Nepali language

Nepali
Eastern Pahadi, Gorkhali, Gurkhali, Khaskura, Nepalese, Parbate
नेपाली भाषा Nepālī bhāṣā खस कुरा Khas kurā
The word "Nepali" written in Devanagari
Native to	Nepal
Ethnicity	Nepalis
Native speakers	17 million (2010)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Northern Zone Pahari Eastern Pahari Nepali
Writing system	Devanagari Devanagari Braille Takri (historical) Bhujimol (historical)
Signed forms	Signed Nepali
Official status
Official language in	Nepal  India (Sikkim, Darjeeling district)
Regulated by	Nepal Academy
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ne
ISO 639-2	nep
ISO 639-3	nep – inclusive code Individual codes: npi – Nepali dty – Doteli
Glottolog	nepa1254[2] nepa1252  duplicate code[3]
Linguasphere	59-AAF-d
World map with significant Nepali language speakers Dark Blue: Main official language, Light blue: One of the official languages, Red: Places with significant population or greater than 20% but without official recognition.

Nepali, also called Gurkha, Gorkhali, Gurkhali, or Khaskura, is an Indo-Aryan language derived from Sanskrit. It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal. It is spoken chiefly by Pahari people in Nepal and by a significant number of Bhutanese and some Burmese people. In India, Nepali language is listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India as an Indian language having an official status in the Indian state of Sikkim and in West Bengal's Darjeeling district.^[4] Nepali developed in proximity to a number of Indo-Aryan languages, most notably the Pahari languages and Maithili, and shows Sanskrit influences. However, owing to Nepal's geographical area, it has also been influenced by Tibeto-Burman languages. Nepali is mainly differentiated from Central Pahari, both in grammar and vocabulary, by Tibeto-Burman idioms owing to close contact with the respective language group.^[5]

Historically, the language is believed to have been originally called Khas language (Khas kurā), then Gorkhali or Gurkhali (language of the Gorkha Kingdom) before the term Nepali was adopted. In 1920, during Rana regime in Nepal, the term "Nepal" which resembled the Nepal Mandala was taken from its people. Soon after that, Nepal Bhasa was renamed into Newari and Parbate/Khas language took over as Nepali language. Other names include Parbatiya ("hill language", identified with the Parbatiya people of Nepal) and Dzongkha Lhotshammikha ("Southern Language", spoken by the Lhotshampas of Bhutan). It is also known as the Khey language (language of Khey people, the native term for Khas people) or Partya language(native term for Parbate) among the Newar people and Pahari language among Madhesi and Tharus.

Literature

Bhanubhakta Acharya, Aadi Kavi of Nepal

Nepali developed a significant literature within a short period of a hundred years in the 19th century. This literary explosion was fueled by Adhyatma Ramayana; Sundarananda Bara (1833); Birsikka, an anonymous collection of folk tales; and a version of the South Asian epic Ramayana by Bhanubhakta Acharya (d. 1868). The contribution of trio-laureates Lekhnath Paudyal, Laxmi Prasad Devkota, and Balkrishna Sama took Nepali to the level of other world languages. The contribution of expatriate writers outside Nepal, especially in Darjeeling and Varanasi in India, is also notable.

In the past decade, there have been many contributions to Nepali literature from the Nepali diaspora in Asia, Europe, America and India.

Number of speakers

According to the 2011 national census, 44.6 percent of the population of Nepal speaks Nepali as a first language.^[6] The Ethnologue website reports 12,300,000 speakers within Nepal (from the 2011 census).^[7]

Nepali is traditionally spoken in the Hill Region of Nepal (Pahad, पहाड), especially in the western part of the country. Although the Newar language dominated the Kathmandu valley, Nepali is currently the most dominant. Nepali is used in government and as the everyday language of a growing portion of the local population. Nevertheless, the exclusive use of Nepali in the courts and government of Nepal is being challenged. Recognition of other ethnic languages in Nepal was one of the objectives of the Communist Party of Nepal's long war.^[8]

In Bhutan, those who speak Nepali, known as Lhotshampa, are estimated at about 35 percent ^[9] of the population. This number includes displaced Bhutanese refugees, with unofficial estimates of the ethnic Bhutanese Refugee population as high as 30 to 40 percent, constituting a majority in the south (about 242,000 people).^[10]) Since the late 1980s, over 100,000 Lhotshampas have been forced out of Bhutan, accused by the government of being illegal immigrants.^[9] A large portion of them were expelled in an "ethnic cleansing" campaign, and presently live in refugee camps in eastern Nepal.

There are 2.9 million Nepali language speakers in India, they reside in Sikkim, Darjeeling district and Northeast India.^[11]

History

Copper Inscription by King of Doti, Raika Mandhata Shahi at Sha Ke 1612 (शाके १६१२) (or 1747 Bikram Samvat) in old Khas language using Devanagari script

Around 500 years ago, Khas people from the Karnali-Bheri-Seti basin migrated eastward, bypassing inhospitable Kham highlands to settle in lower valleys of the Gandaki Basin that were well-suited to rice cultivation. One notable extended family settled in the Gorkha Kingdom, a small principality about halfway between Pokhara and Kathmandu. In 1559 AD a Lamjunge prince, Dravya Shah established himself on the throne of Gorkha with the help of local Khas and Magars. He raised an army of khas with the commandership of Bhagirath Panta. Later, in the late 18th century his heir Prithvi Narayan Shah raised and improvised an army of Chhetri, Thakuri, Magars and Gurung people and possibly other hill tribesmen and set out to conquer and consolidate dozens of small principalities in the Himalayan foothills. Since Gorkha had replaced the original Khas homeland, Khaskura was redubbed Gorkhali "language of the Gorkhas".

The most notable military achievement of Prithvi Narayan Shah was the conquest of the urbanized Kathmandu Valley, on the eastern rim of the Gandaki basin. This region was also called Nepal at the time. Kathmandu became Prithvi Narayan's new capital, from which he and his heirs extended their domain east across the Koshi River basin, north to the Tibetan Plateau, south into the plains of North India, and west across the Karnali/Bheri basin and beyond.

Expansion – particularly to the north, west, and south – brought the growing state into conflict with the British and Chinese. This led to wars that trimmed back the territory to an area roughly corresponding to Nepal's present borders. Both China and Britain understood the value of a buffer state and did not attempt to further reduce the territory of the new country. Since the Kathmandu Valley or Nepal had become the new center of political initiative, this word gradually came to refer to the entire realm and not just the Kathmandu Valley. So Gorkhali came to be known as Nepali.^[12]

In all these years, Nepali has had influences from many languages. While Nepali is technically from the same family as languages like Hindi and Bengali, it has taken many loan words. Words like dhoka "door", jhyāl "window", pasal "shop", and rāngo "water buffalo' have Tibeto-Burmese roots. Words like sahīd "martyr" (ultimately from Arabic) and kānun "law" (ultimately from Greek, came from Persian into Nepali, as the former functioned as the literary language of much of the Muslim world for over a millennium). Many English words are in use today due to the rising popularity of the United States of America in the region and the previous British aid at schools and other fields.

Nepali is spoken indigenously over most of Nepal west of the Gandaki River, then progressively less further to the east.^[13]

Dialects

Dialects of Nepali include Acchami, Baitadeli, Bajhangi, Bajurali, Bheri, Dadeldhuri, Dailekhi, Darchulali, Darchuli, Gandakeli, Humli, Purbeli, and Soradi.^[7] Doteli (Dotyali) is a closely related language which is included in the macrolanguage Nepali.^[14]

Grammar

Phonology

Vowels

Monophthongs

Nepali distinguishes six oral vowels and five nasal vowels. /o/ does not have a phonemic nasal counterpart, although it is often in free variation with [õ].

Diphthongs

Nepali possesses ten diphthongs: /ui/, /iu/, /ei/, /eu/, /oi/, /ou/, /ʌi/, /ʌu/, /ai/, and /au/.

Consonants

[j] and [w] are nonsyllabic allophones of [i] and [u], respectively. Every consonant except [j], [w], /l/, and /ɦ/ has a geminate counterpart between vowels. /ɳ/ and /ʃ/ also exist in some loanwords such as /baɳ/ बाण "arrow" and /nareʃ/ नरेश "king", but these sounds are sometimes replaced with native Nepali phonemes.

Writing

Nepali letters, transliteration and their pronunciation

Greetings

See also

• Languages of Nepal
• Vikram Samvat
• Nepali literature
• Nepali phonology
• Numbers in Nepali language

References

Further reading

External links

Nepali edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Nepali phrasebook travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Omniglot - Nepali Language

Languages of Nepal
Official language	Nepali
Indigenous languages	Sino-Tibetan Kiranti Bahing Bantawa Belhare Chamling Limbu Sampang Sunwar Thulung Vayu Waling Yakkha Magaric Bhujel Chepang Dura Kham Magar Tamangic Chantyal Gurung Manang Tamang Tibetic Jirel Kyirong-Kagate Mugomt Naapa Sherpa Sikkimese Yolmo Other Baram Dhimal Kaike Lepcha Newar Raji Raute Thangmi Indo-Aryan Angika Bhojpuri Danwar Doteli Jumli Maithili Rangpuri Tharu Other Ghandruk Sign Language Jhankot Sign Language Jumla Sign Language Kusunda Majhwar Mundari Nepali Sign Language

Languages of Bhutan
Sino-Tibetan	Bodish Tibetic Dzongkha Ngalong Laya Brokkat Brokpa Chocangacakha Khams Tibetan Lakha Sikkimese East Bodish Bumthang Kheng Kurtöp Nupbikha Chali Dakpa Dzala Nyenkha Tshangla (Sharchop) Gurung Kiranti including Chamling Limbu Lepcha Newar Tamang Unclassified Gongduk Lhokpu 'Ole
Indo-Aryan	Nepali
Isolate	Bhutanese Sign Language