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Bantawa

Bantawa is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nepal. Glottolog rates it shifting.

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Bantawa · 27.1°N 87.0°E

The Bantawa language (also referred to as An Yüng, Bantaba, Bantawa Dum, Bantawa Yong, Bantawa Yüng, Bontawa, Kirawa Yüng) is a Kiranti language spoken in the eastern Himalayan hills of eastern Nepal by Kirati Bantawa ethnic groups. They use a syllabic alphabet system known as Kirat Rai. Among the Khambu or Rai people of Koshi Province in Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kalimpong in India, Bantawa is the most extensively spoken language. According to the 2001 National Census, at least 1.63% of the Nepal's total population speaks Bantawa. About 370,000 speak Bantawa language mostly in eastern hilly regions of Nepal (2001). Although Bantawa is among the more widely used variety of the Bantawa language, it falls in the below-100,000 category of endangered languages. It is experiencing language shift to Nepali, especially in the northern region.

Bantawa is spoken in subject–object–verb order, and has no noun classes or genders.

From Wikipedia · Bantawa language · CC BY-SA 4.0

Words in Bantawa

MeaningWordRomanization
womanम
personmi*
nameniN*
eyemik*
earna*
nosena*
toothkiN*
tonguelem*
handThuk*
bloodhi*
boneyu*
skinhok*
kneelaN*
liverluN*
waterचा:वाchaəˀwa
firemi*
sunnam*
starsaN*
stoneluN*
treesiN*
leafba7*
nightnam*
doghuk*
fishNa*
lousesit*
one7ik*
twohisa*
I7iNka*
youkhana*
we7iNkan*

* in the simplified ASJP transcription

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Vocabulary

Grammar

Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.

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Glottolog · bant1281 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · bap