Belhare language

Belhare
Spoken in Dhankuta district, Nepal
Native speakers 2,000  (date missing)
Language family
Sino-Tibetan
Language codes
ISO 639-3 byw
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Belhare (Nepali: Belhāreor) is a Kiranti language spoken by some 2,000 people living on the Belhara hill, at the southern foothills of the Himalayas situated in the Dhankuta district in Eastern Nepal.
All speakers of Belhare are bilingual in Nepali, this results in frequent code mixing and a large amount of Nepali loan-words. Nevertheless, the grammar of Belhare has maintained its distinct Kiranti characteristics.
Like other Kiranti languages, Belhare is characterized by an elaborate morphology in both the nominal and verbal domain. Syntactically, Belhare has partly an accusative, partly an ergative pivot, but accusative syntax is more prominent in terms of frequency.

Contents

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Apical Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosives p pʰ b (bʱ)
p ph b (bh)		 t tʰ d (dʱ)
t th d (dh)		 k kʰ ɡ (ɡʱ)
k kh g (gh)		 ʔ
ʔ
Fricatives s
s		 h
h
Affricates ts tsʰ (dz) (dzʱ)
c ch (j) (jh)
Nasals m
m		 n
n		 ŋ
ŋ
Laterals l
l
Trills r (rʱ)
r (rh)
Approximants w
w		 j
y

Vowels

front central back
close i ĩ
i ĩ		 u ũ
u ũ
mid e
e		 (ʌ)
(ʌ)		 o
o
open a
a

The phonemes in parentheses only occur in loanwords from Nepali.

External links

References