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Nepali

A language of Nepal

ISO 639-3: nep

Population	11,100,000 in Nepal (2001 census). Population total all countries: 13,875,700.
Region	East and adjacent south central regions. Also in Bhutan, Brunei, India, United States.
Language maps	Eastern Nepal, reference number 73 Western Nepal, reference number 73 Western Nepal, reference number 73
Alternate names	Eastern Pahari, Gorkhali, Gurkhali, Khaskura, Nepalese, Parbatiya
Dialects	Baitadi, Bajhangi, Bajurali (Bajura), Doteli (Dotali, Gaunle), Soradi, Acchami, Darjula. Dialects listed may be quite distinct from Standard Nepali.
Classification	Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Northern zone, Eastern Pahari
Language use	National language.
Language development	Fully developed. Bible: 1914–2004.
Writing system	Devanagari script.
Comments	4 castes: Brahmin (highest or priestly), Chhetri (warrior), Vaishya (trader and farmer), Shudra (untouchable or lowest). People are called ‘Paharia’. Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian.

Also spoken in:

Bhutan

Language name	Nepali
Population	265,000 in Bhutan (2006).
Region	Foothills the entire length of Bhutan, especially south central.
Alternate names	Eastern Pahari, Gorkhali, Gurkhali, Khaskura, Lhotshammikha, Nepalese, Parbatiya
Comments	Called ‘Paharia’. May be majority language of the south. Many are Bhutanese citizens. Hindu, Christian.

India

Language name	Nepali
Population	2,500,000 in India (2001).
Region	West Bengal, Darjeeling area; Sikkim; Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Bihar; Haryana; Himachal Pradesh; Uttar Pradesh; Uttarakhand; Manipur; Mizoram; Nagaland; Meghalaya, Tripura.
Alternate names	Eastern Pahari, Gorkhali, Gurkhali, Khaskura, Nepalese, Parbatiya
Dialects	Gorkhali, Palpa, Nepali.
Language use	Official language.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 30%–100%. Literacy rate in L2: 25%–75%.
Comments	People are called ‘Paharia’. Hindu.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

Bandhu, Churamani, B. M. Dahal, Andreas Holzhausen, and Austin Hale. 1971. Nepali segmental phonology.

Bandhu, Churamani. 1973. "Clause patterns in Nepali."  

Cain, Kathy M. 1990. Participles and medial verbs in Nepali on the sentence and discourse level.

Caughley, Ross. 2002. "Ideophones in Chepang: their nature and sub-categorisation."

Hale, Austin and David E. Watters, editors. 1973. Clause, sentence, and discourse patterns in selected languages of Nepal 2: Clause.  

Hale, Austin, editor. 1973. Clause, sentence, and discourse patterns in selected languages of Nepal 1: General approach.  

Hale, Austin, editor. 1973. Clause, sentence, and discourse patterns in selected languages of Nepal 3: Texts.  

Hale, Austin, editor. 1973. Clause, sentence, and discourse patterns in selected languages of Nepal 4: Word lists.  

Hari, Anna Maria, editor; Toba, Sueyoshi, translator. 1977. Neparugo kaiwa dokuhon.

Hari, Maria, editor. 1971. Conversational Nepali.

Hari, Maria, editor. 1971. A vocabulary of the Nepali language.

Hari, Maria. 1973. "Nepali texts."  

Hari, Maria. 1973. "Tentative systemic organization of Nepali sentences."  

Lee, Hae Lyun. 2000. Nepali Conversation.

Lee, Sang Yong, Ballabh Mani Dahal and Mohanraj Sharma. 1999. Nepali - Korean dictionary.

McClelland, Clive. 1997. Review of: Aspects of Nepali grammar, Carol Genetti, editor.

Slater, Keith W. 1994. "On differentiating "daa" and "day"."

Summer Institute of Linguistics. n.d.. Trekker’s pocket-pal: Word and phrase guide.

Toba, Sueyoshi, compiler. 1980. Neparugo kisogoìshu.

Toba, Sueyoshi, Nagendra Dhimal and Chandra Dhimal. 2002. dhimaal-nepaalii-angrejii shabdasãgraha (Dhimal-Nepali-English glossary).

Toba, Sueyoshi, Santaman Khaling, and Chandra Khaling. 1974. A Nepali-Khaling, Khaling-Nepali glossary.

Toba, Sueyoshi. 1983. Neparugo kaiwa.

Toba, Sueyoshi. 1998. Review of: Nepaarugo jiten (Nepali-Japanese dictionary), by Saigusa Reiko.

Toba, Sueyoshi. 1999. "A typological comparison of Nepali and Japanese."

Varenkamp, Bryan. 1994. "The Nepali sentence repetition test: evaluating community-wide bilingualism."

Webster, Jeff. 1994. "Nepali proficiency in rural Nepal."

Webster, Jeff. 1996. "Survey of Nepali bilingualism among Magars of the Nawalparasi hills."

Yadava, Yogendra P. and Warren W. Glover, editors. 1999. Topics in Nepalese linguistics.

Vernacular Publications

ŋa batjoik bat ŋi khio. 2006.