Several of the indicators of language vitality that this survey examines are based on Lynn Landweer’s Indicators of Ethnolinguistic Vitality IEV, in which she describes several factors that have
been “useful in indicating the probable direction a speech community will go relative to the maintenance of, or shift from, its traditional language” Landweer 2000. This section discusses seven indicators of
vitality: domains of language use, intergenerational transfer, group dynamics, network of social relations, language prestige, external recognition and economic base.
6.1 Domains of language use
One aspect of vitality according to the IEV scale is which languages are used in various domains of life. Language use in the home is viewed as one of the primary domains for vitality because the language of
the home is generally a child’s first language. Ninety-eight percent of respondents reported that parents in their village usually use the mother tongue with their own children. All respondents with children
reported that all of their children speak their mother tongue. This suggests high vitality for the mother tongue in these communities.
Using informal interviews, language choice in 12 domains was investigated. Responses, stratified by age and gender, are displayed in table 15.
Table 15. Domains of Tharu use stratified by gender and age
Men Women
Young Old
Young Old
Average N=
13 12
14 11
50 family gatherings
100 100
100 100
100 village meetings
91 92
86 100
92 quarrelling
62 100
100 100
91 scoldingtaboo words
62 100
93 100
89 storytelling
69 83
79 100
83 joking
69 83
77 100
82 discussingdebate
62 83
79 100
81 telling stories to children
69 83
64 100
79 pujaprayer
46 73
64 82
67 bargainingshopping
23 67
50 100
60 singing
18 73
29 100
55 singing at home
23 58
38 91
53 Tharu was the primary language respondents claimed to use in these 12 domains, followed by
Nepali. Clear distinctions in patterns of language use are seen when viewing the domains by age and gender. Older women age 35 and above report the highest use of Tharu in every domain. Older men
also report high use of Tharu in most domains. Young men age 15–34 report lower use of Tharu than the other demographic groupings in all but three domains telling stories to children, family gatherings
and village meetings. One possible explanation for lower use of Tharu by young men is their high level of education. Only one young man from our sample is uneducated.
The three domains with lowest Tharu use were: bargainingshopping 60, singing 55 and singing at home 53. This is likely due to high exposure to non-Tharu music mainly Nepali and
Hindi as well as frequent contact with non-Tharu speakers in bazaars. Although these domains had the
lowest percentages of Tharu use by participants, the percentages still show strong Tharu use given the predominance of Nepali and Hindi in these domains.
One of our goals is to consider language choice patterns in each Tharu variety of this survey. Table 16 shows responses for Tharu language use in twelve domains, stratified by variety.
Table 16. Domains of Tharu use stratified by variety
3
DK MAL
DES KAT
N= 12
14 12
12 family gatherings
100 100
100 100
village meetings 92
100 75
100 quarrelling
100 100
73 83
scoldingtaboo words 100
100 67
83 storytelling
75 100
67 83
joking 100
100 42
83 discussingdebate
92 93
50 83
telling stories to children 83
86 50
92 pujaprayer
91 71
25 75
bargainingshopping 67
57 50
58 singing
58 50
36 67
singing at home 64
50 25
67 Respondents in the Deukhuri, Malhoriya and Kathariya villages all use their mother tongue
relatively often in each of the twelve domains. Desauriya respondents had the lowest reported use of Tharu, when compared to those from other varieties. This was true of every domain except for that of
family gatherings, in which all respondents from each area primarily use Tharu. One of the strongest influences of non-mother-tongue use is in the domain of education. Eighty-five
percent of respondents report that children use Nepali in school and not Tharu. This percentage may be even higher because some respondents reported Tharu use in schools by children with children instead of
reporting what language was used for instruction the question was unclear. Only two of 36 parents reported that their children learned Nepali at home. Despite high use of Nepali in school instruction,
many respondents report that their children use Tharu outside the classroom at school i.e. with other children on the playground and by teachers for clarification of instructions. Eighty-nine percent of
parent respondents report that they usually use their mother tongue to discuss education matters with their children.
6.2 Intergenerational transfer
