Table 6. How often do you use Nepali? n=
Daily Sometimes
Never
Pangma 16
44 56
– Angala
12 75
25 –
Dhupu 13
100 –
– All of the respondents said they use Nepali to some extent. Yet less than half of the respondents in
Pangma reported using Nepali on a daily basis. In order to investigate people’s opinions on language change, we asked participants, “Do you think
that the language spoken by you is different from your grandparents?” Forty-two percent of respondents stated that their language is different than their grandparents. Most said that the difference is due to
language mixing. Respondents mentioned their grandparents speak Lohorung more often and Nepali use in school as factors in the difference in language between generations.
6.1 Domains of language use
One way of investigating language use is to look at the community’s language choices in specific domains. Domains are certain institutional contexts in which one language is considered more
appropriate to use than another. There are three factors involved in any given domain: location, topic, and participants Fasold 1984:183. In this section we will look at responses to questions about language
use in specific domains.
Participants were asked what language they most frequently use with family members when discussing social events and family matters. Table 7 shows responses to this question.
Table 7. Language most frequently used in home when discussing social events and family matters
n= Loh
Nep Other
Grandfather 30
70 27
3 Grandmother
31 68
29 3
Father 37
65 32
3 Mother
38 63
34 3
Spouse 29
62 45
3 Children
27 44
48 7
Table 7 shows that when discussing social events and family matters in their home with people of similar or older age, a majority of respondents reported they primarily use Lohorung 62–70.
However, when discussing the same topics with children only 44 percent of respondents reported using Lohorung while 48 said they primarily use Nepali.
When we stratify this language choice with children specifically by village, the data shows definite trends. Table 8 displays this data.
Table 8. Language most frequently used in home when discussing social events and family matters with children, by village
n= Loh
Both Nep
Pangma 12
58 8
33 Angala
6 83
– 17
Dhupu 9
11 –
89
The majority of respondents from Pangma and Angala report speaking Lohorung in the home with their children when discussing social and family topics. Only in Dhupu did respondents report a higher
use of Nepali in this domain. We then asked the same question about a different domain: discussing educational matters in the
home. Education is in Nepali and therefore it is more likely that people associate Nepali with education more than Lohorung. Table 9 displays the responses to this question.
Table 9. Language most frequently used in the home when discussing education matters n= Lohorung
Nepali Other
Grandfather 30
67 27
6 Grandmother
30 67
23 10
Father 37
62 33
5 Mother
38 61
37 2
Spouse 29
59 38
3 Children
27 37
52 11
As the responses show, Lohorung use in the home is still high, even when discussing education. Only when speaking to their children did more respondents say they usually spoke Nepali than
Lohorung. Table 10 displays what language respondents in each village said they usually speak with their
children in this domain.
Table 10. Language most frequently used in the home when discussing education matters with children, by village
n= Loh
Both Nep
Pangma 12
42 25
33 Angala
6 83
– 17
Dhupu 9
– –
100 Like when discussing social and family matters, the majority of respondents from Pangma and
Angala report using Lohorung with their children. No respondents from Dhupu said they spoke Lohorung in this domain.
Respondents reported using Nepali much more frequently than Lohorung in letter writing. This data is not surprising given the lack of language-based development in Lohorung.
Using an informal interview schedule, we investigated language use in 13 additional domains. Table 11 displays the percentage of respondents who primarily use Lohorung, Nepali, or say they use both
Lohorung and Nepali roughly as often as the other.
Table 11. Overall language use
What language do you usually speak... n=
a
Loh Both
Nep
while doing puja? 41
73 7
17 while in family gatherings?
41 56
7 37
while scolding? 41
34 12
54 while in village meetings?
41 24
15 61
while quarrelling? 39
24 15
54 while telling stories to children?
41 20
12 68
while debating? 41
20 17
61 while joking?
41 20
24 54
while storytelling? 41
12 12
76 while counting?
41 12
5 81
while singing at home? 38
5 7
81 while shopping?
41 5
15 78
while singing? 41
5 5
88
a
One respondent answered that he usually uses Nepali, Lohorung, and English equally often in the domains of counting, singing, debate, puja, quarrelling, and
telling stories to children. He also reported usually using both Nepali and English equally often when shopping and storytelling.
This data suggests that Lohorung is only spoken more frequently than Nepali during puja ‘worship’, 73 and family gatherings 56. Nepali is used much more often in every other domain we asked
about. Not all of these domains specifically included topic, location, and participants. But the data clearly shows that Nepali is used to some extent in many areas of life. Table 12 displays responses of
who said they usually speak Lohorung in these domains by village.
Table 12. Overall use of Lohorung by village
I primarily speak Lohorung...
Sites Pangma
Angala Dhupu
while doing puja. 75
75 69
while in family gatherings. 88
75 –
while scolding. 50
50 –
while in village meetings. 38
33 –
while quarrelling. 50
10 8
while telling stories to children. 44
8 –
while debating. 38
17 –
while joking. 44
8 –
while storytelling. 25
8 –
while counting. 31
– –
while singing at home. 13
– –
while shopping. 13
– –
while singing. 13
– –
It is clear that respondents in Pangma use Lohorung most frequently while respondents from Dhupu use it rarely.
6.2 Language use by age, education, and gender
