The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.
SIL code: THL
ISO 639-2: inc
| Population | 300,000 or more in Nepal (1991 census). 993,388 all Tharu, 5.37% of the population (1991 census). Population total both countries 343,000. |
| Region | Rapti Zone, Dang District. Also in other areas of the Tarai, like Bardiya, Banke, Kailali, and Kanchanpur districts. Also spoken in India. |
| Alternate names | DANG THARU |
| Classification | Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Unclassified. |
| Comments | 68% to 91% intelligibility of Rana, 95% to 97% of Kathoriya. Some varieties listed as dialects have only 71% to 79% intelligibility of others. Some intelligibility difficulty with speakers from India. Closest to Mari Tharu. Possibly Eastern Hindi Group. 74% to 79% lexical similarity with Kathoriya, 72% to 74% with Sunha, 63% to 72% with Rana Thakur, 61% to 67% with Chitwan, 58% to 65% with Hindi. Educated people tend to be more bilingual in Nepali, men more than women, young people more than older people. Hindi and Maithili are also used. Dangaura is used almost exclusively in the family, with older people, children, and mainly with village leaders. They usually use Tharu with other Tharu, but sometimes Nepali. All ages. Vigorous. The Rana Tharu and Dangaura Tharu are well known, but the Kathoriya Tharu and other smaller groups are often unknown. Dang and Dangora are separate clans. Investigation needed: intelligibility with Deokuri, Kathoriya. Dictionary. SOV; postpositions; genitives after noun heads; adjectives, numerals before noun heads; CV, CVC, CCV; nontonal. Literacy rate in first language: Below 1%. Literacy rate in second language: 27.7% all Tharu (1991 census). Devanagari. Radio programs. Subtropical. Hill, valley. Agriculturalists. 600 to 900 meters. Traditional religion, Hindu overly. |
| India |
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