Alternate Names: Kumal, Kumali, Kumbale, Kumhale, Kumkale
Dialects: Arghakhanchi, Gorkha, Nawalparasi, Palpa. All four dialects are mutually intelligible, with Arghakhanchi being the most different.
Status Notes: Language of recognized indigenous nationality: Kumal.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 12,200 (2011 census), decreasing. 0 monolinguals. Ethnic population: 99,400.
Language Use: Religion; mixed use: Home, friends, work. Older adults and elderly. Some use among adolescents. Increasingly positive attitudes, though not reflected in their language choices. All are bilingual in Nepali [npi], even the elderly are speaking Nepali half the time with each other. Most children do not speak Kumal at all. (UNESCO).
Language Development: Poetry. Magazines. Newspapers. Films. Videos. Dictionary.
Typology: SOV; postpositions; noun head final; 2 noun classes or genders; content q-word in situ; 1 prefix, up to 3 suffixes; clause constituents indicated by case-marking; verbal affixation marks person and number; ergativity; both tense and aspect; passives and voice; nontonal; 29 consonant and 6 vowel phonemes.
Writing System: Devanagari
Nation of Origin: Nepal
Other Comments: Hindu.