Magar
Dhut
मगर ढुट
Native toNepal, India
RegionNepal; significant communities in Bhutan; Sikkim; Assam and Darjeeling district of India
Ethnicity1.9 million Magar people (2011 census of Nepal)[1]
Native speakers
840,000 (2001–2006)[1]
Akkha script (official), Devanagari, Latin script
Official status
Official language in
 India
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
mgp – Eastern Magar
mrd – Western Magar
Glottologmaga1261
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Magar Dhut (Nepali: मगर ढुट, Nepali: [ɖʱuʈ]) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken mainly in Nepal, southern Bhutan, and in Darjeeling and Sikkim, India, by the Magar people. It is divided into two groups (Eastern and Western) and further dialect divisions give distinct tribal identity.[3] In Nepal 788,530 people speak the language.

While the government of Nepal developed Magar language curricula, as provisioned by the constitution, the teaching materials have never successfully reached Magar schools, where most school instruction is in the Nepali language.[4] It is not unusual for groups with their own language to feel that the "mother-tongue" is an essential part of identity.

The Dhut Magar language is sometimes lumped with the Magar Kham language spoken further west in Bheri, Dhaulagiri, and Rapti zones. Although the two languages share many common words, they have major structural differences and are not mutually intelligible.[5]

Geographical distribution

Western Magar

Western Magar (dialects: Palpa and Syangja) is spoken in the following districts of Nepal (Ethnologue).

Eastern Magar

Eastern Magar (dialects: Gorkha, Nawalparasi, and Tanahu) is spoken in the following districts of Nepal (Ethnologue).

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain sibilant
Stop voiceless p t̪* t t͡s k (ʔ)
aspirated pʰ t̪ʰ* tʰ t͡sʰ kʰ
voiced b d̪* d d͡z ɡ
murmured bʱ d̪ʱ* dʱ d͡zʱ ɡʱ
Fricative voiceless s h
voiced ɦ
Nasal voiced m n ŋ
murmured mʱ nʱ ŋʱ
Lateral voiced l
murmured lʱ
Approximant voiced w ɹ j
murmured wʱ ɹʱ jʱ

*-only occur in the Tanahu dialect.

/ʔ/ is only a marginal phoneme.[6]

Phoneme Allophones
/p/ [p̚]
/pʰ/ [ɸ]
/t/ [tʲ], [t̚], [ʈ]
/tʰ/ [θ]
/d/ [dʲ], [ɖ], [ɽ]
/k/ [kʲ], [k̚]
/kʰ/ [x]
/ɡ/ [ɡʲ]
/t͡s/ [t͡ʃ]
/t͡sʰ/ [t͡ʃʰ]
/dz/ [dʒ]
/d͡zʱ/ [d͡ʒʱ]
/s/ [ʃ]
/h/ [ɦ]
/n/ [nʲ]
/ŋ/ [ŋʲ]

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
ʌ
Open a
Diphthongs
/ia/
/iu/
/ei/
/eu/
/aɪ/
/au/
/oi/

[6]

Phoneme Allophones
/i/ [i] [ɪ] [i̤] [i̤ː] [ĩ]
/e/ [e] [ɛ] [ẽ] [e̤] [e̤ː]
/a/ [ä] [æ] [ä̃] [äˑ] [ä̤] [ä̤ː]
/u/ [u] [ʊ] [u̟] [ṳ] [ṳː] [ũ]
/ʌ/ [ʌ] [ə] [ə̃] [ʌ̤] [ʌ̃]
/o/ [o] [o̟] [õ] [oˑ] [o̤] [o̤ː]

References

  1. ^ a b Eastern Magar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Western Magar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). 16 July 2014. p. 109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  3. ^ "The Eastern Magar of Nepal". Archived from the original on 18 March 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
  4. ^ B. K. Rana. "Mother Tongue Education for Social Inclusion and Conflict Resolution". Appeals, News and Views from Endangered Communities. Foundation for Endangered Languages. Archived from the original on 16 February 2003. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
  5. ^ Kansakar, Tej R. (July 1993). "The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Nepal - A General Survey" (PDF). Contributions to Nepalese Studies. 20 (2): 165–173. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  6. ^ a b Grunow-Hårsta, Karen A. (2008). A descriptive grammar of two Magar dialects of Nepal: Tanahu and Syangja Magar. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. pp. 32–67.

Further reading

External links

Magar language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
Sino-Tibetan branches
Greater Magaric languages
Languages of Nepal
Languages of Northeast India
Authority control
Categories