Tamang people

Last updated

Tamang
तामाङ
Tamang couple in traditional attire.jpg
Tamang couple in traditional attire
Total population
c. 1.8 million [1] [2] [3]
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Bhutan.svg Bhutan N/A
Flag of Nepal.svg   Nepal 1,639,866 (2021) [1]
Flag of India.svg India 183,812
West Bengal 146,203 (2011) [2]
Sikkim 37,609 (2011) [3]
Languages
Tamang, Tibetan, Nepali, Hindi
Religion
Buddhism (87%) Hinduism (9%) Christianity (3.0%), [4]
Related ethnic groups
Tibetan people, Daman people, Qiang, Gurung, Sherpa, Bhotiya, Thakali

Tamang is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken predominantly in Nepal, with significant communities in Sikkim and West Bengal, India. It encompasses several dialects, including Eastern, Western, Southwestern, Northwestern, and Eastern Gorkha Tamang, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. For instance, Eastern and Western Tamang are mutually unintelligible. [18] It is tonal and exhibits ergative-absolutive alignment.  Despite being the fifth most spoken language in Nepal,  Tamang faces challenges due to the dominance of Nepali, leading to concerns about language preservation. [19] The language employs both the Tamyig script, similar to Tibetan, and Devanagari for writing. Grammatically, Tamang follows a subject-object-verb (SOV) order and utilizes postpositions.[ citation needed ]

Distribution of Tamang in Nepal

The 2011 Nepal census classifies the Tamang people within the broader social group of Mountain–Hill Janajati. [4] At the time of the Nepal census of 2011, 1,539,830 people (5.8% of the population of Nepal) were Tamang. The percentage of Tamang people by province was as follows:

In the following districts, the percentage of Tamang people was higher than the national average of 5.8% (2011): [20]

Notable people

Arts and entertainment

Politics

Engineering, science and social science

Sportspeople

Indian

Nepalese

References

  1. 1 2 3 National Statistics Office (June 2023). National Report on Caste-Ethnicity, Language and Religion (Report). Government of Nepal, Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. p. 31. National Population and Housing Census 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 March 2024. Direct PDF download link
  2. 1 2 "Population of West Bengal 2011".
  3. 1 2 "Population of Sikkim 2011".
  4. 1 2 3 4 Central Bureau of Statistics (2014). Population monograph of Nepal (PDF). Vol. II (Social Demography). Kathmandu: Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission Secretariat. ISBN   978-9937-2-8972-6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  5. National Statistics Office (January 2022). Census Nepal: Preliminary Report of National Population 2021 (Report) (in Nepali). Government of Nepal, Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  6. 1 2 Sadangi, H. C. (2008). Emergent North-East: A Way Forward. Gyan Publishing House. ISBN   978-81-8205-437-0. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  7. "Report on Socio-Economic Status of Tamang–Kavre". Nefin.org.np. Archived from the original on 12 March 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  8. Bhattacharjee, P. N.; Ghosh, S.; Bhattacharya, S. (1977). "The Tamang: a case of hybridization". Human Heredity. 27 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1159/000152847. PMID   403123.
  9. Tamang, G. (2003). "An ethnobiological study of the Tamang People". Our Nature. 1 (1): 37–41. doi: 10.3126/on.v1i1.303 .
  10. Paudel, D. (2021). "Himalayan BRI: an infrastructural conjuncture and shifting development in Nepal". Area Development and Policy. 7 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1080/23792949.2021.1961592. S2CID   239242919.
  11. 1 2 Gellner, D. (2009). Ethnic Activism and Civil Society in South Asia. SAGE Publications India. ISBN   978-81-321-0422-3.
  12. Woebom, T. (2014). ""Eastern Gypsies": Damans in Tibet". Vtibet. Archived from the original on 4 November 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  13. "New life of Daman people". China Tibet Online. 2014. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  14. "西藏达曼人:从居无定所到发"边贸财"吃"旅游饭"". People's Daily Online (in Chinese (China)). 2014. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  15. Ghimire, M.K. (2014). Socio-cultural and economic condition of Tamangs (PDF) (Bachelor of Social Services). Diaconia University of Applied Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  16. Rai, P. (2021). "Oral Traditions of the Tamang People". Himalayan Cultures. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  17. "Sonam Lhosar celebrated". Street Nepal. 2015. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  18. "Eastern Tamang Grammar Sketch" (PDF). www.sil.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  19. "Tamang: A Cross-Varietal Documentation and Descriptive Study | Endangered Languages Archive". www.elararchive.org. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  20. National Population and Housing Census 2011: Social Characteristics Tables (PDF). Vol. 5, part II: "Caste–ethnicity, Mother Tongue and Second Language". Kathmandu: Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission Secretariat, Central Bureau of Statistics. February 2014. ref NPHC2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2024.
  21. "Melody queen Aruna Lama". Boss Nepal. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  22. Kalakar, Hamro. "Gopal Yonzon Biography". Hamro Kalakar. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
Tamang people
Tibetan name
Tibetan རྟ་དམག
Transcriptions
Tibetan Pinyin Tamang