Frédéric Moronval. 2017. Vitalités linguistique et religieuse chez les Néwar bouddhistes de la vallée de Kathmandu. Thèse de doctorat en Sciences du langage – linguistique, Normandie Université. Français. NNT: 2017NORMR055. <tel-01697607> [PDF]
From the English abstract: Newari, the indigenous language of the Kathmandu valley, is considered by the UNESCO as an endangered language, […] why and to which extent both the mother tongue and Buddhism are decreasing among Newars, and what, if any, is the causal relationship linking the evolution of these two cultural features. […]
Field investigations have revealed that most of Newari language promoters are Buddhists; reciprocally, among Newars the Buddhists are more concerned by the endangered situation of Newari, more willing to improve it, and to actually take action to that aim. This comparison of language and religion vitalities in the Buddhist Newar group reveals the solidarity uniting these two phenomenons. This contributes to documenting the research on relations between language and religion. At the same time, it shows that it is relevant to apply evaluation tools of language vitality to the evaluation of religious vitality.