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GeezerVison is showing en.wikipedia.org — Sunwar language - Wikipedia
Sunuwar, or Koinch (कोइँच; kõich; other spellings are Koinch and Koincha), is a Kiranti language of the Sino-Tibetan language family spoken in Nepal and India by the Sunuwar people. It was first comprehensively attested by the Himalayan Languages Project. It is also known as Kõits Lo (कोइँच लो ; kõica lo), Kiranti-Kõits (किराँती-कोइँच ; kirā̃tī-kõich), and Mukhiya (मुखिया ; mukhiyā).[3] The Sunuwar language is one of the smaller members of the Tibeto-Burman language family. About 40,000 speakers are residing in eastern Nepal. NamesThe language is commonly known as Koic, for many ethnic Sunuwar speakers also refer to the language as “Sunuwar, Koinch, Koinch or Koincha (कोइँच); Kõits Lo (कोइँच लो), Kiranti-Kõits (किराँती-कोइँच) or Mukhiya (मुखिया).” Moreover, most Sunwar speakers have the surname (सुनुवार), Sunuvār in Latin script.[4] Geographic distribution  The Sunuwar language is commonly spoken in a cluster of Sunuwar villages, located around the region of the core spoken language. These villages are scattered alongside the river banks of Likhu Khola, in two bordering central-eastern districts of Nepal, distant from the main Nepalese road system:[4] in the Okhaldhū۠ngā District (part of Koshi Province), around the village of Vacul; and in the Rāmechāp District (part of Bagmati Province), around the villages of Pahare and of Kũbhu Kãsthālī for a smaller group of Sunwar speakers. The majority of the Sunwar speakers live on the southern border area of this region, between the villages of Pahare and Vacul. Located 1,800 meters above sea level, their fields aren’t all fallow from year round cultivation[4] (Borchers, 2008). Therefore, many Sunwar households are farmers, own a small lot of land and livestock. Moreover, each village often visits their neighboring village markets to purchase inaccessible goods such as spices, sugar, tea, and salt. In the winter, they experience no snow but freezing temperatures. In warmer weather, they experience a lot of rainfall, in the summer, monsoon rainfall. Especially between June and August, it is when they experience the most rain, more so monsoon rainfall. According to Borchers, there are other villages located outside of the core region. The Surel are claimed to be Sunwar speakers, however, there are no certainties that it is true. PhonologySunwar phonology is significantly influenced by the language of Nepali. ConsonantsThe Sunwar language has a mid-sized arrangement of thirty-two consonantal phonemes:
VowelsAccording to Borchers,[4] there are eleven vowel phonemes in Sunwar: ⟨a⟩ [a~ɑ], /ā / [aː], /e/ [e~ɛ], /i/ [i], /o/ [o], /u/ [u], / ū/ [uː~y], /ã/ [ã~ɑ̃], /ã̄/ [ãː], /ẽ/ [ẽ~ɛ̃], /ĩ/ [ĩ]
DiphthongsThere are a total of eight diphthongs in Sunuwar: /ai/ [aɪ], /aĩ/ [aɪ̃], /au/ [au], /eu/ [eu], /oi/ [oi], /oĩ/ [oĩ], /ui/ [ui], /uĩ/ [uĩ] According to Borchers,[4] a principled way to distinguish diphthongs from a sequence of two monophthongs does not exist in the Sunwar language. As exemplified by Borchers,[4] this table consists of examples of contrasts between diphthongs:
Syllable structureSyllable Structure of Sunuwar: C(C)V(V)(C)(C) Written languageSunuwar alphabet (Koĩts)Further information: Sunuwar alphabet
The Sunuwar alphabet (Sunwar: कोइँच , ̐ ̭), also known as Jenticha script, or Koĩts script, was promoted in 1932 by Karna Bahadur Sunuwar (1926-1991), and got official recognition in Sikkim and Eastern Nepal where it is taught in schools. Sunuwar speakers from Nepal and Sikkim, northeastern India, use the Sunuwar alphabet for printed materials such as newspapers and literature. The Sunuwar script is unrelated to any other scripts (even if some letter shapes have some resemblance to Latin and Limbu letter forms with similar phonetic value), and behaves like an alphabet with 35 base letters, written left-to-right, with syllabic features, extended with combining diacritics. The script also features its own set of decimal digits. Unlike other Indic scripts derived from Brahmic, the Sunuwar alphabet includes no combining vowel signs: the script was initially a pure alphabet and the base consonants initially did not have any inherent vowel. But a second version of the script modified the orthographic rules to imply its presence, where the inherent vowel would be altered when appending any independent vowel letters, or suppressed by using a virama (or halant) sign in some consonant clusters or for consonants in final position of syllables. The independent letter form for the inherent vowel is now removed in most cases from the normal orthography in the middle of words, only used in isolation (i.e. no longer written when following a leading consonant, unless it is at end of words). A number of glyphic forms (conjuncts using consonants in half forms) were added to the script after this orthographic change for more easily writing consonant clusters, instead of writing multiple consonants with virama signs.[5] Tikamuli
The Tikamuli script (Sunwar: तिकामुली ब्रेसे) is a writing system developed by Tikaram Mulicha for writing the Sunuwar language. It is an abugida writing system based on the Brahmi, created within the Sunuwar community in Nepal as an alternative to the Jenticha script (Sunuwar script). The script has one vowel carrier with 5 diacritics, 32 basic consonants and 3 diacritic marks. At present, the use of this script is limited to Nepal, with the wider community preferring the Koits script. [6] DevanagariFurther information: Devanagari
Although Sunwar had no traditional written language in Nepal, most literate speakers use the Devanagari abugida,[4] also used for writing Nepali.
MorphologyMarkersCase-marking suffixesAccording to Borchers,[4] “all case markers in the Sunuwar language are suffixes.” As exemplified by Borchers,[4] this table consists of the noun case markers.
Dual markerA dual marker can be associated with dual/pair or the cardinal number ‘two’.[4]
Example of dual marker by Borchers:[4] iciṅā Now āl.niʃi child.DU chan exist-NPT.3P iciṅā āl.niʃi chan Now child.DU exist-NPT.3P Now I have two children. Plural markerIn the Sunuwar language, both nouns and pronouns can be marked as dual or plural. In addition items in a group can be marked plural.[4]
Examples of the plural marker used to point at items in a group by Borchers:[4] pujā worship dum happen pachi after rãga buffalo po.paki pig.PL sai.ni.mī kill.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI pujā dum pachi rãga po.paki sai.ni.mī worship happen after buffalo pig.PL kill.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI After worship, they kill the buffalo, pig and so on. sāg.paki sāg.PL acā.paki pickle.PL ho.ʃa.ṅāmin keep.PF.then ʃam beer cai SNG thupro much dum.ba happen.NPT+3S thupro much tu.ni.miิ drink.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI sāg.paki acā.paki ho.ʃa.ṅāmin ʃam cai thupro dum.ba thupro tu.ni.miิ sāg.PL pickle.PL keep.PF.then beer SNG much happen.NPT+3S much drink.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI Having stored away sāg (green leafy vegetable) and so on and pickle and so on and, there has to be much beer, they drink a lot. Absent markerAccording to Borchers,[4] the Sunuwar language does not have a zero morpheme, but it can still indicate the number amount of something through verbal agreement markers or numerals. Example of the absent marker by Borchers:[4] go I khame rice jāʔi.na.sku eat.NPT-1D.1D go khame jāʔi.na.sku I rice eat.NPT-1D.1D Wed eat rice. SuffixesPossessive suffix: ⟨-ke⟩ (Animate Agent)According to Borchers,[4] the possessive suffix ⟨-ke⟩ is attached to a human or animate agent to indicate a possessive relationship.
Examples of the possessive ⟨-ke⟩ by Borchers:[4] nāso.ke priest.POSS dui.ta two.piece dhol drum bā.ba stay.NPT+3S dhanu.kan bow.arrow nāso.ke priest.POSS bā.ba stay.NPT+3S nāso.ke dui.ta dhol bā.ba dhanu.kan nāso.ke bā.ba priest.POSS two.piece drum stay.NPT+3S bow.arrow priest.POSS stay.NPT+3S The priest has two drums. The priest has bow and arrow. ne nose ʃo.ke face.POSS bhāg part ho be-NPT.3S ne ʃo.ke bhāg ho nose face.POSS part be-NPT.3S The nose is part of the face. Possessive suffix: ⟨-ke⟩ (inanimate subject)According to Borchers,[4] inanimate subjects are marked with the possessive suffix ⟨-ke⟩ to indicate what it is "made of". Example of possessive ⟨-ke⟩ indicating what it is "made of" by Borchers:[4] jasi.ke Jasi.POSS bā.b stay.NPT+3S meko that jasi Jasi ā.kilā its.peg jasi.ke bā.b meko jasi ā.kilā Jasi.POSS stay.NPT+3S that Jasi its.peg It is made of Jasi wood. This is a peg made of Jasi wood. (Jasi is the tree Bauhinia variegata) QuantifiersQuantifiers in the Sunwar language are loaned from Nepali. Quantifiers are used for amounts or masses.[4] As exemplified by Borchers,[4] this table consists of quantifiers; including some that are loaned from Nepali.
Examples of quantifiers that indicate amounts or masses by Borchers:[4] go I ʃūʃ much ma.jai.nu.ṅ NEG.eat.NPT+1S.1S go ʃūʃ ma.jai.nu.ṅ I much NEG.eat.NPT+1S.1S I don’t eat much. disā tomorrow matrei only tui.nu.ṅ know.NPT+1S.1S disā matrei tui.nu.ṅ tomorrow only know.NPT+1S.1S I won’t know until tomorrow. SyntaxAdjectives: ⟨-ʃo⟩According to Borchers,[4] adjectives can belong to the verbal noun form, with an attached ⟨ʃo⟩. In the Sunwar language, some adjectives are borrowed from Nepali. Adjectives: Color formsBorchers also notes that adjectives can belong to the form/term color.[4] As exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of the color form/terms.[4]
Adjectives: Non-verbal nouns without ⟨-ʃo⟩ attachedThe Sunwar language has a category for adjectives under the form ‘others’, that are not verbal nouns. In addition, some adjectives may be interchangeable as an adverb.[4] As exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of the adjectives that are not verbal nouns ending in ⟨-ʃo⟩ form/terms.[4]
Examples of adjectives that are not verbal nouns ending in ⟨-ʃo⟩ by Borchers:[4] ɓak water besā.n very-much.REIN wan far cha exist-NPT.3S ɓak besā.n wan cha water very-much.REIN far exist-NPT.3S Water is far away. go I umcili small thiẽ exist-PT.1S bara twelve bars.ṅā year.GEN go umcili thiẽ bara bars.ṅā I small exist-PT.1S twelve year.GEN I was small, twelve years old. nepāli.puki Nepali.PL ʃūʃ very choto small bā.ni.m stay.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI nepāli.puki ʃūʃ choto bā.ni.m Nepali.PL very small stay.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI Nepalese people are very small. ParticlesAs exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of particles in correlation to various relationships.[4]
Postpositional particlesAccording to Borchers, the Sunwar language borrows particles from Nepali that indicate the relationship between clauses.[4] Examples of postpositional particles by Borchers:[4]
My stomach v.s. your stomachExample by Borchers:[4] iิ your koʔj stomach iิ koʔj your stomach your stomach ā my koʔj stomach ā koʔj my stomach my stomach SyntaxIn linguistic typology, a subject-object-verb (SOV) language is one in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence always or usually appear in that order. If English were SOV, "Sam oranges ate" would be an ordinary sentence, as opposed to the actual Standard English "Sam ate oranges". (A Grammar of Sunwar) [8] Go I subject khamay rice object jainu eat verb Go khamay jainu I rice eat subject object verb "I eat rice." Sunwar people called "Khangsa" sign language with voice and direct action, for foreign people who do not understand Sunuwar.[3][9] Examples of order: Subject/Object/Verb by Borchers.[4] kuṣulanoʔbam.mī shoemaker.INS/LOC subject pani shoes object pher.ni.m sew.NPT-23D/-P.3P verb kuṣulanoʔbam.mī pani pher.ni.m shoemaker.INS/LOC shoes sew.NPT-23D/-P.3P subject object verb Shoemakers make shoes. Kocombo.mī mongoose.INS/LOC subject buʔs snake object sāʔī.b kill.NPT+3S verb Kocombo.mī buʔs sāʔī.b mongoose.INS/LOC snake kill.NPT+3S subject object verb The mongoose kills a snake. VocabularySeu+wa+la (Sewala)
Numerals (Devanagari)
References
Further reading
External linksREIN: reinforcement marker NPT: non-preterite SNG: postposition of singularity PF: perfective gerund marker P: patient (of transitive verb) SVI: singular intransitive verb 23D: second and third person, dual Hidden categories:
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