Page 70 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

kingdom. They have different types of songs for different rites and rituals from birth
ceremony to the funeral ceremony. The modern language transmission resources like

radio, cinema, films and CD/DVD are also available in abundance in the language.
Though Bhojpuri is a sound and strong language in its speech community, it
has little access in education and public administration. The mother tongue education

has entered into the speech community and the Bhojpuri native speakers have started
to develop some materials in their mother tongue. Lohar and Regmi (2013) records

availability of phonemic inventory, grammar, dictionary, textbooks, literacy materials,
newspapers, magazines and abundance of written literature with folklore in Bhojpuri.

Likewise, Bhojpuri Society of Nepal, Bhojpuri Literature and Arts Council of Nepal
based in Birganj and Bhojpuri Development Forum based in Birganj, Bhojpuri

Academy of Nepal, Bhojpuri Students' Society of Nepal and Centre for Study and
Research in Bhojpuri based in Kathmandu are the prominent organizations among
others to promote Bhojpuri culture, language, literature and folklore.

3.3 Language proficiency and multilingualism
3.3.1 Mother tongue proficiency in Bhojpuri

The Bhojpuri speech community is almost monolingual, especially in the rural
areas. But the official vernacular is Nepali and so is the medium of instruction. So, the

newer generation is stepping towards multilingualism, especially among those
educated as well as those living in urban areas. However, they are highly proficient in

mother tongue speaking. Regarding reading and writing, those who are literate all can
read and write Bhojpuri. It shows that there is cent percent proficiency in Bhojpuri
speaking in the speech community. Likewise all of the literate male and female of

them can read and write in their mother tongue.
3.3.2 Bi/multilingualism

No doubt the Bhojpuri natives prefer to speak Bhojpuri first. Besides, Bhojpuri
individuals are found bilingual with Hindi, Nepali, Maithili and English (Lohar &
Regmi, 2013). The newer generations are rapidly acquiring proficiency in Nepali as

well as in English. At the same time their close access to movies, religious literature
along with Indian markets, they are retaining their proficiency in Hindi as well.

As already mentioned, most of the Bhojpuri children have learnt Nepali in
schools and colleges; they face maximum difficulties in understanding Nepali when

they first go to school.

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