Bahing | |
Region: | Nepal |
Date: | 2011 census |
Ethnicity: | Bahing |
Ref: | e18 |
Familycolor: | Sino-Tibetan |
Fam2: | Tibeto-Burman |
Fam3: | Mahakiranti (?) |
Fam4: | Kiranti |
Fam5: | Western |
Fam6: | Sunwari |
Iso3: | bhj |
Glotto: | bahi1252 |
Glottorefname: | Bahing |
Nation: | Nepal |
Notice: | IPA |
Bahing (also known as Paiwa, Dungmowa, Rukhusalu, Waripsawa, Timriwa, Dhimriwa, Nayango, Dhayango, Khaliwa/Khaluwa, Rendukpa/Rendu, Rungbu[1]) is a language spoken by 14449 people (census 2021) of the Bahing ethnic group in Nepal.[2] It belongs to the family of Kiranti languages, a subgroup of Sino-Tibetan.
The group Rumdali is also known as Nechali among some of them.
Ethnologue lists the following alternate names for Bahing: Baying, Ikke lo, Kiranti-Bahing, Pai Lo, Radu lo. Procha lo
Bahing is spoken in the following locations of Nepal (Ethnologue).
According to Ethnologue, Bahing consists of the Rumdali, Nechali, Tolacha, Moblocha, and Hangu dialects, with 85% or above intelligibility among all dialects.
The Bahing language was described by Brian Houghton Hodgson (1857, 1858) as having a very complex verbal morphology. By the 1970s, only vestiges were left, making Bahing a case study of grammatical attrition and language death.
Bahing and the related Khaling language have synchronic ten-vowel systems. The difference of pronounced as /[mərə]/ "monkey" vs. pronounced as /[mɯrɯ]/ "human being" is difficult to perceive for speakers of even neighboring dialects, which makes for "an unlimited source of fun to the Bahing people".[3]
Front | Central | Back | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | unrounded | unrounded | rounded | ||||||
short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | ||
High | pronounced as /link/ (इ) | pronounced as /link/ (इः) | pronounced as /link/ (उ़) | pronounced as /link / (उ़ः) | pronounced as /link / (उ) | pronounced as /link / (उः) | |||
High-mid | pronounced as /link / (ए) | pronounced as /link / (एः) | pronounced as /link / (ओ़) | pronounced as /link / (ओ़ः) | pronounced as /link / (ओ) | pronounced as /link / (ओः) | |||
Low-mid | pronounced as /link / (ए़) | pronounced as /link / (अ) | pronounced as /link / (अः) | ||||||
Low | pronounced as /link / (आ) | pronounced as /link / (आः) |
Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ (म) | pronounced as /ink/ (न) | pronounced as /ink/ (ङ) | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive/ Affricate | implosive | pronounced as /ink/ (ळ) | ||||||||
voiceless | unaspirated | pronounced as /ink/ (प) | pronounced as /ink/ (त) | pronounced as /ink/ (ट) | pronounced as /ink/ (च) | pronounced as /ink/ (क) | pronounced as /link/ | |||
aspirated | pronounced as /ink/ (फ) | pronounced as /ink/ (थ) | pronounced as /ink/ (ठ) | pronounced as /ink/ (छ) | pronounced as /ink/ (ख) | |||||
voiced | unaspirated | pronounced as /ink/ (ब) | pronounced as /ink/ (द) | pronounced as /ink/ (ड) | pronounced as /ink/ (ज) | pronounced as /ink/ (ग) | ||||
aspirated | pronounced as /ink/ (भ) | pronounced as /ink/ (ध) | pronounced as /ink/ (ढ) | pronounced as /ink/ (झ) | pronounced as /ink/ (घ) | |||||
Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ (स) | pronounced as /ink/ (ह) | ||||||||
Trill | pronounced as /ink/ (र) | |||||||||
Lateral | pronounced as /ink/ (ल) | |||||||||
Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ (व) | pronounced as /ink/ (य) |
Hodgson (1857) reported a middle voice formed by a suffix -s(i) added to the verbal stem, corresponding to reflexives in other Kiranti languages.