As the ancient Kusunda culture slowly disappears, linguists from all over the world are working to document the language of Nepal’s smallest ethnic group.
The Kusunda, or Ban Rajas (Kings of the Forest), were formerly a nomadic jungle tribe from central and southwestern Nepal. Widespread deforestation forced the tribal population to fragment into various bands. A lack of potential marriage partners necessitated extensive intermarriage with various ethnic groups.
Now the Kusunda culture, traditions, and language are on the verge of disappearing.
To document the language, linguists are sketching out its grammar and vocabulary, or lexicon, with the help of the endangered language’s only remaining fluent speaker, 75-year-old Gyani Maiya Sen. More.
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Norvegia
Local time: 18:58
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Thanks for this interesting article!
Indonesia
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I hope we can reuse some of the words of the Kusunda language in other languages.
Local time: 11:58
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Nice story!!!
Local time: 12:58
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I hate when languages are about to die. I have been working on reconstruction of some languages myself. Why cannot the languages that are still alive be put on life support.
Portorico
Local time: 12:58
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"With our data we can revitalize the language if the Kusunda community is willing to learn it." It's wonderful that the last native speaker is excited about helping preserve her language. It's pretty optimistic, though, to hope that a community could be persuaded to study a language and culture that they don't need.
Kudos to these linguists and their efforts.
Local time: 12:58
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You might be really surprised that some people may actually be interested in learning their ancestors language as their L2.
[Edited at 2012-07-16 19:42 GMT]
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