In this collection we have made the original recording (both in archival and presentation versions) from Rai-Rokdung fieldwork and their annotations available. An Android application of the Rai-Rokdung dictionary derived from our efforts can be accessed from the Language Technology Tools collection.

Rokdung is one of the pacha (septs) of the Bantawa clan under the Rai community. The Rokdungs are mostly concentrated in Rolep village near Rongli in East Sikkim, and a few families are also said to reside in places like Namchi, Gangtok, Samsing and Gelling in Sikkim. In Rolep, the total population of the community comes to about 200, out of whom 20 claim to speak the Rokdung language, which they claim to be distinct from Bantawa. There is no previous linguistic work or documentation to be found for the Rai-Rokdung language.

The center conducted field consultations in Rolep village on the dates below:

The findings of the fieldwork conducted by the CEL, SU shows that Rokdung is highly endangered and is on the verge of extinction. It is also found that there is major language shift among the multilingual Rokdung community members, towards Bantawa on the one hand, which is being claimed as the single language common to all Rai communities, and Nepali on the other, which is the lingua franca for the region. Alarmingly, the language is spoken only by the elderly generation who are also mostly counted under the speaker category of ‘rememberers’. The community has recently started efforts to revitalise their language, despite the lack of governmental support or recognition.