Kathmandu, July 16:

National Planning Commission has commissioned Central Department of Linguistics of the Tribhuvan University (TU) to conduct a Linguistic Survey of Nepal (LinSuN).

In coordination with the National Foundation for the Development of Indigenous Nationalities, NPC organised a function to disseminate information about the survey to the stakeholders here yesterday.

“Though some attempts were made to survey different languages of the country, they were not detailed and comprehensive,” said Yogendra Prasad Yadav, the team leader of the LinSuN, presenting his proposal at the function.

Prof Yadav said the NPC had funded Department of Linguistics of TU for developing the proposal some eight months ago.

The survey intends to develop a socio-linguistic profile of all the languages in Nepal, produce a basic description of at least 10 languages and develop and maintain a complete database of the languages in Nepal.

The survey is expected to contribute to a comprehensive database with information about every language in Nepal on which policy makers, linguists, as well as language communities would have access.

“We had proposed a 10-year plan but the NPC approved the programme only for seven years,” said Prof Tej Ratna Kansakar, one of the team members of LinSuN. Kansakar said if the task could not be completed within the stipulated time the LinSuN has to seek other sources of fund to conduct the survey.

Addressing the function Dr Chaitanya Subba, member of NPC, said the mono-cultural country Nepal was adopting a multi-lingual policy.

He said it was essential to accelerate the development of different languages as the country was moving towards federalism.