Languages of Nepal, referred to as Nepalese languages in the country's constitution, are the languages having at least an ancient history or origin inside the sovereign territory of

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, spoken by

Nepalis Nepali or Nepalese () are the permanent citizens of Nepal under Nepali nationality law. The term ''Nepali'' strictly refers to ''nationality'', meaning people holding citizenship of Nepal. Conversely, people without Nepalese citizenship but wi ...

. There were 124 mother tongues according to the "National Report on caste/ethnicity, language & religion", National Population and Housing Census 2021 in Nepal. Nepali accounted as a mother tongue for 44.86% while also being a second additional language for 46.2% of the total population. Most belong to the Indo-Aryan and

Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 ...

language families. The official working language at federal level is Nepali, but the constitution provisions each province to choose one or more additional official working languages. The Language Commission of Nepal in 2021 recommended 14 official languages for different provinces of Nepal. The mother languages of Nepal, or languages of Nepali origin are sometimes referred to as Nepali languages.

National languages

According to the

constitution of Nepal The Constitution of Nepal () is the present governing Constitution of Nepal. Nepal is governed according to the Constitution which came into effect on 20 September 2015, replacing the Interim Constitution of 2007. The constitution of Nepal is di ...

: "All languages spoken as the mother tongue in Nepal are the languages of the nation". Many of the languages also have various dialects. For example, the

Rai people The Rai (Kirati language, Kirati: also known as Jimee or Khambu, ''Rāi''; Devanagari: wikt:राई, राई) are an ethnolinguistic group belonging to the Kirati people, Kirat family and primarily Sino-Tibetan, Sino-Tibetan linguistic ethni ...

have about 30 languages. Some of the languages are similar and may be considered dialects. The distinction between dialects and languages is sometimes unclear.

Classification

Nepal's languages are mostly either

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

, while only a very few of them are Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian. Out of 123 languages of Nepal, the 48

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

, which are of the Indo-Aryan (Indic) sub-family (excluding English), constitute the largest group in terms of the numeric strength of their speakers, nearly 82.1% of population. Nepali,

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

, Maithili, Awadhi, the

Tharu languages The Tharu ( Tharu: थारु, ) or Tharuhat () languages are any of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the Tharu people of the Terai region in Nepal, and neighboring regions of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India. Tharu languages a ...

and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

fall in this group. The Sino-Tibetan family of Nepal's languages forms a part of its Tibeto-Burman group. Though spoken by relatively fewer people than the Indo-European family (17.3% of population), it includes a greater number of languages, about 63 languages. Languages belonging to this group include Tamang, Nepal Bhasa (Newar), Magar and Limbu. The small declining number of

Dravidian languages The Dravidian languages are a language family, family of languages spoken by 250 million people, primarily in South India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan, with pockets elsewhere in South Asia. The most commonly spoken Dravidian l ...

are represented by Kurux, and the

Munda languages The Munda languages are a group of closely related languages spoken by about eleven million people in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Historically, they have been called the Kolarian languages. They constitute a branch of the Austroasiatic langu ...

of the Austroasiatic family by Santali and Mundari. The indigenous languages of Nepal that predated the influx of Indic, Tibeto-Burman, and other families barely survive in the

Kusunda language Kusunda or Kusanda (endonym ) is a language isolate spoken by a few among the Kusunda people in western and central Nepal. As of 2023, it only has a single fluent speaker, Kamala Sen-Khatri, although there are efforts underway to keep the lan ...

, which is nearly extinct today. Nepal also has at several indigenous

village sign languages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

: Jhankot Sign Language, Jumla Sign Language, and Ghandruk Sign Language, in addition to the

Nepali Sign Language Nepalese Sign Language or Nepali Sign Language () is the main sign language of Nepal. It is a partially standardized language based informally on the variety used in Kathmandu, with some input from varieties from Pokhara and elsewhere. As an indi ...

designed for national use.

Constitutional status

Part 1 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 (2072 B.S.) contains these provisions about the languages of Nepal: *Article 6: All languages spoken as the mother tongue in Nepal are the languages of the nation. *Article 7(1): The

Nepali language Nepali (; , ), or ''Gorkhali'' is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official and most widely spoken Languages of Nepal, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a ''lingua fr ...

in the

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

script shall be the official language of Nepal. *Article 7(2): A Province may, by a provincial law, determine one or more than one languages of the nation spoken by a majority of people within the Province as its official language or languages, in addition to the Nepali language.

Languages in Nepal as of 2021

There were 124 mother tongues according to the "National Report on caste/ethnicity, language & religion", National Population and Housing Census 2021 in Nepal. Nepali accounted as a mother tongue for 44.86% while also being a second additional language for 46.2% of the total population.

Mother tongues

There were 124 mother tongues according to the "National Report on caste/ethnicity, language & religion", National Population and Housing Census 2021 in Nepal.111 were previously reported in the earlier census 2011 and 13 were newly found in the census 2021. The newly added mother tongues were ''Bhote, Lowa, Chum/Nubri, Baragunwa, Nar-Phu, Ranatharu, Karmarong, Mugali, Tichhurong Poike, Sadri, Done, Munda/Mudiyari and Kewarat.'' Population by mother tongue and sex, NPHC 2021

Second Language

There were 25 languages that were being used as second language by more than 10 thousand population on each in the "National Report on caste/ethnicity, language & religion", National Population and Housing Census 2021 in Nepal, whereas there were only 18 such languages reported as second language in the earlier census 2011. Population by second language, NPHC 2021

Official languages

Nepali in Devanagari script is the official working language in federal level. The constitution has provisioned provinces to choose one or more than one official language(s) besides Nepali. According to the Language Commission of Nepal Maithili and Limbu are recommended to have official status in Province No. 1; Maithili, Bhojpuri and Bajjika in Province No. 2; Tamang and Nepal Bhasa in

Bagmati Province Bagmati Province (, ''Bāgmatī pradēśa'') is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces of Nepal established by the constitution of Nepal. Bagmati is Nepal's second-most populous province and fifth largest province by area. It is bordered ...

; Magar and Gurung in

Gandaki Province Gandaki Province ( ) ), is one of the seven federal provinces established by the current constitution of Nepal which was promulgated on 20 September 2015. Pokhara is the province's capital city. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region in Southw ...

; Tharu and Awadhi in

Lumbini Province Lumbini Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province in western Nepal. The country's Provinces of Nepal, third largest province in terms of area as well as List of Nepalese provinces by population, population, Lumbini is home to the World Herita ...

; Nepali (Khas Bhasa)'s Karnali dialect and Magar in Karnali Province; Dotyali and Tharu in

Sudurpashchim Province Sudurpashchim Province () is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces established by the Constitution of Nepal, new constitution of Nepal which was adopted on 20 September 2015. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, ...

Scripts

Most of the languages are found exclusively in oral form. According to the Language Commission, fifteen scripts are currently in use in Nepal, आयोगले १५ वटा लिपि प्रचलनमा रहेको जनाएको छ । including the following: *

Devanagari script Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ancient '' Brāhmī'' script. It is one of the official scripts of India an ...

* Dham script * Kaithi script *

Khema script The Khema script, also known as Gurung Khema, Khema Phri, Khema Lipi, is used to write the Gurung language. The Language Commission of Nepal recognizes Khema as the official script of Gurung. Usage Devdaha Mother Tongues Academy, located in ...

* Limbu script * Magar Akkha script * Mithilakshar script * Nepal scripts *

Ol Chiki script The Ol Chiki () script, also known as Ol Chemetʼ (, , ), Ol Ciki, Ol, and sometimes as the Santali alphabet is the official writing system for Santali language, Santali, an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language recognized as an of ...

Tamyig script Tamyig script is used to write the Tamang language. The Tamyig script is a simplified version of the Tibetan script. The Tamang community has their own script which is known as ‘Tamyig’ script. Several literary books was published in Tamang ...

References

{{Authority control Culture of Nepal