16th edition

US$ 100.00

Ethnologue > Web version > Country index > Asia > Nepal > Sherpa

Sherpa

A language of Nepal

ISO 639-3: xsr

Population	50,000 in Nepal (2000 SIL), decreasing. Population total all countries: 86,200. Ethnic population: 154,622 (2001 census).
Region	Sagarmatha zone, Solu Khumbu District, mountains north. Khumbu is north from Namche Bazaar. Solu is south including Gumdi, Sete, Junbesi, Phaplu, and Sallery villages. Rolwaling area, Janakpur zone north border, Dolakha and Ramechap districts, and Taplejung, Mechi zone. Possibly in Lukla. Also in Bhutan, China, India, South Korea, United States.
Language map	Eastern Nepal, reference number 93
Alternate names	Serwa, Sharpa, Sharpa Bhotia, Xiaerba
Dialects	Khumbu, Solu, Ramechap (Western). 95% comprehension of Solu dialect by Western and Khumbu. Lexical similarity: 90% between Solu and Khumbu dialects; 67% with Jirel [jul]; 65% with Helambu Sherpa [scp]; 62% with Lowa [loy] and Dolpo [dre]; 58% with Lhomi [lhm] and Lhasa Tibetan [bod]; 57% with Kyerung [kgy]; 55% with Nubri [kte] and Walungge [ola].
Classification	Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Himalayish, Tibeto-Kanauri, Tibetic, Tibetan, Southern
Language use	Shifting to Nepali [nep] and English. Home, village. All ages. They are proud of their language, but ashamed that it isn’t developed more. In schools children are teased if they use Sherpa. In Kathmandu parents use Nepali with school-age children. Some also use Nepali, Tibetan [bod], or English. Guides (men) learn trekkers languages: German, Korean, French (1998 SIL). At least 90% speak Nepali (UNESCO).
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: 8%–9%. Literacy rate in L2: 35% (1991 census). In Kathmandu people are about 20% more literate than in Sherpa country. Radio programs. Grammar. Bible portions: 1975.
Writing system	Devanagari script. Tibetan script, used in India.
Comments	An official nationality. SOV. Buddhist (Lamaist).

Also spoken in:

China

Language name	Sherpa
Population	800 in China (1994).
Region	Tibet.
Language map	China
Alternate names	Serwa, Sharpa, Sharpa Bhotia, Xiaerba
Comments	Classified as Tibetan nationality. Buddhist (Lamaist).

India

Language name	Sherpa
Population	30,700 in India (2000). Ethnic population: 66,854.
Region	West Bengal, Darjeeling District; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh.
Alternate names	Serwa, Sharpa, Sharpa Bhotia, Xiaerba
Comments	A Scheduled Tribe. ‘Sharpa’ means ‘easterner’, so the term used in different countries may not always refer to this language. Buddhist (Lamaist).

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

GLOVER, Jessie R.; GLOVER, Warren W.; HALE, Austin; TAYLOR, Doreen, authors. 1969. Journal of the Tribhuvan University: special linguistic number.

GLOVER, Warren W., author. 1970. "Cognate counts via the Swadesh list in some Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal."

GLOVER, Warren W.; YADAVA, Yogendra P., editors. 1999. Topics in Nepalese linguistics.

GORDON, Kent, author. 1969. Sherpa phonemic summary.

GORDON, Kent, author. 1970. "Sherpa tone and higher levels."

GORDON, Kent; GORDON, Sandra, authors. 1970. "Sherpa texts."

GORDON, Kent; SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, authors. 1970. "Sherpa segmental synopsis."

GRENINGER, David E., author. 2011. "Another look at storyline marking in Sherpa narrative."  

GRENINGER, David Eugene, author. 2009. Aspects of discourse prominence in Solu Sherpa oral stories of personal experience.

GURUNG, Deepa; MORGAN, Mary M., authors. 2002. "Languages worth writing: endangered languages of Nepal."

HALE, Austin, author. 1969. "Some dimensions of contrast in Sherpa phonology."

HALE, Austin, author. 1970. "A phonological survey of seven Bodic languages of Nepal."

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.  

HALE, Austin, editor. 1975. Collected papers on Sherpa, Jirel.

HALE, Austin; PIKE, Kenneth L., editors. 1970. Tone systems of the Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal 2: Lexical lists and comparative studies.

HALE, Austin; PIKE, Kenneth L., editors. 1970. Tone systems of the Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal 3: Texts 1.

HALE, Austin; PIKE, Kenneth L., editors. 1970. Tone systems of Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal 1: Studies on tone and phonological segments.

HALE, Austin; PIKE, Kenneth L., editors. 1970. Tone systems of Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal 4: Texts 2.

HALE, Austin; SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, authors. 1970. "A note on Sherpa vowels."

HALE, Austin; WATTERS, David E., editors. 1973. Clause, sentence, and discourse patterns in selected languages of Nepal 2: Clause.  

LEE, Sang Yong, author. 2003. "A sociolinguistic survey of Sherpa."

PIKE, Kenneth L.; SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, authors. 1972. "Paired-sentence reversals in the discovery of underlying and surface structures in Sherpa discourse."

PIKE, Kenneth L.; SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, authors. 1973. "Paired-sentence reversals in the discovery of underlying and surface structures in Sherpa discourse."  

PITTMAN, Richard S., author. 1970. "Gurung, Tamang, Thakali, Sherpa, and Chepang prosodies."

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, author. 1975. "Clause patterns in Sherpa."

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, author. 1975. "Vowels and tone in the Sherpa verb."

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, author. 1978. "Narrative discourse in Sherpa."  

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, author. 1980. "Glides in Sherpa."

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, author. 1980. "Person markers in Sherpa."

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard, author. 1980. "Vowel and tone patterns in the Sherpa verb."

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard; SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Heiderose, authors. 1971. A vocabulary of the Sherpa language.

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Burkhard; SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Heiderose, authors. 1973. "Sherpa texts."  

SCHÖTTELNDREYER, Heiderose, author. 1971. A guide to Sherpa tone.

WATTERS, Stephen, author. 1999. "Tonal contrasts in Sherpa."