Kaike

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A language of Nepal

ISO 639-3
kzq
Alternate Names
Tarali Kham
Population

2,000 (2011 SIL), decreasing. No monolinguals. Ethnic population: 2,000 (2011 A. Regmi).

Location

Karnali Zone, Dolpa district, Shahartara VDC, Shahartara, Tupatara, Tarakot, and Belawa villages.

Language Maps
Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification
Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Western Tibeto-Burman, Bodish, West Bodish
Typology

SOV; postpositions; noun head final; no noun classes or genders; content q-word in situ; 1 prefix, up to 2 suffixes; clause constituents indicated by case-marking; consistently ergative; no passives or voice; semi-tonal; 29 consonant and 10 vowel phonemes; complex conjunct-disjunct system, and nominalization

Language Use

Vigorous. Home, friends, religion, work; mixed use: Education. All ages. Positive attitudes. Also use Nepali [npi] and Tibetan [bod].

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Kaike
Writing
Unwritten.
Other Comments

Kaike sometimes known as Tarali Kham, though quite different from Kham, a Himalayan language of western Nepal. (Bradley 1997:11). Kaike is both the ethnonym and the glossonym, as the fairy language (kai - fairy, ke - language). Buddhist, Hindu.