Magar Dhut (, ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken mainly in Nepal, southern Bhutan, and in Darjeeling, Assam and Sikkim, India, by the Magars. It is divided into two groups (Eastern and Western) and further dialect divisions give distinct tribal identity. In Nepal 810,000 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. 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.
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).
-
Zone 1: central mountains of Nepal east of the Bagmati River
-
Zone 2: eastern Nepal
India
-
Sikkim (Magar language is one of the additional official language)
-
Darjeeling district and Kalimpong district of West Bengal
-
Golaghat district, Sonitpur district and Tinsukia district districts of Assam
-
Some parts of Manipur
Phonology
Consonants
*-only occur in the Tanahu dialect.
is only a marginal phoneme.
Vowels
Further reading
-
Shepherd, Gary, and Barbara Shepherd. A Vocabulary of the Magar Language. Comparative vocabularies of languages of Nepal. Kirtipur: Summer Institute of Linguistics and Institute of Nepal Studies, Tribhuvan University, 1972.
-
Shepherd, Gary, and Barbara Shepherd. Magar Phonemic Summary. Tibeto-Burman phonemic summaries, 8. Kirtipur: Summer Institute of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University, 1971.
External links