The sociolinguistic variation of grammatical gender agreement in Nepali

Drawing mainly on the ethnographical approach to the study of language in society, this study examines gender as a social factor in the variable use of subject–verb gender agreement (G-Agr, for short) rule in Nepali. Gender in this study is viewed as a socio-culturally constructed concept, following Eckert (1989, 1990, 1991, 2000) and Eckert and McConnell-Ginet (1992). This study argues that Nepali speakers’ language behavior as evident in the variable use of G-Agr rule is the sociolinguistic reflection of the variability in their adoption of the progressive perception of women and their social standing in Nepali society. The study finds female speakers leading male speakers and young speakers leading adult speakers in dropping the G-Agr rule and thus in the use of nonstandard language in conversational interaction. Their lead in the use of nonstandard language forms is meaningful within the changing socio-cultural context of Nepali society. The study indicates that the G-Agr rule may have lost its obligatory status and that Nepali may be moving towards becoming a gender-neutral language.