FamilySearch Wiki

Nepal Languages

Revision as of 10:25, 11 April 2022 by Garycrobinson (talk | contribs) (creating language page)
Nepal Wiki Topics
Flag of Nepal
Beginning Research
Record Types
Nepal Background
Local Research Resources

Description

All languages spoken as the mother tongues in Nepal are the languages of the nation. Many of the languages also have various dialects.
The 2011 National census lists 123 languages spoken as a mother tongue (first language) in Nepal.
The official working language at federal level is Nepali, but the constitution provisions each province to choose one or more additional official working languages. A total of 14 official languages have been designated. [1]

According to the 2011 national census, the number of native speakers per spoken language is as follows: [2]

Word List(s)

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Alphabet

Pronunciation

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Dictionaries

  • Prakash A Raj, Nepali practical dictionary : Nepali-English, English-Nepali, New York : Hippocrene Books, Inc., 2014 - Available at WorldCat
  • Iswaranand Sresthacharya, A concise dictionary, Newar-English, Kathmandu, Nepal : Pilgrims Book House, 1995 - Available at WorldCat
  • Ulrike Kölver & Ishwaranand Shresthacarya, A dictionary of contemporary Newari Newari - English, Bonn VGH-Wiss.-Verl. 1994 - Available at WorldCat
  • Kamal Tuladhar, English-Nepal Bhasa dictionary, Kathmandu : J.R. Tuladhar, 2003 - Available at WorldCat
  • Shānulḥaq Ḥaqqī, Oxford English- Urdu dictionary, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2003 - Available at WorldCat
  • Gambhīradhoja Tumbāhāṅphe & Harkajaṅa Kurumbāṅa, Limbu-English-Nepali dictionary, Limbuvāna : Limbuvāna Adhyayana Kendra, 2015 - Available at WorldCat
  • Warren William Glover, Deu Bahadur Gurung & Jessie R Glover, Gurung-Nepali-English dictionary, Canberra Dep. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian Nat. Univ. 1977 - Available at WorldCat

Online Dictionaries

Language Aids

  • Nepali grammar - Wikipedia
  • Maithili grammar - Wikipedia
  • Christopher Jay Manders, A foundation in Nepali grammar, Bloomington : AuthorHouse, 2007 - Available at WorldCat
  • Ramawatar Yadav, A reference grammar of Maithili, Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, 1996 - Available at WorldCat
  • Shaligram Shukla, Bhojpuri grammar, Washington : Georgetown univ. Press, 1981 - Available at WorldCat
  • Gopāla Dahita, Tharu grammar, Bardiyā : Yunika Nepāla, Kendriya Pariyojanā Kāryālaya, 2013 - Available at WorldCat
  • David James Young, Urdu grammar, California : Createspace, USA 2014 - Available at WorldCat
  • Govindabahādura Tumbāhāṅa & Nepāla ra Eśiyālī Anusandhāna Kendra, A grammar of Limbu, Kathmandu : Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, 2011 - Available at WorldCat
  • Kristine A Hilderbrant, Grammar of Gurung, De Gruyter Mouton, 2019 - Available at WorldCat

Additional Resources

References

  1. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Languages with official status in Nepal," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status_in_Nepal, accessed 11 Apr 2022.
  2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Languages_of_Nepal," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Nepal#:~:text=Languages%20in%20Nepal%20by%20numbers%20of%20speakers, accessed 11 Apr 2022.


Language Background

The national language of Nepal is known as "Nepali". According to the most recent official census, conducted by His Majesty's Government of Nepal (HMG) in 2001, Nepal is home to around 20 million speakers of Nepali. Nepali is the mother tongue for 11 million people, and a lingua franca for many more. Outside of Nepal, Nepali is also spoken in northeast India and in much of Bhutan. On account of its widespread use in the states of West Bengal (particularly in the district of Darjeeling) and Sikkim, the Indian Constitution recognizes Nepali as a major language of India. In Bhutan, while Dzongkha is the national language, Nepali is widely spoken by people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Nepali is an Indo-Aryan language, and thus part of a linguistic grouping which includes other South Asian languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati. Modern Indo-Aryan languages are related to Sanskrit, much as modern European languages are related to Latin. To find out more about South Asian languages, visit the South Asian Linguistics website maintained by Dr. John Peterson. Nepali is written in the Devanagari (or 'Nagari') script, which is also used for Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit. Nepali Devanagari has 11 vowels and 33 consonants. The script is essentially phonetic, meaning that the pronunciation closely resembles the writing system. The script is written from left to right, with a top line indicating the word boundaries. In order to view or input the Devanagari script in a digital context, it is necessary to have a Devanagari font installed on one's computer or to have a computer which is Unicode compliant.

Hindi Language Resources

Some parts of Nepal speak Hindi. Below are online resources for the Hindi language.

Nepali Language Resources

Retrieved from "https://integration-ru.familysearch.org/en/wiki/index.php?title=Nepal_Languages&oldid=4705130"