According to a recent study by the Endangered Language Alliance, a New York based organization dedicated to preserving rare languages in the city, there are just 700 Seke speakers in the world. Seke is a language and is classified within the Tamangic branch of the Sino Tibetan language family, and is thus related to Tamang, Gurung, Thakali, and Chantyal languages.
On 7th of January, 2020, it was mentioned in the New York Times, that the Seke language is now an endangered language, with 100 speakers in New York, and just 700 speakers around the world. So, how does Endangered Language Alliance decide a language to be endangered ? The Endangered Language Alliance considers a language as endangered, if, there are fewer than 10,000 speakers worldwide.
Seke, means “golden language”. According to the stories of the Seke speakers, Seke was passed down from people living in the snowy peaks of the Himalayas who settled in Mustang, a former kingdom whose terrain was formed from the heart and innards of a demon defeated in battle by a Buddhist monk.
Seke is now spoken only in five villages in Mustang, in Nepal. It is close to the border with Tibet. Since the region, where Seke is spoken, bridges Nepal and Tibet, it is found that Seke seems to have had more contact with Tibetan languages rather than with the other Tamangic languages. Like other minority languages of the region, Seke has developed a contact with Nepali. Due to this contact, which has taken place largely over the last two centuries, increasingly in recent years and also due to socio-economic pressures, the vast majority of Seke speakers are now fluent in, and shifting to Nepali. Many, in this highly multilingual region also speak Tibetan, and older Seke speakers are likewise very familiar with neighboring Baragaon.
In New York, Seke is one of 637 languages and dialects that the Endangered Language Alliance has identified as being spoken across the five boroughs of New York and in New Jersey, which also has a diverse, global population.
By,
S.K.Ghising
References
- Kimiko de Freytas – Tamura, 7th Jan 2020, Just 700 speak this language (50 in the same Brooklyn building), The New York Times.
- Picture : Google photo of Mustang, Nepal.
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