Sherpa, which is a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal and has approximately 200,000 speakers, does not have standardization yet in dialect, script, and orthography. Compiling a dictionary in a regional language like Sherpa does not mean just a collection of words, but includes continuous involvements w...
Sherpa, which is a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal and has approximately 200,000 speakers, does not have standardization yet in dialect, script, and orthography. Compiling a dictionary in a regional language like Sherpa does not mean just a collection of words, but includes continuous involvements with the language group. If the will of the Sherpa people to make the standardizations of their language is weak, the situation will be more complicated. This paper shows, firstly, the process of making Sherpa dictionary, and secondly, how the author is developing relationships with the people group regarding this standardization. Dialect: In Sherpa there are mainly three different dialects, even though there is one more possible area; western, southern and the northern dialect. In sociolinguistic surveys to find out the more prestigious dialect, the southern one was chosen. This decision was welcomed by the southerners, but not by all Sherpas because of the regional egoism. Script: Even though a field test showed that 88% of the people wanted Nepali script, and that script was developed and used for several years, the Sherpa society recently decided to use the Tibetan script for their language in their primary school textbook. This is a big challenge between the linguist and the local religious leaders, who believe that the Sherpas have to follow the mother culture of Tibetan in their scripts. Orthography: Whereas the Sherpa is a tonal language, Nepali script does not convey tone differences. Exactness vs. easiness is always a challenge in orthography decision. For the exactness it would be good to have tone markers in Sherpa orthography. However, for the easiness, it would be better without the markers.
Sherpa, which is a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal and has approximately 200,000 speakers, does not have standardization yet in dialect, script, and orthography. Compiling a dictionary in a regional language like Sherpa does not mean just a collection of words, but includes continuous involvements with the language group. If the will of the Sherpa people to make the standardizations of their language is weak, the situation will be more complicated. This paper shows, firstly, the process of making Sherpa dictionary, and secondly, how the author is developing relationships with the people group regarding this standardization. Dialect: In Sherpa there are mainly three different dialects, even though there is one more possible area; western, southern and the northern dialect. In sociolinguistic surveys to find out the more prestigious dialect, the southern one was chosen. This decision was welcomed by the southerners, but not by all Sherpas because of the regional egoism. Script: Even though a field test showed that 88% of the people wanted Nepali script, and that script was developed and used for several years, the Sherpa society recently decided to use the Tibetan script for their language in their primary school textbook. This is a big challenge between the linguist and the local religious leaders, who believe that the Sherpas have to follow the mother culture of Tibetan in their scripts. Orthography: Whereas the Sherpa is a tonal language, Nepali script does not convey tone differences. Exactness vs. easiness is always a challenge in orthography decision. For the exactness it would be good to have tone markers in Sherpa orthography. However, for the easiness, it would be better without the markers.
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