Alternate Names: “Bho Te bhasha” (pej.), “Kar Bhote” (pej.), “Kath Bhote” (pej.), Lhoket
Dialects: None known. Lexical similarity: 69% with Dolpo ,, 68% with Loke ,, 66% with Walungge ,, 65% with Lhasa Tibetan , and Kyerung (Kyirong) ,, 64% with Nubri ,, 60% with Helambu Sherpa ,, 58% with Sherpa ,, 57% with Jirel ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 810 in Nepal (2011 census), increasing. Population total all countries: 3,130. Ethnic population: 15,000.
Language Use: Vigorous. Home, friends, religion; mixed use: Work. All ages. Positive attitudes. 90% of men have functional trade level in Nepali [npi]. Women increasingly use Nepali. Educated Lhomis are fluent Nepali speakers. Also use Central Tibetan [bod]. Used as L2 by Eastern Gurung [ggn], Eastern Tamang [taj], Khaling [klr], Naaba [nao], Thudam [thw], Western Gurung [gvr].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 25%. Literacy rate in L2: 30%. Bilingual literacy campaign should impact adult (and women’s) literacy rate in Lhomi and Nepali [npi]. Poetry. Newspapers. New media. Videos. NT: 1995.
Typology: SOV; postpositions; noun head initial; masculine and feminine (limited class); content q-word precedes the main verb; 1 prefix, up to 3 suffixes; clause constituents indicated by case-marking; split ergativity; aspect; no passives or voice; tonal (tense-lax); 23 consonant and 8 vowel phonemes; evidentiality is a salient feature of Lhomi syntax.
Writing System: Devanagari
Nation of Origin: Nepal
Other Comments: Traditional religion, Buddhist (Lamaist), Christian.