Rajbanshi

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A language of Nepal

ISO 639-3
rjs
Alternate Names
Gangai, Koch, Koche, Rajbangsi, Rajbansi, Tajpuria
Population

130,000 (2001 census), increasing.

Location

Mechi Zone, Jhapa district; Koshi Zone, Morang and Sunsari districts.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing). Language of recognized nationality (2002, NFDIN Act, No. 20, Section 2C).

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern zone, Bengali-Assamese
Dialects

Central Rajbanshi, Eastern Rajbanshi, Western Rajbanshi. Intelligibility is fairly high throughout the area (Eppele and Grimes 2001). Lexical similarity: 77%–95% with all varieties in Nepal (Eppele and Grimes 2001).

Typology

SOV; postpositions; noun head final; 2 noun classes or genders; content q-word in situ; 1 prefix, up to 4 suffixes; clause constituents indicated by both case-marking and word order; verbal affixation marks person and number; non-ergative; tense and aspect; passives and voice (no morphological passive, but 2 analytical passives); nontonal; 32 consonant and 6–7 vowel phonemes

Language Use

Vigorous. Home, friends, religion, work; mixed use: Education. All ages. Positive attitudes. A majority uses Nepali [npi] and Hindi [hin] as languages of wider communication. Some also use Maithili [mai] and Bengali [ben].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 38% (1991 census). Mother-tongue multilingual education and adult literacy programs have been carried out in villages throughout the Rajbanshi area. Taught in primary schools. Poetry. Newspapers. Radio programs. Films. Videos. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 2009.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Rajbanshi
Writing
Devanagari script.
Other Comments

Hindu, Christian.