Review of "A grammar of Lepcha (Languages of the greater Himalayan region 5)"
Lepcha is spoken by an indeterminable number of speakers, primarily in Sikkim and adjacent portions of West Bengal in India. The 1991 Indian census identifies nearly 30,000 speakers but the Lepcha themselves estimate this number to be as high as 50,000. In addition, approximately 1,000 speaker...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177744 |
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| Institution: | Nanyang Technological University |
| Language: | English |
| Summary: | Lepcha is spoken by an indeterminable number of speakers, primarily in Sikkim
and adjacent portions of West Bengal in India. The 1991 Indian census identifies
nearly 30,000 speakers but the Lepcha themselves estimate this number to be as
high as 50,000. In addition, approximately 1,000 speakers are found in
southwestern Bhutan (van Driem 2001). Until the present work by Plaisier, those
interested in information regarding the Lepcha language have been primarily
limited to referencing Colonel George Mainwaring’s 1876 grammar (Mainwaring
1876) and thus Plaisier’s grammar is a very valuable contribution to the field of
Tibeto-Burman linguistics. This descriptive grammar is based on the author’s
fieldwork in Kalimpong and Sikkim between 1994 and 1998. Throughout the
book, Plaisier offers comparisons with Mainwaring’s work, describing where the
contemporary findings deviate from what Mainwaring reported. The grammar is
neatly laid out in a concise 144 pages. In addition to the grammar, this book also
presents 68 pages of transcribed and translated texts and a 32 page Lepcha English glossary. All Lepcha data appear in both the exquisite native Lepcha
orthography as well as the standard Romanization. |
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