Kiranti languages
| Kiranti | |
|---|---|
| Ethnicity: | Kirat, Limbu, Rai, etc. |
| Geographic distribution: | Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling |
| Linguistic classification: |
Sino-Tibetan
|
| Subdivisions: |
|
| Ethnologue code: | 17-4117 |
The Kiranti languages (also called Bahing–Vayu in the terminology of Benedict (1972)) are a major family of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Nepal, Sikkim and Darjeeling Hills by the Kirat people.
Classification
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] LaPolla (2003), though, proposes that Kiranti may be part of a larger "Rung" group.
Languages
There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. The better known are Sunwar, Bahing, Limbu, Vayu, Lohorung and Kulung (Rai). Overall, they are:
- Limbu
- Limbu (affinities to Eastern Kiranti)
- Eastern Kiranti
- Greater Yakkha: Yakkha, Lumba-Yakkha, Phangduwali, Belhare, Athpare, Chintang, Chulung
- Upper Arun River: Yamphu–Lohorung, Meohang, ?Waling
- Central Kiranti
- Western Kiranti
- Midwestern: Thulung (perhaps a primary branch of Kiranti)
- Chaurasiya: Wambule, Jerung
- Upper Dudhkosi River: Khaling, Dumi, Kohi
- Northwestern (Sunuwar Kõits): Bahing, Sunuwar, Wayu
Ethnologue adds Tilung to Western.
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.
Notes
- ↑ Matisoff 2003, pp. 5-6; Thurgood 2003, pp. 15-16; Ebert 2003, pg. 505.
References
- George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.
- Bickel, Balthasar, G. Banjade, M. Gaenszle, E. Lieven, N. P. Paudyal, & I. Purna Rai et al. (2007). Free prefix ordering in Chintang. Language, 83 (1), 43–73.
- James A. Matisoff: Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman. University of California Press 2003.
- Graham Thurgood (2003) "A Subgrouping of the Sino-Tibetan Languages: The Interaction between Language Contact, Change, and Inheritance," The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge. pp. 3–21.
- Karen H. Ebert (2003) "Kiranti Languages: An Overview," The Sino-Tibetan Languages. Routledge. pp. 505–517.