Kham language

Kham
Pang
Native to	Nepal
Region	Rapti Zone, Rolpa and Rukum Districts Dhaulagiri Zone, Baglung District
Ethnicity	Western Magar
Native speakers	27,000 (2011 census)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Mahakiranti ? Magaric Kham
Writing system	Devanagari
Official status
Official language in	No official status
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: kif – Eastern Parbate Pang kgj – Gamale Pang kip – Sheshi Pang kjl – Western Parbate Pang
Glottolog	kham1286[2]

Kham, also Magar Pang (Nepali: Pang)—narrowly defined—is a complex of Sino-Tibetan Magaric languages spoken natively in the highlands of the Rolpa and Rukum districts of Rapti and the westernmost part of Baglung district in Dhawalagiri Zone by western clans of the Magar tribe, called collectively western Magarss. Randy LaPolla (2003) proposes that Kham magar and Dhut magar may be part of a larger "Rung" group.

Geographical distribution

Ethnologue lists the following location information for the varieties of Kham.

Eastern Parbate Kham (dialects: Bhujel Kham, Nishel Kham) is spoken in the following villages of Baglung District, Dhawalagiri Zone.

• Nishel dialect: Nisi, Bhalkot, and Budhathok villages
• Bhujel dialect: Kuku, Diza, Kang, Masbang, Musuri, and Sukurdung villages

Western Parbate Kham (dialects: Takale, Maikoti, Mahatale, Lukumel, Wale, Thabangi)

• Rukum District, Rapti Zone
• Rolpa District, Rapti Zone
• Dolpa District, Karnali Zone

Taka-Shera considered to be the center of the Western Parbate Kham.

Gamale Kham (dialects: Tamali, Ghusbanggi)

• Rolpa District, Rapti Zone
• Baglung District, Dhawalagiri Zone

Gamale Kham is spoken in the western hills of Gam Khola, in Gam, Jhyalgung, Chalbang, Tamali, Dangadhara, Sheram, Ghusbang, Huiching, Guwakholagau, Maulabang, and Kuipadhara villages.

Sheshi Kham (dialects: Tapnanggi, Jangkoti)

• Western hills of Rukum District, Rapti Zone: in Jangkot, Kotgaon (Tapnang), Rimsek, Korcabang, Dangdung, Hwama, Dhangsi, Bhabang, and Ghapa villages.

Phonology

Consonants

Magar Pang has 22 consonants.

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	k
	voiced	b	d	ɡ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	kʰ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s
	voiced		d͡z
	aspirated		t͡sʰ
Fricative	voiceless		s		h
	voiced		z
Rhotic			ɾ
Approximant	central		j	w
	lateral		l

• The rhotic /ɾ/ is realized as a trill [r] at the end words. Otherwise, it is a flap.

Vowels

Magar Pang has 25 vowels.

	Front					Central			Back
	unrounded			rounded					unrounded			rounded
	short	long	nasal	short	long	short	long	nasal	short	long	nasal	short	long	nasal
Close	i	iː	ĩː	y	yː				ɯ	ɯː	ɯ̃ː	u	uː	iː
Mid	e	eː	ẽː	ø	øː	ə	əː	ə̃ː				ɯ	ɯː	õː
Open						ɡ	aː	ãː

• length
• nasalization
• diphthongs
• vowel harmony

Tone

• voice register

References

1. Eastern Parbate Pang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Gamale Pang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Sheshi Pang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Western Parbate Pang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Pang". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

• Kansakar, Tej R. (July 1993), "The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal, A General Survey" (PDF), Contributions to Nepalese Studies (Kirtipur, Nepal: Tribhuvan University) 20 (2): 165–173, retrieved April 10, 2011
• Watters, David E. (2002), A grammar of Pang, Cambridge grammatical descriptions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-81245-3