Figure 9. “Is knowing how to read and write Yamphu important to you?” The lowest percentage of positive responses to this question came from Khoktak 67, while the
highest percentage of positive responses came from Devitar 92. Even though language use in Hedangna is arguably the strongest in all of the Yamphu area see chapter five, the three older women
interviewed were uneducated and correlate with the “No” answers. After compiling all of the “No” answers n=12 in all the villages, all but two of the respondents both young, educated people in
Khoktak were old, uneducated females.
4.2 Appreciative Inquiry participatory method results
This tool provides insight into the hopes and dreams the Yamphu community, interviewed in Hedangna, has for their language. When asked to describe things in Yamphu they were proud of, the group listed a
calendar, alphabet book, history book, and cassettes of folk songs. They hope that someday there will be a Yamphu FM radio station, song cassettes, stories, news in Yamphu, teaching in Yamphu, and books in
Yamphu. They listed the radio station, song cassette, and stories as being harder while their goals for news, teaching, and books in Yamphu seemed easier to achieve.
4.3 Multilingual education desires
In nearly every Yamphu village we visited, we had contact with the headmasters or teachers of local schools, sometimes both. Quite often these were the people who offered their help when we needed
translation assistance. As we interacted with those involved in education, we observed and recorded information that relates to the Yamphu people’s desire for language development in the education sector.
4.3.1 Presence of Yamphu teachers
In nearly every village we visited, there were Yamphu teachers who were interested in mother tongue education or multilingual education, using Yamphu as the medium of education and literacy in primary
level classes. In some cases, these teachers are already engaged in using Yamphu in the classroom, despite the fact that they do not have any Yamphu curriculum. In Uling village we only passed through
this all-Yamphu village on the way from Hedangna to Seduwa, we met a Yamphu teacher who was highly motivated for multilingual education and who was already teaching in Yamphu. Additionally, in
Ghadi village, just a 30-minute walk southwest of Hedangna, we met all of the teachers at the local school. Every one of them is Yamphu and expressed interest in using Yamphu in the school.
The presence of Yamphu headmasters in many schools also is an advantage in gaining support for language development through education. In Hedangna, Seduwa, and Devitar, the headmasters are
Yamphu and supportive of mother tongue use. In Rajarani bazaar we visited the local school, which has classes up to plus-two. The head
administrator there is Bantawa Rai. In the school, all students take a Limbu language class. We were also able to meet two Yamphu teachers who teach in the school.
4.3.2 Belief in education as a vehicle for language maintenance and development
One of the questions we asked on the sociolinguistic questionnaire was, “When the children of your v
illage grow up and have children, do you think those children might speak your language?” Following their responses, there was also room for them to comment on their answer. Regardless of whether or not
they said “Yes” or “No,” the comments they gave afterwards are interesting. Of those who commented, 57 1221 said that children will speak it only if they study or if they are taught Yamphu. Another
question we asked was, “How would you feel if your grandchildren do not speak Yamphu?” Of those who comment
ed, in addition to their answer, 46 respondents said that “We need to teach them” or “They should study.” We also frequently heard in the course of our observations, conversations, and
interviews, that the reason children and young people are speaking less Yamphu than the previous generation is because they have to use Nepali in school, and once they begin going to school, they do not
speak Yamphu anymore. Based on the comments from our informal interviews and other observations, it seems that many
Yamphu people make a strong connection between the medium of education and language vitality and use. We believe that based on this connection, Yamphu people see mother tongue or multilingual
education as an important means to language development and maintenance, and thus their motivation and desire for development is high in this arena.
4.4 Summary of desires for development
Based on two questions from the informal interviews, the desire for language development among the Yamphu villages we visited is quite high overall. In general, more men than women, and more literate
people than nonliterate, expressed interest and motivation toward language development. The desire for language development in certain villages correlates to the degree and strength of the ethnic identity in
those places. The higher the ethnic identity, the higher the desire is to see language development. Participatory methods carried out in Hedangna revealed a high degree of interest in producing Yamphu
materials. Teachers and headmasters in many villages expressed interest in increasing the use of Yamphu in schools and in incorporating Yamphu language curriculum.
5 Language use and vitality
In this chapter, we investigate language use by looking at what domains Yamphu is used in and who is using it in those domains. We also investigate Nepali language use. To better understand vitality, we
considered several key factors, one of which is intergenerational transfer. One current measurement of both functional use and transmission patterns is the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale
EGIDS Lewis and Simons 2010. EGIDS is based on an elaboration of Fishman’s Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale Fishman 1991, and measures vitality on a scale of 0 strongest
vitality: International to 10 weakest vitality: Extinct. Lewis and Simons propose a series of questions Appendix F to be asked of any language in order to determine where it measures on the scale. The
answers to these questions lead us to the conclusion that on the EGIDS scale, the Yamphu speech communities we visited fall between the categories of 7 Shifting and 6a Vigorous. See Chapter 8 for
recommendations on how to strengthen and develop a speech community from one level to the next.
In the data that follows, ‘n=’ represents the number of subjects who responded. We have defined “young” as age 34 and below, and “old” as age 35 and above. Our definition of “educated” includes
anyone who has studied through grade five or above; “uneducated” includes anyone who has not
completed school through grade five. First, we will look at frequency of Yamphu use among the respondents. Figure 10 displays how
often respondents in each village use the Yamphu language.
Figure 10. “How often do you use Yamphu?” In every village but Khoktak, the majority of respondents reported they speak Yamphu every day. In
Rajarani, there was one young, educated woman representing 8 of respondents who reported that she never uses Yamphu. Her answer was surprising given that both her parents are Yamphu and spoke
Yamphu with her as a child. When asked how much Yamphu she speaks, she replied, “Some.” Between Seduwa, Hedangna, and Devitar, there were seven people who responded that they speak Yamphu
“Sometimes.” All seven of these people are young, and six of the seven are educated. This could point to a trend that young, educated people are using Yamphu at declining rates.
Additionally, it is helpful to look at Nepali use among the respondents. Figure 11 displays the use of
Nepali by village. We aske d the question, “How often do you use Nepali?”
Figure 11. Nepali language use. As you look at
Figure 11 from the left to the right, you can see that the use of Nepali is highest in Rajarani 85 responded “Every day” and Khoktak 83 responded “Every day” and lowest in
Hedangna 38 reported using Nepali every day. We also looked at the data by age for Nepali use but there was no significant difference between the frequency of Nepali use among older and younger
people. Sixty-seven percent of young people reported using Nepali every day and 33 reported sometimes. Sixty-five percent of older people reported using Nepali every day and 35 reported
sometimes. It is interested to note that the highest percentage of respondents that reported using Yamphu ev
ery day 92 and Nepali every day 85 was in Rajarani. Possibly this indicates a stable bilingualism.
Based on the overall descriptions of language use among respondents in the villages by domain, we can conclude that Hedangna has the strongest use of Yamphu. Devitar, Seduwa, and Rajarani have
moderate to high levels of Yamphu language use, with Devitar being slightly stronger than the other two. Respondents in Khoktak have the lowest level of Yamphu use.
5.1 Domains of language use
