Jumli

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A language of Nepal

ISO 639-3
jml
Alternate Names
Central Nepali, Jumla, Jumleli, Khas Kura, Sijali, Singja, Sinjali
Population

40,000 (2001 SIL). 19,000 monolinguals.

Location

Karnali Zone, Jumla, Humla, Kalikot, Mugu districts; Seti Zone, Bajura district, east Bajhang, Achham districts.

Language Maps
Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Northern zone, Eastern Pahari
Dialects

Asi, Chaudhabis, Paanchsai, Sinja. 73%–89% intelligible with standard Nepali [npi]. Not sufficient to understand complex and abstract discourse. Lexical similarity: 73%–80% with standard Nepali [npi] (Bandhu 1971).

Typology

SOV; postpositions; noun head final; 2 genders; content q-word in situ; 1 prefix, up to 5 suffixes; clause constituents indicated by case-marking; verbal affixation marks person and number; ergativity; aspect; passives and voice; nontonal; 31 consonant and 6 vowel phonemes

Language Use

Home, friends, religion, work. All ages. Mixed attitudes. Some embarrassed by their own speech when speaking to Standard Nepali [npi] speakers. Some also use Nepali [npi] or Hindi [hin].

Language Development
Poetry. Magazines. Newspapers. Radio programs. Dictionary. Grammar.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Jumli
Writing
Devanagari script.
Other Comments

Traditional religion, Hindu, Buddhist (Lamaist), Christian.