Belhariya
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A language of Nepal
ISO 639-3
Alternate Names
Athpagari, Athpahariya, Athpare, Athpariya, Belhare
Population
600 (2011 census), decreasing.
Location
Kosi Zone, Dhankuta district, Belhara village and hill west of Dhankuta Bajar.
Language Maps
Language Status
6b (Threatened). Language of recognized indigenous nationality: Rai.
Dialects
None known. Different from Athpariya [aph], although also called and closely related to it (Winter and Hansson 1991). Not intelligible with Athpariya although Athpariya speakers claim full intelligibility (Bickel 1996:21).
Typology
SOV; postpositions; noun head final; no genders; content q-word in situ; up to 3 prefixes, up to 10 suffixes, and several clitics; clause constituents indicated by case-marking; verbal affixation marks person and number; ergativity; passives and voice; nontonal; 22 consonant and 8 vowel phonemes.
Language Use
Language Development
About 5 speakers are literate in their mother tongue. Dictionary. Grammar.
Language Resources
Writing
Devanagari script [Deva], recently developed.
Athpare refers to the ethnic group made up of Belhare and Athpariya which have close cultural ties, but who recognize their linguistic differences. They clarify by calling the Dhankuta people Noupagari and the Belhare people Athpagari (Bickel 1996). Traditional religion, Hindu.