Nepalese language ( Nepali. नेपाली , Nepali) is the largest and state language of Nepal , where 44.6% of the population (11.8 million people) speak it as a native language [5] .
| Nepali language | |
|---|---|
| Self name | नेपाली |
| Countries | Nepal , India , Bhutan |
| Official status | Nepal , India ( Sikkim ) |
| Regulatory organization | Nepal Language Academy |
| Total number of speakers | |
| Classification | |
| Category | Languages of Eurasia |
Indo-European family
| |
| Writing | devanagari |
| Language Codes | |
| GOST 7.75–97 | nep 485 |
| ISO 639-1 | ne |
| ISO 639-2 | nep |
| ISO 639-3 | nep |
| WALS | |
| Ethnologue | and |
| ABS ASCL | |
| IETF | |
| Glottolog | |
Nepali language is closely related to Hindi . Nepali belongs to the subgroup Pahari ( pahārī "mountain"), which is part of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages .
Distributed in Nepal ( 11,826,953 native speakers according to the 2011 census [5] ), as well as in Bhutan and India among immigrants from Nepal - mainly in the states of West Bengal , Bihar and Assam . It has official status in the Indian state of Sikkim and in Darjeeling County, West Bengal [6] .
It should not be confused with the non-new language (Nepal-bhasa), the original language of Kathmandu - the capital of Nepal, which refers to the Tibetan-Burmese languages . Nepali language got its name after the transfer of the capital of the Gurkhas to Kathmandu .
Despite the fact that Nepali is the official language of Nepal, connecting the various ethnic groups that inhabit the country, there are also many other spoken languages. For example, non-New Kathmandu valley speakers speak Newari . Tamangs, Sherpas , Paradise, Limbu, Magars, Gurungs and other groups also have their own languages. In terai on the border with India, Hindi and Maithili are often spoken - another Indian language in the region.
Nepali uses the Devanagari letter (Indian letter); in ancient times, its own writing system was used - bhujimol . The first written monument is 1337 . A literary language based on a central dialect has been developing since the beginning of the 19th century.
Content
- 1 Name
- 2 History
- 3 Literature
- 4 Dialects
- 5 Linguistic characteristic
- 5.1 Phonetics and phonology
- 5.1.1 Vowels
- 5.1.2 Consonants
- 5.2 Morphology
- 5.3 Syntax
- 5.4 Vocabulary
- 5.1 Phonetics and phonology
- 6 notes
- 7 See also
Title
In different areas, this language has different names, in particular it is known as gurkhali (गोर्खाली - gurkhālī / gorkhālī , "the language of the Gurkhov"), khas-kura (खस कुरा - khas kurā , "the language of Khasas"; the most common everyday name), parbaty (पर्वतिया - parbatiyā , “language of the mountains”) [7] , dzong-ke lhotshammikha ( Dzongkha Lhotshammikha / Lhotshamkha , “southern language” spoken by Lhotsampa Bhutan), eastern Pahari ( English Eastern Pahari , only in linguistic literature).
History
About 500 years ago, Hassians from the basins of the Ghaghara and Bheri rivers migrated east, went around the Kham highlands and settled in the lower Gandak River , which were great for growing rice. One noble family [ what? ] settled in the small kingdom of Gorkha , located between Pokhara and Kathmandu . In 1559, Drava Shah , the prince of Lamjung , with the help of the Hassians and Magars, elevated himself to the throne of Gorkhi. He erected an army of Hasians
Initially, the Khassians spoke the language “ Khas kurā ” - “Hassian speech”. He was also called Parbattia, Paharia, "Language of the mountainous country."
The Indian Census Bureau used the term Naipali from 1901 to 1951, in 1961 it was replaced by the term Nepali
Literature
Nepalese literature developed over a period of about a hundred years in the 19th century.
Such a jump was fueled by:
- Adhyatma Ramayana (XIII-XV centuries) - the ancient Indian epic in Sanskrit
- Sundarananda Bara (1833)
- Birsikka - a collection of folk tales compiled by an unknown author
- translation of Adhyatma Ramayana into Nepali under the guidance of Bhanubhakt Acarya
A trio of Lekhnat Paudyala, Lakshmi Prasada Devkota and Bala Krishna Sama also made a major contribution to Nepali literature. Worthy of mention are writers who lived in India, in the states of Varanasi and Darjeeling. They raised Nepali to the world level.
In the last decade, a large contribution has been made to Nepalese literature from the Nepalese diaspora in Asia, Europe, America and India.
Dialects
The main dialects of the Nepalese language are: acchami, bajurali, bajkhangi , baytadi , bheri , darjula, doteli , darchuli, darchuili, japali, purbeli, humly, gandakeli, foolish, angry.
Linguistic characteristic
Phonetics and Phonology
Vowels
Nepali has 11 vowels, 5 of which are nasal.
| Front | Medium | Rear | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | i ĩ | u ũ | |
| Wed-upper | e ẽ | o | |
| Wed-lower | ʌ ʌ̃ | ||
| Lower | a ã |
There are 10 diphthongs in Nepali: / ui /, / iu /, / ei /, / eu /, / oi /, / ou /, / ʌi /, / ʌu /, / ai / and / au /.
Examples of diphthongs [8] :
| Diphthong | Example | Transfer | Spelling |
|---|---|---|---|
| / ui / | / dui / | "two" | दुई |
| / iu / | / dziu / | "body" | जीउ |
| / ei / | / sʌnei / | "trumpet" | सनै |
| / eu / | / euʈa / | "one" | एउटा |
| / oi / | / poi / | "husband" | पोइ |
| / ou / | / dʱou / | "Wash!" | धोऊ! |
| / ʌi / | / kʌile / | "when" | कैले |
| / ʌu / | / dzʌu / | "barley" | जौ |
| / ai / | / bʱai / | "younger brother" | भाइ |
| / au / | / au / | "Come!" | आऊ! |
Consonants
In Nepali, 27 consonants [8] [10] :
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Back lingual | Glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||||||
| Explosive | p pʰ | b bʱ | t tʰ | d dʱ | ts tsʰ | dz dzʱ | ʈ ʈʰ | ɖ ɖʱ | k kʰ | ɡ ɡʱ | ||||
| Fricatives | s | ɦ | ||||||||||||
| Trembling | r | |||||||||||||
| Approximants | (w) | l | (j) | |||||||||||
Morphology
Grammatical features: gender of nouns - male and female. The verb has 5 moods (desirable, hypothetical, surreal, etc.).
Syntax
In complex sentences, the subordinate part precedes the main part.
Vocabulary
The basis of the vocabulary is composed of words dating back to Sanskrit.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 https://www.ethnologue.com/language/npi
- ↑ Ethnologue - 19 - Dallas, Texas : SIL International , 2016.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130717170017/http://cbs.gov.np/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Major-Finding.pdf
- ↑ http://censusindia.gov.in/2011Census/C-16_25062018_NEW.pdf
- ↑ 1 2 Major highlights . Central Bureau of Statistics (2012). Date of treatment December 19, 2015. Archived March 20, 2015.
- ↑ Official Nepali language in Sikkim & Darjeeling . CensusIndia.gov.in.
- ↑ Clark, TW Nepali and Pahari // Current Trends in Linguistics. - Walter de Gruyter, 1973.- P. 252. - 732 p.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Pokharel, Madhav Prasad. Experimental analysis of Nepali sound system. - University of Pune, India, 1989.
- ↑ Khatiwada, Rajesh. Nepali // Journal of the International Phonetic Association. - Cambridge University Press, 2009. - Vol. 39. - P. 337-380.
- ↑ Bandhu, Chudamani; Dahal, Balabh Mani; Holzhausen, Andreas; Hale, Austin. Nepali Segmental Phonology. - Summer Institute of Linguistics [and] Tribhuvan University, 1971. - 94 p.
See also
- Tongues of Nepal
- Nepalese literature
- Sanskrit