Cross-varietal documentation and descriptive study of Tamang

The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide for the documentation of endangered languages and knowledge. Grantees create audiovisual collections with transcription and translations of endangered languages and practices. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR).

Tamang (ISO-639: taj) is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken over a large but sparsely populated area in Central and Eastern Nepal (27°5'N, 85-86°E), and exhibiting considerable geographical variation which is still poorly understood. All varieties of the language are now threatened by Nepali.This project will produce a wide-ranging documentation of Tamang with a focus on the most endangered varieties, including a corpus of audio, video and texts, a descriptive study of features shared and diverging between varieties, and a polylectal trilingual dictionary in Tamang, Nepali and English.These will contribute to efforts to maintain Tamang as a viable contemporary language. Primary investigator: Tom Owen-Smith

Project Details


Location: Nepal, Southern Asia, Asia Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): SOAS, University of London Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £48,084.00 Commencement Date: 01/2006 Project Status: Completed
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