Kiranti
The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirant or Kiranti, are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group. They are peoples of the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state of Sikkim ...
language spoken by about 4,310 people (Central Bureau of Statistics report 2001) in
Sagarmatha Zone
Sagarmāthā Zone ( ne, सगरमाथा अञ्चल) or Sagarmatha Anclal ( ne, सगरमाथा अञ्चल) was one of the fourteen zones of Nepal until the restructuring of zones into provinces. The headquarters of Sagarma ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...
. The actual population may be somewhat higher. The same term ‘Puma’ refers both to the people and the language they speak harma 2014
The
Himalayan Languages Project
The Himalayan Languages Project, launched in 1993, is a research collective based at Leiden University and comprising much of the world's authoritative research on the lesser-known and endangered languages of the Himalayas, in Nepal, China, Bhutan, ...
has produced the first grammatical sketch of Puma. Like other Kiranti languages, Puma has a maximum syllable form of (C) (G) V (C) (C) for open syllables and (N) C V C for closed syllables, where ‘G’ is a glide and ‘N’ is a nasal (Sharma 2014:92].
Mauwabote
Mauwabote is a village and Village Development Committee in Khotang District in the Sagarmatha Zone of eastern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census
The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central B ...
Pauwasera
Pauwasera is a village and Village Development Committee in Khotang District in the Sagarmatha Zone of eastern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census
The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central Bur ...
Khotang District
Khotang District ( ne, खोटाङ जिल्ला) is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern Nepal. The district, with Diktel as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has a population (2021) of 206,312.Beltar and Saunechour VDC's of
Udayapur District
Udayapur District ( ne, उदयपुर जिल्ला, is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern Nepal. The district, with Triyuga as its district headquarters, covers an area of and in 2001 had a population of 287,689, in 20 ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...
. It is also spoken in Ruwa Khola valley to Buwa Khola, and southward across the Dudh Koshi.
Education
Puma language is taught in 14 schools of Barahapokhari and Jantedhunga Rural Municipalities of Khotang district in Nepal since 2020.
References
Bibliography
*Sharma, Narayan Prasad. "Morphosyntax of Puma, a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal." PhD diss., SOAS, University of London, 2014. https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18554/1/Sharma_3615.pdf