Mugom speakers self-identify as “Moa,” and are referred to as “Mugali” by non-Tibetan peoples of the area. Mugom speakers simply refer to their language as “mugu jillako bhote bhasa,” lit. ‘the Tibetan language of Mugu district.’[4]
In 2002, a sociolinguistic study found that Mugom speakers in diaspora consistently used their own language with each other, and that the language was being transmitted to children.[4] The Ethnologue has assigned EGIDS level 6a “vigorous” to the Mugom-Karmarong (ISO 639-3: muk).[2] This level denotes oral use of Mugom is stable, and that the speaker population is not decreasing.[6]
Sociolinguistic Study: Japola, Mari-Sisco. (2002). Mugom Survey. United Mission to Nepal, Mugu Education Project internal report: unpublished.
Notes
There have been attempts to create health-education materials aimed at the Mugali and Karani that take into account their culture and levels of literacy specifically.
^ abcJapola, Mari-Sisco. (2002). Mugom Survey. United Mission to Nepal, Mugu Education Project internal report: unpublished.
^Central Bureau of Statistics. (2014). National population and housing census 2011. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal.
^Lewis, M. Paul, and Gary F. Simons. (2016). Sustaining language use: Perspectives on community based language development. Dallas, TX: SIL International.