Puneet Varma (Editor)

Languages of Nepal

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Official languages
  
Nepali (Gorkhali)

Languages of Nepal

Regional languages
  
Limbu • Maithili  • Newar  • Angika  • Tharu  • Gurung  • Tamang  • Magar  • Sherpa  • Kiranti  • Sunuwar  • Bhojpuri  • Rajbanshi

Sign languages
  
Nepali Sign Language Jhankot Sign Language, Jumla Sign Language, Ghandruk Sign Language

The 2011 National census lists 123 Nepalese languages spoken as a mother tongue (first language) in Nepal. Most belong to the Indo-Aryan and Sino-Tibetan language families.

Contents

The official language of Nepal is Nepali, formerly called Khaskura then Gorkhali. According to the 2011 national census, the percentage of Nepali Bhasi people is about 44.6%. Maithili is the second largest Nepalese language and according to 2011 Census, the percentage of Maithil people is 11.57%.

Classification

Three quarters of the 123 languages native to Nepal belong to the Tibeto-Burman language family; this includes Nepal Bhasa (Newar) (the original language of Kathmandu), the Limbu, Tamang, Magar and various sunuwar, Rai languages.

However, the official and numerically most important language, Nepali, belongs to the Indo-Aryan (Indic) branch of the Indo-European family, so that Indic languages constitute 79% of the population to Tibeto-Burman's 18%, even though most languages of both families are spoken by small numbers of people.

The Dravidian languages are represented by Kurux, and the Munda languages 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, which is nearly extinct today.

Nepal also has at several indigenous village sign languages, Jhankot Sign Language, Jumla Sign Language, and Ghandruk Sign Language, in addition to the Nepali Sign Language designed for national use.

Constitution

Part 1 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 (2072 B.S.) has some provisions about the languages of Nepal:
Article 6: All native languages spoken in Nepal are National language of Nepal
Article 7a: Nepali language in Devanagari script is used for Nepal government work
Article 7b: Beside Nepali language, any Provinces can choose one or more other languages spoken by majority population of that province for government work

References

Languages of Nepal Wikipedia