Kham language
| Kham | |
|---|---|
| Kham Pang | |
| खाम पाङ | |
| Native to | Nepal |
| Region |
Rapti Zone, Rolpa and Rukum Districts Dhaulagiri Zone, Baglung DistrictKarnali regions |
| Ethnicity | Western Magar |
Native speakers | 27,000 (2011 census)[1] |
| Devanagari | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | No official status |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Variously:kif – Eastern Parbate Khamkgj – Gamale khamkip – Sheshi Khamkjl – Western Parbate Pang |
| Glottolog |
kham1286[2] |
Kham, also Kham Pang (Nepali: खाम भाषा)—narrowly defined—is a complex of Sino-Tibetan Magaric languages spoken natively in the highlands of the Rolpa and Rukum districts of Rapti and the westernmost part of Baglung district in Dhawalagiri Zone and Karnali region by western clans of the Kham tribes, called collectively western Khams. Randy LaPolla (2003) proposes that Kham magar and Dhut magar may be part of a larger "Rung" group. However both may ultimately go for separate ethnic identity as they have distinct linguistic and cultural barriers.
Geographical distribution
Ethnologue lists the following location information for the varieties of Kham.
Eastern Parbate Kham (dialects: Bhujel Kham, Nishel Kham) is spoken in the following villages of Baglung District, Dhawalagiri Zone.
- Nishel dialect: Nisi, Bhalkot, and Budhathok villages
- Bhujel dialect: Kuku, Diza, Kang, Masbang, Musuri, and Sukurdung villages
Western Parbate Kham (dialects: Takale, Maikoti, Mahatale, Lukumel, Wale, Thabangi)
Taka-Shera considered to be the center of the Western Parbate Kham.
Gamale Kham (dialects: Tamali, Ghusbanggi)
Gamale Kham is spoken in the western hills of Gam Khola, in Gam, Jhyalgung, Chalbang, Tamali, Dangadhara, Sheram, Ghusbang, Huiching, Guwakholagau, Maulabang, and Kuipadhara villages.
Sheshi Kham (dialects: Tapnanggi, Jangkoti)
- Western hills of Rukum District, Rapti Zone: in Jangkot, Kotgaon (Tapnang), Rimsek, Korcabang, Dangdung, Hwama, Dhangsi, Bhabang, and Ghapa villages.
Phonology
Consonants
Kham Pang has 22 consonants.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | ||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | |||
| voiced | d͡z | ||||
| aspirated | t͡sʰ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | h | ||
| voiced | z | ||||
| Rhotic | ɾ | ||||
| Approximant | central | j | w | ||
| lateral | l | ||||
Vowels
Kham Pang has 25 vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |||||||||||
| short | long | nasal | short | long | short | long | nasal | short | long | nasal | short | long | nasal | |
| Close | i | iː | ĩː | y | yː | ɯ | ɯː | ɯ̃ː | u | uː | ũː | |||
| Mid | e | eː | ẽː | ø | øː | ə | əː | ə̃ː | o | oː | õː | |||
| Open | a | aː | ãː | |||||||||||
Tone
- voice register
References
- ↑ Eastern Parbate Kham at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Gamale kham at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Sheshi Kham at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Western Parbate Pang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) - ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Kham". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- Kansakar, Tej R. (July 1993), "The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal, A General Survey" (PDF), 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
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