Alternate Names: Daduwa, Gurung, Tamu Kyi
Dialects: Gorkha Gurung, Lamjung Gurung, Tamu Kyi. Eastern and Western Gurung , do not have adequate intelligibility to handle complex and abstract discourse. Daduwa town in Lamjung District seems central linguistically.
Status Notes: Language of recognized indigenous nationality: Gurung.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 227,000 (2007), decreasing. 326,000 all Gurung languages in Nepal (2011 census). 23,000 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 544,000. L2 users: 18,918 L2 speakers of all Gurung languages. Mainly occupational castes who live in and serve the Gurung communities (1991 census).
Language Use: Children and young people use Gurung less frequently than those who are older. Passed down only a little from generation to generation (UNESCO). Mixed use: Home, friends, religion, work, education. Some use among all ages. School graduates use some English [eng]. Also use Lhomi [lhm], Nepali [npi].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 30%. Literacy rate in L2: 30%. Radio programs. Bible portions: 1994.
Typology: SOV; postpositions; noun head final; genitives, adjectives, relative clause precede noun heads; numerals after noun heads; rising intonation in bipolar questions; no noun classes or genders; content q-word in situ; 1 prefix on negative verbs; up to 2 suffixes; clause constituents indicated by case-marking; case of noun phrase shown by preposition; no subject or object referencing in verbs; split ergative system according to tense; causatives; benefactives; aspect; no passives or voice; 24 consonant and 5 vowel phonemes; CV, CCV, CCCV; tonal: voice quality or register is part of tone system.
Writing System: Devanagari, Latin
Nation of Origin: Nepal
Other Comments: Buddhist, Hindu.