Sunwar language

Sunuwar greeting

Sunuwar, or Kõinch (कोँइच; kõica; other spellings are Koinch and Koincha) is a Kiranti language spoken in Nepal by the Sunuwar 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

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

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

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

Writing systems

Though Sunuwar 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 ma य ya र ra
ल la व va श śa ष ṣa स sa ह ha व्ह hha

References

  1. ^ Sunuwar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Sunuwar". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. 
  3. ^ Ager, Simon. "Jenticha alphabet, and the Sunuwar language". Omniglot. Retrieved 25 August 2014. 
  4. ^ a b Borchers, Dörte (2008). A grammar of Sunuwar : descriptive grammar, paradigms, texts and glossary ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9789004167094. 

External links