Vikram Gurung

Gurung: a Language in Retreat in Hong Kong: a Study of an Ethnic Language in a Migrant Situation. Vikram Gurung Bilingual edition

The Gurungs are an ethnic group of Nepal who dwelled in the laps of the Himalayas for centuries. About 150 years ago they began to serve foreign armies and that brought them into contact with the outside world. Since then, the Gurungs have begun to settle in urban areas, countries of their employment and developed nations which offer better future prospects. Like many other emigrant communities, the Gurungs have also become vulnerable to losing some of their very personal and most important asset; language and culture. The present research study investigates if the emigrant Gurung community of Hong Kong will continue to speak their ancestral language in the future or if they will succumb to more dominant languages surrounding this community. The findings of this study conclude that the Gurungs may not speak their language in Hong Kong much further into the future.. This work is an effort to draw the attention of linguists to a receding language before it is too late. And, it is also an effort to explain the future of the Gurung language to its own speakers, so that they can see for themselves where their language is headed for.