Limbu language

Official status

Nepal

The Language Commission of Nepal has recommended the Limbu language as official language in Koshi Province. Chulachuli Rural Municipality, Mangsebung Rural Municipality and Phalgunanda Rural Municipality have recognized the Limbu language as an official working language.

India

In India, the state of Sikkim has recognized the Limbu language as an additional official language for the purpose of preservation of culture and tradition in the state. The official weekly publication Sikkim Herald has a Limbu Edition.

Dialects

The Limbu languages are divided into four dialects :

• Phedappe
• Panthare
• Chathare
• Taplejunge or Tamarkhole

Ethnologue lists the following dialects of Limbu.

• Dialect cluster 1
  • Panthare
  • Chaubise
  • Charkhole
  • Yanggrokke (Yanggruppe)
• Dialect cluster 2
  • Phedappe
  • Tamorkhole (Taplejunge)
• Dialect cluster 3
  • Chhatthare (Chatthare, Chhathar)

Yanggrokke, Chaubise, and Charkhole are minor variants of the Panthare dialect. Phedappe and Tamorkhole are similar. Chattare is less well understood by other dialect speakers. The Limbu dialect spoken in Sikkim, India is the same as Panthare.

Phonology

Vowels and consonants

/, / can be heard as rounded [, ] after labial consonants.

Phonemes in parentheses occur in loan words from Nepali.

Grammar

Limbu is a postpositional language. Noun arguments take case markers as well as postpositions. Double case markings happen frequently. The following word endings mark for cases in Limbu.

• absolutive -ʔin
• ergative -le/-re/-lle/-ʔille
• instrumental -le/-ʔille
• genitive -re/-le/-ille
• absolutivized genitive -re-n/-le-n
• vocative -e
  • non-singular vocative -se
  • rare vocative -re
• locative -ʔo
• comitative -nu
• mediative -lam
• elative -ʔo-lam/-ʔo-nu
• allative -thak
• intrative -lum-ʔo
• comparative -nulle (combined form of comitative -nu and genitive -lle)

Limbu is an ergative-absolutive language, with the agentive argument of a transitive verb will take ergative -le/-re/-lle/-ʔille, and the subject of a intransitive verb and the patient of a transitive verb will be marked by -ʔin.

Limbu verbs, which are polysynthetic in nature, exhibit double negators and agreements with objects, but lack third person subject agreements and noun incorporation. A typical Limbu verbal morphology can be described in following table:

Writing system

Limbu language is one of the few Sino-Tibetan languages of the central Himalayas with their own scripts. The Limbu script or Sirijanga script was devised during the period of Buddhist expansion in Sikkim in the early 18th century when Limbuwan still constituted part of Sikkimese territory. The Limbu script was probably designed roughly at the same time as the Lepcha script (during the reign of the third King of Sikkim, Phyag-dor Nam-gyal (c. 1700–1717)). However, it is widely believed that the Limbu script (Sirijanga) had been designed by the Limbu King Sirijanga Hang in the 9th century. The Sirijanga script was later redesigned and re-introduced by Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe . As Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe spent most of his time in the development of Yakthungpan, Yatkhung culture, and Limbu script; he is considered as the reincarnation of the 9th century King Sirijanga.

As Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe was astoundingly influential in spreading the Limbu script, culture, and language, Tasang monks came to fear that he might transform the social, cultural, and linguistic structure of Sikkim. Therefore, Tasang monks captured Sirijunga, bound him to a tree, and shot him to death with poisonous arrows.

Both Limbu and Lepcha scripts were ostensibly devised with the intent of furthering the spread of Buddhism. However, Sirijanga was a Limbu Buddhist who had studied under Sikkimese high Lamas. Sirijanga was given the title 'the Dorje Lama of Yangrup'.

The script has been influenced by Tibetan and Devanagari. Unlike most other Brahmic scripts, it does not have separate independent vowel characters, instead using a vowel carrier letter with the appropriate dependent vowel attached.

The Limbu language and literature have been less practiced in Nepal since the last eighteenth century. The cultural identity of any community was taken as a threat to the national unification by ruling elites until the recent years. The use of the Limbu alphabet was banned and the possession of Limbu writings outlawed. There were no specific laws about it, but the Security Act was enforced for such cases under the strong directives of Kathmandu.

Limbu has its own unique writing system, which is similar to Tibetan and Sikkimese scripts. The Limbu script or Sirijunga script was created and popularized by Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe and his followers in the 18th century. Since teaching of Limbu/Yakthung language and writing was banned by the Khasas in Nepal after the "Noon Pani Sandhi" between the Limbuwan and Gorkha Kingdom (Prithvi Narayan Shah), far more Limbus are literate in Nepali than in Limbu in Nepal. Although many Limbu books were written in Devanagari and Roman (English), now Limbus/Yakthungs have well-developed computerized writing system and many books are published in Limbu script or Sirijunga script.

The historical development of Kirat-Yakthung writing can be organized into the following periods:

1. The 18th-century Kirat-Yakthunghang period: Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe and his cronies movement
2. The 19th-century Kirat-Yakthung writers and rhetors: Period of Jobhansing Limbu, Chyangresing Phedangba, Ranadwaj, and Jit Mohan (Brian Hudgson procured books and requested them to write histories, stories, narratives, culture, and so on)
3. The 20th-century Kirat-Yakthung writers and rhetors:
   1. After the establishment of "Yakthunghang Chumlung" (1925); thereafter, several books were published.
   2. Limbu script was much more influenced by Devnagari script at this period.
   3. At the same time, both national and international linguists, researchers, and writers addressed the issued in this period. This period is period of inquiry, communication, discovery, and re/construction.
4. Late 20th- and 21st-century Kirat-Yakthung writers and rhetors: This period denotes after the restoration of democracy in Nepal in 1990. Introduction of "Anipan" at school; many research and writing such as MA/MPhil theses and research reports; establishment of Limbu organization at the local and global level; period of delinking, relinking, and linking epistemologies.

Teaching

In Nepal, the Limbu language is taught on private initiative. The Government of Nepal has published "Ani Paan" text books in Limbu for primary education from grades 1 to 12. Kirant Yakthung Chumlung teaches Limbu language and script on its own initiative.

In Sikkim, since the late 1970s, Limbu in the Limbu script has been offered in English-medium schools as a vernacular language subject in areas populated by Limbus. Over 4000 students study Limbu for one hour daily taught by some 300 teachers. Course books are available in Limbu from grades 1 to 12. Additionally, the significance of Limbu in Sikkim is that the name of the Indian state itself is a combination of two Limbu words: su, which means "new", and khyim, which means "palace" or "house".

Sample text

The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

English

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Limbu (Limbu Script)

ᤁᤢᤎᤠ ᥇: ᤁᤧᤖᤧᤰ ᤕᤠᤵᤔᤡᤜᤠ᤹ ᤀᤡᤱᤎᤠᤱ ᤏᤢ ᤕᤢᤰᤖᤧ ᤏᤠ᤺ᤶᤓᤣᤀᤠᤣ ᤛᤠᤘᤠ᤺ᤴᤏᤠᤣᤏᤢᤀᤣ ᤆᤠᤣ᤺ᤰᤕᤢᤶᤓᤠᤣᤒᤠ ᤏᤢ ᤐᤧᤶᤒᤧᤶᤒᤠ ᤔᤧᤘᤠ᤹ ॥ ᤂᤢᤏᤡ᤹ ᤏᤡᤛᤡ᤺ᤰᤐᤠ ᤏᤢ ᤂᤧᤛᤡᤱ ᤔᤧᤍᤠᤖᤢᤀᤠᤱ ᤔᤧᤍᤩᤧᤀᤠᤱ ᤔᤧᤘᤠ᤹ ᤜᤧᤰᤁᤩᤠᤱ ᤌᤡᤰᤘᤣ᤹ᤀᤠᤣ ᤑᤢ᤹ᤏᤢᤛᤠ᤹ ᤀᤡᤛᤡᤰ ᤀᤠᤣᤃᤠᤵ ᤆᤠᤣ᤺ᤰᤔᤠᤛᤡ ᤐᤠᤣ᤺ᤱ ॥