Languages of the world
Nepali (नेपाली)
Basic facts
Number of native speakers: 16 million
Official language: Nepal; Sikkim, West Bengal (India)
Language of diaspora: Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, Myanmar, United Kingdom, United States
Script: Devanagari, 47 letters
Grammatical cases: 2
Linguistic typology: agglutinative, SOV
Language family: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Northern Zone, Eastern Pahari
Number of dialects: 12
History
981 - first written evidence
Writing system and pronunciation
These are the letters that make up the script: अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ए ऐ ओ औ अँ अं अः क ख ग घ ङ च छ ज झ ञ ट ठ ड ढ ण त थ द ध न प फ ब भ म य र ल व श ष स ह.
Most vowels have nasal counterparts. Consonants distinguish aspiration and voicing.
Grammar
Nouns have two numbers (singular and plural) and two cases (nominative and oblique). Gender accord is restricted to female animates.
Pronouns distinguish three levels of politeness: low, medium, and high. Adjectives can be divided into two classes, declinable and indeclinable.
Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood, aspect, voice, person, number, gender, and status.
Dialects
There are twelve dialects: Acchami, Baitadeli, Bajhangi, Bajurali, Bheri, Dadelhuri, Dialekhi, Darhulai, Gandakeli, Humli, Purbeli, and Soradi.
Not all of them are mutually intelligible.
