Nar and Phu (Tibeto-Burman, Nepal): Field Research for an Audio-Visual Archive of Comparative Lexical and Discourse Material

Kristine Hildebrandt, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Project Details:

Small Grant. Duration: 2010-2011. £10,000

Project Summary:

Nar-Phu (Ethnologue: NPA, ca. 500 speakers, 84°15E; 28°40N) is a Sino-Tibetan language of Nepal which has shown a sharp decline in speakers due to emigration and the influence of national and other regional languages. This project will provide documentation and archival quality data on Nar-Phu towards a comparative lexical database with Nepali and Nyeshangte. This project will also provide a transcribed, annotated corpus to facilitate analyses of the discourse function of morphosyntactic structures. Additionally, this project will provide for the community a Nar-Phu/Nepali word-book aimed at primary school use, and copies of recordings for community archival and reference.