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Papers by Sarah Shackelford
Journal of Language Survey Reports, 2022
This report presents research on the relationship between the Kurux spoken in Nepal and the Kurux... more This report presents research on the relationship between the Kurux spoken in Nepal and the Kurux spoken in India. The primary purpose of this research was to determine Nepali Kurux speakers' level of comprehension of the variety spoken in Jharkhand, India, and the ethnolinguistic perceptions of these groups, with an aim to inform future language development activities.
The research shows that the Kurux spoken in Nepal and in India should be considered varieties of one language. They are linguistically similar, and comprehension in Nepal of the varieties from Jharkhand and West Bengal is sufficiently high to be considered the same language (and share some written materials). Furthermore, Nepali Kurux speakers see themselves as part of the wider international Kurux community and have positive attitudes towards Kurux speakers in other places. Language vitality in most Kurux-speaking communities in Nepal is high. A strong desire to read and write in their language and the relatively strong language vitality makes the Nepali Kurux community a good candidate for literacy and multilingual education programs. The Devanagari orthography currently used by speakers in India is suitable to use for Nepali Kurux, but development of materials in Nepal would be beneficial.
Journal of Language Survey Reports, 2019
This report presents the results of sociolinguistic research conducted among Danuwar and Dewas Ra... more This report presents the results of sociolinguistic research conducted among Danuwar and Dewas Rai language communities in the Terai and hills east of Kathmandu, Nepal. The primary purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of the speech varieties associated with the name ‘Danuwar’ and their relationships to one another. Ethnolinguistic groupings and language vitality were studied in order to inform future language-based development activities. This research identified at least two mutually unintelligible language varieties: Danuwar and Dewas Rai. Two other varieties, Done/Danuwar and Kochariya, were also identified; however, more research is needed to determine their relationships to Danuwar. The findings of this study additionally indicate slowly weakening language vitality in Dewas Rai as well as in the Done/Danuwar site, and stable language vitality in the Danuwar and Kochariya sites.
Drafts by Sarah Shackelford
It has been speculated by linguists and historians that the Modern Standard Nepali language evolv... more It has been speculated by linguists and historians that the Modern Standard Nepali language evolved from a form of the Indo-Aryan lects spoken in western Nepal. This paper aims to gain a better understanding of current and historical relationships between Nepali, western lects (Jumli and Dotyali), Kumaoni, and Hindi by exploring language diversification in this complex contact situation from the perspective of lexical evidence. The analysis relies on the principles of Historical Glottometry to create a representation of the genealogical subgroups of the lects under study, represented with the Wave Model, which allows for each event of language change to intersect, instead of being nested as in the typical Tree Model.
This study explores some hints to contact patterns and historical relationships by exploring 25 wordlists from 21 different lects. Rather than relying on sound changes to understand the relationships as Francois does in his research (2013), the focus is on lexical innovations, both internal and external, as suggested by Kogan (2016). Thus, the measure of “subgroupiness” from this data is a count of borrowed terms and shared non-retained lexemes. Looking at the data, this paper discusses evidence of shared retention or shared innovation, observes instances of lexical borrowing, and visualizes the patterns of shared lexemes, demonstrating the study’s conclusions.
This study finds that, despite the complexities of their differences caused by constant contact over time, all the lects under study are very closely related to each other, and all retain many Sanskrit words. There is also clear evidence of contact-induced change in all the lects, even those in the most remote regions, although some have more evidence of borrowing than others. Rather than forming a dialect continuum geographically from west to east, as some scholars have proposed, the Jumli and Far Western (Dotyali) lects are both more similar to Nepali than they are to each other. Jumli is the “subgroupiest,” having the most shared innovations within its lects, and show the least evidence of borrowing. The Far Western lects do not subgroup strongly, as suggested by the literature, rather they form complex layers of overlapping subgroups with influence from Kumaoni, Hindi, and Nepali. The paper concludes that the Historical Glottometry model seems to be a good fit for describing the relationships of these varieties. Hindi, Kumaoni, Nepali, Jumli, and the Far Western lects have very complex relationships, best pictured as overlapping subgroups rather than nodes on a family tree.
Journal of Language Survey Reports, 2022
This report presents research on the relationship between the Kurux spoken in Nepal and the Kurux... more This report presents research on the relationship between the Kurux spoken in Nepal and the Kurux spoken in India. The primary purpose of this research was to determine Nepali Kurux speakers' level of comprehension of the variety spoken in Jharkhand, India, and the ethnolinguistic perceptions of these groups, with an aim to inform future language development activities.
The research shows that the Kurux spoken in Nepal and in India should be considered varieties of one language. They are linguistically similar, and comprehension in Nepal of the varieties from Jharkhand and West Bengal is sufficiently high to be considered the same language (and share some written materials). Furthermore, Nepali Kurux speakers see themselves as part of the wider international Kurux community and have positive attitudes towards Kurux speakers in other places. Language vitality in most Kurux-speaking communities in Nepal is high. A strong desire to read and write in their language and the relatively strong language vitality makes the Nepali Kurux community a good candidate for literacy and multilingual education programs. The Devanagari orthography currently used by speakers in India is suitable to use for Nepali Kurux, but development of materials in Nepal would be beneficial.
Journal of Language Survey Reports, 2019
This report presents the results of sociolinguistic research conducted among Danuwar and Dewas Ra... more This report presents the results of sociolinguistic research conducted among Danuwar and Dewas Rai language communities in the Terai and hills east of Kathmandu, Nepal. The primary purpose of this research was to gain a better understanding of the speech varieties associated with the name ‘Danuwar’ and their relationships to one another. Ethnolinguistic groupings and language vitality were studied in order to inform future language-based development activities. This research identified at least two mutually unintelligible language varieties: Danuwar and Dewas Rai. Two other varieties, Done/Danuwar and Kochariya, were also identified; however, more research is needed to determine their relationships to Danuwar. The findings of this study additionally indicate slowly weakening language vitality in Dewas Rai as well as in the Done/Danuwar site, and stable language vitality in the Danuwar and Kochariya sites.
It has been speculated by linguists and historians that the Modern Standard Nepali language evolv... more It has been speculated by linguists and historians that the Modern Standard Nepali language evolved from a form of the Indo-Aryan lects spoken in western Nepal. This paper aims to gain a better understanding of current and historical relationships between Nepali, western lects (Jumli and Dotyali), Kumaoni, and Hindi by exploring language diversification in this complex contact situation from the perspective of lexical evidence. The analysis relies on the principles of Historical Glottometry to create a representation of the genealogical subgroups of the lects under study, represented with the Wave Model, which allows for each event of language change to intersect, instead of being nested as in the typical Tree Model.
This study explores some hints to contact patterns and historical relationships by exploring 25 wordlists from 21 different lects. Rather than relying on sound changes to understand the relationships as Francois does in his research (2013), the focus is on lexical innovations, both internal and external, as suggested by Kogan (2016). Thus, the measure of “subgroupiness” from this data is a count of borrowed terms and shared non-retained lexemes. Looking at the data, this paper discusses evidence of shared retention or shared innovation, observes instances of lexical borrowing, and visualizes the patterns of shared lexemes, demonstrating the study’s conclusions.
This study finds that, despite the complexities of their differences caused by constant contact over time, all the lects under study are very closely related to each other, and all retain many Sanskrit words. There is also clear evidence of contact-induced change in all the lects, even those in the most remote regions, although some have more evidence of borrowing than others. Rather than forming a dialect continuum geographically from west to east, as some scholars have proposed, the Jumli and Far Western (Dotyali) lects are both more similar to Nepali than they are to each other. Jumli is the “subgroupiest,” having the most shared innovations within its lects, and show the least evidence of borrowing. The Far Western lects do not subgroup strongly, as suggested by the literature, rather they form complex layers of overlapping subgroups with influence from Kumaoni, Hindi, and Nepali. The paper concludes that the Historical Glottometry model seems to be a good fit for describing the relationships of these varieties. Hindi, Kumaoni, Nepali, Jumli, and the Far Western lects have very complex relationships, best pictured as overlapping subgroups rather than nodes on a family tree.