during Roman times was influenced by Gaulish and Germanic. The distinct pronunciation of the dialect of English spoken in Ireland comes partially from the influence of the substratum of Gaelic.

Creation of new languages: Creolization

Language contact can also lead to the development of new languages when people without a common language interact closely, developing a pidgin, which may eventually become a full-fledged language through the process of creolization. A prime example of this is Saramaccan, spoken in Suriname, which has vocabulary mainly from English and Dutch, but phonology and even tones which are closer to African languages.

Mutual and Non-Mutual Influence

Change as a result of contact is often one-sided. Chinese, for instance, has had a profound effect on the development of Japanese, but the Chinese language remain relatively free of Japanese influence. In some cases, language contact may lead to mutual exchange, although this exchange may be confined to a particular geographic region. For example, in Switzerland, the local French has been influenced by German, and vice-versa. In Scotland, the Scots language has been heavily influenced by English, and many Scots terms have been adopted into the regional English dialect.

Linguistic Hegemony

Obviously, a language's influence widens as its speakers grow in power. Chinese, Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, and English have each seen periods of widespread importance, and have had varying degrees of influence on the native languages spoken in the areas in which they have held sway.

Dialectical and Sub-Cultural Change

Some forms of language contact affect only a particular segment of a speech community. Consequently, change may be manifested only in particular dialects, jargons, or registers. The South African dialect of English has been significantly affected by Afrikaans, in terms of lexis and pronunciation, but English as a whole has remained almost totally unaffected by Afrikaans. In some cases, a language develops an acrolect which contains elements of a more prestigious language. For example, in England during a large part of the Medieval period, upper-class speech was dramatically influenced by French, to the point that it often resembled a French dialect. The same situation existed in Tsarist Russia, where the native Russian language was widedly disparaged as barbaric and uncultured. Category:Sociolinguistics

Sheree Fitch

Sheree Fitch (December 3, 1956) is a Canadian children's author who currently resides in Washington D.C., in the United States. She was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. Works:
- Toes In My Nose and Other Poems - 1997
- Sleeping Dragons All Around - 1989
- Merry-Go-Day - 1991
- There Were Monkeys in My Kitchen - 1992
- In This House There Are Many Women - 1993
- I Am Small - 1994
- Mable Murple - 1995
- If You Could Wear My Sneakers - 1997
- The Hullabaloo Bugagaboo Day - 1997
- There's A Mouse In My House! - 1997
- If I Were The Moon - 1999
- The Other Author Arthur - 1999
- Writing Maniac: How I Grew Up to Be a Writer (And You Can, Too!) - 2000
- No Two Snowflakes - 2001
- One More Step - 2002 Fitch, Sheree Fitch, Sheree

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