| Lepcha | |
|---|---|
| Róng ríng | |
| ᰛᰩᰵᰛᰧᰵᰶ | |
 The word 'Róng ríng' written in Lepcha (Róng) Script | |
| Region | Sikkim,India; parts ofNepal andBhutan |
Native speakers | 66,500 (2011-2013)[1][2] |
| Lepcha script Tibetan script | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  India |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lep |
| Glottolog | lepc1244 |
| ELP | Lepcha |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Lepcha language, orRóng language (Lepcha:ᰛᰩᰵᰛᰧᰵᰶ;Róng ríng), is aTibeto-Burman language spoken by theLepcha people inSikkim,India and parts ofWest Bengal,Nepal, andBhutan.
Lepcha is spoken by minorities in the Indian states ofSikkim andWest Bengal, as well as parts ofNepal andBhutan. Where it is spoken, it is considered to be an aboriginal language, pre-dating the arrival of theTibetan languages (Sikkimese,Dzongkha, and others) and more recentNepali language. Lepcha speakers comprise four distinct communities: the Renjóngmú ofSikkim; the Támsángmú ofKalimpong,Kurseong, andMirik; the ʔilámmú ofIlam District,Nepal; and the Promú of southwesternBhutan. Lepcha-speaking groups in India are larger than those in Nepal and Bhutan.[3][4]
The Indian census reported 50,000 Lepcha speakers,[5] however the number of native Lepcha speakers in India may be closer to 30,000.[3]
Since the 1650s, Lepcha has been an endangered language due to the encroachment of Lepcha spheres of life byTibetan and laterNepali. By 1951, 72% of Lepchas were bilingual in Lepcha and Nepali, the latter of which had become thelingua franca of the community. No monolingual Lepcha speakers were recorded, and 20% of Lepchas could only speak Nepali. Transmission of Lepcha to younger generations has been hindered by primary schools teaching exclusively in Nepali, leading to Lepcha only being learned later in life.[6]
Marriages into Nepali-speaking families, central government promotion ofHindi and an increasing interest inEnglish among the younger generations have also been cited as significant pressures against Lepcha.[7]
Lepcha is difficult to classify, butGeorge van Driem (2001) suggests that it may be closest to theMahakiranti languages, a subfamily of theHimalayish languages.[8]
Lepcha is internally diverse, showing lexical influences from different majority language groups across the four main Lepcha communities. According to Plaisier (2007), theseNepali andSikkimese Tibetan influences do not amount to a dialectal difference.[3]
Roger Blench (2013) suggests that Lepcha hasan Austroasiatic substratum, which originated from a now-extinct branch of Austroasiatic that he calls "Rongic".[9]
Lepcha is a non-tonal Sino-Tibetan language, although it does have phonemic stress or pitch that may be marked in theLepcha script.[3]: 37 Much of its lexicon is composed of monosyllabic elements.[4]
Notably, words that are commonly consideredobscene ortaboo in other languages are not treated as such by native speakers.[4]
TheLepcha script is asyllabic script featuring a variety of special marks andligatures. Its genealogy is unclear. Early Lepcha manuscripts were written vertically, a sign ofChinese influence.[10] Prior to the development of the Lepcha script, Lepcha literary works were composed in theTibetan script.[4]
Lepcha language is romanized according to varying schemes, the prevailing system being that ofMainwaring (1876). Most linguists, including Plaisier (2007), whose system is used in this article, have followed modified versions of Mainwaring's system. Other linguists and historians have used systems based on European languages such as English, French, and German.[3]
Lepcha consonants appear in the chart below, following Plaisier (2007):[3]: 21–32
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m⟨m⟩ | n⟨n⟩ | ɲ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ⟨ng⟩ | |||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p⟨p⟩ | t⟨t⟩ | ʈ⟨tr⟩ | c⟨c⟩ | k⟨k⟩ | ʔ⟨ʔ⟩ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ⟨ph⟩ | tʰ⟨th⟩ | ʈʰ⟨thr⟩ | cʰ⟨ch⟩ | kʰ⟨kh⟩ | ||||
| voiced | b⟨b⟩ | d⟨d⟩ | ɖ⟨dr⟩ | ɡ⟨g⟩ | |||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts⟨ts⟩ | |||||||
| aspirated | tsʰ⟨tsh⟩ | ||||||||
| voiced | z~dz⟨z⟩ | ||||||||
| Fricative | voiced | v⟨v⟩ | ʒ⟨j⟩ | ||||||
| voiceless | f⟨f⟩ | s⟨s⟩ | ʃ⟨sh⟩ | ||||||
| Approximant | w⟨w⟩ | l⟨l⟩ | j⟨y⟩ | h⟨h⟩ | |||||
| Trill | r⟨r⟩ | ||||||||
Retroflex phonemes /ʈ/, /ʈʰ/, and /ɖ/ are written inLepcha script asᰀᰥkr,ᰝᰥhr, andᰃᰥgr, respectively. Most, though not all, instances of retroflex consonants indicate a word is ofTibetan origin. To distinguish this retroflex sound inLepcha script, a dot may be written underneath:ᰀᰥ᰷,ᰝᰥ᰷, andᰃᰥ᰷. Native instances of non-retroflexᰀᰥkr,ᰝᰥhr, andᰃᰥgr may either be pronounced as written or as⟨tr⟩,⟨thr⟩, and⟨dr⟩. For example,tagrikup,'boy', may be said either[taɡrikɯʔp̚] or[taɖikɯʔp̚].[3]
Lepcha has three glide consonants that may occur after certain initial consonants:/r/,/j/, and/l/. When the phoneme/r/ operates as a glide, it can combine with/j/ as a double-glide:ᰕᰥᰤᰩᰮmryóm,'to spread over the ground, creep'. Notably, syllables with the glide/l/ are given their own independent forms in theLepcha script.[3]
Velar consonants/k/ and/ɡ/ preceding front vowels/i/ or/e/ are palatalized as[kʲ] and[ɡʲ], respectively. Fricatives/s/ and/ʃ/ are merged before/i/.[3]
Lepcha speakers tend not to distinguish between/z/ and/ʒ/, pronouncing both as[z]~[dz]~[ʒ]. Additionally, initial/ŋ/ is occasionally realized as[ɦ]. Under the influence ofNepali, some Lepcha speakers have lost the distinction between/pʰ/ and/f/, and between/v/ and/w/.[3]
Of the above phonemes, only/m/,/n/,/ŋ/,/k/,/t/,/p/,/r/, and/l/ may be syllable-final. Native speakers tend to neutralize the difference between final/n/ and/ŋ/. In syllable-final position, stops are realized as an unreleased stop, usually pronounced with a simultaneous/ʔ/: for example,/k/ becomes[ʔk̚].[3]
According to Plaisier (2007), Lepcha has eight vowels:[3]: 17–21
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | |||
| Close | i⟨i⟩,⟨í⟩ | ɯ⟨u⟩ | u⟨ú⟩ | |
| Close-mid | e~ɛ⟨e⟩ | o⟨o⟩ | ||
| Mid | ə⟨a⟩,⟨â⟩ | |||
| Open-mid | ɔ⟨ó⟩ | |||
| Open | a⟨á⟩ | |||
The phoneme denoted by⟨í⟩ is shortened and appears in closed syllables;⟨i⟩ is longer and appears in open syllables. The phoneme /e/ is realized as[e] in open syllables and in closed syllables before/ŋ/ or/k/. Closed syllables ending in/p/,/m/,/l/,/n/,/r/, and/t/ show free variation between[e],[ɛ], and even[ɪ]. Distinctions between/o/ and/ɔ/ are often lost among non-literate speakers, particularly those highly fluent inNepali language, which does not contrast the sounds.[3]
Lepcha grammar features nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. Word order is typicallysubject–object–verb (SOV). Lepcha morphology is somewhatagglutinative, though most bare Lepcha lexicon is made up of one- or two-syllable words. Nouns are arranged into either head-first or head-last noun phrases. Relative clauses and genitive phrases precede nouns, whereas markers for demonstratives, definiteness, number, case, and other particles follow the noun. Lepcha is anergative language, where the ergative case indicates transitivity and completedness of the event. There is no grammatical agreement between different parts of speech (i.e. verb conjugation). Adjectives follow nouns they modify, function as predicates, or stand independently as nominal heads. Adverbs generally directly precede verbs, andreduplication is generally productive for adverbs of time (e.g.nám'year' →nám-nám'yearly').[3]
Some basics of Lepcha syntax are outlined in Mainwaring (1876).[11]: 119–130
The basic word order in Lepcha issubject–object–verb. Adjectives follow the noun they modify.
Possessors precede the nouns they possess.
According to Plaisier (2007), Lepcha has only two true "cases" that modify the noun morphologically: thedefinite article-re and thedative case marker-m. All other noun markers, including for example the genitive marker, are actually invariable postpositions. A series noun markers may follow a single noun. Together, these cases and postpositions are:[3]
| Postposition | Meaning |
|---|---|
| -ᰠᰴ-sang | human plural |
| -ᰎᰴ-pong | non-human plural |
| -ᰛᰬ-re | definite, topic |
| -ᰍᰪ/-ᰍᰪᰰ-nu/nun | ergative, ablative |
| - ᰮ-m | dative |
| -ᰠᰦ-sá | genitive |
| -ᰀᰦ-ká | locative |
| -ᰕᰪ-mu | only |
| -ᰉᰬᰳ-nyet | both |
Plurals are marked differently according to whether they are human (-sang) or non-human (-pong) nouns. Notably, the plural is not used when the noun is followed by a number.[3]
According to Plaisier (2007), Lepchapersonal pronouns are as follows:[3]
| Singular (Oblique) | Dual | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | ᰃᰨgo (ᰀᰠᰪkasu) | ᰀᰦᰉᰧᰶkányí | ᰀᰦᰚᰫkáyú |
| Second person | ᰝᰩhó (ᰣᰦᰌᰨʔádo) | ᰣᰦᰉᰧᰶʔányí | ᰣᰦᰚᰫʔáyú |
| Third person | ᰝᰪhu (ᰝᰪᰌᰨhudo) | ᰝᰪᰉᰧᰶhunyí | ᰝᰪᰚᰫhuyú |
Oblique forms appear in parentheses above. Lepcha personal pronouns can refer only to humans; otherwise demonstratives are used. Personal pronouns may take the definite article-re.[3]
Many Lepcha nouns can be grouped into one of several classes based on associated characteristics. For example, many animal names begin with theLepcha script syllabic⟨sâ⟩, e.g.,ᰠᰲᰶsâr'goat',ᰠᰶᰛᰤᰨᰮsâryom'otter',ᰠᰶᰜᰩᰭsâlók'rhinoceros', andᰠᰝᰪsâhu'monkey'. Other noun classes include⟨sâ⟩ and⟨ka⟩ for plants, and⟨pe⟩ or⟨pâ⟩ for snakes and bamboo products.[4][12]
Lepcha verbs generally function aspredicates or, inrelative clauses, as modifiers before a head-noun. Verbs may also be nominalized by a combination of suffixes. For example,zo'eat' may be suffixed to producezo-shang-re'eating'.[3]
Manyintransitive verbs incorporate acausative-y-infix, sometimes followed by a-t suffix, to take atransitive sense:
Verbs are followed by grammatical suffixes and particles. Verbal particles indicating sureness, polite requests, authoritativeness, dubiousness, and other nonlexical information follow clauses. Below is a chart of such verb- and clause-final suffixes and particles largely following Plaisier (2007):[3]
| Suffix or Particle | Meaning |
|---|---|
| -wám/-ʔám/-bám | progressive |
| -tho | exhaustive |
| -hát | perfective |
| -shang | infinitive |
| -bú | factual |
| -re | definite |
| nón | resultant |
| ká | adhortative |
| gó | question |
| le | polite request |
| ma | assertive |
| ce | authoritative |
| te | dubiousness |
| pá | certainty |
| lyók | inference |
Verbs are negated by acircumfix,ma-⟩...⟨-n(e), e.g.,khut'to be able' becomesma-khut-ne'to be unable'.[3]
These are some sample words published in Renato Figuerido's Lepcha dictionary.[13]
| English | Lepcha (Latin) | Lepcha (Róng/Lepcha script) |
|---|---|---|
| Lady | Ku-mo | ᰀᰪᰕᰨ |
| Let | kón | ᰀᰩᰰ |
| Proceed | Dí | ᰌᰧᰶ |
| Reach a height | Thók | ᰋᰩᰭ |
| Riverbank | Klóp | ᰁᰩᰱ |
| A cut | Mó | ᰕᰩ |
| To pull | Krút | ᰀᰥᰫᰳ |
| Go | Nóng | ᰍᰩᰵ |
| Flabby | Thyor | ᰋᰤᰨᰲ |
| Reflective Light | Lóng | ᰜᰩᰵ |
| Palm | Lyók | ᰜᰤᰩᰭ |
| To be short | Tan | ᰊᰰ |
| Meat | Ke-rung | ᰀᰬᰛᰪᰵ |
| Overclouded | Muk | ᰕᰪᰭ |
| What comes first | Ták | ᰊᰦᰭ |
| Mother | A-mo | ᰣᰕᰨ |
| To knot | Tyep | ᰊᰤᰬᰱ |
| A spec of Sterculia | Ke-hlyám kun | ᰀᰬᰞᰤᰮ ᰀᰪᰰ |
| Be on strong legs | Krang | ᰀᰥᰴ |
| Dirt | Me-ri | ᰕᰬᰛᰧ |
| To slice | Líp | ᰜᰧᰶ |
| Entire | Shem | ᰡᰬᰮ |
| Cold | Hyáng | ᰝᰤᰦᰵ |
| To be drawn together | Chom | ᰇᰨᰮ |
| One's Self | Te-do | ᰊᰬᰌᰨ |
| Wide | Veng | ᰟᰬᰵ |
| To arrest | Tho | ᰋᰨ |
| To crush | Shíp | ᰡᰧᰶ |
| Mouth | A-bong | ᰣᰓᰨᰵ |
| To twist | Kar | ᰀᰲ |
| Arrow | Sa-li | ᰠᰜᰧ |
| Egg | Tí | ᰊᰧᰶ |
| To sit | Ngan | ᰅᰰ |
| Flow round | Kyúl | ᰀᰤᰫᰯ |
| Overclouded | Pe-mang | ᰎᰬᰕᰴ |
| House | A-dóng | ᰣᰌᰩᰵ |
| Carry | Bú | ᰓᰫ |
| Dream | Mong | ᰕᰨᰵ |
| A corner | Tung-kyang | ᰊᰪᰵᰀᰤᰴ |
| Basket | Dyóng | ᰌᰤᰩᰵ |
| Large | Túng | ᰊᰫᰵ |
| Husband | Evo | ᰣᰬᰟᰨ |
| Grain | Gró | ᰃᰥᰩ |
| Rice basket | Ku-mu | ᰀᰪᰕᰪ |
| Placenta | A-yeng-tyol | ᰣᰚᰬᰵᰊᰤᰨᰯ |
| Quick | Rem | ᰛᰬᰮ |
| Sew | Hrap | ᰝᰥᰱ |
| A spec of Solanum | Ke-lim-bi | ᰀᰬᰜᰧᰮᰓᰧ |
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WesternHimalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand,Nepal,Sikkim) |
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| EasternHimalayas (Tibet,Bhutan,Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East andSoutheast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates,Arunachal) |
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