The Wambule Language
Wambule is the language of the Wambule Rai, one of the Kiranti tribes of eastern Nepal. Some other names by which this language is known from the literature are ‘Chouras’ya’ (Hodgson 1857), ‘Chourase’ (Hanßon 1991) and ‘Umbule’ (Hanßon 1991, Toba VS 2052). The Wambule use several native and Nepali names to designate their language. लघुधन राई Laghudhan Rāī (VS 2051) calls the language वाम्बुचौरास रादुयोर Vāmbucaurās Rāduyor’ (Vāmbucaurās Rāī language), ‘वाम्बुले Vāmbule’ and ‘चौरासिय Caurāsiya’. गणेश राई Gaṇeś Rāī (VS 2051) mentions the names ‘आम्बुले Ombule’, ‘उम्बुले Uṃbule’ and ‘वाम्बुले Vāmbule’. बालकाजी राई Bālkājī Rāī (VS 2053) presents the native name ‘वाम्बुले Vāmbule’, which corresponds to Nepali ‘उम्बुले Uṃbule’. The language most closely related to Wambule is the western neighbour Jero (Nep. जेरो Jero).
The Wambule speaking area
Wambule is spoken by more than 5,000 people living around the confluence of the सुनकोसी Sunkosī and दूधकोसी Dūdhkosī rivers near कुइँ-भीर Kuĩ-Bhīr Hill. The Wambule-speaking area comprises the southernmost part of ओखलढुङ्गा Okhalḍhuṅgā district, the westernmost part of खोटाङ Khoṭāṅ district, the northernmost part of उदयपुर Udaypur district, and the northeasternmost part of सिन्धुली Sindhulī district. The Wambule people form the demographic majority in this area, which is also inhabited by people of Indo-Aryan caste and by Tibeto-Burman settlers from western Nepal.
Documenting the Wambule language
I have studied the Wambule language since October 1996. I assumed the task of documenting the Wambule language when I was employed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and joined the Himalayan Languages Project at Leiden University, the Netherlands. By that time the Wambule was still very poorly understood. The only published source available on the language was the ‘Chouras’ya’ word list of about three hundred words compiled by Brian Houghton Hodgson (1857), on the basis of which Sten Konow compiled a short word list and grammatical note in the Linguistic Survey of India. The aim of my research was to give a detailed description of the grammar and the phonology of the Wambule language, analysed and annotated texts and a Wambule-English-Nepali glossary.
Fieldwork in Nepal
I conducted fieldwork in the Wambule-speaking area from November 1996 until January 1997, from January 1998 until April 1998, from December 1998 until February 1999, from January 2000 until March 2000 and from December 2002 until February 2003. These investigations have come to shed much light on the grammar and the lexicon of this hitherto little known language. I presentated my findings at several international seminars (see lectures), and have published several articles on the Wambule language (see publications).
Doctoral dissertation
The book The Wāmbule Language: Grammar Lexicon. Texts and Cultural Survey of a Rai-Kiranti Tribe of Eastern Nepal, which I defended as a doctoral dissertation on 6 June 2002 is the result of more than five years of work on the Wambule language. Two copies of the book The Wāmbule Language (वाम्बुले योर) were presented to the Wambule Rai Society of Nepal (WAMRAS) on 4 January 2003. One additional copy was deposited at the library of the Centre of Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) at Tribhuvan University in Kirtipur on 10 January 2003.
A Grammar of Wambule
The book A Grammar of Wambule: Grammar Lexicon. Texts and Cultural Survey of a Rai-Kiranti Tribe of Eastern Nepal, is a revised and enlarged version of my dissertation. This book is published in Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library. Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region (see publications) and can be bought directly from Brill’s online shop.