Nar Phu language
Sino-Tibetan variety spoken in the two villages of Nar and Phu, in Nepal
title: "Nar Phu language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["tamangic-languages", "languages-of-nepal"] description: "Sino-Tibetan variety spoken in the two villages of Nar and Phu, in Nepal" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nar_Phu_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Sino-Tibetan variety spoken in the two villages of Nar and Phu, in Nepal ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Nar Phu |
| states | Nepal |
| region | Manang district |
| speakers | 600 |
| date | 2011 |
| ref | e18 |
| familycolor | Sino-Tibetan |
| fam2 | Tamangic |
| fam3 | Manang |
| dia1 | Nar (Lower Nar) |
| dia2 | Phu (Upper Nar) |
| iso3 | npa |
| glotto | narp1239 |
| glottorefname | Nar Phu |
| notice | IPA |
| :: |
|name=Nar Phu |states=Nepal |region=Manang district |speakers=600 |date=2011 |ref=e18 |familycolor=Sino-Tibetan |fam2=Tamangic |fam3=Manang |dia1=Nar (Lower Nar) |dia2=Phu (Upper Nar) |iso3=npa |glotto=narp1239 |glottorefname=Nar Phu |notice=IPA
Nar Phu, or ’Narpa, is a Sino-Tibetan variety spoken in the two villages of Nar and Phu, in the Valley of the Nar Khola in the Manang district of Nepal. It forms a dialect continuum with Manang and may be intelligible with it; however, the Nar and Phu share a secret language to confound Gyasumdo and Manang who would otherwise understand them.
Phonology
Vowels
::data[format=table]
| Front | Back | Close | Close-mid | Open-mid | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
The language lacks all middle vowels and the open mid vowel /ɔ/.
Consonants
::data[format=table]
| Bilabial | Dental | Retroflex | Alveolo-palatal | Velar | Plosive | unaspirated | aspirated | Affricate | unaspirated | aspirated | Fricative | Nasal | Lateral | voiced | voiceless | Rhotic | voiced | voiceless | Approximant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Comparatively to the English language, the /g/ is not in the language.
Tones
Nar Phu distinguishes four tones: high falling, high level, low rising murmured, and mid/low falling murmured.
Language Patterns
Nar-Phu has a different vowel system than other Tamangic languages, due to the amount of front vowels. Nar-Phu is a four-tone language. Tones 1 and 4 are falling; tones 3 and 4 are murmured. Tone 2 is distinguished by its clear, high quality. Nar-Phu has no formal gendered language system, but some suffixes are used to describe animals, even castrated male animals. Honorific Noun phrases are used when there is not a noun in place for said words.
Swadesh List
- čhipruŋ - Nar
- ŋêe min - my name is
- cɦecuke - children
- tɦosor - happy/happier/happiness
- læ̂se/yarcʌkômpʌ - Yarsagompa
- šiŋ - wood
- kɦêpɛ - eighth month
- ɦyâŋi - yaks
- momori - momo
- kɦeskʌ - gas
- læ̂pa - cup
- bɦaʈʈi - hotel
- eki - again
- mɦi - dies
- molompapɛ - religious books
- molom - worship
[1]
References
Bibliography
- Noonan, Michael (2003). "Nar-Phu" Sino-Tibetan Languages, edited by Randy LaPolla and Graham Thurgood, 336-352. London: Routledge.
- Kristine A. Hildebrandt (2013). “Converb and aspect marking polysemy in Nar” Responses to Language Endangerment: In Honor of Mickey Noonan, edited by Elena Mihas, Bernard Perley, Gabriel Rei-Doval, and Kathleen Wheatley, 97-117. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
- Kristine A. Hildebrandt, D.N. Dhakal, Oliver Bond, Matt Vallejo and Andrea Fyffe. (2015). “A sociolinguistic survey of the languages of Manang, Nepal: Co-existence and endangerment.” NFDIN Journal, 14.6: 104-122.
- Mandala collections. Nar-Phu | Mandala Collections - Audio-Video. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2021, from https://av.mandala.library.virginia.edu/collection/nar-phu.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::