Thakali is a
Sino-Tibetan
Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
language of
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 ...
spoken by the
Thakali people, mainly in the
Myagdi and
Mustang Districts. Its dialects have limited
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 ...
.
Seke (
Tangbe, Tetang, Chuksang) is sometimes considered a separate language.
[ Other names and dialect names are Barhagaule, Marpha, Panchgaunle, Puntan Thakali, Syang, Tamhang Thakali, Thaksaatsaye, Thaksatsae, Thaksya, Tukuche, Yhulkasom.
]
Geographical distribution
Thakali is spoken in the middle of the Kali Gandaki River valley and in the upper part of the Kali Gandaki Gorge (also known as Thak Khola), in Mustang District, Dhawalagiri Zone. The Thakali area is bounded by Annapurna
Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the diffic ...
Himal on one side and Dhawalagiri Himal on the other, with Tatopani village in the south and Jomsom in the north ('' Ethnologue'').
The Tukuche dialect is spoken from Tukuche to Thaksatsae, in 13 villages: Tukuche, Khanti, Kobang, Larjung, Dampu, Naurikot, Bhurjungkot, Nakung, Tithi, Kunjo, Taglung, Lete, Ghansa. Many live outside the area.
Seke is spoken by Gurung of Chuksang, Tsaile, Tangbe, Tetang, and Gyakar villages of Mustang District, Dhawalagiri Zone. There are only 700 native speakers of this language, 100 of whom live in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. Reportedly, half of the New York City speakers live in the same apartment building.
Dialects
'' Ethnologue'' lists the following dialects of Thakali.
*Tukuche (Tamhang Thakali, Thaksaatsaye, Thaksatsae)
*Marpha (Puntan Thakali)
*Syang (Yhulkasom)
Seke has the following dialects.
*Tangbe
*Tetang
*Chuksang
References
External links
*
*
Tamangic languages
Languages of Nepal
Languages written in Tibetan script
Languages written in Devanagari
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