A Grammar of Lepcha [Doctoral Dissertation]

2006. - 238 p.Lepcha is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Sikkim, Darjeeling district in West Bengal in India, in Ilām district in Nepal, and in a few villages of Samtsi district in south-western Bhutan. The tribal homeland of the Lepcha people is referred to as ne mayLe VÎa ne máyel lyáng ‘hidden paradise’ or ne mayLe malXU VÎa ne máyel málúk lyáng ‘land of eternal purity’. Most of the areas in which Lepcha is spoken today were once Sikkimese territory. The kingdom of Sikkim used to comprise all of present-day Sikkim and most of Darjeeling district. Kalimpong, now in Darjeeling district, used to be part of Bhutan, but was lost to the British and became ‘British Bhutan’ before being incorporated into Darjeeling district. The Lepcha are believed to be the aboriginal inhabitants of Sikkim.