participants reported that they understand half of what Deukhuri speakers say. This indicates that Dangaura and Malhoriya speakers identify their speech as different from Deukhuri, but respond
differently to an actual sample of speech. Of those who reported the storyteller’s speech as different in some way, the primary reason was
“style.” In summary of what speakers of other varieties reported about Deukhuri speech, the Deukhuri story
was reportedly the most understood story of all the varieties tested. A high percentage of respondents said the Deukhuri speech in the story was “good.” The same was reported through informal interviews.
Desauriya and Kathariya respondents reported the highest amount of differences between their speech and Deukhuri. Despite identifying differences, the majority of respondents from all varieties reported
favorable attitudes towards Deukhuri speech. In addition, the majority of interview respondents said they would allow marriages with Deukhuri speakers. Based on this data, it can be generalized that
respondents do not hold negative attitudes toward Deukhuri.
5.3 Attitudes and perspectives toward Malhoriya
This section summarizes the data collected regarding attitudes and perspectives toward Malhoriya. Malhoriya dialect mapping participants in Ghiya, Kailali district, listed several VDCs located in
southeast Kailali district as having speech that sounds exactly like their own: Chauha, Kota Tulsipur, Baliya, Janakinagar, Joshipur, Pathariya, Munuwa, Durgauli, Thapapur, Tikapur, Narayanpur and
Dansinhapur. Participants reported that they understand Dangaura best, after their own variety. They reported understanding only half of both Deukhuri and Kathariya speech. During dialect mapping with
other varieties, Malhoriya was rarely mentioned by participants. Therefore, this section will focus on responses about Malhoriya from RSQ and informal interviews.
Table 11 shows the minimal levels of contact between DeukhuriDesauriyaKathariya and Malhoriya reported in individual interviews.
Table 11. Contact with Malhoriya speakers
DK DES
KAT Total
N= 12
12 12
36
Have met MAL
1 8
2 17
12 100
15 42
As seen in table 11, very few Deukhuri or Desauriya informal interview respondents said that they have met a Malhoriya speaker. Therefore, minimal data is available from informal interviews regarding
attitudes toward Malhoriya speakers by those that have met them. All Kathariya respondents said they have met Malhoriya speakers. Only two Desauriya respondents and one Deukhuri respondent reported
having met Malhoriya speakers.
Respondents that have met Malhoriya speakers were asked how they liked their speech. Kathariya responses to this question are shown in table 12.
Table 12. Informal interview responses regarding Malhoriya speech
KAT N=
12
How did their [MAL] Tharu make you feel?
Good 50
Indifferent 33
Bad 17
Table 12 shows that half of the Kathariya respondents felt that the speech of Malhoriya people is “good.” Two Kathariya respondents did not like the Malhoriya speech that they heard in the story. This
data shows mixed attitudes toward Malhoriya speech by Kathariya respondents. The Malhoriya story was played for Deukhuri, Desauriya and Kathariya participants. RSQ responses
regarding how the listeners felt about the storyteller’s speech and how similar or different the speech was from their own is shown in table 13.
Table 13. Attitudes toward speech in Malhoriya story
DK DES
KAT N=
10 12
11
How did you like his speech?
Good 70
83 64
Fine 30
17 27
Bad –
– 9
Is the language in this story…from the language
spoken here?
Same 10
50 –
A little different 90
42 45
Very different –
8 55
The majority of participants reported the Malhoriya storyteller’s speech was “good.” Attitudes were least positive among Kathariya respondents. Despite this, the majority of Kathariya respondents said the
speech was “good.” Similar to what was said of other varieties, the majority of respondents identified that their speech
is, to some degree, different than the storyteller’s. All Kathariya and 90 of Deukhuri respondents identified that the speech was “different.” Again, similar to other varieties, despite these identified
differences, positive responses were given regarding the speech sample. This suggests positive attitudes because, though differences exist between the speech varieties, they still view the variety favorably.
Most 69 Malhoriya respondents said the Deukhuri story was the “same” as their language table 9 while only 10 of Deukhuri respondents said the same about the Malhoriya story table 13. This
data suggests a tentative analysis that Malhoriya speakers might understand Deukhuri more than Deukhuri speakers understand Malhoriya. But intelligibility testing would be required to conclusively
evaluate that possibility.
When asked, most respondents who reported Malhoriya was different in some way said it was because of pronunciation.
The majority of Desauriya 92 and Deukhuri 80 respondents said they would allow their child to marry someone that speaks like the Malhoriya storyteller. Sixty-four percent of Kathariya respondents
said the same. After listening to the Malhoriya story, Deukhuri, Desauriya and Kathariya respondents were asked,
“How much of the story did you understand?” Table 14 displays their responses.
Table 14. Perceived comprehension of Malhoriya story
DK DES
KAT N=
10 12
11
How much of the Malhoriya story did you
understand?
All 80
100 91
Most 10
– 9
Half 10
– –
Less than half –
– –
As table 14 shows, the majority of respondents reported understanding all of the story. Consistent with RSQ data, Kathariya participants reported through dialect mapping that, after their own variety,
they understand Malhoriya best. During informal interviews, four of 12 Kathariya respondents reported that Malhoriya is the least
pure Tharu variety. In summary, the majority of respondents for both the RSQ and informal interviews reported they
felt that Malhoriya speech is “good.” Participants of the RSQ were able to identify differences between their own speech and the Malhoriya story most of the time. The majority of participants said they would
allow intermarriage with Malhoriya speakers, which suggests a lack of strongly negative attitudes. Kathariya subjects appear to view themselves separate and distinct from Malhoriya.
5.4 Summary of attitudes and emic perspectives
