Tichurong is an unwritten Tibeto-Burman language spoken by approximately
2,700 people across eighteen villages in the Tichurong valley in the
northwestern district of Dolpa in Nepal. It is also known as Poike, Poinke,
Rongke, and Tichurongke; it continues to be used in everyday interactions,
but differs in usage according to age and gender. It is one of two languages
native to the Tichurong valley, the other being Kaike (ISO 639-3 code: kzq
and Glottolog Code: kaik1246). Almost all residents of the Tichurong valley
also speak Nepali and Tibetan, and some also speak Kaike, making the
community decidedly multilingual. Through Nepal’s Language Commission,
a sociolinguistic survey of Tichurong was conducted in 2018, and the
language is one of 15 recently identified by the Central Department of Linguistics as warranting further research. While Tichurong is unaccounted
for in all previous censuses and linguistic surveys, it has been highlighted by
linguists studying Kaike. The Nepal Magar Writers Association hosted a study
seminar in 2021 facilitated by two linguists to identify prominent
phonological and morphological features of the Tichurong language.