Chamling language

Chamling
Chamling
Rodong
चाम्लिङ
	The word "Chamling" written in Devanagari script
Native to	Nepal; India (Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kalimpong); Bhutan (southern areas)
Ethnicity	Rodung Chamling
Native speakers	77,000 in Nepal (2011)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Mahakiranti (?) Kiranti Central Kiranti Southern Chamling; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Devanagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rab
Glottolog	caml1239
ELP	Camling
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Chamling is one of the Kirati languages spoken by the Chamling (Dikhalichha, Mulihachha, Ditumachha, Mansungcha, Lipungchha, Malekungchha, Maidhung, Kherasung, Rakhomi, Rodung, Horosungchha etc) of Nepal, India and Bhutan. Alternate renderings and names include Chamling, Chamlinge and Rodong.^[1] It is closely related to the Bantawa (some Bantawa-speaking communities call their language "Camling") and Puma languages of the Kiranti language family in eastern Nepal, and it belongs to the broader Sino-Tibetan language family.^[3] Chamling has SOV word order.

History

The Chamling language is one of the languages of the ancient Kiranti culture, which existed well before vedic period 3500–5000 in South Asia.^[4] Important versions of the Mundum — the main religious text forming the religious foundation of the Kirant Mundum religion and the cultural heritage of the various Kirati people — are composed in Camling; such versions are distinctive to the Camling-speaking tribes and a guide to their distinctive religious practices and cultural identity.^[5]

Distribution

The Chamling language is used by small communities in eastern Sagarmatha Zone, in central Khotang District, Bhojpur District and scattered areas in northern Udayapur District and a few more districts of eastern Nepal, the southeastern neighbour Indian state of Sikkim, the hill city of Darjeeling, Kalimpong in the Indian state of West Bengal and the kingdom of Bhutan.^[3]

Demographics

Despite its geographic prevalence, the actual number of Chamling speakers is estimated to be 10,000, spread across small tribes and villages.^[3] Many members of the Chamling ethnic and tribal communities are no longer fluent in the Chamling language, which is taught only in remote areas in the Udayapur District.^[3] Like Bantawa, Chamling is an endangered language. Many people in these areas speak a variety of Chamling that is mixed with the Nepali language, which is the official language of Nepal.^[3] Most Chamling-speaking people are Hindus or practitioners of Kiranti Mundum.

Phonology

Consonants

^[6]		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal	voiced	m	n		ŋ
Nasal	voiced aspirated	mʱ	nʱ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	ts	k
	voiceless aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tsʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d	(dz)	(ɡ)
	voiced aspirated	bʱ	dʱ	(dzʱ)	(ɡʱ)
Rhotic			r rʱ
Fricative		f	s			h
Approximant		w	l lʱ		j

Vowels

	front	central	back
high	i		u
mid	e	(ə)	o
low		a	(ɒ)

Voice

Phuima = pluck
Toma = see, experience
Ityu = brought from above
Dhotyu-cyu' = assembled them
Bhuima = pound
Doma = close
Idyu = gave him
Dhodyu-cyu = stabbed them^[7]

Bound Morphemes

	chamling	example word	morphological rule
plural suffix	/-ci/	"challa-ci" = my brothers	N —> N + plural /-ci/
"his"	/m-/	"m-tõ" = his ha1. ir	N —> /m/ + N
"my"	/a-/	"a-nicho" = my sibling	N —> /a/ + N
"your"	/kap-/	"kap-tõ" = your hair	N —> /kap/ + N

^[6]

Chamling uses many bound morphemes, many of which denote possession or the change of possession of something.

Phrase Structure Rules

NP —> (D) N

VP —> (NP) (A) (Adv) V (Adv)

CP —> C S

S —> NP {VP, NP, CP}

ex:

anga

my

D

a-khim

my house

N

hinge

be

V

"I have a house"

This is 3. an example of a sentence that is formed by an NP and a VP. The NP contains a determiner and a noun, and the VP contains a verb.

ex:

a-challa-ci

my brothers

N

oda

here

V

paina

not

Adverb

"my brothers are not here"

This is an example of a sentence that is formed by a NP and a VP. The NP contains a noun and a VP contains a verb and an adverb.

ex:

khamo

your

D

nung

name

N

de?

what

N

"what is your name?"

This is an example of two NP's forming a sentence. One NP contains "khamo nung" ("your name") and the second NP contains "de" ("what").

References

^ ^a ^b Chamling at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ "Chamling". Ethnologue. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Ethnologue report on Camling
^ Cemjoṅga, Īmāna Siṃha (2003). History and Culture of the Kirat People. Kirat Yakthung Chumlung. ISBN 99933-809-1-1.
^ Monika Bock, Aparna Rao. Culture, Creation, and Procreation: Concepts of Kinship in South Asian Practice. Page 65. 2000, Berghahn Books.
^ ^a ^b Ebert, Karen (1997). Camling (Chamling). Mulnchen: LINCOM Europa.
^ Phonology - The Rosetta Project Archived 23 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine