| Bahing | |
|---|---|
| Region | Nepal |
| Ethnicity | Bahing |
| Native speakers | 12,000 (2011 census) |
| Language family | Sino-Tibetan
|
| Official status | |
| Official language in | Nepal |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bhj |
| Glottolog | bahi1252 |
| ELP | Bahing |
| This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. | |
Bahing is a one of the ethnicity present in Nepal which consist of the following ancestors: Paiwa, Dungmowa, Rukhusalu, Waripsawa, Timriwa, Dhimriwa, Nayango, Dhayango, Khaliwa/Khaluwa, Rendukpa/Rendu, and Rungbu. These ancestors spoke the Bahing language. The Bahing language was recorded (census 2021) to be spoken by 14449 people of the Bahing ethnic group in Nepal. 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.
Names
Ethnologue lists the following alternate names for Bahing: Baying, Ikke lo, Kiranti-Bahing, Pai Lo, Radu lo. Procha lo
Geographical distribution
Bahing is spoken in the following locations of Nepal (Ethnologue).
- Northeastern Okhaldhunga District, Sagarmatha Zone: Harkapur, Ragdip, Bigutar, Baruneswor, Okhaldhunga, Rumjatar, Barnalu, Mamkha, Ratmate, Serna, Diyale, and Bhadaure VDC's (Rumdali dialect)
- Mid-southeastern Okhaldhunga District: Ketuke, Moli, Waksa, and Ubu VDC's (Tolocha dialect)
- Southern tip of Solukhumbu District: Necha Batase and Salyan VDC's
- Khotang District
Dialects
According to Ethnologue, Bahing consists of the Rumdali, Nechali, Tolacha, Moblocha, and Hangu dialects, with 85% or above intelligibility among all dialects.
Documentation
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.
Phonology
Bahing and the related Khaling language have synchronic ten-vowel systems. The difference of "monkey" vs. "human being" is difficult to perceive for speakers of even neighboring dialects, which makes for "an unlimited source of fun to the Bahing people".
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | unrounded | unrounded | rounded | |||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| High | i ⟨इ⟩ | iː ⟨इः⟩ | ɯ ⟨उ़⟩ | ɯː ⟨उ़ः⟩ | u ⟨उ⟩ | uː ⟨उः⟩ | ||
| High-mid | e ⟨ए⟩ | eː ⟨एः⟩ | ɤ ⟨ओ़⟩ | ɤː ⟨ओ़ः⟩ | o ⟨ओ⟩ | oː ⟨ओः⟩ | ||
| Low-mid | ɛ ⟨ए़⟩ | ʌ ⟨अ⟩ | ʌː ⟨अः⟩ | |||||
| Low | ä ⟨आ⟩ | äː ⟨आः⟩ | ||||||
- Bahing language has no long vowel /ɛ/.
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Apico- alveolar |
Lamino- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m ⟨म⟩ | n ⟨न⟩ | ŋ ⟨ङ⟩ | ||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
implosive | ɓ ⟨ळ⟩ | |||||||
| voiceless | unaspirated | p ⟨प⟩ | t̪ ⟨त⟩ | t ⟨ट⟩ | t͡s ⟨च⟩ | k ⟨क⟩ | ʔ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ ⟨फ⟩ | t̪ʰ ⟨थ⟩ | tʰ ⟨ठ⟩ | t͡sʰ ⟨छ⟩ | kʰ ⟨ख⟩ | ||||
| voiced | unaspirated | b ⟨ब⟩ | d̪ ⟨द⟩ | d ⟨ड⟩ | d͡z ⟨ज⟩ | ɡ ⟨ग⟩ | |||
| aspirated | bʱ ⟨भ⟩ | d̪ʱ ⟨ध⟩ | dʱ ⟨ढ⟩ | d͡zʱ ⟨झ⟩ | ɡʱ ⟨घ⟩ | ||||
| Fricative | s ⟨स⟩ | ɦ ⟨ह⟩ | |||||||
| Trill | r ⟨र⟩ | ||||||||
| Lateral | l ⟨ल⟩ | ||||||||
| Approximant | w ⟨व⟩ | j ⟨य⟩ | |||||||
- Bahing has its unique sound /ɓ/ ळ.
- Nowadays use ट, ठ, ड, ढ, have disappeared or are less used.
Morphology
Hodgson (1857) reported a middle voice formed by a suffix -s(i) added to the verbal stem, corresponding to reflexives in other Kiranti languages.
References
- Bahing at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- linked to Rumjatar by Hanßon–Winter 1991
- Detailed language map of eastern Nepal, see language #4 near the map's north/south center and about 2/3 of the way from east to west
- (de Boer 2002 PDF)
External links
| Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim) |
|  | |||
| Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East and Southeast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal) |
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| Proposed groupings | |||||
| Proto-languages | |||||
| Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches. | |||||
| Kiranti languages | |
|---|---|
| Limbu | |
| Western | |
| Central | |
| Eastern | |
| Dhimalish | |
| see also: Mahakiranti languages | |
| Languages of Nepal | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Official language | |||||||||||||||||||
| Indigenous languages |
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