Rokdung is one of the pacha (septs) of the Bantawa clan under the Rai community. The Rokdungs claim to have a distinct language of their own different from Bantawa. The Rodkungs are mostly concentrated in East Sikkim, and a few families are also said to reside in places like Namchi, Gangtok, Samsing and Gelling in Sikkim. In East District of Sikkim, the total population of the community comes to about 200, out of whom 20 claim to speak the Rokdung language. There is no earlier mention about the language in linguistic history of the region.
Prior to the pilot survey, a team from Centre for Endangered Languages, Sikkim University made an initial contact with the community in East District from 26th-27th August 2017.