This article is about the modern Indo-Aryan language. For the language known as Nepal Bhasa, see Newar language.
Nepali
नेपाली
The word "Nepali" written in Devanagari script
Pronunciation
[ˈnepali]
Native to
Nepal
Bhutan
India
Region
Himalayas[a][1]
Ethnicity
Khas
Native speakers
L1: 19 million (2011–2021)[2] L2: 14 million (2021 census)[2] Total: 32 million[2]
Language family
Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Northern Zone
Eastern Pahari
Nepali
Early forms
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-Iranian
Proto-Indo-Aryan
Vedic Sanskrit
Classical Sanskrit
Prakrit
Apabhraṃśa
Khasa Prakrit
Writing system
Devanagari
Devanagari Braille
Signed forms
Signed Nepali
Official status
Official language in
Nepal
India
Sikkim
West Bengal (additional)
Recognised minority language in
Bhutan
Regulated by
Nepal Academy
Language codes
ISO 639-1
ne
ISO 639-2
nep
ISO 639-3
nep – inclusive code Individual code: npi – Nepali
Linguist List
nep Nepali (macrolanguage)
npi Nepali (individual language)
Glottolog
nepa1254
Linguasphere
59-AAF-d
Map showing distribution of Nepali speakers in South Asia. Dark red is areas with a Nepali-speaking majority or plurality, light red is where Nepali speakers are more than 20% of the population
Nepali (English: /nɪˈpɔːli/;[3] Devanagari: नेपाली, [ˈnepali]) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a lingua franca. Nepali has official status in the Indian state of Sikkim and in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration of West Bengal. It is spoken by about a quarter of Bhutan's population. Nepali also has a significant number of speakers in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Uttarakhand.[4] In Myanmar it is spoken by the Burmese Gurkhas. The Nepali diaspora in the Middle East, Brunei, Australia and worldwide also use the language.[5] Nepali is spoken by approximately 19 million native speakers and another 14 million as a second language.
Nepali is commonly classified within the Eastern Pahari group of the Northern zone of Indo-Aryan.
The language originated from the Sinja Valley, Karnali Province then the capital city of the Khasa Kingdom around the 10th and 14th centuries. It developed proximity to a number of Indo-Aryan languages, most significantly to other Pahari languages. Nepali was originally spoken by the Khas people, an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayan region of South Asia. The earliest inscription in the Nepali language is believed to be an inscription in Dullu, Dailekh District which was written around the reign of King Bhupal Damupal around the year 981. The institutionalisation of the Nepali language arose during the rule of the Kingdom of Gorkha (later became known as the Kingdom of Nepal) in the 16th century. Over the centuries, different dialects of the Nepali language with distinct influences from Sanskrit, Maithili, Hindi, and Bengali are believed to have emerged across different regions of the current-day Nepal and Uttarakhand, making Nepali the lingua franca.
Nepali is a highly fusional language with a relatively free word order, although the dominant arrangement is subject–object–verb word order (SOV). There are three major levels or gradations of honorific: low, medium and high. Low honorific is used where no respect is due, medium honorific is used to signify equal status or neutrality, and high honorific signifies respect. Like all modern Indo-Aryan languages, Nepali grammar has syncretised heavily, losing much of the complex declensional system present in the older languages. Nepali developed significant literature within a short period of a hundred years in the 19th century. Around 1830, several Nepali poets wrote on themes from the Sanskrit epics Ramayana and the Bhagavata Purana, which was followed by Bhanubhakta Acharya translating the Ramayana in Nepali which received "great popularity for the colloquial flavour of its language, its religious sincerity, and its realistic natural descriptions".[6]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^Richard Burghart 1984, pp. 118–119.
^ abcNepali at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Nepali at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^"Nepali | Definition of Nepali by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com also meaning of Nepali". Lexico Dictionaries | English. Archived from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^"52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
^"Nepali language | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
^"Nepali literature". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
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