Native speakers 1,500 (2011 census) Glottolog wayu1241 | ISO 639-3 vay | |
Language family Sino-TibetanMahakirantiKirantiWestern KirantiNorthwestern KirantiSunwarVayu (वायु) | ||
Vayu (वायु), Wayu or Hayu (हायु) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nepal by about 1740 people in the Janakpur Zone. Dialects include Sindhuli and Marin Khola.
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General information
The Vayu language features SOV ordering. There are strong Nepali influences in its phonology, lexicon, and grammar. Its writing system uses the Devanagari script. There are no known monolingual speakers of the language, as its speaking population also uses Nepali. Despite a lack of monolingual children, use of Vayu has survived into the 21st century
Geographical distribution
Vayu is spoken in the following locations of Nepal.
Vayu is spoken in the Sun Koshi valley, southwards across the Mahabharat range. Ethnic Vayu live on the hills on both sides of the Sun Kosi River but the language is only spoken in the villages listed.