Raji–Raute_languages

Raji–Raute languages

Raji–Raute languages

Sino-Tibetan branch of western Nepal and Uttarakhand, India

Raji–Raute is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family that includes the three closely related languages, namely Raji, Raute, and Rawat. They are spoken by small hunter-gatherer communities in the Terai region of Nepal and in neighboring Uttarakhand, India.

Quick Facts Geographic distribution, Linguistic classification ...

Like some other Tibeto-Burman languages, Raji–Raute languages have voiceless sonorants.[1]

Classification

Raute and Rawat are closely related; Raji is more distantly related.[1] Fortier classifies the Raji–Raute languages as follows.[1] Note that language varieties that classify within the Rawat subgroup are known by various names; Raute of Dadeldhura/Darchula is taxonomically a Rawat language, and is not to be confused with Raute proper.

Raji–Raute
  • Raute–Rawat
    • Raute (nomadic groups)
    • Rawat
      • Rajwar (spoken in Khirdwari)
      • Rawat
        • Rawat (also known as Ban Raji)
        • Raute of Dadeldhura/Darchula
  • Raji
    • Naukule
    • Bandale, Purbia

Schorer (2016)

Schorer (2016:293)[2] classifies Raji–Raute as part of his newly proposed Greater Magaric group.

Greater Magaric

Fortier (2012)

A database of 700 words for items from households of Raute and Ban Rawat speakers (Fortier 2012) indicates a largely Sino-Tibetan language ancestry. Deep Root[clarification needed] items include 58 words of Sino-Tibetan origin and 7 of Austroasiatic origin. Proto-family[clarification needed] items include 281 morphemes of Proto-Tibeto-Burman origin. Meso-root,[clarification needed] or subfamily items include 34 words of Proto-Kuki-Chin origin, 23 of Proto-Tani origin, 6 of Proto-Tangkulic origin, and 1 of Northern Chin origin. The database omits most loans of Indo-Aryan origin although 43 items were of Sanskrit origin. Work remains on identifying etymologies of the remaining 247 items in the Raute–Rawat database.

Distribution

Raji-Raute varieties are spoken in the following areas of Nepal and India.[1]

Vocabulary

The comparative vocabulary lists of Raji and Raute below are from Rastogi & Fortier (2005). Rastogi & Fortier (2005) also provide Purbia Raji and Janggali Raute forms.

Swadesh list

The following is a 100-word Swadesh list from Rastogi & Fortier (2005).

More information No., English gloss ...

Body parts

Rastogi & Fortier (2005) list the following body part terms.

More information No., English gloss ...

Footnotes

  1. [1]
    Fortier, Jana. Creating an Orthography for the Raute and Rawat.
  2. [2]
    Schorer, Nicolas. 2016. The Dura Language: Grammar and Phylogeny. Leiden: Brill.

References

  • George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.
  • Fortier, Jana (2012) "Annotated Dictionary of Raute and Rawat Languages"
  • Rastogi, Kavita and Jana Fortier. 2005. Daa, Nii, Sum/Khung: Comparative Vocabulary of the West-Central Himalayan Languages Rawati (Raji) and Khamci (Raute). Indian Linguistics 66. 105–115.

Further reading

  • Fortier, Jana. 2019. A Comparative Dictionary of Raute and Rawat: Tibeto-Burman Languages of the Central Himalayas. Harvard Oriental Series 88. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674984349
  • Krishan, Shree. 2003. Darma, Chaudangsi, and Raji. In: Randy J. LaPolla (ed.), Tibeto-Burman Languages of Uttar Pradesh, pp. 139–272.
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