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Nepali

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Nepali
Spoken by: {{{people}}}
Spoken in: Nepal
Language family: {{{family}}}
नेपाली

The word 'Nepali' in Devanagari script

Nepali (नेपाली/नेपाली भाषा) is a Indo-Aryan language and the official language and lingua franca of Nepal.

Name[]

Nepali language is known with the following names.

Gorkhali language[]

The name Gorkhali Language or Gorkha Language (Gorkha Bhasa) was primarily used until 1934. The name emerges as the language being official language of the Gorkha State. The Gorkha Kingdom was a petty state in modern day's Western Nepal who invaded many kingdoms around the region. The Gorkha state moved its capital from Gorkha to Nepal. Nepal was known as the modern day Kathmandu Valley or the kingdoms of Newa people, where another language Nepal Bhasa was spoken. The British India started referring to the Gorkhali state as 'Nepal' with its name of the capital, rather than 'Gorkha'. In 1934, the Gorkhali State officially decided to change its name as Nepal. This marks introduction of 'Nepali' as a name instead of 'Gorkhali. The government of Gorkha also changed Gorkha Bhasa Prakashini Samiti (Gorkha Language Publishing Committee) into Nepali Bhasa Prakashini Samiti (Nepali Language Publishing Committee) which is now known as Sajha Prakashan. The name change also resulted in riots between the Nepa-mi (citizens of Nepal) who lost their name Nepal and also from the Gorkhalis and Gorkhali diaspora who said their 'Gorkha Pride' was being undermined. [1] [2]

Various ethnic communities[]

Various ethnic communities in Nepal have their respective names for the language.

Newa community Khey / Partyaa [3] [4]
Tamang community Jyaardi Gyoi / Jyaarti Gyot [5] [6]
Chepang Community Khas-anta [khəs.ʔən.tə] [7]
Lhowa community Rongkek [8]
Dugmali community Khase Puk [9]

Parbate / Parbatiya[]

The native speakers of Nepali language colloquially term it as Parbate or Parbatiya language which literally means the language of hills. [10]

Khas[]

Khas Kura or Khas Bhasa is the name more prominent among non-native speakers and in the Karnali province of Nepal. The old form of Nepali language is spoken in Karnali province. The language being native to Khas-Arya ethnic group got its name as so.

Phonology[]

Dialects[]

There are various dialects of Nepali language

  1. Karnali Dialect (Nepali)
  2. Indian Dialect (Nepali)
  3. Newa Dialect (Nepali)
  4. Tamang Dialect (Nepali)
  5. Myanmar Dialect (Nepali)
  6. Bhutan Dialect (Nepali)
  7. Madheshi Dialect (Nepali)

Grammar[]

Orthography[]

Nepali language is commonly written in the Devanagari script. Many Newa writers also use Nepal Lipi to write the language. Nepali speakers in diaspora communities and among tech users across the world, roman script is also used. Similarly, Sambhota Script in Bhutan, Myanmar Script in Myanmar and Thai script in Thailand is also used to write Nepali language.

Vowels[]

Consonants[]

Numerals[]

Other scripts[]

  1. Nepali language in Myanmar script
  2. Nepali language in Prachalit Nepal script
  3. Nepali language in Sambhota script
  4. Nepali language in Roman script
  5. Nepali language in Thai script

Common difficulties[]

The Foreign Service Institute has classified Nepali as a "Hard" language. It is estimated that learning Nepali to a Professional Working Proficiency in the language (a score of Speaking-3/Reading-3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable scale) will take an average of 44 weeks (1100 class hours).[11]

Resources[]

  1. How to write Nepali(in French)
  2. Nepali Devanagari script Omniglot Recording of text MP3
  3. English Wikipedia page
  4. Nepali Wikipedia (in Nepali)

References[]

  1. ↑ https://sajha.org.np/chinari/28/
  2. ↑ https://www.madanpuraskar.org/search/monographsview.php?start=1469
  3. ↑ Nepali language page in Nepal Bhasa Wikipedia
  4. ↑ https://chaulanikhabar.com/2019/07/26/1504/ खसद्वारा नै यहाँ यो भाषा पसेकोले यसले यहाँ ‘खय् भाय्’ भन्ने नाम पाएको हो ।
  5. ↑ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sil.org.wtamang.tdg&hl=en_US&gl=US ज्यार्‌ती ग्योत्‌ [dzjarti gjot] नाम - नेपाली भाषा
  6. ↑ https://www.pigeonkhabar.com/archives/13123
  7. ↑ https://www.webonary.org/chepang/browse/?letter=%E0%A4%96&key=cdm&lang=en खस्‌अन्‍त [khəs.ʔən.tə] क्रि.वि. नेपाली adv Nepali (esp. in reference to the Nepali language)
  8. ↑ https://www.webonary.org/lhowa/hvo36870/ रोङकेक [ᶫroŋkek] ना. नेपाली भाषा Nepali language
  9. ↑ http://nepalihimal.com/article/7184
  10. ↑ https://nepalpatra.com/articles/27164/ नेपाली भाषा बिभिन्न समयमा बिभिन्न नामले चिनिन्थ्यो ।  खस कुरा, पर्वते भाषा तथा गोर्खाली भाषा आदि ।  यी मध्ये खस कुरा सबैभन्दा पुरानो नाम हो।  खस जातीहरूले बोल्ने भाषा भएको हुनाले यसलाई खस भाषा भनिएको हो ।  खस कुरा पश्चिम नेपालको अर्को भाषा खाम कुरा, जुन नेपालका मगर जातीहरूले बोल्ने गर्दछन्, संगै विकसित हुँदै अगाडी बढ्यो ।
  11. ↑ U.S. Department of State; FSI's Experience with Language Learning; https://www.state.gov/m/fsi/sls/c78549.htm
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