Doteli, or Dotyali () is an
Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 800,000 people, most of whom live in
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 a dialect of
Khas, which is an ancient form of the modern
Nepali language
Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a '' lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian st ...
, and is written in the
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...
script. It has official status in Nepal as per Part 1, Section 6 of the
Constitution of Nepal 2072 (2015).
There are four main dialects of Doteli, namely Baitadeli, Bajhangi Nepali, Darchuli and Doteli.
The
mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as a ...
between these dialects is high and all dialects of Doteli are able to share language-based materials.
Names of the language
The language is known by various names in the far–western region of Nepal, according to the districts.
Official status
The
Language Commission of Nepal has recommended Dotyali language as official language in
Sudurpashchim Province
Sudurpashchim Province ( ne, सुदूरपश्चिम प्रदेश, ''Sudurpashchim Province'') (''Far-West Province'') is one of the seven provinces established by the new constitution of Nepal which was adopted on 20 September ...
.
Origin and history
According to
Rahul Sankrityayan Doteli or Dotyali is a dialect of the
Kumaoni language
Kumaoni (;
) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by over two million people of the Kumaon region of the state of Uttarakhand in northern India and parts of Doti region in Western Nepal. As per 1961 survey there were 1,030,254 Kumaoni speakers i ...
which was brought to
Doti by a section of the
Katyuri dynasty of
Kumaon, which had ruled over Doti until 1790.The Doti kingdom was formed after the Katyuri kingdom broke up into eight different princely states.
In Nepal, Doteli is considered a Nepali dialect. However, local intellectuals and people of Doti, those who speak Doteli, are increasingly demanding their language to be recognized as one of the national languages of Nepal.
References
External links
Easy Nepali TypingEnglish to Nepali ConverterType Nepali with Nepali UnicodeType In Nepali UnicodeSaral Nepali Unicode
{{Authority control
Languages of Nepal
Languages written in Devanagari