Tharu, Dangaura

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A language of Nepal

ISO 639-3
thl
Alternate Names
Dangaha, Dangali, Dangauli, Dangora, Dangura
Population

500,000 in Nepal (2003), increasing. 10%–15% monolingual. Population total all countries: 674,000.

Location

Rapti Zone, Dang district; Bheri Zone, Bardiya, Banke, and Surkhet districts; Seti Zone, Kailali district; Mahakali Zone, Kanchanpur district; Lumbini Zone, Rupandehi and Kapilvastu districts. Also in India.

Language Maps
Language Status

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

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Central zone, Unclassified
Dialects

Dangaha (Dang). Closely related varieties: Deukhuri, Malhoriya, Desauriya. 68%–91% intelligibility of Rana Tharu [thr], 95% to 97% of Kathoriya [tkt]. Some intelligibility difficulty with speakers from India. Possibly Eastern Hindi Group. Lexical similarity: 85% with Deukhuri, 83% with Malhoriya, 72%–74% with Sonha [soi], 63%–72% with Rana Tharu [thr], 76% with Desauriya, 61%–67% with Chitwania [the], 70% with Kathariya [tkt], 58%–65% with Hindi [hin].

Typology

SOV; postpositions; noun head initial; genitives after noun heads; adjectives, numerals before noun heads; content q-word initial (usually); clause constituents indicated by case-marking; verbal affixation marks person and number; tense-aspect; passives and voice; CV, CVC, CCV; nontonal; 30 consonant and 8 vowel phonemes

Language Use

High vitality but increasing Nepali [npi] loanwords. Home, friends, religion. All ages. Educated people tend to use more Nepali [npi], men more than women, young people more than older people. Hindi [hin] is also used.

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: All Tharu as an ethnic group 28% (1991 census). Poetry. Magazines. Radio programs. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions: 2010.
Writing
Devanagari script.
Other Comments

Traditional religion, Hindu, Christian.

Also spoken in:

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