The Bantawa language is an endangered language group. It is a Tibeto-Burman language, Eastern Kiranti languages

Kiranti languages

The Mahakiranti or Maha-Kiranti languages are a proposed intermediate level of classification of the Tibeto-Burman languages. They are the languages most closely related to the Kiranti languages proper, which are spoken by the ethnic Kirat...

 family, spoken in the eastern Himalayan hills of eastern Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

 by Rai

Rai (ethnic group)

The Rai are one of Nepal's most ancient indigenous ethnolinguistic groups. They were Raya meaning king. Once someone was recognized as a ruler then Hindus awarded the title Raja, Rai, Raya, Malla etc. When the king Pritivi Narayan Shah couldn't defeat Kirant king , he somehow took them in...

 ethnic groups. Bantawa speaking Population estimates vary between 20,000-60,000, though 35,000 speakers may be a more accurate count. It is experiencing Nepali language

Nepali language

Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...

 shift.

Dialects

Most of the Bantawa clan are now settled in Bhojpur, Dharan and Dhankuta. Recent figure shows most of them are settled in Dharan.

• Northern Bantawa (Dilpali)

Northern subdialects: Rungchenbung and Yangma

• Southern Bantawa (Chewali, Okhreli, Hatuwali, Hangkhim)

Southern and Northern Bantawa, similar, could be united as 'Intermediate Bantawa'.

• Eastern Bantawa (Dhankuta)

. Eastern dialect is the most divergent. It is most closely related to Dungmali language, though also related to Puma language

Puma language

Puma is a Kiranti language spoken by about 4,310 people in Diplung, Mauwabote, Devisthan, Pauwasera and Chisapani Village Development Committees of Khotang district and in some areas of Udayapur district, Nepal.The Himalayan Languages Project has produced the first grammatical sketch of Puma...

, Sampang language, and Chhintange language.

• Western Bantawa (Amchoke, Amchauke)

Amchaucke dialects: Sorung and Saharaja

• Wana Bantawa (also called simply Bantawa), spoken by the Bantawa subcaste

Bantawa is also looked as superior clan in Kirantian family. Susan Bantawa Rai was the first known ruler of the Bantawa clan.
Bantawa is also reportedly in use as a lingua franca

Lingua franca

A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...

 among Rai minorities in Himalayan India and Bhutan

Bhutan

Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...

.
While the language is just being introduced in a few schools at the primary level (Year 1- Year 5).
using Devanagari script.

Further reading

• Winter, Werner. 2003. A Bantawa Dictionary. Trends in Linguistics - Documentation 20. Mouten de Gruyter: New York.

External links

• Bantawa: observations of a threatened language