Nar Phu language

Nar Phu
Native to Nepal
Region Manang district
Native speakers
 600  (2011)[1]
Dialects
Nar (Lower Nar)
Phu (Upper Nar)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 npa
Glottolog narp1239[2]

Nar Phu, or ’Narpa, is a Sino-Tibetan variety spoken in the two villages of Nar and Phu, in the Valley of the Nar Khola in the Manang district of Nepal. It forms a dialect continuum with Manang and may be intelligible with it; however, the Nar and Phu share a secret language to confound Gyasumdo and Manang who would otherwise understand them.[1]

Phonology

Vowels

Front Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ
Low a ɑ

Consonants

Bilabial Dental Retroflex Alveolo-palatal Velar
Plosive unaspirated p t ʈ k
aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ
Affricate unaspirated ts tɕ
aspirated tsʰ tɕʰ
Fricative s ɕ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Lateral voiced l
voiceless l̥
Rhotic voiced r
voiceless r̥
Approximant w j ɰ

Tones

Nar Phu distinguishes three tones: high falling, high level, low rising murmured, and mid/low falling murmured.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Nar Phu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Nar Phu". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

External links