Kham language

Kham (Nepali:खाम) (also Khamkura खामकुरा or Kamkura कामकुरा) -- narrowly defined—is a complex of Tibeto-Burman Magaric languages spoken natively in isolated highlands of Rolpa and Rukum districts of Rapti and the westernmost part of Baglung district in Dhaulagiri Zone by western clans of the Magar tribe, called collectively Kham Magar or Northern Magars. Randy LaPolla (2003) proposes that Kham may be part of a larger "Rung" group.

More loosely, Nepali speakers west of the Kaligandaki use Kham (etc.) for non-Indic languages indigenous to the Middle Hills and southern parts of the Himalayas. Thus Nepali speakers also subsume with Kham the separate languages Kaike—spoken to the northwest in lower Dolpo—and Chantyal—spoken to the northeast in Baglung and Myagdi Districts, when in fact these are only distantly related. The Nepali speakers then use the term Bhote (भोटे) for Tibetan dialects spoken in culturally Tibetan borderlands such as upper Dolpo and northern Humla.

Regional varieties

The language consists of 3 main lects with several sub-lects:

• Gamale - spoken in northeastern Rolpa along upper Lungrikhola, a tributary of the West Rapti River.
  • Tamali
  • Ghusbangi
• Parbate
  • Eastern Parbate - spoken north of Gamle: in western Baglung district along upper Nisikhola (western tributary to Gandaki) and around Dhorpatan in upper valley of Uttar Ganga (eastern tributary to Bheri River).
    • Nishel
    • Bhujel
  • Western Parbate - spoken west of Gamale and Eastern Parbate, in eastern Rukum district, watersheds of Sani Bheri, and lower valley of Uttar Ganga.
    • Wale
    • Gamale
    • Thabangi
    • Lugumyal
    • Takale
    • Maikoti
    • Kolal
    • Rangsyal
    • Seemale
    • Hukam
    • Matale
  • The term Parbate is actually a cover term for all non-Sheshi/non-Gamale lects. The Takale variety is the prestige dialect and lingua franca of the Parbate group.
• Sheshi - spoken in a slightly disjunct area to the southwest separated by Nepali speakers
  • Tapanangi
  • Jangkoti

Sounds

The description below is primarily of Takale Kham.

Consonants

Takale Kham has 22 consonants:

• The rhotic /ɾ/ is realized as a trill [r] at the end words. Otherwise, it is a flap.

Vowels

Takale Kham has 25 vowels:

• length
• nasalization
• diphthongs
• vowel harmony

Tone

• voice register

Syllable

Grammar

References

• Kansakar, Tej R. (July 1993), "The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal, A General Survey", Contributions to Nepalese Studies (Kirtipur, Nepal: Tribhuvan University) 20 (2): 165–173, retrieved April 10, 2011 
• Watters, David E. (2002), A grammar of Kham, Cambridge grammatical descriptions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-81245-3