Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Lepcha (Nünpa, Rong, Rongpa)

SOURCE

Indigenous Media Foundation (Nepal)

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Lepcha (Nünpa, Rong, Rongpa)

Language Profile

TOTAL SPEAKERS

3,445 (2011)

USAGE BY COUNTRY (OFFICIAL LANGUAGE)

Nepal

BACKGROUND

Lepcha people live in eastern Nepal, mainly in Ilam District, alongside Maikhola. Besides Ilam, a few of them are also found in Dhankuta and other districts. Apart from Nepal, Lepchas are also found in Sikkim and Darjeeling of India. They call themselves 'Rong'. The language of Lepchas belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. They call it 'Rong-Ring'. Almost 60 percent (as many as 1695 Lepchas) speak their mother tongue. Experts say they have their own script, but they use 'Devanagari' script.