Nepali |
It is spoken by about 16 million people mainly in Nepal, India, Bhutan and Burma and they is written in the Devanagari alphabet.
Geographically they developed close to Tibetan-Burmese languages, such as Nepali-Bhasa (Neguari) and is influenced by them.
It is closely related to the Hindi languages and it is intelligible to some degree by Hindi or Urdu speakers but in many cases it is much more conservative with archaic Sanskrit elements and a lack of Perso-Arabic and English borrowings as in the case of Urdu and Hindi.
name of the language
Historically the language was called Khaskura, which means the language of the rice growers (Khas) and was the language of the Khasa kingdom that dominated the mountains of present-day Nepal in the 13th-14th century.
Then the language came to be called Gurkali or Gurkhali, meaning the language of the Gurkas or Gurkhas, the fierce Nepalese warriors whom the British classified as warlike peoples and used very often in military operations and to enforce order.
Only later did Nepalese come to be called Nepali, from the word Neguari, a controversial name since Neguari is another language.
Other well-known names for the language is Parbatiya (Mountain Language) from the Nepalese people of the same name and Lhotsamiha (Southern Language) also from the Bhutanese people of the same name.
writing system
Nepali is written in a variant of the Devanagari alphabet from about the 12th century AD.
The British never colonised Nepal for economic reasons mainly. No trades routes ,no rivers to facilitate trade, very high mountains and warlike people.
The Mongols too just ignored Nepal while conquering everyone around it. I guess there isn't much to conquer there.
some Nepalese words and phrases
नाम (naam) = name
घर (ghar) = house
तपाईकी घर काहाँ हो?
Tapaiki ghara kaham ho?
Where are you from;
घर घर ... हो
part of ghara ........ ho. I am from ...............
तपाईंको / तिम्रो नाम के हो?
tapaiko / timro naam ke ho? What's your name;
नाम नाम ... हो
part naam ...... ho. my name is.........
Nepali national anthem