- Gurung language
Infobox Language
name=Gurung
familycolor=Sino-Tibetan
states=Nepal ,India
region=South Asia
speakers=227,918 in Nepal
fam2=Tibeto-Burman
fam3=Himalayish
script=Tibetan script ,Devnagari script [
Bhotia ,Sherpa ,Thakali Gurung Kiranti ,Rai ,Limbu Nepal Bhasa Pahari Tamang ]Gurung (also, "Tamu Kyi",
Devnagari :तमु क्यी) is a term used to collectively refer to Eastern Gurung (ISO 639-3: ggn) and Western Gurung (ISO 639-3: gvr), nevertheless, mutual intelligibility between the two languages is limited. Total number of all Gurung speakers inNepal is 227,918 (1991 census). Perhaps, a distinction should be made between Gurung as anethnic group and the number of people who, actually, speakers of Gurung.It should be noted that Nepali, Nepal's official language is an Indo-European language, whereas Gurung is a
Sino-Tibetan (or according to recent revisions-Tibeto-Burman ) language. Gurung are recognized as an official nationality by the Government of Nepal.Classification
According to ethnologue.com, Gurung languages are classified as follows;
*
Sino-Tibetan :*
Tibeto-Burman ::*
Himalayish :::*
Tibeto-Kanauri ::::*
Tibetic :::::*
Tamangic ::::::*Gurung, Eastern [ggn]
:::::::*Lamjung Gurung:::::::*Gorkha Gurung:::::::*Tamu Kyui
::::::*Gurung, Western [gvr] :::::::*Southern Gurung (Syangja Gurung):::::::*Northwestern Gurung (Kaski Gurung)
Grammar
Some miscellaneous grammatical features of the Gurung languages are;
*SOV;
*postposition s;
*genitive s;
*adjective s relatives before noun heads;
*numeral s after noun heads;
*rising intonation in bipolarquestion s;
*1prefix onnegative verb s;
*maximum number ofsuffix es 3;
*case ofnoun phrase shown bypreposition ;
*no subject or object referencing in verbs;
*splitergative system according totense ;
*causative s;
*benefactive s;
*CV, CCV, CCCV;Phonetically, Gurung languages are tonal.
Writing system
Gurung languages use
Devanāgarī script.References
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=gvr Ethnologue report]
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