Aspects of language contact in Newar

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper outlines the different aspects of language contact in Newar, the ethnic indigenous language community of the Kathmandu valley, focusing on language use and attitudes. The data were collected in 2016–2017 with the help of survey questionnaire, key informant interviews, informal interviews, and various observations based on the socio-ethnographic research on language contact situations in different domains, namely social, cultural, economic, and official as well as media-related activities where the informants were asked to use different languages along with the use of their own mother tongue, i.e. Newar. The findings mainly include various traits of language use and attitudes of the Newar-speaking people living in the capital city in which the people are shifting towards Nepali, English, and Hindi languages because of media, migration, globalisation, education, and other factors. The paper concludes by providing some clues to preserve and revitalise minority languages that have been shifting, changing, and dying because of various socio-political reasons in the multilingual cities like Kathmandu where language policies have been dramatically changed and get the attention of public discourses to understand the dynamic nature of language contact.