Role of language in constructing identity

Ramesh Kumar Limbu and Rishi Ram Adhikari

sufficiently intensive to give rise over time to a

1 Introduction
repertoire of shared practices” (23).
This paper analyzes the role of ethnic languages on
2 Language and identity
the construction of the people’s identity living in a
particular community in Nepal. Nepal is a The tension of language is related to the meaning
homeland of various linguistic and cultural of word which is determined by the negotiation of
communities designating with divergent identities worldly phenomena as well as cultural and ritual
by means of correlation to language and culture. practices of community language speakers. This
Both culture and language have imbrications to expression influences activities of speaker’s
each other. Culture can exist through language and identity and plays out daily in the workplaces and
language also depends on culture. If it is separated maintain constituency. Norton (1995) discusses on
from one another then, either it tends automatically the dynamic nature of language, for him, “Neither
to get impaired or gets modified from its identity nor language use is a fixed notion; both
originality and turns into hybrid or absorbs into the are dynamic, depending upon time and place” (23).
powerful one. And, this changes simultaneously The nature of ethnic identity is frequently
concerns to the identity of the community people. contingent so that language acts as the requirement
So preservation of ethnic language is imperative to to identify construction of ethnicity. Although,
the conservation of cultural and ethnic identity of some researchers including Liebkind argue that
people. The discussion of language and its language is not necessary for ethnic identity while
correlation to Chepang and Limbu ethnic identity he presents the example of Irish ethnic community
is thus another pressing issue of this paper. that, “a person may identify themselves as Irish yet
not speak Gaelic (see Eastman & Reese, 1981, or
While talking of different linguistic and cultural
Liebkind, 1999: 22). However, ethnic group or
identities, general practice is that most of the
individual ascribing may have a symbolic
greater and influential linguistic zones are
attachment to an associated language so it has
dominant in both language and cultural practices
nexus of language and culture that commonly an
although other factors like political, academic,
ethnic group identifies with a specific language.
social, legal and many other questions are also
Anzaldua describes language and culture is the two
there to determine identities. For instance, ‘Nepali’
sides of one coin. In this context, he regards,
is both noun and adjective which refers to the
“Language runs deeply into cultural and personal
person who belongs to Nepal and the language
identities, eloquent phrasing of this principle
spoken in Nepal. Similarly, Mithila Pradesh means
captures the language-identity fusion. Ethnic
the zone related to Maithali language, ‘Nepal
identity is twin skin to linguistic identity
Mandala’ denotes the region with Newari language
(consequently) I am because of my language” (
dominance, Limbuwan refers to the language
59). The speaker can tends to influence the people
dominance of Limbu. But, the smaller linguistic
how others perceive them, but ultimately it is the
zone like Chepang has been unable to capture the
hearer who creates the speaker’s identity. If the
attention of its own linguistic zone in terms of
speaker is not allowed creating any impression on
nation re-structuring process.
their own, then the hearer is not able to construct
Hence, linguistic and cultural performances play an identity for the speaker which may be entirely
vital role to maintain identity of a community. The difficult to usher the speaker’s desired identity.
greater use of language the dominant repertoire it This allows the hearer an inordinate amount of
covers. In this context, the views of Eckert and power, and diminishes the self-sufficiency and
McConnell can be assertive who note that, “joint independence of the speaker. It is also used in
engagement in some activity of enterprise is national language policies to extinguish the power

 
Nepalese Linguistics, Vol. 27, 2012, pp.89‐92 
 
associated with politically ‘subversive’ and Nepal’s linguistic diversity is indeed unsurprising
culturally ‘inappropriate’ languages. as different caste and ethnic people reside in it.
The development of literary traditions in Nepal
Nepal is a multi-lingual nation where all the ethnic
happened to take place basically in areas where
people have been practicing their ritual and
cultural exchange and development of art and
cultural performances by using their own
artisans rendered upon. Other most of the
languages despite of the endorsement of one
languages here retained their oral traditions and
national policy of the pre-democratic governments.
have not got their written tradition. After linguistic
For certain linguistic practices are understood by
diversity was allowed, to some extent, from the
the members to be more appropriate than others,
centralized authority, the situation is reverse now
speakers who embrace the identity of a particular
and various linguistic groups have initiated writing
community will engage in positive identity
and reading tradition on their own languages
practices, while those who reject their identity will
which surely can create a new horizon and contact
use negative identity practices to distance
zone although only big linguistic zones appear to
themselves from it.
culturally dominant ones. Smaller mother-tongue
The formation and maintenance of individual and speaking communities are still seen negotiating
collective identity through language is also with Nepali language in their private and public
influenced by the perceived social rewards of any affairs. If we, for instance, look at the two ethnic
given discursive utterance. ‘Discourse’ as groups speaking zones of Limbu and Chepang, we
Bourdieu regards, is a symbolic asset which can can find that the Limbu community has its bigger
receive different values depending on the market linguistic and cultural zone in comparison to the
in which it is offered (12). Multilingual speakers Chepang community.
who reside in a non-native society where certain
3 Chepang language and identity
languages are more useful or socially valued than
others are faced with potentially difficult language Chepang is one of the ethnic communities living in
choices within any given utterance. A multilingual central hilly region of Nepal mainly in Southern
speaker has many ways to define himself/herself. part of Dhading, northern part of Chitawan,
In the context of Nepal, these assumptions play Makwanpur and Gorkha district. They have their
vital role to maintain the ethnic identities of own language and culture too. Their language
people. Semantic correlation of language and belongs to Tibeto-Burman group of Sino-Tibetan
culture create problems to separate it from one to language family. The linguistic realm of Chepang
other, and then concomitantly appears in a certain is related to their cultural zone and produce
context identifying the speakers who he /she are. meaning that identifies who they are. In the same
As Bourdieu mentions, “Linguists are right in way, the hearer also identifies them on the basis of
saying that all languages are linguistically equal: the discourse they create. In this way, Chepangs
they are wrong in thinking that they are socially establish the practices of their cultural repertoire.
equal” (132). Therefore, it is up to those As a multilingual panorama they speak their
multilingual speakers to decide which language is language as well as practice their culture and
appropriate for differential social situations, and accordingly other people accept their distinct
also which language carries the most benefits for ethnic identity. If they lose the competence of
use in an ever-changing linguistic and social language they may not preserve their cultural
environment. heritage. So that, people living in smaller linguistic
zone are being threatened to get separated from
For those non-Nepali speakers who resettle in
cultural zone and are being compelled them to
Nepal intentionally or otherwise, the process of
accept the bigger one. While talking about ethnic
negotiating the various identities that accompany
community having a bigger linguistic community
various language choices in Nepali has
such as Lumbu, Magar and among others have
overwhelmingly dominated private and public
been successful to raise the issue of ethnic identity,
lives of ethnic people.
namely, Limbuban, Magarant and so on. In this
regard, Adhikari (2010:2) states, “The linguistic
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identity of Chepang falls on the crisis of the community and linguistic groups. The rulers and
shifting culture and ritual practices which is either government authorities right from King Prithvi
dominated by Hindu or Christian” (2). Because of Narayan Shah to People’s Movement of 1990
the influence of powerful culture and language that always used to claim that their government was
has created problem in continuation as a distinctive conscious about the identity of the people.
Chepang identity. In the mean time, the previous However, it was not practically materialized in
one language policy taken by the government in favour of ethnic communities specifically of the
the name of nationalism also seems not paying smaller cultural and linguistic community like
attention to the conservation of those smaller Chepang. After being Nepal a republic nation it
linguistic zones. legally announced to give equal opportunity to all
cultural groups and linguistic community. The
4 Limbu language and identity
Interim Constitution of Nepal (2007) regards:
Every community people whether form Rai,
All the languages spoken as the mother tongue in
Sherpa, Gurung, Magar or a caste Hindu speaks
Nepal are the national languages of Nepal. (2) The
Limbu language fluently in Ikhabu, Tapethok, or
Nepali Language in Devnagari script shall be the
Khejenim VDCs, atop of Tambarkhola river of
official language. Notwithstanding anything
Taplejung district where it is their first language if
contained in clause, it shall not be deemed to have
not a mother-tongue. The Limbu language, thus,
hindered to use the mother language in local
spoken by the Limbus (and non-Limbus) mainly
bodies and offices. State shall translate the
living in the far eastern Nepal known as
languages so used to an official working language
Limbuwan, is one of influential ethnic languages
and maintain record thereon. (Article 5.1.2)
in Nepal. Indeed, Limbu language is understood by
all community people especially in the dominant In the same way, article 17 further declares the
zones of this language. They communicate among cultural right that:
one-another in Limbu language which they call
Education and Cultural Right: (1) Each community
Yakthungpan or Yakthungba-pan, and their script
shall have the right to get basic education in their
is called Srijanga. Limbu language has the
mother tongue as provided for in the law. (2)
characteristics of pronominalization and falls
Every citizen shall have the right to free education
under the rubric of the Tibeto-Burman subfamily
from the State up to secondary level as provided
of Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Yakthungpan
for in the law.(3) Each community residing in
“is not only used as a medium of communication
Nepal shall have the right to preserve and promote
among one another but also a means of embodying
its language, script, culture, cultural civility and
their culture, history, mythology, oral and written
heritage.( Article,17)
literature, and day to day activities demonstrating
their symbolic values, functional importance and Constitutionally, every community shall have
social sequences,” and hence their self- equality; however, it is just in the process of
identification (Limbu 76). Despite of the fact that identifying linguistic and cultural zone. And,
the numerical ratio of Limbu mother tongue bigger linguistic and cultural community like
speakers is declining due to the impact of Limbu has strong presence of their voice and
modernity, late capitalism and globalization, succeeded to establish the proposal of Limbuwan.
studies and writings in Limbu language, culture But smaller community like Chepang is being
and literature are gradually increasing. Limbus ineffective to establish voice of federal state in
have created their own distinctive identity since terms of Chepang identification. Multilingual
they have greater and stronger linguistic zone minority group is often analyzed as having two
relatively to the Chepangs. The Limbus have their components: the “we” versus “they” code
own distinct social tradition and native culture. (Gumperz, 1982; Lambert, 1972 in Zentella,
Their various rituals like birth, marriage, death and 1990), or the high versus low language (Valdés,
others establish their distinct heritage and identity. 2000). The minority language code “we”
Since long time Nepalese authority has announced represents in-group speech. It connotes intimacy
that this territory is the home land of various ethnic and is largely confined to the home because it
91
 
suffers lower prestige than the “they” code or high International Journal of Bilingualism :
language, which is the language of the more Cross-Disciplinary, Cross-Linguistic Studies
powerful group and is associated with wealth and ofLanguage Behavior, 8(3). 321-354.
status. In Chepang community, they differentiate Liebkind, E. 1999. Language, culture, and national
themselves from the dominant group, while identity. Social Research, 63(4), 1065.
creating camaraderie with other speakers Limbu, Ramesh K. 2011. Ya?lang: An Intangible
simultaneously. These choices are made not only Limbu Cultural Heritage. Contributions to
within situations, but within conversations and Nepalese Studies, CNAS. Vol. 38.1. 75-92.
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5 Conclusion
Press. 181-192.
As language is a means of discourse which Valdés, G. 2000. Bilingualism and language use
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identity formation of the two ethnic communities Zentella, A. C. 2002. Latin languages and
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federal identification once at a time while Limbu
community has been successful enough to hold
both cultural and linguistic situation and identified
themselves as distinctively a bona-fide community
and a zone with historical background of Nepal.
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