Month: May 2014

The socio – political aspects of Lepcha life and its impact on the Lepcha language special reference to Dzongu

| aachuley
                                                                             Kachyo Lepcha
                                                                            Asst. Professor, Department of Lepcha
                                                                            Sikkim Government College, Gyalshing
                                                                            West Sikkim
                                                                            Email:lepchakachyo@yahoo.co.in
                                                                            Phone No.9800074211

Lepcha is the oldest and the first tribe reported from Sikkim, India; majority of its population inhabiting in Dzongu valley, an officially demarcated reserve for Lepcha community, bordering Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, in north district. Lepchas of Dzongu are known for their retention of rich cultural heritage. In view of the on-going cultural and economic changes brought in by the process of globalization, the immediate need was felt to document.
The recent comments on the gradual loss of influence of the Lepcha language on the Lepcha community trigger our attention for an intimate look at the Lepcha speech community. According to Landweer (2008), “The indicators of ethno-linguistic vitality are a collection of factors that have been documented in socio linguistic literature … have been useful in indicating the probable direction a speech community will go relative to the maintenance of, or shift from, its traditional language. No one factor has become a leading indicator of linguistic vitality. Whether a language appears to be “maintained” or “dying” depends on the collective impact of positive or negative indicators that place the language on a continuum of stable vitality, change in process due to other-language interference, radical shift in process, and death. As such, language maintenance and shift are long-term consequences of consistent patterns of language choice throughout the speech community.”
This paper examines the ethno-linguistic vitality of the speech community with special reference to the Lepchas of Dzongu valley, ‘the prime Lepcha reserve’ in North Sikkim. In order to explore the endangered situation of the language, the probable direction of language maintenance and shift, towards which the speech community is proceeding has been studied, keeping in view the socio – political aspects of Lepcha life and its impact on the Lepcha language and culture across time in the multilingual setting.
Introduction
The Lepchas are the original inhabitants of Sikkim and are mostly settled in Dzongu valley in North Sikkim. They are also settled in Kalimpong subdivision of Darjeeling district of West Bengal. Apart from Sikkim and West Bengal, Lepcha is also spoken in Bhutan (lower valleys in the West and South) and Nepal (Mechi zone, Ilam district).
The Lepcha language (which is also known as Rong/Rongaring/Rongring) belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language sub-family under Tibeto-Chinese language family.
Lepcha is placed in the non-pronominalised group of the Himalayan languages under the Tibeto-Burman sub-family. Das (1978:18-19) comments, “A good deal of confusion exists about the original homeland of the Lepchas … They are mainly agriculturalists, pastoralists and are followers of traditional religion and Buddhism (Lamaism). Lepcha speech community is considered constitutionally in India a scheduled tribe pertaining to the states of West Bengal and Sikkim in India.
Foning (1972:63) says “…these children of Kongchen will forget to rejoin their ancestors in the land of spirits and thus the Lepchas will just be away and they will be left only as a legendary tribe of the Himalayas to be studied by posterity in schools, colleges and universities.”
According to Awasty (1978: 45), “They are fast losing their cultural identity and leaning more towards Nepali social customs.” Foning (1987:305) states, “Anthropologists and research scholars have visited their lands… They have all, although reluctantly referred to this tribe of the Lapchas as ‘a dying race’.
The comments on the gradual loss of influence of the Lepcha language on the Lepcha community, in the retrospective literatures trigger attention for an intimate look at the Lepcha speech community.
The paper examines the ethno-linguistic vitality of the speech community with special reference to the Lepchas of Dzongu valley, ‘the prime Lepcha reserve’ in north Sikkim. In order to explore the endangered situation of the language, the probable direction of language maintenance and shift, towards which the speech community is proceeding 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 in the multilingual setting.
According to Landweer (2008), “The indicators of ethno-linguistic vitality are a collection of factors that have been documented in sociolinguistic literature … have been useful in indicating the probable direction a speech community will go relative to the maintenance of, or shift from, its traditional language. No one factor has become a leading indicator of linguistic vitality. Whether a language appears to be ”maintained” or “dying” depends on the collective impact of positive or negative indicators that place the language on a continuum of stable vitality, change in process due to other-language interference, radical shift in process, and death. As such, language maintenance and shift are long-term consequences of consistent patterns of language choice throughout the speech community.” some indicators have been proposed and taken into consideration to produce sociolinguistic profiles of different language groups and in indicating the probable direction of language maintenance and shift of a speech community.
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
8. Access to a stable and acceptable economic base.
Each of these indicators has been found pertinent in examining the ethno-linguistic vitality of the Lepcha community with special reference to the Lepchas of Dzongu valley in North Sikkim. The following discussion will examine the manifestation of each of the proposed indicator in the Lepcha speech community with special reference to those of the Dzongu valley. A language remote from an urban community or congregation of other-language speakers would be the least affected therefore the strongest, and a language located within urban confines would be the most affected and thus the weakest.” As far as the Lepchas residing in (different districts like Sankalang, Tingbung, Namprik, Ruklu, Kusung, Passingdang, lingthem and Lingzya) Dzongu valley is concerned, it can be said that they have limited access to Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim, the nearest urban center. In spite of ‘marginal access’ to the urban centre, and socio-cultural homogeneity to some extent, Lepchas of Dzongu valley exhibit language shift to a considerable extent.
Socio-political History of and Miscegenation in the Region
In this connection, it is worthy to mention the socio-political history of the region, which can validate the present situation. The socio-political dominance of the Nepali language that started from the end of 18th century exerts immense pressure in spite of the fact that Nepali is an Indo-Aryan language and that Lepcha, aTibeto-Burman language that had a developed tradition.
Apart from the socio-political situation, a close look at the speech community reveals the fact that as the numerical strength of the Lepcha population is comparatively less, the contact situation with Bhutia and Nepali has encouraged them for inter-ethnic marriage system. Field investigation reveals that even with the last generation, inter-ethnic marriages with the Bhutia were socially accepted but not Nepali. But the modern trend speaks of the acceptance of inter-ethnic marriages with the Nepali speech community. Such a situation has been observed by the scholars as the greatest threat to the language. The biological extinction of the community is averted by the community as it tries to check it by relaxing the social rules and allowing marriage outside the community.
Personal observation reveals that due to the socio-cultural change that is affecting even the remotest villages of Dzongu valley, the definition of a prospective spouse has also undergone a drastic change. With a lower numerical strength, along with the change in the socio-cultural outlook, inter-ethnic marriages, especially with the Nepali speech community is a reality of the day. As a result, language shift in both the lexical and syntactic level in Nepali and Bhutia is a definite feature of the Lepcha speech community.
Domains in which the Language is Used
Lepcha has been declared as one of the official languages along with Nepali, Hindi and English by the Government of Sikkim. However, the extensive use of English in the official (legislation, court of justice, etc.) and educational domains shows signs of definite shift. In Sikkim, Lepcha language is included in the curriculum only as a subject matter. Literary aspects like short stories, poems, articles, rapid readers are taught in Lepcha. But there is no scope for the development of other aspects like registrar variations or the technical vocals as the language has no place in the scientific and technological subject matters. Historically speaking, though Lepcha vocals for medicinal plants, natural objects, and indigenous technology were available, these have been replaced by the English language, which is obviously an indicator of stylistic shrinkage of Lepcha. Apart from this, an attitudinal study conducted in Dzongu valley reveals that Lepcha language, which is mainly used in the family domain, is frequently used by and associated with the older generation only. The language is occasionally used by the younger generation in interactions with relatives and neighbors. It is rarely used in the domains like place of work, friends and social gatherings. The use of mother tongue has been reported to be decreasing in the family domain of the Lepcha speech community and Nepali is gaining ground along with Hindi.
As both the traditional religious practices and Buddhism exist simultaneously in Lepcha life, in the sub-domain of religion, Lepcha language is found to be used only by the Bongthing, the leader of the traditional shamanistic religion whereas Tibetan/ Bhutia finds its place in the religious matters practiced in Buddhist Gumphas. Thus Lundweer (2008) aptly says, “The cumulative choices then suggest which of the languages in the community’s repertoire the language of choice for each domain is.”
Frequency and Type of Code Switching
The code mixing and code switching aspects are quite extensively exhibited by the Lepcha speakers. Code-mixing and code-switching in Nepali is a dominant feature of the Lepcha speech community. Not only Nepali, the promotion of Hindi by the government — both at the Centre and State levels, has also replaced Lepcha language in different domains of social life. The Lepchas have considered Hindi as a link language to the extent that it is replacing their own language for the last two generations. The active acquisition and use of the English language has also been observed among the younger generation.
In this connection it is worth mentioning that, agreeing with Pandit (1972, 1977), Gnanasundaram and Elangaiyan (2000:37) point out, “The borrowing and mixing at the lexical and structural levels do not necessarily indicate a shift towards language loss. They may indicate a pattern of language use of bilinguals and language change in contact situation as long as they can be shown to be instances of convergence, a phenomenon well attested among the languages of the Indian subcontinent.” If such a trend continues and covers the entire lexicon and grammar, and if there is no sociolinguistic identification of the language other than a variety of the dominant language, ‘then it is possible to speak of language losses. The potentiality of language shift or loss in such a multilingual social network has been observed “the contact induced changes in languages… led to linguistic typological homogeneity on the one hand and to a tendency of language attrition on the other hand, tug of war between language maintenance (retention of mother tongue) and language proficiency in the dominant contact language; the tribal language probably passes through a transition period of language change and language convergence which probably tries to avoid the expected language shift or loss.”
Thus the interplay of the embedded language (i.e., forms from one language) and the matrix language (that is, utterance that is primarily composed of another language) within the same conversation cannot be determined objectively as yet to conclude on the language loss or shift. Community learns to speak it.” In order to examine the factor of ‘population and group dynamics’ of ethno-linguistic vitality in relation to the Lepcha speech community, a close look at the socio-political history of the Lepcha inhabiting areas is felt to be essential.
Historical Documents – Entry of Lamaism
Historical documents reveal that the first major contact with the Lepcha land and people was established by the ethnic group of people from ‘Kham’, a province of Tibet sometime during the 13th or the 14th century. Siiger (1967:26) states, “From a strictly historical point of view we know hardly anything about the Lepchas until about the year 1600 A.D, when a branch of Tibetan Minyang dynasty from the eastern Kham province took part in the great migration of Tibetan nobles, entered Sikkim, and some decades later made themselves kings.” with the establishment of Lamaism in the 17th c, the Lepcha script must have been developed. The main Lepcha works were Tibetan scriptures translated into Lepcha to facilitate the progress of the Lamaistic religion among the Lepchas. There are however, references to even earlier Lepcha manuscripts narrating Lepcha mythology and legends which according to Gorer and even Father Rey, were destroyed by the Tibetan lamas in their zeal to convert the Lepchas. This view of fanaticism of Lamaism in Sikkim is held by the Christian missionaries.”
Along with the migration of the ‘Khamba’ Tibetans, Buddhist religion came to the land, resulting in the conversion of a number of Lepchas to Buddhism by the Tibetan monks. As a result of the introduction of Buddhism, the traditional Lepcha scripture was gradually replaced by the Tibetan and the impact of Tibetan culture led to the gradual infiltration of new ideas. Das (1978:15) rightly points out, “This phase of Lepcha culture is the history of dominance of Tibetans over the Lepchas in every sphere of their life and activities… (ibid: 243) The language with its literature, which flourished during the reign of the Lepcha kings, got a rude set back after the dominance of the Tibetans who gradually replaced Lepcha literature, etc., by their own language.”
The Bhutanese and Nepali Entry
The next socio-political phase of Lepcha life was marked by the advent of the Bhutanese after 1700. The eastern and western frontiers of the land were attacked by the Bhutanese and Gurkhas, threatening the territorial integrity of Sikkim. The end of the 18th c, (1788-89) was marked by the invasion of Sikkim by Nepal. Foning (1987:283) opines, “Large scale migration took place at any time to overwhelm the autochthons, like the Nepalese immigration in the nineteenth century.” With such contact situations with the Bhutanese and Nepali communities, the Lepcha social life changed to some extent, giving rise to conflicts and tensions on the one hand and destruction of Lepcha scriptures on the other. Inter-mixing in terms of marriage and other social activities became evident resulting in the infiltration of new ideas and exposures.
The Metamorphosis
The metamorphosis of the speech community took place with the constant migration of the three ethnic communities — Tibetans, Bhutanese and Nepalese. This has been aptly observed by Foning (1987:283) as, “In time due to intermarriage between the native Rongfolk and the migrating people, new tribes came into being. The tribes thus formed incorporated the culture, customs and traditions of the two inter-mingling tribes and, as a result, a new and a separate tribe came into existence. The best example of this type of the tribe is the ‘Denjongpa’ people, a cross between the Lepchas and the Khamba Tibetans.”
The Entry of the British – More Nepalis Arrived and Their Impact
With the advent of the British in the following phase of development, Lepcha socio-political life was pressurized as forests were reserved and taxes were imposed on the ‘son of the soil’ as an administrative measure by the British. With the Nepal war of 1816, Nepalese migrated in large number and took part in the development. This resulted in rapid out-numbering of the Lepchas by the settlers from Nepal. Therefore Foning (1987:283) aptly observes, “… today, the vast majority of people inhabiting the old-time Mayel country of the Rongfolk are the people of mixed ethnic origin from the country of Nepal.” He also points out (1987:296), “Both in the urban and the rural areas, the Nepali language has virtually become the ‘Lingua Franca’ for the people of different ethnic groups that one finds in the regions.”
 Missionary Activities
The British rule that took control in 1841, marked the advent of missionary activities which could convert a section of the Lepcha community into Christianity along with teaching English language. But Buddhism Lamaism continued its hold on the common people. This resulted in creating a gap within the community — those with Christian education could raise their standard of living and outlook with English education and those who still adhered to their age old traditional beliefs and customs.  The conflict of these two major religious groups of Lepchas at times results in creating a gulf within the community due to differences in social, religious and cultural traits.” The expansion of the tea manufacturing industry by the British led the original inhabitants of the land, the Lepchas to recede into interiors, resulting to a situation detrimental to the local vernacular.
A Brief Linguistic Revival
Mainwaring (1876) mentions that Lepcha was the language for the entire Sikkim. The Tibetans, the Bhutias and other immigrants used to communicate in the Lepcha language. Business, justice, recording of decrees and documents were carried on in the Lepcha language, under the rule of Col. Llyod in Darjeeling. In this connection the name of Reverend Mr. William Start is worthy to mention as he established a school for the Lepchas and employed the Moravian system of education. At that time a Lepcha primer and a dictionary was also compiled. At the same time he tried to convert them to the new faith of Christianity, which he thought would bring an all round improvement … These missionaries did exactly what the Tibetan Lamas had done about a century and a half earlier by translating their religious books for the purpose of converting them to their own faiths … with the death of Rev. C.G. Neible in 1865 (one of the missionaries), the grand and admirable effort of these missionaries faded out completely.”
 A Set Back for the Lepcha Language
Soon the Lepcha language received a set back and started to be considered as the language of the aboriginal people who are socially and culturally backward. The government language report gave unfavorable findings; this was the result of a politically motivated action on the part of the British Government. It is not clear how this charge could be proved except by justifying the overall impression that the British were against or looked down upon everything that is native or national.
The Arrival of Democracy
With the breaking of World War I in 1914, the socio-religious aspect underwent a sea change in the Lepcha horizon. The period which was followed by the departure of the British from the Indian sub-continent, marked a radical change in the socio-political and socio-cultural scenario in Lepchas society.
Achulay!
Reference:
Gurung, Dr. S.K. 2011 –Sikkim ethnicity and political dynamics a triadic perspective
Barua, Indra, Sengupta, 2002 Ethnic Groups, Cultural Continuities and Social change in North East India.
Hall, F.S   (ED.).  1981 the Himalayan aspect of change.
Harowitz, D.I.  1985 Ethnic groups in conflict.
Hooker, J.D. 1969(reprinted). Himalayan journal (vol.I&II)
Jha, Dr. P.K. 1985. History of Sikkim
Morries, J.1938 living with Lepchas- a book about the Sikkim Himalayan
Tamsang, K.P. 1983. The unknown and untold Reality about the Lepcha
Lepcha, Barfongmu, Saldong, 2012 The introduction of linguistic and phonetics in Lepcha language ( vol.I)