Kiranti languages

The Kiranti languages (also called Bahing-Vayu in the terminology of Benedict (1972)) are a major family of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Nepal by the Kirat people.

Classification

The Kiranti languages are frequently posited to form part of a Maha-Kiranti family.

Starostin's "Sino-Kiranti" hypothesis posits that Kiranti is quite divergent, outside of Tibeto-Burman, so that the Sino-Tibetan family would be divided into Tibeto-Burman and Sino-Kiranti, or into Tibeto-Burman, Sinitic, and Kiranti. (He did not consider other Maha-Kiranti languages.)

The languages

There are about two dozen Kiranti languages. The better known are Bahing, Limbu, Vayu, and Kulung (Rai). Over all, they are:

Limbu

• Limbu (affinities to Eastern Kiranti)

Eastern Kiranti

• Greater Yakkha: Yakha, Belhare, Athpare, Chintang, Chulung
• Upper Arun River: Yamphu, Lorung, Meohang

Bantawa [bap], Camling [rab], Chukwa [cuw], Dungmali [raa], Kulung [kle], Lambichhong [lmh], Nachering [ncd], Phangduwali [phw], Pongyong [pgy], Puma [pum], Saam [raq], Sampang [rav], Waling [wly]

Central Kiranti

• Khambu (Rai): Kulung, Nachering, Sampang, Saam
• Southern: Bantawa, Puma, Camling, Dungmali

Western Kiranti

• Midwestern: Thulung (perhaps a primary branch of Kiranti)
• Chaurasiya: Wambule, Jerung
• Upper Dudhkosi River: Khaling, Dumi, Kohi
• Northwestern (Sunwari): Bahing, Sunwar, Wayu

References

• George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.
• Bickel, Balthasar, G. Banjade, M. Gaenszle, E. Lieven, N. P. Paudyal, & I. Purna Rai et al. (2007). Free prefix ordering in Chintang. Language, 83 (1), 43–73.
• James A. Matisoff: Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman. University of California Press 2003.

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