Language reclamation strategies: Some Tibeto-Burman examples

Asia is the world's most linguistically diverse continent, and its diversity largely conforms to established global patterns that correlate linguistic diversity with biodiversity, latitude, and topography. However, one Asian region stands out as an anomaly in these patterns—Tibet, which is often portrayed as linguistically homogenous. A growing body of research now suggests that Tibet is linguistically diverse. In this article, we examine this literature in an attempt to quantify Tibet's linguistic diversity. We focus on the minority languages of Tibet—languages that are neither Chinese nor Tibetan. We provide five different estimates of how many minority languages are spoken in Tibet. We also interrogate these sources for clues about language endangerment among Tibet's minority languages, and propose a sociolinguistic categorization of Tibet's minority languages that enables broad patterns of language endangerment to be perceived. Appendices include lists of the languages identified in each of our five estimates, along with references to key sources on each language. Our survey found that as many as 60 minority languages may be spoken in Tibet, and that the majority of these languages are endangered to some degree. We hope out contribution inspires further research into the predicament of Tibet's minority languages, and helps support community efforts to maintain and revitalize these languages.

This 800-page volume is a clear and readable presentation of the current state of research on the history of the Tibeto-Burman (TB) language family, a typologically diverse group of over 250 languages spoken in Southern China, the Himalayas, NE India, and peninsular Southeast Asia. The TB languages are the only proven relatives of Chinese, with which they form the great Sino-Tibetan family.

Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 2002

... Special Session On Tibeto-Burman And Southeast Asian Linguistics. Patrick Chew (ed.). PDF.

2022. Brill: Leiden & Boston

Have you ever wondered what is really happening to minority languages of Northeast Asia and which efforts are being taken both by “westerners” and local people to preserve and promote them? Would you like to discover, uncover, and tackle deep linguistic questions of such small but highly important languages such as Khamnigan Mongol, Wutun, Sartul-Buryat, Tofan and Sakhalin Ainu, just to mention a few? Would you like to know how simple smart phone apps can help communities to preserve, love and use their native language? This book, containing a rich selection of contributions on various aspects of language endangerment, emic and etic approaches at language preservation, and contact-linguistics, is an important contribution to the Unesco's Indigenous Languages Decade, which has right now started (2022-2032).

pp. 294-326 in Karma Ura and Sonam Kinga, eds., The Spider and the Piglet: Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Bhutan Studies. Thimphu: Centre for Bhutan Studies., 2004

The existing linguistic situation in Tibet is the result of decades of oppressive rule by the Chinese political machine. The illegal annexation of Tibet in the mid twentieth century has brought cultural destruction, social ills, economic woes, and language decline to the Land of Snows. Tibetans today suffer under the Red Fist of China, neglected by the United Nations and left largely to fend for their own rights. Language and society in Tibet reflect meekly in the dark shadows of politics, while the identity of Tibetans remains to be determined.

Ogmios, 2022

This paper aims to present the phenomenon of the Lainong language development program. The autoethnography research method was used by the author, and the author's life experiences served as the primary source for this paper. Lainong is a Naga tribe from Myanmar's northwestern region. Due to the influence of the Burmese language and culture, Lainong is losing its language and culture and shifting to Burmese. This paper is based on the author's 15 years of experience working on language and cultural preservation projects. Although community-based language development programs are ongoing, such as literacy training, mother tongue-based multilingual education programs, and documentation, they are not sufficient. A system of systematic reinforcement in language maintenance is needed.

This draft report is based on a preliminary analysis of the results of the ‘Survey of Tibet’s Minority Languages’ conducted by Dr. Gerald Roche at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne. The survey aimed to assess the vitality of approximately 30 languages spoken by Tibetans in China. ‘Vitality’ can be roughly defined as an indicator of a language’s chances of being sustained in the future – if vitality is low, the language is less likely to be spoken in the future, if the vitality is high, it probably will. Data were collected on 20 languages (see Appendix 1 for further information). This data consisted of expert testimony from linguists and anthropologists who are intimately familiar with the demographic, social, political, cultural contexts in which the languages are spoken (see Appendix 2 for details). Questions consisted of multiple choice and Likert scale questions; opportunity for open comment was also provided. Where applicable, the caption above each graph shows the question that respondents were asked to answer. Unless otherwise stated, values shown indicate the number of languages. The information below each chart highlights key findings. This preliminary analysis of the data is being made available to help raise awareness of the situation faced by these languages; a more rigorous analysis will follow in subsequent publications.

The China Quarterly, 2018

China is facing a language endangerment crisis, with half of its languages decreasing in number of speakers. This article contributes to the understanding of language endangerment in China with a case study of the Gochang language, which is spoken by about 10,000 Tibetans in western Sichuan. We describe Gochang as an "invisible" language-one that is overlooked by the state's ethnic and linguistic policies and thus is more vulnerable to the social transformations wrought by statist development. Using UNESCO's language vitality and endangerment framework to assess the endangerment of Gochang, we conclude that the language is "definitely endangered." Our comparison of Gochang with other "invisible" languages in China shows that most are in a similar predicament, suggesting that China's language endangerment crisis is likely to continue unless these languages receive formal recognition or local governments take advantage of ambiguities in the policy framework to support them. The social impacts of a continuing, deepening language endangerment crisis in China are as yet unknown.

Diachronica, 2006

publication. The STC included several hundred reconstructions for a proto-language ('Tibeto-Burman') regarded as ancestral to all of ST except Chinese and Karen. Although his TB reconstructions were often cited, Benedict's system was not sufficiently explicit on sound correspondences and no one else (save Matisoff) seems ever to have used it productively. Lack of explicitness also preempted attempts at evaluating the system's internal consistency, and more generally, critical discussion. There have been expectations that Matisoff's new book would finally provide an explicit and testable system of TB reconstruction in the Benedictian tradition, as well as integrate the results of 30 years of post-STC research into Sino-Tibetan.

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 77 (3): 618-620., 2014

Cahiers de Linguistique, Asie Orientale, 32 (2): 307-314., 2003

The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia , 2021

Anthropological Linguistics, 2019

Studies of endangered languages typically emphasize the value of positive attitudes towards the language in maintenance and revitalization efforts. And yet, numerous case studies have demonstrated a 'revitalization paradox'-even when people have positive attitudes towards a language, they may not engage in behaviors that support it. Explanations of this paradox typically suggest that contradictory ideas hinder language maintenance and revitalization, and thus ideological clarification is required before beginning any such program. In this article, I critically explore this issue with a case study of Manegacha, a minoritized language of Tibet spoken by several thousand people in four villages on the northeast Tibetan Plateau in China. Although speakers of the language consistently express positive attitudes towards the language, they also engage in behaviors that undermine the transmission of the language. In investigating this situation, I conclude that there is no necessary link between contradictory attitudes and ideologies and language shift, which in turn would suggest that ideological clarification is not always called for in efforts to support endangered languages. Rather, what seems to be significant is the nature and intensity of contradiction, not its mere presence or absence.

2024