Greetings and Taking Leave in English and Limbu Languages: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The present research is an effort to find out and compare the terms of greeting and taking leave used in the English and Limbu languages. For this study the researcher took sample population from Gajurmukhi and Ivang VDCS of Ilam district. They were at least 40 native speakers of the Limbu language. They were selected by using judgmental sampling procedure. The main tool for data collection was the questionnaire. The sources of data for the terms of greeting and taking leave in English were based on the previous research carried out in the Department of English Education and some related books. The researcher used simple statistical tool and table, to analyze and interprete the collected data. The findings of the study show that 'hello' and 'good morning/ evening/afternoon' are the common terms of greeting and 'good-bye', 'see you again' are common terms of taking leave, specially for the superiors and 'hi', 'good day' are other terms of greeting and 'love you', 'Cheerio' are the terms of taking leave in English. In Limbu, 'Suhāńgen hāń/hāńma' 'Luńmendiń sewāro', 'Huksodiń sewāro', 'K.T ādāńbe/me', are the terms of greeting for superiors and 'semmuī sewāro', Semmuī nākāro', 'Semmīro' are the terms of taking leave for Superiors. And 'āsewāro', 'K.T ādāńbe/me' 'Kenubi' are common terms of greeting and 'Pegāńlo + K.T', 'Seriro', 'Senchiro F.N', are common terms of taking leave. The first chapter contains general back ground, languages in Nepal, English: a brief introduction and its importance in Nepal, an introduction to the Limbu language, statement of the problem, review of the related literature, objectives of the study and significance of the study. The second chapter consists of the methodology which includes source of data, sampling procedure, tools for data collection, process of data collection, and limitations of the study. The third chapter deals with analysis, interpretation of data. The data has been analyzed and interpreted descriptively and comparatively. Finally, the fourth chapter contains the findings, recommendations and pedagogical implications.