Alternate Names: Kath-Bhotiya, Lama Bhote, Murmi, Rongba, Sain, Tamang Gyoi, Tamang Lengmo, Tamang Tam
Dialects: Dhading. All Western Tamang varieties have high mutual intelligibility. Lexical similarity: 94% with Western Trisuli Tamang ,, 82%–83% with Western Rasuwa Tamang ,, 76%–78% with Southwestern Tamang ,, 76%–77% with Eastern Gorkha Tamang ,, 72%–80% with Eastern Tamang ,.
Status Notes: Language of recognized indigenous nationality: Tamang.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 55,000 (1991 census), increasing. Population for all Tamang varieties: 1,350,000 (2011 census).
Language Use: Home; mixed use: Friends, religion, work, education. All ages. Positive attitudes. Also use Tibetan [bod] in religious contexts. Also use Nepali [npi] in official contexts.
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 1%–10%. Literacy rate in L2: 25%–75%. Taught in primary schools. Poetry. Magazines. Newspapers. New media. Radio programs. Dictionary.
Typology: SOV; postpositions; noun head both initial and final; no noun classes or gender; no prefixes, up to 4 suffixes; clause constituents indicated by case-marking; ergativity; genitives after noun head; relatives before noun head; question word medial; tense and aspect; no passives or voice; CV, CVC, CCV, V, CCVC, CVCCC; tonal; 25 consonant and 5 vowel phonemes.
Writing System: Devanagari
Nation of Origin: Nepal
Other Comments: Traditional religion, Buddhist.