| Region | Nepal |
|---|---|
| Date | 2011 census |
| Ethnicity | Bahing |
| Ref | e18 |
| Familycolor | Sino-Tibetan |
| Fam 2 | Kiranti |
| Fam 3 | Western |
| Fam 4 | Sunwari |
| Iso 3 | bhj |
| Glotto | bahi1252 |
| Glottorefname | Bahing |
| Nation | Nepal |
| Notice | IPA |
Bahing is one of the ethnicities present in Nepal which consist of the following ancestors: Paiwa, Dungmowa, Rukhusalu, Waripsawa, Timriwa, Dhimriwa, Nayango, Dhayango, Khaliwa/Khaluwa, Rendukpa/Rendu, and Rungbu.[1] These ancestors spoke the Bahing language. The Bahing language was recorded (census 2021) to be spoken by 14449 people of the Bahing ethnic group in Nepal.[2] It belongs to the family of Kiranti languages, a subgroup of Sino-Tibetan.
The group Rumdali is also known as Nechali among some of them.
Names
Ethnologue lists the following alternate names for Bahing: Baying, Ikke lo, Kiranti-Bahing, Pai Lo, Radu lo. Procha lo
Geographical distribution
Bahing is spoken in the following locations of Nepal (Ethnologue).
- Northeastern Okhaldhunga District, Sagarmatha Zone: Harkapur, Ragdip, Bigutar, Baruneswor, Okhaldhunga, Rumjatar, Barnalu, Mamkha, Ratmate, Serna, Diyale, and Bhadaure VDC's (Rumdali dialect)
- Mid-southeastern Okhaldhunga District: Ketuke, Moli, Waksa, and Ubu VDC's (Tolocha dialect)
- Southern tip of Solukhumbu District: Necha Batase and Salyan VDC's
- Khotang District
Dialects
According to Ethnologue, Bahing consists of the Rumdali, Nechali, Tolacha, Moblocha, and Hangu dialects, with 85% or above intelligibility among all dialects.
Documentation
The Bahing language was described by Brian Houghton Hodgson (1857, 1858) as having a very complex verbal morphology. By the 1970s, only vestiges were left, making Bahing a case study of grammatical attrition and language death.
Phonology
Bahing and the related Khaling language have synchronic ten-vowel systems. The difference of [mərə] "monkey" vs. [mɯrɯ] "human being" is difficult to perceive for speakers of even neighboring dialects, which makes for "an unlimited source of fun to the Bahing people".[3]
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | unrounded | unrounded | rounded | |||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| High | i | iː | ɯ | ɯː | u | uː | ||
| High-mid | e | eː | ɤ | ɤː | o | oː | ||
| Low-mid | ɛ | ʌ | ʌː | |||||
| Low | ä | äː | ||||||
- Bahing language has no long vowel /ɛ/.
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Apico- alveolar | Lamino- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | implosive | ɓ | |||||||
| voiceless | unaspirated | p | t̪ | t | t͡s | k | ʔ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | t̪ʰ | tʰ | t͡sʰ | kʰ | ||||
| voiced | unaspirated | b | d̪ | d | d͡z | ɡ | |||
| aspirated | bʱ | d̪ʱ | dʱ | d͡zʱ | ɡʱ | ||||
| ! colspan="3" | Fricative | s | ɦ | |||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||||
| Approximant | w | j | |||||||
- Bahing has its unique sound /ɓ/ ळ.
- Nowadays use ट, ठ, ड, ढ, have disappeared or are less used.
Morphology
Hodgson (1857) reported a middle voice formed by a suffix -s(i) added to the verbal stem, corresponding to reflexives in other Kiranti languages.
References
- ^ linked to Rumjatar by Hanßon–Winter 1991
- ^ Detailed language map of eastern Nepal, see language #4 near the map's north/south center and about 2/3 of the way from east to west
- ^ (de Boer 2002 PDF)