| Camling | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | Nepal. India, Bhutan | |||
| Native speakers | 10,000 (date missing) | |||
| Language family |
Sino-Tibetan
|
|||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | rab | |||
|
||||
The Camling or Chamling language is one of the Kiranti languages spoken by the Kiranti and Rai peoples of eastern Nepal. Alternate names include Chamling, Chamlinge Rai and Rodong (which means "Kiranti").[1] It is closely related to the Bantawa (some Bantawa-speaking communities call their language "Camling") and Puma languages of the Kiranti language family in eastern Nepal, and it belongs to the broader Sino-Tibetan language family.[1]
Contents |
The Chamling language is one of the languages of the ancient Kiranti culture, which existed well before the arrival of Vedic civilisation in South Asia.[2] Important versions of the Mundhum — the main scripture forming the religious foundation of the Kiranti Mundhum religion and the cultural heritage of the various Kiranti tribes — are composed in Camling; such versions are distinctive to the Camling-speaking tribes and a guide to their distinctive religious practices and cultural identity.[3]
The Chamling language is used by small communities in the Sagarmatha Zone, Khotang District, Bhojpur District and scattered areas in Udayapur District and a few more districts of eastern Nepal, the southeastern neighbour Indian state of Sikkim, the hill city of Darjeeling in the Indian state of West Bengal and the kingdom of Bhutan.[1] Despite its geographic prevalence, the actual number of Chamling speakers is estimated to be 10,000, spread across small tribes and villages.[1] Many members of the Chamling ethnic and tribal communities are no longer fluent in the Chamling language, which is taught only in remote areas in the Udayapur District.[1] Like Bantawa, Chamling is an endangered language. Many people in these areas speak a variety of Chamling that is mixed with the Nepali language, which is the official language of Nepal.[1] Most Chamling-speaking people are Hindus or practitioners of the ancient Kiranti Mundhum religion.
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental/ Alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | (ɳ) | ||
| Fricative | f | ʃ | ɦ |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||