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2026

Kuensel Reports on Access Challenges Affecting Riti and Jigmecholing

22 July 2026

Recent reporting in Kuensel, Bhutan's national newspaper, has highlighted the infrastructure challenges affecting access to Jigmecholing and nearby Monpa communities during the monsoon season.

On 12 July 2026, the bridge providing access to the Monpa village of Riti, referred to as Ritey in the Kuensel article, was washed away by flooding caused by heavy monsoon rain. A temporary footbridge was later constructed, but the article reports continued concerns among residents about the need for a more durable bridge.

A second Kuensel article, published on 15 July 2026, reported on difficult road conditions along the Gelephu–Trongsa highway, especially around the landslide-prone Boxcut area. Jigmecholing serves as an important access point to the Monpa villages of Riti and Cungseng, where Lo-Rig project member Tshering Om Tamang conducts linguistic fieldwork.

These reports help illustrate the precarious infrastructure connecting remote communities in Bhutan and the practical challenges involved in conducting linguistic fieldwork in such areas.

The articles are available online through Kuensel:

Lo-Rig Project Mentioned in Kuensel Article on Gongdue Kha

04 July 2026

The Lo-Rig project was mentioned in a recent article in Kuensel, Bhutan's national newspaper, titled "Gongdue Kha going extinct in Mongar". The article discusses the endangered status of Gongdue Kha and highlights current efforts to document and preserve the language. The Lo-Rig project is mentioned as part of these ongoing documentation efforts.

This media coverage helps draw attention to the urgency of language documentation work in Bhutan and to the importance of sustained collaboration with speaker communities in documenting, preserving, and promoting endangered languages.

The article is available online through Kuensel:

Read the article on Kuensel Online

A PDF copy of the print article is also available here:

Download the Kuensel article PDF

Class on Proto-(Western-)Kho-Bwa Reconstruction at the Second Summer School for Ancient Trans-Himalayan Languages

15–27 June 2026

Between 15 and 27 June 2026, Lo-Rig Principal Investigator Tim Bodt taught a class on "Reconstruction of Proto-(Western-)Kho-Bwa" at the Second Summer School for Ancient Trans-Himalayan Languages, organised by the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies at Trinity College Dublin.

The class worked with primary data on Bugun and showed how such linguistic data can be used to reconstruct a proto-language and compare these data with other, presumably related languages. The class included two practical sessions and was attended by around 40 on-site and online participants.

More information about the 2026 Summer School is available on the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies website:

2026 Summer School for Ancient Trans-Himalayan Languages

Applications Open for the First Lo-Rig Language Documentation and Description Workshop

05 June 2026

Banner for the first Lo-Rig Language Documentation and Description Workshop

Official banner for the first Lo-Rig Language Documentation and Description Workshop, "Linguistic Fieldwork", to be held in Thimphu from 30 November to 06 December 2026.

Workshop details

Title: Language Documentation and Description Workshop 1: Linguistic Fieldwork
Dates: 30 November – 06 December 2026
Location: Centre for Bhutan and GNH Studies, Langjopakha, Thimphu, Bhutan
Application deadline: 15 August 2026

Download the full announcement PDF

The Lo-Rig project, in cooperation with the Centre for Bhutan and GNH Studies (CBS), is pleased to announce its first annual Language Documentation and Description Workshop. The first workshop, titled "Linguistic Fieldwork", will take place at CBS in Langjopakha, Thimphu, Bhutan, from 30 November to 06 December 2026.

This workshop is the first in a planned series of three annual workshops organised by the Lo-Rig project. The series aims to support language documentation and description work by bringing together community linguists, researchers, teachers, cultural officers, language advocates, and others interested in linguistic research and language preservation.

The first workshop will focus on linguistic fieldwork, including data collection, research ethics, recording practices, data storage, phonetics and phonology, orthographies, and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Applications are open to participants from Bhutan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The application deadline is 15 August 2026, with acceptance communicated by 15 September 2026.

For full details, including eligibility, funding support, workshop planning, and application information, please see the official announcement:

Download the workshop announcement PDF

Lo-Rig Now Housed in the Trinity Long Room Hub

01 June 2026

From 1 June 2026, the Lo-Rig project is housed in the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute at Trinity College Dublin.

Trinity Long Room Hub logo

The Trinity Long Room Hub is Trinity's research institute for the Arts and Humanities. Its research community spans more than twenty disciplines, including languages, literatures, cultural studies, linguistics, history, education, and the University Library. Its current research priorities also include human-centred approaches to technology.

This makes the Hub a supportive institutional setting for Lo-Rig's work on language documentation, linguistic description, community collaboration, and AI-assisted workflows for under-resourced languages.

Following its initial setup period with the School of Linguistic, Speech and Communication Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Lo-Rig is grateful for the support received during that stage and looks forward to continuing its work within Trinity's wider arts and humanities research community.

The move gives the project a clear institutional base within Trinity College Dublin as it continues its work on the documentation and description of Gongduk and Monkha, and on the development of AI-assisted workflows to support language documentation.

More information about the Trinity Long Room Hub is available on its website:

About the Trinity Long Room Hub

Settling into Academic Life at Trinity College Dublin

28 April 2026

The Lo-Rig project's PhD student, Tshering Om Tamang, arrived at Trinity College Dublin on 28 April 2026. In her first week, she has been settling into life on campus, meeting fellow researchers at the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies (TCAS), and completing key administrative steps such as obtaining her student ID card. Her arrival followed delays related to visa procedures and flight restrictions. She has also begun familiarising herself with Trinity's academic systems, libraries, and research facilities, as well as navigating life in Dublin. Looking ahead, she hopes her four years at Trinity will be intellectually rewarding, offering opportunities for meaningful research, collaboration, and personal growth. She particularly looks forward to advancing her research on the Monkha language as part of the Lo-Rig project.

PhD student, Tshering Om Tamang, at Trinity College Dublin

PhD student, Tshering Om Tamang, at Trinity College Dublin (April 2026).

Field Visit to Chungseng Village

13-17 March 2026

Between 13th and 17th March 2026, Ms Tshering Om Tamang and Sonam Lhamo visited Chungseng village to carry out fieldwork on the Monkha language.

During the visit, the researchers collected primary data on local language use and community perspectives. An important activity was a community meeting, where the team introduced the aims and scope of the Lo Rig Project, with particular focus on documenting Monkha language. Following the presentation, community members shared their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives on language preservation.

Alongside the meeting, Ms Tshering and Sonam Lhamo collected language samples from speakers in the village. They recorded natural conversations and oral narratives to capture everyday speech and elicited word lists to document the vocabulary of the Monkha language. These focused efforts aimed to provide an accurate record of authentic language use to support ongoing documentation and preservation of Monkha.

Community members attending a meeting in Chungseng village

Community members attending a meeting in Chungseng village (March 2026).

Fieldwork data collection session in Chungseng village

Fieldwork data collection session in Chungseng village (March 2026).

Community Meetings in Pam and Miden

3-5 March 2026

Rinchen visited the remote Gongduk communities of Pam, Caibi and Miden, where he introduced the Lo-Rig project, held consultations with community members, and conducted the sociolinguistic survey.

Due to the lack of a guide, he was unable to visit Bangbangla, possibly the most remote Gongduk village. A future visit is planned for autumn 2026.

People from Miden village attending the consultative meeting about the Lo-Rig project (March 2026)

People from Miden village attending the consultative meeting about the Lo-Rig project (March 2026).

Tshering Om Tamang Registers as PhD Student at Trinity College Dublin

01 March 2026

On 01 March 2026, Tshering Om Tamang officially registered as a PhD student at Trinity College Dublin.

Tshering's doctoral research will focus on the preparation of a descriptive grammar of the Monkha language as spoken in the Riti and Cungseng speech communities in Sarpang district, Bhutan. Her work will form a central component of the Lo-Rig project's long-term documentation and description of Monkha varieties.

Tshering Om Tamang at the Royal University of Bhutan

Tshering Om Tamang at the Royal University of Bhutan.

While Tshering received her visa for Ireland after a four-month wait in early March, she is still waiting for her passport to be returned and is also unable to travel to Dublin due to travel restrictions in the Middle East. The project team looks forward to welcoming her in person once the necessary arrangements have been completed.

The Lo-Rig project is delighted to have Tshering formally join the team and anticipates a productive collaboration in the years ahead.

Research Seminar on Speech Technologies for Under-Resourced Languages

17 February 2026

On 17 February 2026, Lo-Rig researcher Michael Bayona gave a talk titled “Speech Technologies for Under-Resourced Languages: From Development to Application” as part of the Trinity College Dublin Linguistics Research Seminar series.

The talk provided an overview of how speech technologies such as automatic speech recognition and forced alignment can be developed and adapted in under-resourced language settings. Drawing on previous work with Philippine languages, it discussed how speech and language data can support downstream applications such as linguistic analysis, closed captioning, reading tutors, and educational technologies.

The talk also considered methodological issues that remain important for under-resourced language technology development, including limited data availability, speaker variability, pronunciation dictionary development, model adaptation, and the use of newer self-supervised learning approaches.

This addressed questions closely connected to the project's work on AI-assisted workflows for language documentation, particularly the use of speech processing tools to support transcription, analysis, and language technology development.

More information about the seminar is available on the Trinity College Dublin website:

Speech Technologies for Under-Resourced Languages: From Development to Application