General G .B. Mainwaring, Champion of the Lepchas.

Numerous writers, authors, scholars, linguists and anthropologists have written books, and many are still writing, about the Lepchas of Sikkim, Illam, Eastern Nepal, the Darjeeling District of West Bengal and South West Bhutan.  But one name stands out above all others- General G .B. Mainwaring, Bengal Staff Corps.

General George Byres Mainwaring (pronounced ‘Mannering’) was born at a place called Banda, about 100 miles due west of Allahabad, UP, India on 18 July 1825.  He was the son of Mr George Mainwaring, Bengal Civil Service, and Isabella Byres.  He was a member of an old aristocratic titled family, the Cavenagh-Mainwaring of Whitmore, Staffordshire. George Byres Mainwaring was educated in Mr Tulloch’s Academy, Aberdeen, Scotland and later by Messrs Stoton and Mayor, Wimbledon near London where he studied both classics and mathematics.

After commissioning on 8 January 1842, he sailed for India in the ‘Conqueror’ on 10 February 1842 and joined his Regiment, the 16th Bengal Native Infantry (Grenadiers) in June 1842. Lieutenant Mainwaring was present at the Battle of Maharajpur with his Regiment and was awarded the Gwalior Campaign Bronze Star for Maharajpur, 1843.  During the First Sikh War or the Sutlej Campaign of 1845-46, he fought at the Battles of Moodki, Ferozashahur and Sobraon.  He was later awarded the Sutlej Campaign Medal 1845-46 for the Battle of Moodki with Bars or Clasps for the Battle of Ferozashahur and Sobraon.

In 1854 he went to England to see to his private affairs and returned to India on 5 November 1857. He was immediately sent to Cawnpur, U.P as an interpreter with 42nd and 49th Highlanders during the Sepoy Munity as he was probably a fluent speaker in Hindi and Urdu.  Afterwards he was put in command of detached troops at Delhi, Meerut, Peshawar, Bombay etc.  In 1863 he went to England for medical reasons and returned to India in March 1866 to do general duties in the Punjab.  At the end of 1867 he was employed by the British Government of India to complete a Lepcha Grammar and Dictionary.Thus he proceeded to Darjeeling to compile the  Lepcha work. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 8 January 1868.

Lieutenant Colonel G .B. Mainwaring lived among the Lepchas at Lebong and later, at a village called Poloongdong,near Darjeeling for many years and studied the Lepcha language and literature under a highly capable ‘Mun’, a Lepcha priestess. A Lepcha Mun or Priestess has an excellent command of the Lepcha language because of her profession. Her name was “Mun Dey Mem” [mNude meM].  “Mun” means a born Lepcha priestess and “Dey” means a destroyer.  Most probably she was an “Aavaor” Mun, a class of born Lepcha priestess who possesses a supernatural power and can bring destruction if provoked.  “Mem” was probably added to her name later when she was associated with Colonel Mainwaring.  “Mem” is a short form of “Memsaheb”  meaning a lady in Hindustani.  It is said that she also learnt spoken English from the Colonel.  Lieutenant Colonel Mainwaring, himself a gifted linguist, thoroughly mastered the language and, to this day, he remains unsurpassed and supreme amongst foreign writers, authors,linguists, scholars and anthropologists on the Lepcha language and literature.Lieutenant Colonel G .B. Mainwaring  was promoted to the rank of full Colonel on 8 January 1873.

Colonel Mainwaring published ‘A Grammar of the Lepcha (Rong) Language as it exists in the Dorjeling and Sikkim Hills” in 1876. To keep the record straight, he was the first person to write and publish the first Lepcha Grammar. Although he based his Lepcha Grammar on the principles of Latin Grammar and not on the structure of the Lepcha Grammar itself, he used the Lepcha characters/scripts widely, to the delight of the Lepcha people;Roman letters were used for the learners of the language and simple and accurate explanations in English were given. He has also given a brief account about the powers of the Lepcha Letters called ‘ Lazoang’ in Lepcha.
Colonel G .B. Mainwaring was again promoted, this time to the rank of Major General on 1 January 1884 on the supernumerary list and finally to Lieutenant General on 1 January 1887.

Dictionary of the Lepcha Language. General Mainwaring compiled the Dictionary of the Lepcha Language but it was only published after his death. Dr Albert Grunwedel, a German Tibetologist, was entrusted to revise, edit and publish the Dictionary. This Dictionary was first published in Berlin in 1898.  This Dictionary consists of 552 pages and contains about 18,000 entries. The Lepchas, I believe, are the only people in the Indian Sub-Continent who have given the names for each and every butterfly that are found in the Darjeeling and Sikkim hills. The General has included the names of various butterflies in his Dictionary as well as the names of birds, animals, insects, plants etc. The second edition of the Dictionary came out in 1979 by Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu, Nepal.

General Mainwaring, died on 16 January 1893 at Serampore near Calcutta, at the age of sixty eight. This place, Serampore, is not that far from the old East India Company Arsenal at Dum Dum. The Baptist Mission Printing Press was also located at Serampore and the only Lepcha Printing Press was at this place at that time.

General G .B. Mainwaring has been described as ‘ Lepcha Mad’ for his keen interest and love for the Lepcha language, literature, culture and the people. It is said that he bought about eighty acres of land from the Government to start collective farming at Poloongdong for the Lepchas. He bequeathed this land to his mentor, Mun Dey Mem, before his departure to Calcutta to publish his Lepcha books.  Mun Dey Mem was issueless; therefore her younger sister’s offsprings inherited the land after her demise.  One of the great grand sons, Sangey Dorjee Lepcha, has turned about twenty seven acres of the land into a beautiful woodland with approximately 10,000 trees today.  Wild animals like deers, leopards, wild boars, porcupines, birds, insects etc freely roam in the woodland.  General G. B. Mainwaring must be smiling with great satisfaction and blessing the great grand son of Mun Dey Mem, Sangey Dorjee Lepcha.  The old Lepchas also recount that he sent a Lepcha to England for further studies. It is the General who said that the Lepcha language is one of the most ancient languages of the world. This remarkable man who loved the Lepcha language and respected the Lepcha ways of life, living, culture, traditions and heritage tried very hard indeed to protect as well as to promote, the Lepcha language and succeeded in doing so. Today the Lepcha language is alive and well. A Lepcha scholar, Aathing K.P.Tamsang, has paid the following tribute to the General: ‘ In truth, the Lepchas owe a great debt to General Mainwaring for laying the foundation of the Lepcha language firmly in the world and thereby protecting the Lepcha language from becoming extinct’. We remember him as the champion of the Lepcha cause; to us he is our ‘ Thikoong Mainwaring Saheb’ i.e a wise, learned and respected Mainwaring Saheb in Lepcha.

A STATUS ENQUIRY FOR REVITALIZATION OF THE LEPCHA LANGUAGE: A REPORT

Satarupa Dattamajumdar


 I.  THE INITIATION

The  project  entitled  “An  Enquiry  into  the  Status  of  Lepcha”  carried  out  from March 2007 to February 2012 was taken up by The Asiatic Society, Kolkata as a follow up of  the National Seminar on North East Languages and Literature held from  20th  to  22nd March,  2006 with  an  objective  ‘to make  an  assessment  of  the knowledge  of  Tibeto-Burman  group of  languages  mainly  spoken  in  the increasingly sensitive area of North East India’. Amongst the topics deliberated on different languages of the north-east Indian states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, Lepcha, a Tibeto Burman language (spoken in Darjeeling District of West Bengal and Sikkim) was the one that was also discussed in the three-day seminar. Mr. Lyangsong Tamsang, the President of The Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association (ILTA), Kalimpong put forth the grievances of the Lepcha speech community regarding marginalization of their  language. The under privileged  situation of Lepcha especially  in Darjeeling hills was  addressed  emphatically  by Mr.Tamsang.  The  need  for  survival  of  the language of Lepcha speech community was felt which in its turn led the authority of The Asiatic Society to undertake a research program on the status enquiry of the Lepcha language, the language spoken in Darjeeling district of West Bengal and in Sikkim.  The  research work of  the project has been  carried out with  field  investigation  in full co-operation with the members of the Lepcha speech community of Darjeeling district  in West Bengal, Dzongu valley of North Sikkim  and Gangtok  in general and The Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, Kalimpong in particular.

At  the  initial  stage  the project  took  into consideration  the  social  status, historical
backdrop,  the  demographic  profile,  the  linguistic  status  and  the  ethno-linguistic
vitality  of  the Lepcha  speech  community  in  both  the  States  of West Bengal  and Sikkim. After the first field investigation (in both the places) the major difference regarding the status of Lepcha in two geo-politically different areas was revealed. Lepcha  language  in  Sikkim  was  found  to  enjoy  the  status  of  being  one  of  the official languages of the state and most importantly Lepcha has attained a position in  the curriculum of  the educational  system provided  in  the government  schools.
Contrary to this, in West Bengal Lepcha has no official status and the language has no place at any level of the educational curriculum structured by the government. But one  interesting  situation was noted during  the  first  field  investigation.  It was with  the  Kalimpong  Lepchas  that  the  Lepcha  indigenous  literature  known  as Naamtho Naamthaar meaning ‘a record of literary tradition’ is found to be preserved though mostly in manuscript form.  These indigenous literature, the dates of which are still to be deciphered, are available in different Lepcha villages of Kalimpong. These were  found  to  be  the  repository  of  the  indigenous  knowledge,  the world view and culture of the Lepcha speech community. These literature also reflect the socio-historical phases of this part of the Himalayas. Such a situation automatically triggers  our  argument  regarding  the  probability  of  the  Lepchas  being  culturally nurtured for generations and of being conscious enough to document their acquired knowledge in the form of literature. Field investigation also revealed that attempts are being made to preserve the language in various forms with the sole initiative of The Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association, Kalimpong.

The above observation regarding the position of the Lepcha language in two states clearly showed the crisis for linguistic identity of the Kalimpong Lepchas in spite of  having  a  literary  tradition  and  a  script  of  their  own.  Therefore  it  became imperative  to  focus  on  the  linguistic  status  of  Lepcha  as  realised  in Kalimpong with  objectivity  and  to  concentrate  especially  on  the  language  attitude  of  the Lepcha speech community  in maintaining vis- à-vis shifting  their  language. Thus the  second  field  work  was  conducted  in  Kalimpong  subdivision  of  Darjeeling district  of West  Bengal  only  with  special  emphasis  on  the  linguistic  status  of Lepcha, i.e., the language as it is spoken in the present day, their language attitude and the ethno-linguistic vitality of the speech community. The inter group relation and  speech  accommodation  in  the  social  network  have  been  viewed with much importance in connection with the Lepcha language of Darjeeling district of West Bengal. Some Naamtho Naamthaar have been studied with due importance in order to access the original language structure and also to develop an understanding of the world  view  of  the  speech  community. As  a  result  a  comparative  analysis  of  the present  day  structure  of  the  language  and  the  language  structure  realised  in  its earlier form (as available in earlier documents) has been attempted as a part of the status enquiry of the language. Thus  this  status enquiry of Lepcha has been  attempted  in  this  study with  a hope that it would be able to contribute positively to the direction of language planning.

II.  THE LEPCHAS

The Lepchas are the original inhabitants of Sikkim and are mostly settled in north Sikkim district (Dzongu valley) and also settled in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. According to 2001 census, total Lepcha population in India is 50,629. The population
strength  of Lepcha  in Sikkim  is  35,  728  and  14,731  in West Bengal.

Lepchas are  also  settled  in Bhutan  (lower valleys  in  the West and South) and  in Nepal  (Mechi  zone,  Ilam  district)—the  population  strength  being  34,700  (in  the year 2000) in Bhutan [Ref: http://kcm.co.kr/ Bethany_ eng/p_ code5/341.html] and 3,660  in  Nepal  (in  the  year  2001)  [Ref:  http://en.wikipedia,org/wiki/ Demographics_ of_ Nepal]

 Geographical location of Lepcha Speaking Area
A map of Lepcha speaking area that covers parts of present day West Bengal and Sikkim  is  presented below.(It  is  to  be mentioned  that  the main Lepcha  speaking area of Sikkim, i.e., Dzongu valley is near Mangan.)

























 Map  of  Lepcha  speaking  area  (Reproduced  from  G.L.  Van  Driem  2001,  Languages  of  Himalayas,
Leiden:Brill. p. 823) (Ref: Plaisier, 2007 p.8)
Note: The colouring of the map has been done by the present author.


Linguistic Filiation of Lepcha

According  to  Grierson  (1908 Linguistic  Survey  of  India.Vol.III,  Pt.I.)  Lepcha language  (which  is  also  known  as  Rong/Rongaring/Rongring)  belongs  to  the Tibeto  Burman  language  sub-family  under  Tibeto-Chinese  language  family.  He placed Lepcha in the non-pronominalised group of the Himalayan languages under the  Tibeto-Burman  sub-family.   The  immediate  cognates  of  Lepcha  are  Sunwar, Gurung and Magar in the non-pronominalised group and Kiranti and Dhimal in the pronominalised  group. The  speech  community  calls  themselves  ‘Mutanchi Rongkup Rumkup’.

III.  THE STUDY

Different  aspects  of  Lepcha  life  and  language  have  been  studied  by  different scholars  at  different  points  of  time. The  first major work  on Lepcha  can  be  the contribution of Col. G.B. Mainwaring. Mainwaring (1876, A Grammar of the Rong (Lepcha) Language, As  it Exists  in the Dorjeling and Sikim Hills. Calcutta) wrote the  first descriptive grammar of  the Lepcha  language. Mainwaring deals with  the phonological, morphological and syntactic aspects of the language. He traces eight vowels,  thirty  five  consonants  and  nine  finals  (diacritics  used  for  final  sound elements) in the language. Various word classes in the morphology have been dealt with examples in detail. Further, he considers Lepcha language as pre-eminently an ‘Ursprache’,  a monosyllabic  language  possessing  isolating  structure  and  to  some degree  agglutinative  structure  as  well.  Mainwaring  also  mentions  the  politicohistorical development  of  the  language  hinting  at  the  hegemony  of  the Tibetans, Bhotias,  Nepalese,  and  Hindustanis  that  played  a  major  role  in  hindering  the  development of the language at different points of time. Subsequently, Mainwaring (1898,  Dictionary  of  the  Lepcha  Language,  Revised  and  completed  by  Albert Grunwedel. Berlin: Unger) is a dictionary of the Lepcha language which also deals with  the  rules  of  Lepcha  language  structure  and  phonetic  nature  of  the  speech sounds  of  the  language. The  dictionary which was  initiated  by Mainwaring was revised and completed by Albert Grunwedel. The  retrospective  literature  on  Lepcha  speech  community  and  Lepcha  language reveals  the  fact  that  though Lepcha  has  been  viewed  by  different  scholars  from different points starting from 1840 to 2007, a detailed enquiry regarding the status of the language was a desideratum which has been attempted in the treatise entitled “An Enquiry into the Status of Lepcha”.

IV.  POPULATION AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF LEPCHA

An interpretation of the demographic profile of Lepcha has been attempted keeping in view the census data of 2001 and 1991 (for comparison) — total native speakers by country, distribution of Lepcha speakers by state, numerical growth of Lepcha population  from  1971  to  2001,  number  of  bilingual  and  trilingual  speakers  and number  of  bilinguals by  language  of  1991  and  2001census.  Emphasis  has  been given  to  bilingual  and  multilingual  context  of  Lepcha.  In  order  to  have  an understanding  of  the  social   dynamics  of  the Lepcha  language,  an  account  of  the socio-political  history  of   Lepcha  land  and  the  people  have  been  taken  into consideration. Lepcha  life has been viewed  from  the point of view of  traditional way of life, interference in the language due to immigrant population like Tibetan and Nepali,  loss  of    status  of  the  language  during British  rule,  condition  of  the speech community after the period of  World War-I. The present state of affair for the  speech  community  has  been  dealt with  greater  emphasis. A  renewed  interest towards  revitalization of  the  language  and  culture during  last  few  years with  the sole  effort  of  ILTA  in  Darjeeling  district  of  West  Bengal  has  been  seen  as  a revivalist movement of this speech community.The  demographic  data  of Lepcha  as  realized  from  the  data  of  the  census  report helps  us  to  deduce  some  observations  regarding  the  speech  community  as  a linguistic entity which are enumerated in the following:

1.  The  population  strength  of  Lepcha  speakers  is more  in  Sikkim  than  in West Bengal. (Perhaps the geo-political history of the Lepcha inhabiting region explains the situation).

2. Though  the population strength of  the speech community  is not very high,  the growth  rate  of  population  is  on  the  rise  for  last  two  decades  (1981  to  1991  and
1991 to 2001). But there is a decadal decrease of percentage of population during1971 to 1981.

3. Amongst the second languages that are spoken by the Lepcha speakers in India, Nepali holds the first position, the number of speakers being 30,471, English holds the  second  position,  the  number  of  speakers  being  3,415  , Hindi  holds  the  third position, the number of speakers being 2,119 and Bhotia holds the fourth position, the speaker strength being 1,423.

4. Bangla, in spite of the state official language for the Lepchas of West Bengal has practically no impact on the Lepcha speaking population (if we accept the census position).

5. It is to be noted that Lepcha in spite of being a minor language, is spoken by a number of speakers of major languages like Nepali and Bhotia. This is a situation which is not found in case of many of the minor languages of the country.


V.  LINGUISTIC STATUS OF LEPCHA: A GRAMMATICAL SKETCH  
 
A  grammatical  sketch  of  Lepcha  has  been  attempted  from  the  point  of  view  of
phonological, morphological  and  syntactic  aspects. Based  upon  the  grammatical description of  the  language  (as  realized  in  the present day use), an assessment of the

Lepcha language has been done keeping in view the phenomenon of language maintenance,  shift  and  loss  of  the  language  structure.  The  language  change  has been  seen mainly  from  the  view  point of phonology  and morphology  (or  lexical levels). Some of the specific linguistic features dealt with in this part of the study are presented in the following.

1. The pronunciation of two consonants, /ph/ and /f/ are sometimes found to overlap in  spontaneous  speech  though  not  always.  This  may  be  due  to  the  influence  of  Nepali, an Indo-Aryan language.

2. The presence of retroflex sounds in Lepcha is claimed to be a Tibetan loan mainly used  among  the  Sikkim  Lepchas  where  Tibetan  influence  is  immense.  The Kalimpong Lepchas especially those who are involved in the revivalist movement of the language (under the umbrella of ILTA, Kalimpong) deny the presence of such a feature. But field investigation in Kalimpong reveals the use of retroflex sounds like [],  [h],  []  also,  though  not  as  a  consistent  feature.  Thus  diffusion  in  the phonological level can be said to be taking place in Lepcha.

3. The  vowel  sounds  //  and  //  sometimes  overlaps  in  the  pronunciation  of  the
Lepcha speakers.

4. The pronunciation of // and /z/ sounds is often found to overlap in spontaneous
speech.

5. The use of article, /mu/ ‘the’ (e.g., maro mu muli ‘the person said’) as attested in
Mainwaring  (1876)  is  not  widely  found  in  the  spoken  form  of  the  present  day
Lepcha language.

6.  The  distinction  of  the  gender  by  suffixing  /-bu/,  /-mot/,  etc.  is  attested  in
Mainwaring (1876:24). Though /-bu/ is available in current speech of Lepcha (e.g., hikbu ‘cock’), /-mot/ is not found in the present day speech of Lepcha.

7.  The  dual  form which was  once  a  regular  feature  of  the  language  has  become
almost  a  non-existent  phenomenon  of  the  language  except  a  few  remnants,  for
example,  the  existence of dual number  in  the nominative  form of  second personal
pronoun /ni/ is observed to be used marginally in earlier literature.
8.The  plural  forms  /kayu/  ‘we’  (nominative  plural  of  first  personal  pronoun)  and
/hayu/  ‘they’  (nominative  plural  of  third  personal  pronoun) have  been  used  as  the
base  to which  the plural marker  /-p/ or    /-s/    is being added  to  the new plural construct   to  form      /kayup/meaning  ‘we’  and  /hayup/  or  /hayus/ meaning ‘they’.

9. It is claimed in the earlier works that there is a specification regarding the use of the plural markers depending upon +human  (i.e.,  /-s/) and – human  (i.e.,  /-p/) noun forms to which it is suffixed. Such a distinction has been losing ground in the present day speech of the Lepchas.  

10.  The  present  day  speech  of  Lepcha  attests  the  comparative  and  superlative degrees   of  adjectives  being  expressed  either  from  the  context  of  the  sentence  and (or) by using a comparative conjunction /len/ ‘than’. Although the use of superlative forms is attested in the earlier literature of the language, such forms are not available now.

12. The occurrence of the nominal modifiers followed by head noun is attested in the earlier   literature,  whereas,  the  nominal  modifiers  in  Lepcha  are  found  both,  to precede and to follow the head noun.

A  brief  note  on  the  characteristic  features  of  Naamtho  Naamthaar,  the  indigenous
literature of the Lepchas, has also been presented in this part of the work.  

VI.  THE  LINGUISTIC  STATUS  OF  LEPCHA:  DEVELOPMENT  OF THE LANGUAGE

This  part  of  the  study  has  been  dealt with  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the work. The
linguistic  status  of  Lepcha  has  been  studied  from  the  point  of  view  of  the development of the language. The official status of the language in both the States —
Sikkim  and West  Bengal  has  been  taken  into  consideration.  The  developmental profile of  the  language has been  seen  from  the point of view of different kinds of literature like religious writing, printed oral tradition, folk tales, songs, drama, novel, essays, narrative writing, poems, glossary, translation works, text books, news sheet and  bulletin. The  use  of Lepcha  language  in  audio-visual media,  print media,  and internal oral and written communication in different domains has been viewed with importance.  The  position  of  the  language  in  case  of  administration,  legislation, judiciary,  education,  trade  and  commerce  has  been  enquired  and  two  different pictures emerges in two States—— Sikkim and West Bengal. Sikkim exhibits at least symbolic  recognition  of  the  language  for  its  use  in  legislation,  government administration  and  judiciary.  Lepcha  language  is  taught  as  a  subject  in  the educational  curriculum  (Govt.)  in  Sikkim,  whereas,  it  is  absent  in  case  of West Bengal. It is the effort of ILTA, Kalimpong that has enabled the speech community to  revive  the use of  their mother  tongue  (Lepcha as a subject  is  taught in  the night schools of Darjeeling district) and retain their culture.




VII.  LANGUAGE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  LEPCHAS  IN  THE MULTILINGUAL CONTEXT

The  comments  on  the  imminent  extinction  and  marginalization  of  the  Lepcha language  in  the  retrospective  literature  trigger  attention  for  an  intimate  look at  the language situation from different points of view. This part of the work examines the Lepcha  speakers’  attitude  towards  their mother  tongue  and  other  languages  in  the neighbourhood.  The  study  essentially  concentrates  on  the  Lepchas  of  Kalimpong subdivision of  Darjeeling district. The study  also  investigates and analyses the motivation behind language choice and use, and the language attitude of the Lepcha speech community. The probable direction of language maintenance and shift which the speech community is experiencing has been studied keeping in view the socio - political aspects of Lepcha  life and  its  impact on  the Lepcha  language and culture across the time. The chapter concentrates on the three major aspects - language use in different  social domains,  language proficiency  and  language preference  in mass media.  The  investigation  carried  out  on  the  use  of  language  in  different  social domains reveals the following facts.

1. Lepcha  is used generally  in  the home domain and  that  too  frequently with  the older generation.

2. It has been observed that in the formal situation English, Nepali and Hindi are used  (depending  upon  the  context  and  the  background  of  the  individuals).  But even in the less formal situation in which a speaker spends most of the time of the day, many a time Lepcha is found to be replaced by Nepali and other languages.

3. However, the use of the mother tongue in the situations like social gathering or festival is found to be almost as high as the percentage for the use of the language in the home domain. Such an attitude feeds the integrative motive for expressing solidarity.

The  picture  that  comes  out  of  the  study  of  language  proficiency  and  language
preference of the Lepcha speech community are presented in the following.

1.  The  Lepchas,  almost  entirely  (cent  percent  as  per  the  data)  claim  good proficiency  in Nepali,  the  language of  their neighbourhood  in  terms of  listening and understanding  and almost entirely  (cent percent as per  the data)  in  terms of speaking. In respect to the proficiency level in Nepali  it is found to be exceeding Lepcha,  the  mother  tongue  in  respect  to  all  the  four  skills,  listening  and understanding,  speaking  and  making  it  understandable,  reading  and  understanding, writing and making it understandable.
2. 92.8 per cent and 85.7 per cent of Lepcha respondents show highest proficiency in  respect  of  listening  (and  understanding),  and  speaking  skill  of  the  Lepcha language. This  percentage  further  reduces  to  78.5  and  42.8  in  respect  to  reading and writing  skill. The  use  of mother  tongue  has  been  reported  to  be  decreasing even in the family domain of the Lepcha speech community and Nepali is gaining ground along with Hindi. Lepcha is rarely used in the domains like place of work, friends and social gatherings.

3.  In  the  religious  domain,  Lepcha  language  is  found  to  be  used  only  by  the ‘Bungthing’,  the  leader  of  the  traditional  shamanistic  religion  whereas  Tibetan / Bhotia are used in the religious matters practiced in Buddhist Gumphas.

4. 64.3 per cent of  the  respondents claim high proficiency  in  the Hindi  language. The promotion of Hindi in the government level  (especially  in central Govt.), the exposure  of Hindi  through  audio-visual media  and Hindi  as  a  link  language  has influenced the speech community to a great extent.

5. Regarding  the proficiency of English  language especially  in  respect  to  reading and writing skill the percentage of Lepcha respondents claiming high proficiency is 78.5 per cent (in reading) and 71.5 percent (in writing).

6. Bangla,  in spite of being a neighbouring  language and  the official  language of the State  of West Bengal,  is  found  to  have  very marginal  impact  on  the Lepcha people.

7.  The  study  of  Language  preference  for  audio-visual media  reveals  that  Hindi language  is preferred by cent percent of  the  respondents. 50% of  the  respondents often prefer Nepali whereas preference  for Lepcha  is as  low as 14.3 per cent.  In this  connection  it  is  felt  pertinent  to  mention  that  programme  in  Lepcha  are  not usually telecast / broadcast from West Bengal. Very naturally the Lepcha speakers are  being  deprived  of  the  exposure  to  experience  audio-visual  programme  in  their mother tongue.  


It  is  only  from AIR Gangtok,  a  composite  programme  is broadcast  in Lepcha  for  a
short span of time during evening. Nayuma cable TV Centre, Gangtok occasionally telecast some programme in Lepcha.

It  is  important  to mention  that  there  is no daily news paper published  in Lepcha from West Bengal. Achuley, a quarterly magazine is only published in Lepcha by ILTA, Kalimpong. Therefore the limited choice of the Lepcha language in the mass media by a small percentage of respondents makes the low ranking of the Lepcha language obvious.
Quantitative method has been employed for the analysis of the data. The analysis of  the   data  of  language  preference  and  language  proficiency  takes  into consideration  a  
deterministic  approach  in  order  to  validate  the  observation more objectively.  The  
study  no  doubt  reveals  linguistic  shrinkage  of  the  language  in various  domains  but  it  does  not  attest  language  shift.  Therefore,  there  is  no  question of ‘dying’ or ‘death’ of the language.

VIII. ETHNO-LINGUISTIC VITALITY OF LEPCHA

This  chapter  investigates  and  analyses  the  ethno-linguistic  vitality  of  the Lepcha
language keeping in view the developmental profile of the language with reference to
the  state  of West Bengal. The  range  of  language  use  has  been  studied  in  this chapter   keeping  in  view  the  Ausbau  (language  of  elaboration)  dimension  of  Lepcha.  Lepcha  has  been  examined  in  the  light  of  the  four  basic  aspects  of language  development  profile  —  Policy,  Codification,  Elaboration  and Implementation.  The vitality of  the  language has been  seen  in  terms of  the  increase  in number of publication.  The  growth  rate  of  Lepcha  publication  gained momentum  from  the second half of the last century and accelerated a significant rise in the first decade of twenty-first century. This rise in publication is mainly due to the effort of ILTA of Kalimpong, Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

A gross composite picture of  Publication in Lepcha

The composite data of Lepcha publication is presented graphically below in order to view the growth rate of publication that gained momentum from the second half of the  last century and accelerated a significant rise in the  first decade of twenty15 first century.  It  is worth mentioning  in  this context  that  this  rise  in publication  is due to the sole effort of  ILTA of Kalimpong, Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

         






















Graph - 1
         Growth of Publication in Lepcha (in Kalimpong) across the Time period



Keeping  in  view  the  developmental  profile  of  the  language  in  two  different regions, the ethno-linguistic vitality of Lepcha in both Sikkim (Dzongu valley) and West Bengal has been examined in terms of the parameters proposed by Landweer (2008). The eight indicators — (1) Relative position on the urban-rural continuum, (2)Domains  in  which  the  language  is  used,  (3)Frequency  and  type  of  code switching,  (4) Population and group dynamics,  (5)Distribution of speakers within their  own  social  networks,(6)  Social  outlook  regarding  and  within  the  speech community,  (7)  Language  prestige  and  (8)  Access  to  a  stable  and  acceptable economic  base  have  been  taken  into  account  in  order  to  examine  the  probable direction  of  language  maintenance  and  shift  of  the  speech  community  in  two regions. The present  investigation brings  into  light,  the  fact  that,  the  language  is probably  passing  through  a  transition  regarding  language  change.  This may  not lead  to  language  death,  shift  or  loss  though  it  cannot  be  denied  that  linguistic shrinkage (which has been observed in different levels of the language, like lexical, grammatical  and  the  use  of  the  language  in  different  domains),  is  a  definite phenomenon of the Lepcha speech community.



IX.  CONCLUSION:  THE  IMPLICATION  OF  THE  STUDY  IN
LANGUAGE PLANNING

The status enquiry of  the Lepcha language  that has been attempted  in  the  treatise finds its relevance in the language planning aspect of the country.  Lepcha which has been seen throughout the study as a language of a minor tribal community  inhabiting  in  the  hilly  region  of  north  eastern  part  of  India  had  a developed  literary  tradition  and  script  of  its  own  that  dates  back  to  17th  century approximately.  But  with  the  passage  of  time  due  to  the  change  in  the  sociopolitical scenario of the country, the language lost its hold in the social domains of Lepcha  life  and  became  marginalized  over  a  period  of  time.  Different  sociocultural spaces have been  filled up with different  languages across  the  time. This interplay of time and space has given rise to the sense of inequality that has led to social  crisis  for  the  Lepchas  especially  in  Darjeeling  district  of  West  Bengal. Therefore  the present  study on  the  status  enquiry of Lepcha was  felt  imperative.
Thus  the study carried out  throughout  the  treatise has categorically dealt with  the demographic  and  linguistic  status  of  Lepcha  and  have  analysed  the  present linguistic  status  from  the  point  of  view  of  socio-political  history  of  the  land.  In order  to  trace  out  the  ‘framework  of  power  and  competing  interest’  that  is operative  in  case  of Lepcha,  an  attitudinal  study  has  been  attempted  and  ethnolinguistic vitality of the speech community has been examined.

The  social hegemony of  the competing  linguistic groups  in  the environment of a minority community determines the inequality and domination of specific groups. It is by means of language planning that a minority language can be introduced in the social institutions like education, administration, judiciary, and mass media in order  to  establish  the  linguistic  rights  of  the  speech  community  prescribed  as policy framed in Indian constitution. This in its turn helps to legitimize the social status of the minority language and the relationship of the language with that of the state machinery becomes positive. Indian constitution which is the fountain head of language  policies  takes  care  of  all  the  linguistic  communities  of  the  country  for their  maintenance  and  development.  Language  policy  by  the  government  often reflects the interest of the dominant group that controls the state machinery. This is often  found  in  case  of  numerically  dominant  ones.  Language  policies  are  often found  to  privilege  some  at  the  cost  of  denying  the  same  to  others.  But  lack  of linguistic  right  hits  the  crisis  for  identity  of  a  speech  community  which  is ultimately  reflected  in  the  socio-political  level. Under  such  a  situation  a  speech community  is  likely  to  experience  ‘revitalization’  of  their  language within  their own  social  system.  Such  an  effort  is  evident  in  case  of  Lepchas  also  in  their revivalist programme that has gained impetus in last fourteen years initiated by ILTA, Kalimpong.  The  present  discussion  concludes  with  suggestive  measures  to incorporate  the  Lepcha  language  in  the  school  curriculum  followed  in  the Government schools of Darjeeling hills of West Bengal.

Thus such a sociolinguistic study of a marginalized speech community like Lepcha is  likely  to  contribute  in  the  language  planning  aspect  with  an  objective understanding  of  the  present  position  of  the  language.  Such  an  analytical  case study is hoped to provide positive impact in framing language policy on the part of the government. Though the study does not claim to be a foolproof one, it can be hoped that the study carried out in the present treatise may form a happy basis for further research work on Lepcha as well as on such other minority or marginalized languages especially of north east Indian states from the point of view of language planning and language policy.


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