Information from: “South Asia and the Middle East” (289-348 ch. 4) . George Van Driem (2007) , Christopher Mosely · London and NewYork: Routledge
Severely endangered
100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
A few thousand
"The total number of fluent Lepcha speakers does not exceed a few thousand." (pg.296)
DOMAINS OF USE
SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
TRANSMISSION
MORE ON VITALITY
"Despite spirited attempts to preserve the language, Lepcha has already effectively been lost everywhere in favour of Nepali. There are very few remaining households where the younger generation actively speaks the language, and these households are few and far between." (pg. 296)
OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY
Nepali
LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS
"The entire Lepcha area is bilingual." (pg. 296)
PLACES
Nepal; India
LOCATION DESCRIPTION
Spoken in kalimpong ("British Bhutan"), as well as in approximately 100 households in Ilam district.
Information from: “Census of India: Distribution of the 100 Non-Scheduled Languages of India” .
Vulnerable
20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
50,629
Information from: “World Oral Literature Project” .
Vulnerable
20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
75,826
Information from: “The World Atlas of Language Structures” . Bernard Comrie and David Gil and Martin Haspelmath and Matthew S. Dryer · Oxford University Press
Information from: “Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger” . Christopher Moseley (ed.) (2010) UNESCO Publishing
Vulnerable
20 percent certain, based on the evidence available