Department of Linguistics

About us

My research interests

Languages of the Himalayas, languages of Bhutan and Nepal, linguistic diversity, diachronic linguistics, anthropological linguistics, evolution of language, endangered languages, descriptive linguistics, linguistic relativity.

 

Ph.D. project: A grammar of Nachiring (Kiranti)


The aim of my dissertation is a first grammatical description of the Nachiring language spoken in eastern Nepal in the Himalayan foothills, including a dictionary and a text collection. Nachiring belongs to the Kiranti subgroup of the Trans-Himalayan (a.k.a. Tibeto-Burman) language family and shows morphosyntactically complex, biactantial verbal agreement typical of Kiranti languages. Nachiring is a highly endangered language in that it is spoken by max. 100 people, the majority belonging to the grandparents’ generation, and in that its speakers are under constant and heavy pressure to assimilate both lingustically and culturally to the national language Nepali (Indo-Aryan).
 

A Nachiring shelter in Aiselukharka
A Nachiring shelter in Aiselukharka © Selin Grollmann
The Lidim river valley forms the center of the Nachiring speaking area
The Lidim river valley forms the center of the Nachiring speaking area © Selin Grollmann
The holy hill Pikripcho where the Nachiring sacrificed cows in olden days. Cow sacrifices are nowadays prohibited in Nepal and not anymore performed by the Nachiring
The holy hill Pikripcho where the Nachiring sacrificed cows in olden days. Cow sacrifices are nowadays prohibited in Nepal and not anymore performed by the Nachiring © Selin Grollmann
The village of Sumtel in the Rawa valley
The village of Sumtel in the Rawa valley © Selin Grollmann
Traditional Nachiring wedding
Traditional Nachiring wedding © Selin Grollmann
Doing fieldwork
Doing fieldwork © Selin Grollmann