Sunuwar, or Koinch (कोइँच; ; 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 ; ), Kiranti-Kõits (किराँती-कोइँच ; ), and Mukhiya (मुखिया ; ).
The Sunuwar language is one of the smaller members of the Tibeto-Burman language family. About 40,000 speakers are residing in eastern Nepal.
Names
The language is commonly known as
Koic, for many ethnic Sunuwar speakers also refer to the language as “
Sunuwar, 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.
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:
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
Paharilotar and of
Kubukasthali 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
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.
Written language
Sunuwar (or Koĩts) native alphabet in Nepal & Sikkim, India
Sunuwar speakers from Nepal and
Sikkim, northeastern
India, use the Sunuwar alphabet (ISO 15924 script code:
Sunu) for printed materials such as newspapers and literature. The alphabet, also known as Sunuwar alphabet, Sunuwar Lipi, Koĩts Lipi, 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. 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.
Devanagari-based abugida for the Sunuwar language in Nepal
Although Sunwar has no traditional written language in Nepal, most literate speakers use the
Devanagari abugida,
also used for writing
Nepali language.
- Independent vowels and diphthongs
- Consonants with inherent vowel
virama or halant; it is used to silent the inherent vowel after the consonant.|
| ् | ँ |
| sangmilu (virama or halant) | taslathenk (cadrabindu) |
| mutes the inherent vowel | indicates nasalization of the vowel |
Tikamuli native abugida (since 2005)
In 2005, another syllabic alphabet or abugida was developed for Sunuwar; it is known as Tikamuli.
Phonology
Sunwar phonology is significantly influenced by the language of Nepali language.
Consonants
The Sunwar language has a mid-sized arrangement of thirty-two :
-
Sound in parentheses only are heard in words borrowed from Nepali. Sounds in brackets are only heard as allophones.
-
The implosive sound was heard phonemically until recently among dialects. It is now heard as a plosive in the village of Saipu, and as an approximant in the village of Kũbhu. It is only heard rarely in word-initial position among the speakers of Saipu.
Vowels
According to Borchers,
[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]
-
Vowels with bar - Represents long vowels
-
Vowels with tilde - Represents short nasalized vowels
-
Vowels with bar and tilde - Represents long and nasalized vowels
Diphthongs
There are a total of eight in Sunuwar: /ai/ aɪ, /aĩ/ aɪ̃, /au/ au, /eu/ eu, /oi/ oi, /oĩ/ oĩ, /ui/ ui, /uĩ/ uĩ
According to Borchers,
As exemplified by Borchers,
| /joi/ | ɟoi | ‘tiger’ |
| /joĩ/ | ɟoĩ | ‘younger sister’s husband’ |
| /muicā/ | muicaː | ‘wear shoes’ |
| /puĩcā/ | puĩcaː | ‘ask for, beg’ |
| /goi/ | ɡoi | ‘you’ |
| /gui/ | ɡui | ‘hand’ |
| /reu/ | ɾeu | ‘rain’ |
| /roi/ | ɾoi | ‘ill’ |
Syllable structure
Syllable Structure of Sunuwar: C(C)V(V)(C)(C)
Morphology
Markers
Case-marking suffixes
According to Borchers,
As exemplified by Borchers,
|
| -mī ~
-amī ~-ī
m ~ -m | INS/L
OC | agents, instruments, locations | persons,
things,
locations |
| -kali ~
-kal | OBJ | patients | persons,
animals |
| -ke | POSS | possessions of animate beings | persons,
animals |
| -ṅā | GEN | belongings of inanimate items | things,
locations |
| -lā/-le | FROM | place of departure of persons or items that changed places (ABL); time of begin of action | locations,
time |
| -re | FROM | place of departure of persons or items that changed places (ABL); time of begin of action | locations,
time |
| -au | VOC | name of person called | persons |
Dual marker
A dual marker can be associated with dual/pair or the cardinal number ‘two’.
Example of dual marker by Borchers:
Plural marker
In the Sunuwar language, both and can be marked as dual or plural.
In addition items in a group can be marked plural.
Examples of the plural marker used to point at items in a group by Borchers:
Absent marker
According to Borchers,
Example of the absent marker by Borchers:
Suffixes
Possessive suffix: (Animate Agent)
According to Borchers,
Examples of the possessive by Borchers:
Possessive suffix: (inanimate subject)
According to Borchers,
Quantifiers
Quantifiers in the Sunwar language are loaned from Nepali. Quantifiers are used for amounts or masses.
|
| aic | small | |
| sappa | very much | |
| ʃuʃi | many, very, much | |
| sappa pan | very | |
| ici oci | a little | |
| imci | some, a bit | |
| la: | only | |
| ʃūʃ ʃūs | much, very, expensive | |
| oci | some, little | |
| i:ʃika | much, a lot | |
| umcili | small | |
Examples of quantifiers that indicate amounts or masses by Borchers:
Syntax
Adjectives:
According to Borchers,
Adjectives: Color forms
Borchers also notes that can belong to the form/term color.
|
| jirjir | colorful |
| giิk | light green, light blue |
| nilo | dark blue |
| buʃ | white |
| kher | black |
| lal | red |
| ojela | brilliant |
Adjectives: Non-verbal nouns without attached
The Sunwar language has a category for under the form ‘others’, that are not . In addition, some adjectives may be interchangeable as an adverb.
|
| umcili/ici | small, little |
| ʃūʃ | much, many, very, expensive |
| theb | big, great (idea, thing) |
| wan | far |
| netha | near |
Examples of adjectives that are not ending in by Borchers:
Particles
As exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of particles in correlation to various relationships.
|
| de | or |
| hana | if |
| ṅana | if |
| dopā | that |
| meklāpāṅāmin | and then |
| pāṅāmin | and then |
| minu | and then |
| mapatke | because of |
Postpositional particles
According to Borchers, the Sunwar language borrows particles from Nepali that indicate the relationship between clauses.
|
| ‘only’ |
| : A comparison. | ‘than’ |
| : Singling out or can be seen as “exactly this one”. | SNG |
| : Inclusive focus. | ‘also’ |
| : A tag on questions asking for affirmation or negation of a statement. | OR |
| : Sunwar focus marker | IFOC |
My stomach v.s. your stomach
Example by Borchers:
Order: Subject-object-verb
Examples of order: Subject/Object/Verb by Borchers.
Vocabulary
Seu+wa+la (Sewala)
|
| Hello / Good Bye |
| (Respect) / (Greeting) / I bow to you |
| What |
| How to |
| How much |
| How big |
| I |
| We are |
| You (informal) |
| You are (informal) |
| we (formal) |
| we are (formal) |
| Beautiful |
| Good |
| Ugly |
Language structure
In 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 language were SOV, "Sam oranges ate" would be an ordinary sentence, as opposed to the actual Standard English "Sam ate oranges". (A Grammar of Sunwar)
Sunwar people called "Khangsa" sign language with voice and direct action, for foreign people who don't understand a sunuwar language.
Numerals (Devanagari)
External links
REIN: 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
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