Dolakha Newar
Dolakhāe Newar Dolakhā Newār
𑐡𑑂𑐰𑐵𑐮𑑂𑐏𑐵 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑐮 𑐨𑐵𑐲𑐵, Dwālkhā Nepal Bhasa
Native to	Nepal
Native speakers	(undated figure of 5,000–10,000^{[citation needed]})
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Mahakiranti Newaric Newar Dolakha Newar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	`east2773`

Dolakha Newar (endonym Dwālkhā Nepal Bhasa^[1]), or Eastern Newar, is a divergent dialect of the Newar language (Nepal Bhasa) spoken in Dolakha District, east of the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, by 5,645 Newar people as of 1988. Some speakers of Dolakha Newar can be found in Kathmandu for education or work.^[2]

Geographical region

Dolakha Newar is spoken in Dolakha town of Dolakha district, Tauthali of Sindupalchowk district, Listi and Duti of Kavre district.^[1]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	ʈ	tɕ	k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ	tɕʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d	ɖ	dʑ	ɡ
	murmured	bʱ	dʱ	ɖʱ	dʑʱ	ɡʱ
Fricative			s				h
Nasal	voiced	m	n			ŋ
Nasal	murmured
Tap	voiced		(ɾ)	[ɽ]
Tap	murmured		[ɾʱ]	[ɽʱ]
Lateral	voiced		l
Lateral	murmured
Approximant	voiced	w			j
Approximant	murmured

Notes

Marginal phonemes are in parentheses.
Allophonic variants are in Square brackets.
Tap consonants mainly occur as word-medial alternates of /t/, /d/, /dʱ/ or /ɖ/ (in Dolakha only).
/s/ can be heard as [ɕ] when occurring before front vowels/glide /i, e, j/.
Affricates /tɕ, dʑ/ can also shift to retracted sounds [t̠s̠, d̠z̠] when occurring before back vowels.

Vowels

	Front			Central			Back
	short	long	nasal	short	long	nasal	short	long	nasal
Close	i	iː	ĩ				u	uː	ũ
Close-mid	e	eː	ẽ				o	oː	õ
Mid				(ə)	(əː)	(ə̃)	ɔ~ɑ	ɔː~ɑː	ɔ̃~ɑ̃
Open-mid
Open				a	aː	ã

/o, oː/ and /u/ can also be heard as [ɔ, ɔː], and [ʊ].
In Dolakha Newar, the back vowel sound can be [ɑ], [ʌ], or [ə].^[3]^[4]^[5]
The following nasal vowels can also be distinguished in vowel length as /ĩː ẽː ɔ̃ː ãː õː ũː/.

Diphthongs

		Front		Central		Back
		oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
Diphthong	Close	ui	uĩ
	Mid	ei	eĩ	ɔi	ɔĩ	ɔu	ɔũ
	Open			ai	aĩ	au	aũ

Number

No.	Dolakha Newar
1	thi
2	ní
3	sõ
4	pe
5	ŋā
6	khu
7	nas
8	cyā
9	gu
10	ji(m)

References

^ ^a ^b Shrestha (PhD), Anita. "द्वाल्खा नेपाल भाषा : आधारभूत तहमा मातृभाषा शिक्षा". Bampijhyala. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
^ Genetti, Carol (2007). A Grammar of Dolakha Newar. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-019303-9.
^ Genetti, Carol (2003). Dolakhā Newār. The Sino-Tibetan Languages: London & New York: Routledge. pp. 353–370.
^ Hargreaves, David (2003). Kathmandu Newar (Nepāl Bhāśā). The Sino-Tibetan Languages: London & New York: Routledge. pp. 371–384.
^ Hale, Austin; Shrestha, Kedar P. (2006). Newār (Nepāl Bhāsā). Languages of the World/Materials, 256: München: LINCOM. pp. 1–22.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location (link)