Review of "A grammar of Lepcha (Languages of the greater Himalayan region 5)"

Abstract

Lepcha is spoken by an indeterminable number of speakers, primarily in Sikkim and adjacent portions of West Bengal in India. The 1991 Indian census identifies nearly 30,000 speakers but the Lepcha themselves estimate this number to be as high as 50,000. In addition, approximately 1,000 speakers are found in southwestern Bhutan (van Driem 2001). Until the present work by Plaisier, those interested in information regarding the Lepcha language have been primarily limited to referencing Colonel George Mainwaring’s 1876 grammar (Mainwaring 1876) and thus Plaisier’s grammar is a very valuable contribution to the field of Tibeto-Burman linguistics. This descriptive grammar is based on the author’s fieldwork in Kalimpong and Sikkim between 1994 and 1998. Throughout the book, Plaisier offers comparisons with Mainwaring’s work, describing where the contemporary findings deviate from what Mainwaring reported. The grammar is neatly laid out in a concise 144 pages. In addition to the grammar, this book also presents 68 pages of transcribed and translated texts and a 32 page Lepcha English glossary. All Lepcha data appear in both the exquisite native Lepcha orthography as well as the standard Romanization.