Sunwar, Sunuwar, or Koinch (कोइँच; kõich; other spellings are Koinch and Koincha), is a Kiranti language of the Sino-Tibetan language family spoken in Nepal and India by the Sunuwar people. It was first comprehensively attested by the Himalayan Languages Project. It is also known as Kõits Lo (कोइँच लो ; kõica lo), Kiranti-Kõits (किराँती-कोइँच ; kirā̃tī-kõich), Mukhiya (मुखिया ; mukhiyā).[2][3]
| Sunuwar | |
|---|---|
| सुनुवार, कोइँच, किराँती-कोइँच, मुखिया | |
   'Kõica' in Jenticha script; 'Sunuwar' in Tikamuli and Devanagari script | |
| Region | Nepal; India (Sikkim and West Bengal) |
| Ethnicity | Sunuwar |
Native speakers | 37,898 (2011)[1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Devanagari Sunuwar (Sikkim, India) Tikamuli (2005) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  India
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | suz |
| Glottolog | sunw1242 |
| ELP | Sunwar |
The Sunwar language is one of the smaller members of the Tibeto-Burman language family. About 40,000 speakers are residing in eastern Nepal.
Names
editThe language is commonly known as Koic, for many ethnic Sunwar and Sunwar speakers also refer to the language as “Sunuwar, Koinch[4] , Koinch or Koincha (कोइँच); Kõits Lo (कोइँच लो), Kiranti-Kõits (किराँती-कोइँच) or Mukhiya (मुखिया).”
Moreover, most Sunwar speakers have the surname (सुनुवार), Sunuvār in Latin script.[5]
Geographic distribution
edit
The Sunuwar language is commonly spoken in a cluster of Sunuwar villages, located around the region of the core spoken language. These villages are scattered alongside the river banks of Likhu Khola, in two bordering central-eastern districts of Nepal, distant from the main Nepalese road system:[5] in the Okhaldhū۠ngā District (part of Koshi Province), around the village of Vacul; and in the Rāmechāp District (part of Bagmati Province), around the villages of Pahare and of Kũbhu Kãsthālī for a smaller group of Sunwar speakers. The majority of the Sunwar speakers live on the southern border area of this region, between the villages of Pahare and Vacul.
Located 1,800 meters above sea level, their fields aren’t all fallow from year round cultivation[5] (Borchers, 2008). Therefore, many Sunwar households are farmers, own a small lot of land and livestock. Moreover, each village often visits their neighboring village markets to purchase inaccessible goods such as spices, sugar, tea, and salt. In the winter, they experience no snow but freezing temperatures. In warmer weather, they experience a lot of rainfall, in the summer, monsoon rainfall. Especially between June and August, it is when they experience the most rain, more so monsoon rainfall.
According to Borchers, there are other villages located outside of the core region. The Surel are claimed to be Sunwar speakers however there are no certainties that it is true.
Written language
editSunuwar (or Koĩts) native alphabet in Nepal & Sikkim, India
editSunuwar speakers from Nepal and Sikkim, northeastern India, use the Sunuwar alphabet (ISO 15924 script code: Sunu) for printed materials such as newspapers and literature. The alphabet, also known as Sunuwar alphabet, Sunuwar Lipi, Koĩts Lipi, was promoted in 1932 by Karna Bahadur Sunuwar (1926-1991), and got official recognition in Sikkim and Eastern Nepal where it is taught in schools. The Sunuwar script, is unrelated to any other scripts (even if some letter shapes have some resemblance to Latin and Limbu letter forms with similar phonetic value), and behaves like an alphabet with 35 base letters, written left-to-right, with syllabic features, extended with combining diacritics. The script also features its own set of decimal digits.
Unlike other Indic scripts derived from Brahmic, the Sunuwar alphabet includes no combining vowel signs: the script was initially a pure alphabet and the base consonants initially did not have any inherent vowel. But a second version of the script modified the orthographic rules to imply its presence, where the inherent vowel would be altered when appending any independent vowel letters, or suppressed by using a virama (or halant) sign in some consonant clusters or for consonants in final position of syllables. The independent letter form for the inherent vowel is now removed in most cases from the normal orthography in the middle of words, only used in isolation (i.e. no longer written when following a leading consonant, unless it is at end of words). A number of glyphic forms (conjuncts using consonants in half forms) were added to the script after this orthographic change for more easily writing consonant clusters, instead of writing multiple consonants with virama signs.[2][6]
Devanagari-based abugida for the Sunwar language in Nepal
editAlthough Sunwar has no traditional written language in Nepal, most literate speakers use the Devanagari abugida,[5][4] also used for writing Nepali.
- Independent vowels and diphthongs
|
|
- Consonants with inherent vowel
| क | ख | ग | ङ | अ् | च | ज | ट | ठ |
| ka | kha | ga | nga | ’ | ca | ja | ṭa | ṭha |
| [kə] | [kʰə] | [ɡə] | [ŋə] | [ʔ] | [t͡ʃə] | [d͡ʒə] | [ʈə] | [ʈʰə] |
| त | थ | द/ड | न/ण | प | फ | ब | म | य |
| ta | tha | da | na | pa | pha | ba | ma | ya |
| [tə] | [tʰə] | [də] | [nə] | [pə] | [pʰə] | [bə] | [mə] | [jə] |
| र | ल | व | श/ष | स | ह | व्ही/ह्व |
| ra | la | va | sha | sa | ha | hha |
| [rə] | [lə] | [və] | [ʃə] | [sə] | [hə] | [ɦə] |
- Combining diacritics
- The sign ्, known in Sunwar as sangmilu, represents a virama or halant; it is used to silent the inherent vowel after the consonant.[7]
- The sign ँ, known in Sunwar as taslathenk, corresponds to the candrabindu in Devanagari; it is used to nasalize the vowel.[7]
| ् | ँ |
| sangmilu (virama or halant) | taslathenk (cadrabindu) |
| mutes the inherent vowel | indicates nasalization of the vowel |
Tikamuli native abugida (since 2005)
editIn 2005, another syllabic alphabet or abugida was developed for Sunuwar; it is known as Tikamuli.[8]
Phonology
editSunwar phonology is significantly influenced by the language of Nepali.
Consonants
editThe Sunwar language has a mid-sized arrangement of thirty-two consonantal phonemes:
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | ŋ ⟨ṅ⟩ | |||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | t̪ ⟨t⟩ | ʈ ⟨ṭ⟩ | c ⟨c⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | ʔ ⟨ʔ⟩ | |
| aspirated | pʰ~ɸ ⟨ph⟩ | t̪ʰ ⟨th⟩ | ʈʰ ⟨ṭh⟩ | (cʰ ⟨ch⟩) | kʰ ⟨kh⟩ | |||
| voiced | b ⟨b⟩ | d̪ ⟨d⟩ | (ɖ ⟨ḍ⟩) | ɟ ⟨j⟩ | ɡ ⟨g⟩ | |||
| breathy | (bʱ ⟨bh⟩) | (d̪ʱ ⟨dh⟩) | (ɖʱ ⟨ḍh⟩) | (ɟʱ ⟨jh⟩) | (ɡʱ ⟨gh⟩) | |||
| implosive | w~b ⟨ɓ⟩ | |||||||
| Fricative | sibilant | s ⟨s⟩ | ʃ ⟨ʃ⟩ | |||||
| plain | [ç] | [x] | h ⟨h⟩ | |||||
| Approximant | w~wʱ ⟨w⟩ | l̪ ⟨l⟩ | [ɭ] | j ⟨y⟩ | ||||
| Tap | ɾ ⟨r⟩ | |||||||
- Sound in parentheses only are heard in words borrowed from Nepali. Sounds in brackets are only heard as allophones.[5]
- The implosive sound [ɓ] was heard phonemically until recently among dialects. It is now heard as a plosive [b] in the village of Saipu, and as an approximant [w] in the village of Kũbhu. It is only heard rarely in word-initial position among the speakers of Saipu.[5]
Vowels
editAccording to Borchers,[5] there are eleven vowel phonemes in Sunwar:
⟨a⟩ [a~ɑ], /ā / [aː], /e/ [e~ɛ], /i/ [i], /o/ [o], /u/ [u], / ū/ [uː~y], /ã/ [ã~ɑ̃], /ã̄/ [ãː], /ẽ/ [ẽ~ɛ̃], /ĩ/ [ĩ]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | /i/ [i], /ū/ [y] /ĩ/ [ĩ] |
/ū/ [uː~y], /u/ [u] (ũ) | |
| Mid | /e/ [e~ɛ] /ẽ/ [ẽ~ɛ̃] |
/o/ [o] (õ) | |
| Low | /a/ [a~ɑ], /ā / [aː] /ã/ [ã~ɑ̃], /ã̄/ [ãː] |
- Vowels with bar - Represents long vowels
- Vowels with tilde - Represents short nasalized vowels
- Vowels with bar and tilde - Represents long and nasalized vowels
Diphthongs
editThere are a total of eight diphthongs in Sunwar: /ai/ [aɪ], /aĩ/ [aɪ̃], /au/ [au], /eu/ [eu], /oi/ [oi], /oĩ/ [oĩ], /ui/ [ui], /uĩ/ [uĩ]
According to Borchers,[5] a principled way to distinguish diphthongs from a sequence of two monophthongs does not exist in the Sunwar language.
As exemplified by Borchers,[5] this table consists of examples of contrasts between diphthongs:
| /joi/ | [ɟoi] | ‘tiger’ |
| /joĩ/ | [ɟoĩ] | ‘younger sister’s husband’ |
| /muicā/ | [muicaː] | ‘wear shoes’ |
| /puĩcā/ | [puĩcaː] | ‘ask for, beg’ |
| /goi/ | [ɡoi] | ‘you’ |
| /gui/ | [ɡui] | ‘hand’ |
| /reu/ | [ɾeu] | ‘rain’ |
| /roi/ | [ɾoi] | ‘ill’ |
Syllable structure
editSyllable Structure of Sunwar: C(C)V(V)(C)(C)
Morphology
editMarkers
editCase-marking suffixes
editAccording to Borchers,[5] “all case markers in the Sunwar language are suffixes.”
As exemplified by Borchers,[5] this table consists of the noun case markers.
| Morpheme: | Gloss: | Marks: | Occurs suffixed to denotions of: |
|---|---|---|---|
| -mī ~
-amī ~-ī m ~ -m |
INS/L
OC |
agents, instruments, locations | persons,
things, locations |
| -kali ~
-kal |
OBJ | patients | persons,
animals |
| -ke | POSS | possessions of animate beings | persons,
animals |
| -ṅā | GEN | belongings of inanimate items | things,
locations |
| -lā/-le | FROM | place of departure of persons or items that changed places (ABL); time of begin of action | locations,
time |
| -re | FROM | place of departure of persons or items that changed places (ABL); time of begin of action | locations,
time |
| -au | VOC | name of person called | persons |
Dual marker
editA dual marker can be associated with dual/pair or the cardinal number ‘two’.[5]
| Morpheme: | ⟨-niʃi⟩ |
| Gloss: | Dual (DU) |
Example of dual marker by Borchers:[5]
iciṅā
Now
āl.niʃi
child.DU
chan
exist-NPT.3P
Now I have two children.
Plural marker
editIn the Sunwar language, both nouns and pronouns can be marked as dual or plural.
In addition items in a group can be marked plural.[5]
| Morpheme: | ⟨-paki ~ -puki ~ -piki⟩ |
| Gloss: | Plural (PL) |
Examples of the plural marker used to point at items in a group by Borchers:[5]
pujā
worship
dum
happen
pachi
after
rãga
buffalo
po.paki
pig.PL
sai.ni.mī
kill.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
After worship, they kill the buffalo, pig and so on.
sāg.paki
sāg.PL
acā.paki
pickle.PL
ho.ʃa.ṅāmin
keep.PF.then
ʃam
beer
cai
SNG
thupro
much
dum.ba
happen.NPT+3S
thupro
much
tu.ni.miิ
drink.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
Having stored away sāg (green leafy vegetable) and so on and pickle and so on and, there has to be much beer, they drink a lot.
Absent marker
editAccording to Borchers,[5] the Sunwar language does not have a zero morpheme, but it can still indicate the number amount of something through verbal agreement markers or numerals.
Example of the absent marker by Borchers:[5]
go
I
khame
rice
jāʔi.na.sku
eat.NPT-1D.1D
Wed eat rice.
Suffixes
editPossessive suffix: ⟨-ke⟩ (Animate Agent)
editAccording to Borchers,[5] the possessive suffix ⟨-ke⟩ is attached to a human or animate agent to indicate a possessive relationship.
| Morpheme: | ⟨-ke⟩ |
| Gloss: | Possessive (POSS) |
Examples of the possessive ⟨-ke⟩ by Borchers:[5]
nāso.ke
priest.POSS
dui.ta
two.piece
dhol
drum
bā.ba
stay.NPT+3S
dhanu.kan
bow.arrow
nāso.ke
priest.POSS
bā.ba
stay.NPT+3S
The priest has two drums. The priest has bow and arrow.
ne
nose
ʃo.ke
face.POSS
bhāg
part
ho
be-NPT.3S
The nose is part of the face.
Possessive suffix: ⟨-ke⟩ (inanimate subject)
editAccording to Borchers,[5] inanimate subjects are marked with the possessive suffix ⟨-ke⟩ to indicate what it is "made of". Example of possessive ⟨-ke⟩ indicating what it is "made of" by Borchers:[5]
jasi.ke
Jasi.POSS
bā.b
stay.NPT+3S
meko
that
jasi
Jasi
ā.kilā
its.peg
It is made of Jasi wood. This is a peg made of Jasi wood. (Jasi is the tree Bauhinia variegata)
Quantifiers
editQuantifiers in the Sunwar language are loaned from Nepali. Quantifiers are used for amounts or masses.[5] As exemplified by Borchers,[5] this table consists of quantifiers; including some that are loaned from Nepali.
| From: | Translation: | |
|---|---|---|
| aic | small | |
| sappa | very much | [<Nep. besarī ‘very much’] |
| ʃuʃi | many, very, much | [<Nep. dherai] |
| sappa pan | very | [<Nep. ekdam] |
| ici oci | a little | |
| imci | some, a bit | |
| la: | only | [<Nep. mātra] |
| ʃūʃ ʃūs | much, very, expensive | |
| oci | some, little | [<Nep. thorai] |
| i:ʃika | much, a lot | [<Nep. thupro] |
| umcili | small |
Examples of quantifiers that indicate amounts or masses by Borchers:[5]
go
I
ʃūʃ
much
ma.jai.nu.ṅ
NEG.eat.NPT+1S.1S
I don’t eat much.
disā
tomorrow
matrei
only
tui.nu.ṅ
know.NPT+1S.1S
I won’t know until tomorrow.
Syntax
editAdjectives: ⟨-ʃo⟩
editAccording to Borchers,[5] adjectives can belong to the verbal noun form, with an attached ⟨ʃo⟩. In the Sunwar language, some adjectives are borrowed from Nepali.
Adjectives: Color forms
editBorchers also notes that adjectives can belong to the form/term color.[5] As exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of the color form/terms.[5]
| Form: | Translation: |
|---|---|
| jirjir | colorful |
| giิk | light green, light blue |
| nilo | dark blue [<Nep. nilo] |
| buʃ | white |
| kher | black |
| lal | red |
| ojela | brilliant |
Adjectives: Non-verbal nouns without ⟨-ʃo⟩ attached
editThe Sunwar language has a category for adjectives under the form ‘others’, that are not verbal nouns. In addition, some adjectives may be interchangeable as an adverb.[5] As exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of the adjectives that are not verbal nouns ending in ⟨-ʃo⟩ form/terms.[5]
| Form: | Translation: |
|---|---|
| umcili/ici | small, little |
| ʃūʃ | much, many, very, expensive |
| theb | big, great (idea, thing) |
| wan | far |
| netha | near |
Examples of adjectives that are not verbal nouns ending in ⟨-ʃo⟩ by Borchers:[5]
ɓak
water
besā.n
very-much.REIN
wan
far
cha
exist-NPT.3S
Water is far away.
go
I
umcili
small
thiẽ
exist-PT.1S
bara
twelve
bars.ṅā
year.GEN
I was small, twelve years old.
nepāli.puki
Nepali.PL
ʃūʃ
very
choto
small
bā.ni.m
stay.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
Nepalese people are very small.
Particles
editAs exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of particles in correlation to various relationships.[5]
| Conjunction: | Translation: |
|---|---|
| de | or |
| hana | if |
| ṅana | if |
| dopā | that |
| meklāpāṅāmin | and then |
| pāṅāmin | and then |
| minu ⟨-nu⟩ | and then |
| mapatke | because of |
Postpositional particles
editAccording to Borchers, the Sunwar language borrows particles from Nepali that indicate the relationship between clauses.[5] Examples of postpositional particles by Borchers:[5]
| Postpotion: | Gloss: |
|---|---|
| <lā> | ‘only’ |
| ⟨-bhandā⟩: A comparison. | ‘than’ |
| <cai>: Singling out or can be seen as “exactly this one”. | SNG |
| <yo>: Inclusive focus. | ‘also’ |
| <kõ>: A tag on questions asking for affirmation or negation of a statement. | OR |
| <da ~ ta>: Sunwar focus marker | IFOC |
My stomach v.s. your stomach
editExample by Borchers:[5]
iิ
your
koʔj
stomach
your stomach
ā
my
koʔj
stomach
my stomach
Order: Subject-object-verb
editExamples of order: Subject/Object/Verb by Borchers.[5]
kuṣulanoʔbam.mī
shoemaker.INS/LOC
subject
pani
shoes
object
pher.ni.m
sew.NPT-23D/-P.3P
verb
Shoemakers make shoes.
Kocombo.mī
mongoose.INS/LOC
subject
buʔs
snake
object
sāʔī.b
kill.NPT+3S
verb
The mongoose kills a snake.
Vocabulary
editSeu+wa+la (Sewala)
| Sunwar | English |
|---|---|
| Namsewal | Hello / Good Bye |
| Sew | (Respect) / (Greeting) / I bow to you |
| Maahr | What |
| Dohpachaa | How to |
| Dohshow | How much |
| Dohmoh | How big |
| Go | I |
| Gopuki | We are |
| Ge | You (informal) |
| Gepukhi | You are (informal) |
| Goi | we (formal) |
| GoiPuki | we are (formal) |
| Daarshow | Beautiful |
| Rimso | Good |
| MaDarshow | Ugly |
Language structure
editIn linguistic typology, a subject+object+verb (SOV) language is one in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence always or usually appear in that order. If English were SOV, "Sam oranges ate" would be an ordinary sentence, as opposed to the actual Standard English "Sam ate oranges". (A Grammar of Sunwar) [9]
Go
I
subject
khamay
rice
object
jainu
eat
verb
"I eat rice."
Sunwar people called "Khangsa" sign language with voice and direct action, for foreign people who don't understand a sunuwar language.[citation needed][3]
Numerals (Devanagari)
edit| 1 | ichi/kaa |
|---|---|
| 2 | ni/nishi |
| 3 | sa/saam |
| 4 | le |
| 5 | nga |
| 6 | ruku/roku |
| 7 | chani |
| 8 | sasi |
| 9 | van |
| 10 | gau |
References
edit- ^ 2011 Nepal Census, Social Characteristics Tables
- ^ a b Ager, Simon. "Sunuwar alphabet". Omniglot. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- ^ a b Borchers, Dörte (2008). A grammar of Sunwar: descriptive grammar, paradigms, texts and glossary ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-90-04-16709-4.
- ^ a b Ager, Simon. "Sunwar Language and Alphabet". Omniglot. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai Borchers, Dörte (2008). A Grammar of Sunwar: Descriptive Grammar, Paradigms, Texts and Glossary. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-16709-4.
- ^ "Jenticha". ScriptSource.org. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- ^ a b Pandey, Anshuman (31 May 2011). "Proposal to Encode the Jenticha Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Unicode. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ Ager, Simon. "Tikamuli alphabet". Omniglot. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- ^ A Grammar of Sunwar. Dörte Borchers. 2008. ISBN 978-9004167094. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
- ^ Pandey, Anshuman (31 May 2011). "Proposal to Encode the Jenticha Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Retrieved 18 December 2019.
