Linguistic Scenario of Nepal

Prem C. Kulung

Nepal is a multilingual nation where many languages flourish with diversified socio-cultural properties. It is a garden where many languages as flowers decorate it beautifully. According to the CBS 2001, the languages spoken in Nepal belong to the four great language families, viz. Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian. Bhattarai and Gautam (2007) believe that Nepal is the richest living laboratory which has more than one hundred living languages distributed along the ecological zones. Different species of languages are surviving in Nepal. Linguists have claimed to have found as many as 120 languages however the CBS (2001) has recorded 92.

The Constitution (1990) declared Nepali with Devanagari script as the national and the official language of the country and all the other languages used in different communities as the language of nation. According to the population census (2001), 48.61 percent of the total population use Nepali as their mother tongue. And The Interim Constitution of Nepal (2007) made the following provisions for the languages of Nepal:

1.      All the languages spoken as the mother tongue in Nepal are the national languages of Nepal.

2.      The Nepali language in Devanagari script shall be the official language.

3.      Notwithstanding anything contained in clause.

4.      It shall not be deemed to have hindered to use the mother language in local bodies and offices. State shall translate the languages so used to an official.

(The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007, Part 1, Article 5; cited in Yadava, 2007)

Regarding the education and cultural right, the constitution enshrines the following provisions: 

1.      Each community shall have the right to get basic education in their mother tongue as provided for in the law.

2.      Each community residing in Nepal shall have the right to preserve and promote its language, script, culture, cultural civility and heritage.

(The Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007, Part 3, Article 17; cited in Yadava, 2007)

Although, Nepal has been a multilingual nation from ancient time, indigenous languages have been neglected by the government; consequently some of the languages are on the verse of extinction now. Rai (2067/068 VS) says that ‘One nation – one language’ policy of the past is still dear to the present ruler class of Nepal. This can later be the fatal cause to the death of many endangered languages. Yadava, (2007) says “A single language has been given power, recognition and prestige while, as a corollary, the remaining minority languages are impoverished and marginalized.”

Recently with the restoration of democracy, there is a growing concern and awareness towards the promotion and preservation of the indigenous languages. With the introduction of the mother tongue education policy at primary level education, the government also has taken initiative towards the establishing and supporting mother tongue education through 14 indigenous languages in formal education (CDC).

Most of the indigenous languages are still confined to their oral traditions. They are rich in their oral heritage of traditional folk literatures handed down from their ancestors to offspring from generation to generation, such as the Mundhum in Kiratese. However, these oral tales are disappearing with the growth of literacy and with increased language shift because of ignorance of the government towards the development of these languages. It is therefore time to document these spoken forms and make timely updated before they are lost to posterity.