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    The nouns and noun phrase in Raji
    (Department of Linguistics, 2009) Sah, Krishna Kumar
    Raji is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Himalayish subgroup within Tibeto-Burman group of Sino-Tibetan language family. It is an endangered language since it is spoken by only a small number of speakers. The Rajis primarily reside in different villages nearby the jungle and the river sides of Kailali, Surkhet, Kanchanpur, Bardiya and Banke districts of Mid and Far-Western Development Regions of western Nepal. According to the recent census 2001, the number of mother tongue Raji speakers is 2,413. The distinction likes, countable/ uncountable and human/ non-human is applicable in Raji. The Raji language has both consonant as well as vowel ending nouns. The personal pronouns show three pronouns, namely, first, second and third and three numbers viz. singular, dual and plural distinctions. Honorificity is expressed by the use of dual and plural numbers for second persons.The first, second and third persons are marked for possessive on the head (possessed item) with a pronominal suffix that agree with the possessors. There is no grammatical gender. Nouns inflect for singular, dual and plural. The numeral classifier is –tʰʌu which appears next to a numeral. Raji has the split-ergative system. The nominal may be inflected for a number of cases. Nouns and simple modifiers like adjectives, demonstratives and numerals are the main elements in the noun phrase in Raji. The relative clause is simply a nominalized clause used as a nominal modifier of the head noun.
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    Phonological Parameters in Nepali Sign Language
    (Department of Linguistics, 2023) Sapkota, Sharada
    This research presents the phonological parameters of Nepali sign language (NSL), such as, hand shapes, place of articulations, orientations, movements, and non-manual characteristics. Based on A Prosodic Model of Sign Language Phonology (Brentari 1998), this study organized features of NSL into two types namely, inherent features, and prosodic features. The inherent features remain unchanged whereas the prosodic features can change constantly during sign production. In this study, both primary and secondary sources have been used for data collection. For primary source, the researcher recorded the conversation of NSL native signers, whereas the available dictionaries, texts, videos, and research papers on NSL have been used as the secondary sources. The HamNoSys i.e. Hamburg Notation System has been used in this study in order to transcribe sign data. The present study discovered 62 different hand shapes in NSL among which 44 are from manual alphabet. Additionally, 22 hand shapes detected as basic hand shapes. NSL signs are articulated from the four major regions of the body such as, head, arm, body, and hand. However, there are signs in NSL that are articulated from over the head, behind the ear, and below the waist. Furthermore, based on palms or knuckles facing directions, there are six hand orientations found in NSL such as, upward, downward, leftward, rightward, forward, and backward. All these six orientations are found in NSL for palms and only five are found for knuckles. Besides, this study identified 35 hand movements in NSL. Likewise, non- manual features in NSL have been divided into seven categories.
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    Complex predicates in Maithili
    (Faculty of Linguistics, 2022) Yadav, Binod Kumar
    Available with full text
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    A Sociolinguistic Study of The Limbu Language (As Spoken in West Sikkim)
    (Department of Linguistics, 2011) Subba (Limbu), Krishna Bir
    This thesis presents a Sociolinguistics study of Limbu spoken in West Sikkim under Soreng subdivision Block Development Office (BDO), Dentam and Geyzing circle. The purpose of this study is to assess the sociolinguistics situation of the Limbu language. The instruments utilized in this study were sociolinguistic questionnaires, interviews and 210 Swedesh wordlist. The findings of the research include Limbu language spoken by as estimated roughly- 19000 people i.e. 60 percent of the population of West Sikkim. The Limbu people are bilingual in most and lesser are multilingual. Young people often avoid the use of their language. It is because of the fact that Nepali is the lingua-franca in Sikkim. The Limbu people have their own ethnicity, culture, festivals, rites and rituals food habit and life style. It makes them distinct from their ethnic groups. Like other Hindu people, they observe the festivals such as Dasain, Tihar, Saune and Mage Sakranti. However, their special festivals are Dasain and Ballihang Tongnam (Tihar) and Sirijunga Sawan Tangnam which they celebrate in Aswin/Kartik and Mangsir every year. Limbu people are both bilingual and mulitilingual. They speak Limbu as well as Nepali, Hindi, Enlish, Lepcha, Bhutia, Rai and others. Besides their mother tongue, they also use the Nepali language as the second most frequently used language. The participants also tend to think that when the young children first enter school are able to understand their Nepali speaking teacher’s teaching. The language resources available in the Limbu language are written literature, like poems, plays, fictions, other genres, telefilms magazines, journals, and newspapers. The Limbu speakers have positive attitudes towards their mother tongue since 90% of them said that they love the Limbu language most. They also said that their children should speak their mother tongue first. Most of the Limbu speakers said that medium of instruction for their children in primary level of education should be mother tongue. The Limbu language is most frequently used in many domains of the language. They use their mother tongue in counting, story telling, singing, joking, shopping, playing, and in public meeting. Most of the Limbu speakers use their mother tongue at home while talking about educational matters, social events and family matters.
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    Complex Predicates in Maithili
    (Department of Linguistics, 2010) Ray, Kaushal Kishor
    This study is an attempt to analyze the complex predicates in the Maithili language within the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG). Maithili exhibits different types of complex predicates. They are causativization, compound verb, permissive construction, and conjunct verb. They are complex predicates in the sense that they either affect a-structure or s-structure or f-structure of the simple predicate. The study has been organized into four chapters. Chapter one deals with the background, objectives, review of literature and other research preliminaries. Lexical Functional Grammar as a conceptual framework is discussed in the second one. The third one presents complex predicates and their various types in the Maithili language. In chapter four, the findings of the study have been summarized and concluded. Causative complex predicate takes place in morphology because a causative morpheme is concatenated in the verbal stem. Other types of complex predicates are syntactic because they are formed in syntax. The complex predicates in compound verb, permissive construction, and conjunct verb are composed of two lexical units in which the former is a verb (in case of compound verb)/noun/adjective/adverb (in case of conjunct verb) and the latter is a verb. The former is called the host and the latter is called the light verb. The former determines the semantic burden whereas the latter determines the grammatical functions.
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    A Sociolinguistic Survey of Tamang as Spoken in Gorkha
    (Department of Linguistics, 2014) Yadav, Kashindra
    Available with full text
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    The Kodpa Writing System
    (Department of Linguistics, 2007) Shrestha, Omkareshwor
    Available with full text
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    Clause Combining in Phedappe Limbu
    (Department of Linguistics, 2014) Tumbahangphe, Anita
    Available with full text
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    A Sociolinguistic Study of the Sherpa Language
    (Department of Linguistics, 2012) Sherpa, Kishor
    Available with full text
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    A Sociolinguistic Study of the Nepali Language (As spoken in Sikkim)
    (Department of Linguistics, 2012) Manger, Krishna Maya
    This thesis is an attempt to present a sociolinguistic analysis of the Nepali language spoken in Sikkim. The goal of this study is to assess the sociolinguistic situation of the Nepali language in Sikkim, one of the Indian states. The tools utilized in this study are sociolinguistic questionnaires (A) and 210 wordlist prepared by Linguistic Survey of Nepal. The study is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 presents the general introduction, the objectives, the methodology, the significance and limitations of the study. Chapter 2 presents background information regarding the Nepali language and people of Sikkim. Chapter 3 analyzes the multilingualism and domains of language use. Chapter 4 deals with the dialect mapping, attitudes of the speakers, language endangerment and language loyalty. Chapter 5 analyzes the language variation, transmission and maintenance. Chapter 6 summarizes the findings of the study. There are 11 indigenous languages (Bhutia, Lepcha, Limbu, Rai, Magar, Tamang, Newar, Gurung, Sherpa and Sunuwar) in Sikkim which have status of official languages. The Nepali language is Lingua franca or language for wider communication and is spoken by nearly 60% population of Sikkim as their first language. Most of the Sikkimese people are bilingual or multilingual as they speak more than one or two languages. They are bi/multilingual mostly in their respective ethnic languages, Hindi and English. The Nepali language in Sikkim is used in almost every domain like in household activities, in communication with other linguistic communities, in educational institutions, at local markets, in religious and official purposes etc. Most of the Nepali language speakers in Sikkim often code mix and switch to different languages in different situations. The languages in which they mix and switch code frequently are Hindi and English. The Nepali language speakers in Sikkim have positive attitude and high loyalty towards the Nepali language. There is no possibility of language loss or endangerment of Nepali language in Sikkim and the language is well maintained and transmitted to the younger generation.
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    Clause Combining in Western Tamang (As spoken in Nuwakot)
    (Department of Linguistics, 2015) Adhikari, Manju
    This study presents a linguistic analysis of the clause combining in Western Tamang, a major dialect of Tamang, within the framework of the functional-typological grammar developed mainly by T.Givón (2001) and complemented by other functional linguists. The main goal of the study is to analyze the forms and functions of clause combining in Western Tamang. This study, based on primary data, is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces Western Tamang. It also presents statement of the problems, objectives of the study, review of literature, research methodology, significance of the study, limitations of the study and organization of the study. Chapter 2 deals with the theoretical framework employed in the study. In chapter 3, we discuss simple clauses in Western Tamang. Similarly, chapter 4 looks at different types of subordinate clauses in the dialect. In chapter 5, we examine coordinate clauses in Western Tamang. Chapter 6 summarizes the major findings and presents a conclusion of the study. Western Tamang, a vigorous dialect, exhibits both non-verbal and verbal predicate simple clauses in terms of their internal structure. There are three types of simple clauses with non-verbal predicates, viz., adjectival predicate, nominal predicate and locative predicate. They all make use of copular verbs in the clauses. In this dialect, there are four types of verbal predicate clauses, viz., intransitive clauses, simple transitive clauses, intransitive clauses with indirect object and transitive clauses with indirect objects. In terms of speech act distinction, Western Tamang exhibits four types of simple clauses, viz., declarative, interrogative, imperative and optative clauses/sentences in terms of speech act distinctions in syntax. This dialect exhibits five types of subordinate clauses, viz., serial verb constructions, complement clauses, adverbial clauses, relative clauses and converbal clauses. In subordination, Western Tamang uses non-finite form of the verb as a major strategy for clause combining. It does not have a prototypical type of serial verb constructions as found in the isolating languages. In Western Tamang, complement clauses, which function either subject or direct object of the main clause, are non-finite. There are seven types of adverbial clauses in terms of the functions or senses of their subordinators, viz., time, location, manner, purpose, reason, concession and condition. Except time and manner, other adverbial clauses use inflectional morphology as the major strategy for clause combining. In Western Tamang, there are two types of relative clauses: [+finite] or [-finite]. The [-finite] relative clause (i.e., Externally headed relative clauses) uses non-finite verb suffixed by nominalizer -ba. The [+finite] relative clauses are relative-correlative clauses with a finite verb. This type of relative clause makes use of interrogative pronouns as relativizers. There are two types of converbal clauses, viz., sequential and simultaneous. The verb of the sequential converbal clause is suffixed by -dzim whereas simultaneous converb is formed by the reduplication of the verb root. There are four types of coordinating constructions, viz., conjunction, adversative conjunction, disjunction and exclusion. In coordination, except for conjunction and adversative conjunction, Western Tamang uses coordinators borrowed from Nepali. It uses simple juxtaposition, an asyndetic coordination for conjunction. To sum up, Western Tamang, a head final and SOV word order dialect, employs different morphosyntactic strategies for clause combining.
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    Relative Clauses in Tamang: A Typological Comparison
    (Department of Linguistics, 2014) Rai, Simran
    This study presents an analysis of relative clause structures in Tamang within the framework of (Givón, 2001). This study focuses on the analysis of the relative clauses found in Tamang and compares them with the relative clauses in Bhujel, Magar Kaike and Limbu. This study has been organized into four chapters. The first chapter deals with the introduction. It includes the background of study, objectives of the study, statement of the problem, review of the literature, methodology and significance of the study. The second chapter deals with the relative clauses in Tamang. The third chapter deals with the typological comparison of the relative clauses found in Tamang and other TB languages: Bhujel, Magar Kaike and Limbu. The fourth chapter, we present the summary and conclusion of the study. The main finding of the study is that there are two types of relative clauses in the TB languages including Tamang. Regarding the position of relative clauses with respect to the head noun Tamang has prenominal and headless relative clauses. In prenominal relative clause, the relative clause precedes the head noun and in headless relative clause the head noun is deleted or there is no head noun within the construction of the relative clause which is itself understood by different case marking. Regarding the position of relative clause there are initial, medial, and final relative construction found in Tamang. Both copying and chopping construction are common in Tamang language. The way of expressing relativized noun phrase, that is, the gap strategy, pronoun retentation strategy and relative pronoun strategy are found in this language. Regarding the grammatical relations such as subject, direct object, indirect object, oblique, adjunct, and possessor can be relativized in Tamang. In Tamang, the nominalizer <-ba> functions as a relative marker in relative clauses.
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    Clause Combining in Tamang
    (Department of Linguistics, 2014) Yonzon (Tamang), Sabin
    Tamang is one of the Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Nepal. It is primarily spoken in the Himalayan region. Tamang population is also found in many other urban and rural areas across the country. This study is an attempt to analyze the clause combining in Tamang from formal and functional perspectives. This study is divided into four chapters, the first chapter deals with the general background of the study. The second chapter deals with subordination. The third chapter deals with coordination. The fourth chapter presents summary and conclusion of the whole work. In the second chapter, subordination is further divided into three types. They are: complement, adverbial and relative clause. Within complement clause, it is further divided into subject complement and object complement. The complement is marked by the suffix-ba. Adverbial clause is divided into temporal, locational, reasonal, conditional, concessive, infinitival, purposive and converb clause. Temporal clause is marked by ŋatsʰa, haima etc. Within temporal clause, it exhibits past time, present time and future time. Past time is marked by the suffix-dzi, present time is marked by the suffix-ma and future time is marked by the suffix-la. In locational clause, it is marked by interrogative pronoun hanaŋ. Reasonal clause is marked by the suffix-ba followed by ergative case marker-se. In conditional clause, condition is marked by the suffix-sam. Concessive is marked by the suffix-sai. In infinitival clause, infinitive is marked by the suffix-ba when it is added to the verb stem. Purposive clause is marked by the suffix-bari when it is added to the verb stem. Within converb clause, it exhibits simultaneous and sequential converb. Simultaneous converb clause is marked by the suffix-nan and sequential converb clause is marked by the suffix-si. Relative clause is marked by the suffix-ba. The suffix-ba also functions as nominalizer. The perfect participle is marked by the suffix -bala to the verb stem. In the third chapter, coordination is divided into conjunctive, disjunctive, adversative and exclusion. Conjunctive coordination is marked by anim, disjunctive coordination is marked by wa. Adversative coordination marker is tərə. Exclusion coorination marker is marked by bahek.
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    Complex Predicates in Bajjika,
    (Department of Linguistics, 2013) Sah, Ramesh
    In this study, an attempt has been made to analyze complex predicates of Bajjika within the framework of Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG). Like other IA languages, Bajjika also exhibits various types of complex predicates. The complex predicates in Bajjika comprise causativization, compound verb, permissive construction, conjunct verb and non-verbal CPs. In order to gain the ultimate goal of this research work, this thesis has been organized into four successive chapters. Chapter one deals with the background, literature review, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research methodology and other research preliminaries. The second chapter deals with the conceptual framework of Lexical Functional Grammar which has been adopted in this study as the theory of analysis. Likewise, the third chapter is dealt with complex predicates and their various types that exist in Bajjika language, which is the main motto of this dissertation. At last, the fourth chapter presents the summary and the conclusion of the findings of this research work. All complex predicates of Bajjika have been studied and categorized into verbal and nonverbal CPs on one hand and into morphological and syntactic CPs on the other hand. Verbal CPs include causative constructions, compound verbs, permissive constructions and conjunct verb or conjunct participle whereas the non-verbal one comprises nominal CPs, adjectival CPs and adverbial CPs. Similarly the morphological CPs include causative construction because it takes place in the lexicon by concatenating a causative morpheme with the verbal stem whereas the syntactic or periphrastic CPs include the rest ones because they take place in the syntax and are composed of two lexical words in which the former is the host and the latter is the light verb that jointly compose a CP. Additionally, the former gives semantic meaning whereas the latter gives grammatical meaning. The above mentioned so called complex predicates are complex in nature in the sense that they affect either a-structure or s-structure or f-structure or more than one and even sometimes c-structure. These all types of CPs are discussed with sufficient relevant examples in different sections in detail.
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    Verb Morphology in Tamang
    (Department of Linguistics, 2015) Tamang, Sizar
    Tamang is one of the Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Nepal. Tamang is widely divided into two groups mainly the Eastern and Western varieties. This study is an attempt to analyse the verb morphology mainly focusing on the tense, aspect and mood and modality (T.A.M) of Tamang of the Eastern variety. This study is based on the Tamang language spoken in the Kharare Pangu, of Kavrepalanchowk district. The study is carried out within the functional-typological framework developed by Talmy Givón (2001) and further supplemented by B. Comrie (1976, 1985) Bybee, Perkins, and Pegliuca (1994), Bhat (1999) and Timberlake (2007). This study is organized into six chapters. Chapter One deals mainly with the backgrounds of the study, literature review, data collection techniques and limitations of the study. Chapter Two covers the Tamang verb. This chapter deals with the syllable structure and the morphophonemic change of the verb root with different tense and mood markers. In it verb formation process like compounding, complex structure, derivation and borrowing is discussed in general. Other verbs form like honorific and distinct use of the verbs in discourse were also been included along with copula verbs. Chapter Three includes the Tense and Aspect of Tamang. Past and non-past tense is covered under Tense. The different temporal aspectual of the language like habitual, progressive and perfect is discussed in Aspect section. Chapter Four covers with Mood and Modality. In the chapter the term ‘mood’ is used which is based on the theory that is chosen to deal modal system of the language. The Epistemic and Deontic mood has been discussed along with the related moods under this division. Realis and Irrealis, Judgements and Evidential and Interrogative are included under the Epistemic mood. Deontic mood covers the Imperative, Obligation, Necessity, Ability and Desire. Chapter Five includes the findings and the summary of the study. The brief summary is also presented after each chapter.
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    Tense, Aspect and Modality (Tam) in the Magar Dhut
    (Department of Linguistics, 2013) Regmi, Pratigya
    This study presents a linguistic description of the Magar Dhut, a Tibeto-Burman, Central-Himalayish language belonging to Sino-Tibetan language family, spoken mainly in Nawalparasi district, within the functional-typological framework mainly developed by Talmy Givón (2001) and further supplemented by Noonan (2003), Bhat (2004), Dryer (2006), Dixon (2010) and DeLancey (2012). This is field-based linguistic study. This study mainly focused on the tense, aspect and modality system of the Magar Dhut. The main goal of the study is to analyze the form and functions of tense, aspect and modality at the sentence and discourse level. This study, organized into six chapters, presents the binary tense distinction: past and nonpast in the language. This language presents both inherent and grammatical aspects. Magar Dhut exhibits four types of inherent aspects: compact, accomplishment, activity and stative. There are two grammatical aspects: perfective and imperfective. Within perfective, it exhibits perfect, past perfective and non-past perfective aspects. There are four types of imperfective aspect: progressive, durative, habitual and prospective. Six types of mood are found in Magar namely indicative, imperative, interrogative, optative, subjunctive and hortative. The language presents both epistemic and evaluative (deontic) modalities. Within epistemic modality, it exhibits probability, certainty, negation and mirativity. Evaluative modality exhibits desirability, ability and obligation. Thus, Magar Dhut is an aspect prominent language.
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    Case in Yakkha
    (Department of Linguistics, 2010) Dewan, Shankar
    The thesis entitled ‘Case in Yakkha' attempts to identify the Yakkha cases and their case markers. The researcher collected data from both primary and secondary sources. As the primary source, the researcher consulted four Yakkha native speakers above age 30 living in Angna-3, Panchthar, who were selected using judgmental sampling procedure. The techniques he used to collect data were elicitation, interview and recording. As the secondary source, he used the data collected for his M.Ed. thesis, Yakkha dictionary and other theses, books, journals etc. The collected data were analyzed descriptively and statistically. In the research, the researcher identified three case marking systems in Yakkha: zero-marking, case clitics (case markers) and postpositions, and thirteen cases viz. absolutive, ergative, instrumental, locative, allative, ablative, comitative, vocative, genitive , dative, mediative , similarity and inessive, and their case markers. This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter is the introductory part which encompasses general background, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, review of the related literature, significance of the study, scope and delimitation, methods of data collection, methodology and modality and organization of the study. The chapter two includes Yakkha, Yakkha language and language maintenance, transmission and vitality. This chapter introduces the Yakkha in terms of origin, naming the term ‘Yakkha’, demography and distribution, tradition and culture, profession or occupation and academic status; Yakkha in terms of genetic affiliation, phonology, syllabus structure and its dialects. The chapter three deals with the case, case grammar and different case marking systems. The chapter four includes the case marking systems in Yakha, and analysis of the Yakkha cases and their case markers. The fifth chapter provides the synopsis of the entire thesis.
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    Chamling Verb Morphology
    (Central Department of Linguistics, 2015) Chamling, Rana
    The present study is an attempt to analyze the verbal morphology in Chamling. This study contains four chapters. The first chapter deals with the general introduction to the study. The second chapter deals with inflectional morphology. Likewise, the third chapter deals with derivational morphology. The last chapter deals with summary and findings. Chamling is a pronominalized Kiranti language which comes under Sino-Tibetan language family. It is mostly spoken in the Khotang and Udayapur districts. The verb morphology in Chamling is morphologically complex. Under inflectional morphology, different variable and invariable stems with stem alternation in the root final of the verb stems. The verb 'hiŋe' states locational and existential functions. The three types of verbs: verb 'to be' complement verb and identificational verb have been dealt. Identificational verb is realized only in negative sentences. The verbal affixes in Chamling are of three types: prefixes, suffixes and infix. The suffixes <-əῖ>, <-õ>, <-yo>, and <-e> are non-past tense markers and the suffixes <-uŋa>, <-a> and <-koʈhio> (It might have been borrowed from Nepali) are past tense marker in some cases only. In most cases, the past tense is unmarked. The dual marker is <-ci~-c>, the exclusive marker is <-ka> and the second person plural marker is <-ni>. The prefix < ʈa–> and are second and third person markers. The suffix <-əĩc> is a reflexive marker and the suffix <-ŋas> is a progressive marker. The morpheme is used in 1→2 configuration. Under derivational morphology, The <-məiɖ> makes the verb causative. The consonants /ʈ/ and /ɖ/ are added to make intransitive verbs transitive. The noun incorporation is formulated as [X] noun + [Y] verb = [X Y] verb and verb compounding is formed as verb + verb = compound verb.
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    Language Shift in the Maithili Speakers (A Case Study of Code-Switching in the Kathmandu Valley)
    (Central Department of Linguistics, 2013) Yadav, Rakesh Kumar
    Sociolinguists and sociologists have studied code-switching in various ways. Code-switching is taking place in various sociolinguistic contexts of Nepal. It varies in its nature and function. To name a few, switching takes place from a minority language to a majority language and an immigrant language to the dominant regional language. This study investigates the code-switching from the standard Maithili to the switched variety of Maithili and the functional and formal dimensions of language switch of the Maithili speakers residing in the Kathmandu Valley. Recent developments show that the Maithili speakers are switching in various domains of language use. Nepali is the official language of Nepal and also the medium of instruction in schools and offices. In spite of being the mother tongue of more than 16 million people, the use of Maithili is confined to restricted domains. The domains of language use can broadly be divided into two, i.e., formal and informal situations. Formal situations include schools, offices, public speeches, meeting with strangers, etc., whereas informal situations include religious gatherings, family meetings, meeting with friends. The use of Maithili is restricted to informal situations. The distinction between the two domains is such that in a formal situation even two Maithili speakers switch over to Nepali. After a careful observation of all the formal domains, we have concluded that two Maithili speakers discussing politics, business, or any topic that would normally take place in formal situations which invariably switch to Nepali or Hindi. Result showed that the differences between the structures of the standard Maithili and the switched variety could be taken to represent the phenomenon of switched code in which the Maithili speakers are mixing Nepali. But in literature,code-switching does not take place at the level of nouns, noun phrases, pronouns, locative adverbial clauses, adjectives, prepositions, genitive case, verbs, adverbs, Maithili absolutive clauses, and negativization. The data presented in this research for discussion show that in the switched variety of Maithili, speakers are code-switching at the level of nouns, noun phrases, pronouns, locative adverbial clauses, adjectives, prepositions, genitive case, verbs, adverbs, Maithili absolutive clauses, and negativization. On the other hand, the functional dimensions of the switch in the Maithili speakers show that the domains of Maithili use are being reduced. Nepali is used by the Maithili speakers in functional domains (formal situations) which are enforcing the switch. That is to say, the frequent and regular interactions of the Maithili speakers with Nepali are influencing the switch in the Maithili speakers. Thus, on the basis of arguments like limited domains of Maithili use, day-by-day reduction of the domains of Maithili use, and the influence of these at the structural level, we argue that Maithili is highly influenced by Nepali and the phenomenon is code-switching. Maithili community showing traits of code- switching is basically a linguistic phenomenon. This phenomenon is actually prevalent in all multilingual societies. It facilitates the need to communicate with other people who speak different languages. If this phenomenon exists temporarily, the language which is undergoing the shift is not in a position to be endangered. However, if this shifting takes place continuously or permanently, then this may be threatening for the host language.
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    Dumi Verb Morphology
    (Central Department of Linguistics, 2008) Rai, Netra Mani
    Dumi language, a Tibeto-Burman Group under the Sino-Tibetan Family is a pronominalized Kiranti language. It is one of the endangered languages of eastern Nepal, currently spoken by approximately two thousand and five hundred people. This thesis entitled 'Dumi Verb Morphology' attempts to describe and analyze the verbal system of Dumi language. From the different scholarly made linguistics reports show that the Dumi people are gradually losing their native language. So, it seems an urgent need to preserve and promote the language from the linguistics and literary point of view. This study has mainly three parts. The first part consists of the acknowledgement, abstract, content and list of abbreviations, figures, symbols and tables. The second part is the main body of the research which has been organized in the four chapters. The first chapter deals about the general background of Dumi people and language. The second chapter presents the outline of the Dumi phonology. The third chapter analyzes the Dumi Verb morphology. The fourth chapter draws the summary and conclusions of the whole work. In this language, the verb morphology of Dumi shows different inflectional and derivational processes. There is only existential 'be verb' in Dumi, which contrasts its form in past and non-past. In Dumi Prefixing 'ma-' negativizes the verbs. When identificational 'be verb' is negativized, the negative prefix 'ma-' is independently or lexically used as much as identificational 'be verb' does not exist in Dumi. The process of causativization is both morphological and lexical. The morphological causative suffix is productive. Every main verb can be made causative by adding suffix '-mu'. Dumi verbs can be said to possess an active, a passive and the passive is only apparent, which is being affected by adding different personal suffixes denoting the subject or the object. Adding a suffix 's' or 'si' and conjugating as usual form in the middle. In this study, different aspects of the verb morphology of Dumi language have been discussed Finally, the third part consists of three appendices. In sub-sections of appendix A: A , A 2 and A 3 , I have presented the verb paradigms of intransitive, transitive and reflexive verbs respectively. In appendix B, it is presented the three texts which have been interlinearized using the toolbox, computer software. Ultimately, there is Profile of the language consultants in the appendix C.