Honorifics, Identity and Preservation in the Yakthung/Limbu Mundhum

The Yakthung/Limbu Mundhum is a foundational repository of Indigenous knowledge, spirituality, oral literature, customary values, and cultural memory. Transmitted through oral recitation and ritual performance, it employs a distinctive linguistic register characterized by honorific expressions, paired lexical structures, grammatical parallelism, periphrastic constructions, complex pronominalization, and metaphorical symbolism. These features function as cultural codes expressing relationships among humans, deities, ancestors, nature, and the cosmos while sustaining collective identity and intergenerational continuity. This paper examines the linguistic structures, sociocultural functions, epistemological foundations, and preservation challenges of honorific language in the Yakthung/Limbu Mundhum. Drawing on ethnolinguistic, sociolinguistic, semiotic, and communication-theoretical perspectives, it adopts a qualitative, interpretive approach based on documented Mundhum expressions, illustrative linguistic examples, and relevant scholarly literature. Particular attention is given to the relationship between everyday Yakthung Paan and the specialized ritual register of the Mundhum, including honorific forms of address, kubuŋ-phekwa paired expressions, parallelism, periphrasis, and symbolic imagery. The analysis explores how ritual language transmits ancestral knowledge, moral values, cosmological understandings, and cultural authority. It argues that Mundhum honorifics constitute a living communicative practice integral to Yakthung epistemology and cultural identity. However, linguistic marginalization, generational discontinuity, changing ritual contexts, and inadequate documentation threaten their continuity. The paper recommends community-led documentation, intergenerational apprenticeship, digital archiving, culturally responsive education, and institutional recognition. Preserving Yakthung honorific traditions is essential to safeguarding linguistic diversity, Indigenous knowledge systems, cultural dignity, and the continuity of Yakthung civilization.