Dumi language
Kiranti language of Nepal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dumi is a Kiranti language spoken in the area around the Tap and Rava rivers and their confluence in northern Khotang district, Nepal.[1] It is spoken in the villages such as Makpa, Kharbari, Baksila, Sapteshwor, and Kharmi.[citation needed]
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Tibeto-Burman
- Mahakiranti (?)
- Kiranti
- Western
- Upper Dudhkosi
- Dumi
- Upper Dudhkosi
- Western
- Kiranti
- Mahakiranti (?)
| Dumi | |
|---|---|
| Region | Khotang district, Nepal |
| Ethnicity | Dumi kirat. Ethnic population: 7,640 (2011 census)[1] |
| Speakers | Native: 2,500 (2017)[1] L2: 1,000 (2011 census)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | dus |
| Glottolog | dumi1241 |
| ELP | Dumi |
Dialects are Kharbari, Lamdija, and Makpa, with Makpa being the most divergent dialect.[1]
Phonology
Grammar
Dumi is an ergative-absolutive language. Embedded sentences may take on the ergative case. Subjects of intransitive verbs and patients of transitive verbs take the absolutive case. A transitive verb shows agreement with both agent and patient.
| Case | Suffix |
|---|---|
| Ergative | -(ʔ)a |
| Absolutive | -ø |
| Genitive | -(ʔ)a |
| Locative | -bi, -hoy |
| Comitative | -kəy |
| Ablative | -ləkə, -lam, -kə |
| Comparative | -yikə |
Nominal plurality is denoted by the suffix <-mɨl> and duality by the suffix <-nɨ>. The plural suffix precedes the ergative and most case endings.
Personal pronouns distinguish between three persons, three numbers, and between inclusive and exclusive. Third person -ɨm denotes only human referents. tom 'this' and mom 'that' can refer to non-human third person subjects. Additionally, aŋ, an, ɨm, and hammɨl have possessive prefixes o:-, a-, ɨ-, and ham-, respectively. The pronouns abo 'who', mwo: 'what', hempa 'where' and hempo 'which one' occupy the same position as their corresponding non-interrogative pronoun would occupy.
| Person | Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incl. | Excl. | Incl. | Excl. | ||
| 1 | aŋ | intsi | antsɨ | iŋki | aŋkɨ |
| 2 | an | antsi | ani | ||
| 3 | ɨm, tom, mom | ɨmnɨ, ɨntsi | hammɨl, ɨmmɨl | ||
The default word order is Subject-Object-Verb.
Attributive forms of numerals 1-9 use the numeral classifier -bo, while the attributive forms of other numerals are unmarked. The interrogative pronoun hittakbo 'how many' also carries this classifier.
| Numeral | Dumi | Numeral | Dumi |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tɨk | 6 | mu |
| 2 | sak | 7 | sɨm |
| 3 | ryek | 8 | ɨm |
| 4 | tɨm | 9 | nu/dek |
| 5 | ŋo | 10 | tɨksi |
