Magar Dhut (, ) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken mainly in

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 ...

, southern

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

, and in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

and

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, by the Magar people. 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 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 ...

. 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 In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...

Geographical distribution

Western Magar

Western Magar (dialects: ''Palpa'' and ''Syangja'') is spoken in the following

districts of Nepal Districts in Nepal are second level of administrative divisions after provinces. Districts are subdivided into municipalities and rural municipalities. There are seven provinces and 77 districts in Nepal. After the 2015 reform of administrat ...

(''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

''). *

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 ...

: Palpa District *

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 ...

Syangja District Syangja District (; ) is a part of Gandaki Province, and is one of the List of districts of Nepal, seventy-seven districts of Nepal. Its headquarter is Putalibazar with a diverse population including Brahmin, Magar, Chhetri, Dalit and Gurung com ...

, and a small part of the Tanahun District (west of the Bagmati River) * Small border area in

: Parbat District * Scattered throughout Karnali Province: especially in Surkhet District, Jajarkot District, and Dailekh District

Eastern Magar

Eastern Magar (dialects: ''Gorkha'', ''Nawalparasi'', and ''Tanahu'') is spoken in the following

(''

''). * ''Zone 1: central mountains of Nepal east of the Bagmati River'' **

: Tanahun District and southern

Gorkha District Gorkha District (), a part of Gandaki Province, is one of seventy-seven districts of Nepal, and the fourth largest district of the country in terms of area. It is historically linked with the creation of modern Nepal and the name of the legenda ...

: Palpa District Kapilvastu District and

Nawalparasi District Nawalparasi District (, ), part of which belongs to Gandaki Province and part to Lumbini Province, was one of the 75 districts of Nepal before being divided into Parasi District and Nawalpur District in 2015. The district, with Parasi as i ...

** Small border area 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 ...

Dhading District Dhading District ( ), a part of Bagmati Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Dhading Besi as its district headquarters, covers an area of , had a population of 338,658 in 2001 and 336,067 in 2011. Geogr ...

* ''Zone 2: eastern Nepal'' ** Sindhuli District,

** Okhaldhunga District,

Koshi Province Koshi Province () is an autonomous Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal adopted by the Constitution of Nepal on 20 September 2015. It covers an area of , about 17.5% of the country's total area. With the industrial city of Biratnagar as its cap ...

** Udayapur District,

** Scattered communities in central

, Dhankuta District, Bhojpur and southern

Ilam District Ilam district () is one of Districts of Province No. 1, 14 districts of Koshi Province of eastern Nepal. It is a Geography of Nepal#The Hill Region, Hill districts of Nepal, district and covers . The 2011 Nepal census, 2011 census counted 290,25 ...

Jhapa District Jhapa District (; ) is a district of Koshi Province in eastern Nepal named after a Rajbanshi Surjapuri language word "Jhapa", meaning "to cover" (verb). The 2021 Nepal Census, puts the total population of the district at 994,090. The total ar ...

** Southern

India

(Magar language is one of the additional official language) * Darjeeling district and Kalimpong district of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Golaghat district Golaghat district (Pron:ˌgəʊləˈgɑ:t) is an administrative districts of Assam, district in the state of Assam in India. It attained district status in 1987. The district headquarters are located at Golaghat. The district occupies an area of ...

, Sonitpur district and Tinsukia district districts of

* Some parts of

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

Phonology

Consonants

*-only occur in the Tanahu dialect. is only a marginal phoneme.

Vowels

References

External links

detailed language map, western Nepal. Eastern Magar is language #33; Western Magar is #113.
*ELAR archive o
Magar language documentation materialsThe Magar language - Linguistics research - Folktales in Magar (Western) - Nepal
{{Authority control Languages of India Languages of Nepal Languages of Sikkim Magaric languages Languages of Koshi Province Languages of Gandaki Province Languages of Lumbini Province Languages of Sudurpashchim Province Languages written in Devanagari