Tharu, Dangaura

THL

developing

Alternate Names: Dangaha, Dangali, Dangauli, Dangora, Dangura

Dialects: Dangaha (Dang). 68%–91% intelligibility of Rana Tharu ,, 95% to 97% of Kathoriya ,. Some intelligibility difficulty with speakers from India. Possibly Eastern Hindi Group. Lexical similarity: 85% with Deukhuri, 83% with Malhoriya, 72%–74% with Sonha ,, 63%–72% with Rana Tharu ,, 76% with Desauriya, 61%–67% with Chitwania ,, 70% with Kathariya Tharu ,, 58%–65% with Hindi ,, 46%–52% with Kochila Tharu ,.

Status Notes: Language of recognized indigenous nationality: Tharu.

Genealogy:

Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Central zone
Unclassified

Demographics: 500,000 in Nepal (2003), increasing. Population for all Tharu varieties: 1,530,000 (2011 census). Population total all countries: 674,000. 28,500 monolinguals. L2 users: 46,600 L2 speakers for all Tharu languages (1991 census).

Language Use: High vitality but increasing Nepali [npi] loanwords. Home, friends, religion. All ages. Hindi [hin] is also used. Educated people tend to use more Nepali [npi], men more than women, young people more than older people.

Language Development: Literacy rate in L2: All Tharu as an ethnic group 28% (1991 census). Poetry. Magazines. Radio programs. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible portions: 2010.

Typology: SOV; postpositions; noun head initial; genitives after noun heads; adjectives, numerals before noun heads; content q-word initial (usually); clause constituents indicated by case-marking; verbal affixation marks person and number; tense-aspect; passives and voice; CV, CVC, CCV; nontonal; 30 consonant and 8 vowel phonemes.

Writing System: Devanagari

Nation of Origin: Nepal

Other Comments: Traditional religion, Christian, Hindu.