Kusunda Language Sisters
- Supernaturegirl
- Feb 17
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 28
This week’s learning isn’t from a song, but a way to hear the Kusunda language by listening to sisters separated in life but connected by language comment in their own language on the first ever video of the Kusunda people, what a twist!
Kusunda or Kusanda is a language spoken by the Kusunda people in western and central Nepal. There are a few hundred people, perhaps 23 native speakers, and one fluent native speaker; Kamala Sen-Khatri. Kamala is in her 50s and is the younger sister of Elder Gyani Maiya Sen-Kusunda. Elder Gyani passed away in 2020, but for years she was considered the last known speaker of Kusunda. She was born in 1936, spoke her mother tongue in her youth, and lived in the forest with her family. When she was older, she married, moved, learned another language, and became a “dormant” speaker of Kusunda, for about 50 years!
Her sister Kamala was born in 1972, spoke Kusunda with her mother, and lived together until her passing in 2006. Kamala moved to India for work after this and did not speak her language for about 10 years. This is why it was presumed that Elder Gayni was the last speaker.
When the sisters met in 2004, it allowed Elder Gyani to speak her language again. This sparked a need to keep it spoken, so she starting working to document her language, was interviewed widely by linguists, and even starred in a film that won many awards and was funded by National Geographic (link below). When Elder Gyani passed in 2020, her sister picked up the torch. Kamala Sen-Khatri, the last fluent speaker of Kusunda, is described as a language activist and now works in language data archiving, creating learning resources, teaching young children, and with the language commission.
The video is a trip because it’s a look into these sisters together 6 years ago, and although you can’t understand the language, you can see the dynamics and glimpse their world. The video has them reacting to the first ever video of the Kusunda people, which was made in 1968/69. You may not understand their comments, but you can hear the laughter, see the expressions, and fill in thoughts of what you might be thinking in that spot. The video is just over 8 minutes and is a chance to see these women together and hear Kusunda.
Kusunda is a unique language; believed to be unrelated to any other language in the world and has an unknown origin. “Currently, linguistic researchers believe Kusunda is a survivor of an ancient aboriginal language spoken across the sub-Himalayan regions before the arrival of the Tibetan-Burman and Indo-Aryan tribes. We can trace all other language groups in Nepal to people coming from outside Nepal, it is only Kusunda whose origins we don't know."
There are several linguistic quirks, like lacking a standard way of negating a sentence, words for "yes" or "no", or any words for direction. There are in fact few words implying anything negative. For example, if you want to say you don’t want tea, it would be more about saying your desire for tea is low. The language does not have set, rigid grammatical rules or structures but is flexible and to be interpreted by the speaker. For example, instead of using tenses, the content might be described as an experience directly related to the speaker to indicate past tense, while a future action would remain general and not associated to any subject.
There are reasons the language has lost speakers, such as a history of discrimination, immigration, disadvantages, and the dismantling of the forests the Kusunda relied on and lived in as nomadic hunter-gatherers. “They obtained most of what they required from the forest: firewood; branches and leaves for the lean-tos; food items such as meat, fruits, nuts, mushrooms, berries, roots, and tubers; medicinal plants; and cane, vines, wood, bamboo, and giant stinging nettle for making daily-use items. This nomadic life is still remembered by the few remaining Kusunda elders."
Things in terms of language preservation have been improving in recent years with books, media, classes, and other initiatives. There is a proposal in the works to obtain a piece of land where all the Kusunda could live, have community land, create a school and be together to learn and converse in Kusunda. It is believed that “collaborative learning among the remaining Kusunda is the key to the preservation of the language… also the importance of the Kusunda speakers being in the environments in which they grew up to help stimulate their memories.”
Check out a very well done video showing the process of making an award-winning VR-Experience for the Kusunda people and language: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyUXqF5gCss
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Quotes:
Kamala Sen-Khatri: “If we can regularly practise, speak, sing our songs, then we might be able to keep our language alive," she says.
An 18-year old Kusunda member engaged in language classes and wanting to become a Kusunda language teacher: "I think I can take this language forward. If we can regularly speak and practice Kusunda, then we can keep the language alive. It's about having interest in our language and pride in our identity."
** Information above was found by searching the internet and sources like Wikipedia.
_________ Video Resources:
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