Nar Phu language

Nar Phu
Nar Phu
Native to	Nepal
Region	Manang district
Native speakers	600 (2011)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tamangic Manang Nar Phu; ; ;
Dialects	Nar (Lower Nar); Phu (Upper Nar);
Language codes
ISO 639-3	npa
Glottolog	narp1239
ELP	Nar Phu
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Nar Phu, or ’Narpa, is a Sino-Tibetan variety spoken in the two villages of Nar and Phu, in the Valley of the Nar Khola in the Manang district of Nepal. It forms a dialect continuum with Manang and may be intelligible with it; however, the Nar and Phu share a secret language to confound Gyasumdo and Manang who would otherwise understand them.^[1]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ
Low	a	ɑ

The language lacks all middle vowels and the open mid vowel /ɔ/.

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Velar
Plosive	unaspirated	p	t	ʈ		k
Plosive	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ		kʰ
Affricate	unaspirated		ts		tɕ
Affricate	aspirated		tsʰ		tɕʰ
Fricative			s		ɕ
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Lateral	voiced		l
Lateral	voiceless		l̥
Rhotic	voiced		r
Rhotic	voiceless		r̥
Approximant		w			j	ɰ

Comparatively to the English language, the /g/ is not in the language.

Tones

Nar Phu distinguishes four tones: high falling, high level, low rising murmured, and mid/low falling murmured.

Language Patterns

Nar-Phu has a different vowel system than other Tamangic languages, due to the amount of front vowels. Nar-Phu is a four-tone language. Tones 1 and 4 are falling; tones 3 and 4 are murmured. Tone 2 is distinguished by its clear, high quality. Nar-Phu has no formal gendered language system, but some suffixes are used to describe animals, even castrated male animals. Honorific Noun phrases are used when there is not a noun in place for said words. ^[1]

Swadesh List

čhipruŋ - Nar
ŋêe min - my name is
cɦecuke - children
tɦosor - happy/happier/happiness
læ̂se/yarcʌkômpʌ - Yarsagompa
šiŋ - wood
kɦêpɛ - eighth month
ɦyâŋi - yaks
momori - momo
kɦeskʌ - gas
læ̂pa - cup
bɦaʈʈi - hotel
eki - again
mɦi - dies
molompapɛ - religious books
molom - worship

[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Nar Phu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

Bibliography

Noonan, Michael (2003). "Nar-Phu" Sino-Tibetan Languages, edited by Randy LaPolla and Graham Thurgood, 336-352. London: Routledge.
Kristine A. Hildebrandt (2013). “Converb and aspect marking polysemy in Nar” Responses to Language Endangerment: In Honor of Mickey Noonan, edited by Elena Mihas, Bernard Perley, Gabriel Rei-Doval, and Kathleen Wheatley, 97-117. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kristine A. Hildebrandt, D.N. Dhakal, Oliver Bond, Matt Vallejo and Andrea Fyffe. (2015). “A sociolinguistic survey of the languages of Manang, Nepal: Co-existence and endangerment.” NFDIN Journal, 14.6: 104-122.
Mandala collections. Nar-Phu | Mandala Collections - Audio-Video. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2021, from https://av.mandala.library.virginia.edu/collection/nar-phu.

External links

Manang Languages Project of Kristine Hildebrandt
Nar Phu Valley Trekking Nepal
Nar-Phu language archive at the University of Virginia Tibetan and Himalayan Library

[e18-1] Nar Phu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[1]