Raji language
| Raji | |
|---|---|
| Region | Nepal, India |
Native speakers | 3,800 (2011 census)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | rji |
| Glottolog | raji1240 |
| ELP | Raji |
Raji is a small Sino-Tibetan language of Nepal and Uttarakhand, India. Speakers were until recently nomadic.
Distribution
[edit]Raji is spoken in the following areas of southwestern Nepal:[1]
- Lumbini Province: Banke and Bardiya districts
- Karnali Province: Surkhet
- Sudurpashchim Province: Kailali and Kanchanpur districts
It is also spoken by Raji people of Uttarakhand, India, primarily living in Pithoragarh district.
In Pithoragarh district, Rastogi (2015)[2] reports that Raji is spoken in the hamlets of Kimkhola, Bhogtirua, Ganagaon, Chipaltara, Madanbori, Kutachaurani, Altodi, Jamtadi, Khirdwari and Chakarpur.
Dialects
[edit]Khatri (2008)[3] divides Raji into 3 main regional dialects, for which he also provides word lists.
- Barabandale: spoken in Jyotinagar, Katasi, Lalbojhi, Kuti, Bhuruwa, Solta, Khairehi, and Keodi of Kailali District; Sundarpur, Bandevi Sibir, Daiji, krishanpur and Chela Sibir of Kanchanpur District; and Rajigaun, Galfa, and Babiyachaur of Surkhet District.
- Purbiya: Shankarpur, Machhagadh, Baniyabhar, Rambhapur, Dhakela, Dhadhawar, Sanoshree, Gulariya Municipality and Phanphena of Bardiya District.Also Speak in Chhinchu of Surkhet District.
- Naukule : Spoken in Jhil and Kuchaini of Chaumala, Shankarpur of Masuriya, Jarahi of Sadepani, Dhangaghi Municipality and Manera. All are located within Kailali District.
Phonology
[edit]| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | plain | p b | t d | ʈ ɖ | tʃ dʒ | k g | |
| aspirated | pʰ bʱ | tʰ dʱ | ʈʰ ɖʱ | tʃʰ dʒʱ | kʰ gʱ | ||
| Fricative | s | x | h | ||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɳ | ŋ | ||
| preaspirated | ʱm | ʱn | |||||
| Approximant | plain | w | l | r | j | ||
| preaspirated | ʱl | ʱr | ʱj | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i ĩ | u ũ | |
| Mid | e ẽ | ə ə̃ | o õ |
| Low | ɛ ɛ̃ | a ã |
References
[edit]- ^ a b Raji at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Rastogi, Kavita. 2015. Raji Orthography Development. Himalayan Linguistics, Vol. 14(2): 39–48. doi:10.5070/H914224947
- ^ Khatri, Ramesh. 2008. The structure of verbs and sentences of Raji. MA thesis, Kirtipur: Tribhuvan University.
- ^ a b Krishan, Shree (2001). Nagano, Yasuhiko; Lapolla, Randy J. (eds.). "A Sketch of Raji Grammar". New Research on Zhangzhung and Related Himalayan Languages. 3. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology: 449–497. doi:10.15021/00002153.
External links
[edit]- Raji Language Resource collection of Raji language documentation in the Computational Resource for South Asian Languages (CoRSAL) archive
| Official language | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indigenous languages |
| ||||||||||||||||||
 | This Sino-Tibetan languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |