Language politics in Nepal: A socio-historical overview

Abstract

This paper aims to outline the language politics in Nepal by focusing on the influences and expansions shifted from Global North to the Global South. Based on a small-scale case study of interviews and various political movements and legislative documents, this paper discusses linguistic diversity and multilingualism, globalization, and their impacts on Nepal’s linguistic landscapes. It finds that the language politics in Nepal has been shifted and changed throughout history because of different governmental and political changes. Different ideas have been emerged because of globalization and neoliberal impacts which are responsible for language contact, shift, and change in Nepalese society. It concludes that the diversified politics and multilingualism in Nepal have been functioning as a double-edged sword which on the one hand promotes and preserves linguistic and cultural diversity, and on the other hand squeeze the size of diversity by vitalizing the Nepali and English languages through contact and globalization.

Multilingualism and Language Contact in Maithili: Trends, Traits and Impact in Sociolinguistic Spaces

“…The Maithili people who have migrated and living in the capital city have been influenced directly and indirectly by the national and international trends such as globalization, migration and interlingual contacts (Gautam 2012). Therefore, this study points towards the connection of language contact with the changing socio-political conditions (Gautam 2021b) and factors/variables that have affected every individual's motivation to choose one or the other language. All these processes have created diverse social spaces that languages meet, and therefore create language contacts and shifts.…”

The Intersection of ‘Hindu’, ‘Independence,’ and ‘Sovereignty’ in the Nepali Public Discourse of the 1920s

“…Nepal, supplying its youth for the British Army, became formidably important at this juncture even after the war had ended. It was in this context that almost all of the major British Newspapers of the time wrote stories on the 1923 treaty, from its signing to its ratification, promoting Nepal's favorable image among the British public, and through them the entire European continent which is largely represented in the present discourse of language politics in Nepal (Gautam, 2022). This supported Nepal's gradual transformation from isolationism to globalization.…”

Bi/Multilingualism and Language Shift in Chhantyal

“…Societal multilingualism is one of the most important causes of language shift through contact (Gautam, 2022a;2022b) where multiple languages are in use among the speakers and they slowly move towards the dominant and influential languages by leaving their ancestral languages. Chhantyal speaking area is located in the eastern part of Myagdi district; however, the Chhantyal in Baglung normally do not use their mother tongue rather they speak Nepali, the national language of Nepal which is the common lingua franca of the region.…”

“…Language politics in the developing countries like Nepal has multiple effects (Gautam, 2022a). The political causes may also demand more instances of language shift within a particular language community.…”