By Prem Adhikari
Pashupatinagar, Dec. 15: A campaign has been launched for the conservation of the endangered Lungkhim language spoken by the Rai community of Kerabari, Suryodaya Municipality–11, and surrounding villages.
Under this campaign, the Lungkhim Rai Society Ilam and the Language Commission have started a 45-day class where 25 people will be taught the language.
Gehnath Gautam, Under Secretary at the Language Commission, said that the Commission would protect all endangered languages and informed that it had been carrying out studies and research on all prosperous, endangered and classical languages of Nepal.

Dr. Tara Mani Rai, assistant professor at Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Linguistics, said that the state had taken a positive step towards conserving languages.
Informing that a language went extinct every 15 days in the world, Rai urged the need to enable the concerned communities to bring their languages into practice in both spoken and written forms.
Dr. Rai pointed to the lack of generational transfer as the reason for languages dying. He also added, “Lungkhim language, which was confined to people’s homes, is finally being protected. Other languages should be protected too.”

The Lungkhim classes will be conducted on the basis of the curriculum prepared by Dr. Rai. The language does not have its own script so the course has been prepared in Devanagari writing.
Also speaking on the occasion, Ward No. 11 Chairman Tek Bahadur Rai shared that the municipality and the ward had also allocated budget to preserve endangered languages and cultures.
President of the Lungkhim Rai Society Jung Bahadur Lungkhim Rai stressed on the need for the community to be active in reviving their mother tongue.

As per the national census of 2011, the language has 129 speakers in the country and only 13 speakers in Ilam.
In addition to Ilam, it is also spoken in Taplejung, Jhapa, Morang, Bhojpur, Darjeeling (India) and Bhutan.