Kiranti | |
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Ethnicity: | Kirat, Limbu, Rai, etc. |
Geographic distribution: |
Nepal |
Linguistic classification: | Sino-Tibetan
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Subdivisions: |
Eastern
Central
Western
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The Kiranti languages (also called Bahing–Vayu in the terminology of Benedict (1972)) are a major family of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Nepal by the Kirat people.
Contents |
The Kiranti languages are frequently posited to form part of a Maha-Kiranti family, although specialists are not completely certain of either the existence of a Kiranti subgroup or its precise membership.[1]
There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. The better known are Bahing, Limbu, Vayu, Lohorung and Kulung (Rai). Over all, they are:
Kiranti verbs are not easily segmentable, due in large part to the presence of portmanteau morphemes, crowded affix strings, and extensive (and often nonintuitive) allomorphy.