Newar language
| Newar | |
|---|---|
| Nepal Bhasa | |
| नेवाः भाय् Newāh Bhāy | |
| Native to | Nepal |
| Ethnicity | 1.26 million Newars (2001 census?) |
|
Native speakers
|
860,000 (2011 census) |
|
Sino-Tibetan
|
|
|
Early forms
|
Classical Newari
|
| Dialects |
|
| Devanagari, formerly various Nepalese scripts | |
| Official status | |
| Regulated by |
Nepal Bhasa Academy Nepal Bhasa Parishad |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: new – Newari nwx – Middle Newar |
|
Linguist list
|
nwx Middle Newar |
| Glottolog | newa1247 |
Newar or Newari, also known as Nepal Bhasa (नेपाल भाषा), is spoken as a native language by the Newar people, the indigenous inhabitants of Nepal Mandala, which consists of the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding regions in Nepal.
Although "Nepal Bhasa" literally means "Nepalese language", the language is not the same as Nepali (Nepali: नेपाली), the country's current official language. The two languages belong to different language families (Sino-Tibetan and Indo-Aryan, respectively), but centuries of contact have resulted in a significant body of shared vocabulary.
Newar was Nepal's administrative language from the 14th to the late 18th centuries. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Newar has suffered from official suppression. From 1952 to 1991, the percentage of the population in the Kathmandu Valley speaking Newar dropped from 75% to 44%, and Newar culture and language are under threat. The language has been listed as being "definitely endangered" by UNESCO.
The earliest occurrences of the name Nepālabhāṣā (or Nepālavāc) can be found in the manuscripts of a commentary to the Nāradasaṃhitā, dated 1380 AD, and a commentary to the Amarkośa, dated 1386 AD. Since then, the name has been used widely on inscriptions, manuscripts, documents and books.
In the 1920s, the name of the language known as Khas Kura, Gorkhali or Parbatiya was changed to Nepali, and the language began to be officially referred to as Newari while the Newars continued using the original term. Conversely, the term Gorkhali in the former national anthem entitled "Shreeman Gambhir" was changed to Nepali in 1951.
On 8 September 1995, following years of lobbying to use the old name, the government decided that the name Nepal Bhasa should be used instead of Newari. However, the decision was not implemented, and on 13 November 1998, the Minister of Information and Communication issued another directive to use the name Nepal Bhasa instead of Newari. However, the Central Bureau of Statistics has not been doing so.
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Wikipedia