Sunwar language

Sunwar
Region	Nepal, India, Bhutan
Native speakers	38,000 (2011)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Mahakiranti ? Kiranti Western Kiranti Northwestern Kiranti (Sunuwar Kõits) Sunwar
Dialects	Sunuwar proper
Language codes
ISO 639-3	suz
Glottolog	sunw1242[2]

Sunuwar greeting

Sunwar, Sunuwar, or Kõits (कोँइच; kõica; other spellings are Koinch and Koincha) is a Kiranti language spoken in Nepal by the Sunwar people. It was first comprehensively attested by the Himalayan Languages Project. It is also known as Kõits Lo (कोँइच लो ; kõica lo), Kiranti-Kõits (किराँती-कोँइच ; kirā̃tī-kõica), Mukhiya (मुखिया ; mukhiyā).^[3][4]

Geographical distribution

Sunwar is spoken in the following locations of Nepal (Ethnologue).

• Eastern hills of Dolakha District and Ramechhap District, Janakpur Zone
• Northwestern Okhaldhunga District, Sagarmatha Zone

Vocabulary

Seu+wa+la (Sewala)

Sunuwar	English
Namsewal	Namaste
Seu	(Respect) / (Greeting) / I bow to you
Maar	What
Dohpachaa	How to
Dohshow	How much
Dohmoh	How big
Go	I
Gopuki	We are
Ge	You (informal)
Gepukhi	You are (informal)
Goi	You (formal)
GoiPuki	You are (formal)
Daarshow	Beautiful
MaDarshow	Ugly

Area

Sunwar is spoken in villages in the districts of Ramechap and Okhaldhunga, about 120 kilometers east of Kathmandu.^[4]

Writing systems

Though Sunwar is most commonly written with the Devanagari script, a native writing system, Jenticha, has seen limited use since the 1940s.

Numerals and alphabet (Devanagari)

Numerals

1	ichi/kaa	2	ni/nishi	3	sa/saam	4	le	5	nga
6	ruku/roku	7	chani	8	sasi	9	van	10	gau

Vowels

अ	a	आ	ā	इ	i	ई	ī	उ	u	ऊ	ū
ए	e	ऎ	ai	ओ	o	औ	au	ऑ	ang	ऒ	aha

Consonants

क

ka

ख

kha

ग

ga

घ

gha

ङ

ṅa

च

ca

छ

cha

ज

ja

झ

jha

ञ

ña

ट

ṭa

ठ

ṭha

ड

ḍa

ढ

ḍha

ण

ṇa

त

ta

थ

tha

द

da

ध

dha

न

na

प

pa

फ

pha

ब

ba

भ

bha

म

ṭa

य

ya

र

ra

ल

la

व

va

श

śa

ष

ca

स

sa

ह

ha

व्ह

hha

References

1. Sunwar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Sunuwar". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
3. Ager, Simon. "Jenticha alphabet, and the Sunuwar language". Omniglot. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
4. Borchers, Dörte (2008). A grammar of Sunwar : descriptive grammar, paradigms, texts and glossary ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9789004167094.

External links

• Sunuwar language website