Sunuwar, or Koinch (कोइँच; kõich; other spellings are Koinch and Koincha), is a Kiranti language of the Sino-Tibetan language family spoken in Nepal and India by the Sunuwar people. It was first comprehensively attested by the Himalayan Languages Project. It is also known as Kõits Lo (कोइँच लो ; kõica lo), Kiranti-Kõits (किराँती-कोइँच ; kirā̃tī-kõich), and Mukhiya (मुखिया ; mukhiyā).[2][3]
The Sunwar language is one of the smaller members of the Tibeto-Burman language family. About 40,000 speakers are residing in eastern Nepal.
Names
The language is commonly known as Koic, for many ethnic Sunuwar speakers also refer to the language as “Sunuwar, Koinch[4], Koinch or Koincha (कोइँच); Kõits Lo (कोइँच लो), Kiranti-Kõits (किराँती-कोइँच) or Mukhiya (मुखिया).”
Moreover, most Sunwar speakers have the surname (सुनुवार), Sunuvār in Latin script.[5]
Geographic distribution
Small groups of Sunwar speakers located in NepalLikhu Khola river
The Sunuwar language is commonly spoken in a cluster of Sunuwar villages, located around the region of the core spoken language. These villages are scattered alongside the river banks of Likhu Khola, in two bordering central-eastern districts of Nepal, distant from the main Nepalese road system:[5] in the Okhaldhū۠ngā District (part of Koshi Province), around the village of Vacul; and in the Rāmechāp District (part of Bagmati Province), around the villages of Pahare and of Kũbhu Kãsthālī for a smaller group of Sunwar speakers. The majority of the Sunwar speakers live on the southern border area of this region, between the villages of Pahare and Vacul.
Located 1,800 meters above sea level, their fields aren’t all fallow from year round cultivation[5] (Borchers, 2008). Therefore, many Sunwar households are farmers, own a small lot of land and livestock. Moreover, each village often visits their neighboring village markets to purchase inaccessible goods such as spices, sugar, tea, and salt. In the winter, they experience no snow but freezing temperatures. In warmer weather, they experience a lot of rainfall, in the summer, monsoon rainfall. Especially between June and August, it is when they experience the most rain, more so monsoon rainfall.
According to Borchers, there are other villages located outside of the core region. The Surel are claimed to be Sunwar speakers however there are no certainties that it is true.
Sunuwar (or Koĩts) native alphabet in Nepal & Sikkim, India
Sunuwar speakers from Nepal and Sikkim, northeastern India, use the Sunuwar alphabet (ISO 15924 script code: Sunu) for printed materials such as newspapers and literature. The alphabet, also known as Sunuwar alphabet, Sunuwar Lipi, Koĩts Lipi, was promoted in 1932 by Karna Bahadur Sunuwar (1926-1991), and got official recognition in Sikkim and Eastern Nepal where it is taught in schools. The Sunuwar script, is unrelated to any other scripts (even if some letter shapes have some resemblance to Latin and Limbu letter forms with similar phonetic value), and behaves like an alphabet with 35 base letters, written left-to-right, with syllabic features, extended with combining diacritics. The script also features its own set of decimal digits.
Unlike other Indic scripts derived from Brahmic, the Sunuwar alphabet includes no combining vowel signs: the script was initially a pure alphabet and the base consonants initially did not have any inherent vowel. But a second version of the script modified the orthographic rules to imply its presence, where the inherent vowel would be altered when appending any independent vowel letters, or suppressed by using a virama (or halant) sign in some consonant clusters or for consonants in final position of syllables. The independent letter form for the inherent vowel is now removed in most cases from the normal orthography in the middle of words, only used in isolation (i.e. no longer written when following a leading consonant, unless it is at end of words). A number of glyphic forms (conjuncts using consonants in half forms) were added to the script after this orthographic change for more easily writing consonant clusters, instead of writing multiple consonants with virama signs.[2][6]
Devanagari-based abugida for the Sunuwar language in Nepal
Although Sunwar has no traditional written language in Nepal, most literate speakers use the Devanagari abugida,[5][4] also used for writing Nepali.
Sound in parentheses only are heard in words borrowed from Nepali. Sounds in brackets are only heard as allophones.[5]
The implosive sound [ɓ] was heard phonemically until recently among dialects. It is now heard as a plosive [b] in the village of Saipu, and as an approximant [w] in the village of Kũbhu. It is only heard rarely in word-initial position among the speakers of Saipu.[5]
Vowels
According to Borchers,[5] there are eleven vowel phonemes in Sunwar:
Examples of the plural marker used to point at items in a group by Borchers:[5]
pujā
worship
dum
happen
pachi
after
rãga
buffalo
po.paki
pig.PL
sai.ni.mī
kill.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
pujā dum pachi rãga po.paki sai.ni.mī
worship happen after buffalo pig.PL kill.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
After worship, they kill the buffalo, pig and so on.
sāg.paki
sāg.PL
acā.paki
pickle.PL
ho.ʃa.ṅāmin
keep.PF.then
ʃam
beer
cai
SNG
thupro
much
dum.ba
happen.NPT+3S
thupro
much
tu.ni.miิ
drink.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
sāg.paki acā.paki ho.ʃa.ṅāmin ʃam cai thupro dum.ba thupro tu.ni.miิ
sāg.PL pickle.PL keep.PF.then beer SNG much happen.NPT+3S much drink.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
Having stored away sāg (green leafy vegetable) and so on and pickle and so on and, there has to be much beer, they drink a lot.
Absent marker
According to Borchers,[5] the Sunuwar language does not have a zero morpheme, but it can still indicate the number amount of something through verbal agreement markers or numerals.
The priest has two drums. The priest has bow and arrow.
ne
nose
ʃo.ke
face.POSS
bhāg
part
ho
be-NPT.3S
ne ʃo.ke bhāg ho
nose face.POSS part be-NPT.3S
The nose is part of the face.
Possessive suffix: ⟨-ke⟩ (inanimate subject)
According to Borchers,[5] inanimate subjects are marked with the possessive suffix⟨-ke⟩ to indicate what it is "made of".
Example of possessive ⟨-ke⟩ indicating what it is "made of" by Borchers:[5]
jasi.ke
Jasi.POSS
bā.b
stay.NPT+3S
meko
that
jasi
Jasi
ā.kilā
its.peg
jasi.ke bā.b meko jasi ā.kilā
Jasi.POSS stay.NPT+3S that Jasi its.peg
It is made of Jasi wood. This is a peg made of Jasi wood. (Jasi is the tree Bauhinia variegata)
Quantifiers
Quantifiers in the Sunwar language are loaned from Nepali. Quantifiers are used for amounts or masses.[5]
As exemplified by Borchers,[5] this table consists of quantifiers; including some that are loaned from Nepali.
From:
Translation:
aic
small
sappa
very much
[<Nep. besarī ‘very much’]
ʃuʃi
many, very, much
[<Nep. dherai]
sappa pan
very
[<Nep. ekdam]
ici oci
a little
imci
some, a bit
la:
only
[<Nep. mātra]
ʃūʃ ʃūs
much, very, expensive
oci
some, little
[<Nep. thorai]
i:ʃika
much, a lot
[<Nep. thupro]
umcili
small
Examples of quantifiers that indicate amounts or masses by Borchers:[5]
go
I
ʃūʃ
much
ma.jai.nu.ṅ
NEG.eat.NPT+1S.1S
go ʃūʃ ma.jai.nu.ṅ
I much NEG.eat.NPT+1S.1S
I don’t eat much.
disā
tomorrow
matrei
only
tui.nu.ṅ
know.NPT+1S.1S
disā matrei tui.nu.ṅ
tomorrow only know.NPT+1S.1S
I won’t know until tomorrow.
Syntax
Adjectives: ⟨-ʃo⟩
According to Borchers,[5]adjectives can belong to the verbal noun form, with an attached ⟨ʃo⟩. In the Sunwar language, some adjectives are borrowed from Nepali.
Adjectives: Color forms
Borchers also notes that adjectives can belong to the form/term color.[5]
As exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of the color form/terms.[5]
Form:
Translation:
jirjir
colorful
giิk
light green, light blue
nilo
dark blue [<Nep. nilo]
buʃ
white
kher
black
lal
red
ojela
brilliant
Adjectives: Non-verbal nouns without ⟨-ʃo⟩ attached
The Sunwar language has a category for adjectives under the form ‘others’, that are not verbal nouns. In addition, some adjectives may be interchangeable as an adverb.[5]
As exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of the adjectives that are not verbal nouns ending in ⟨-ʃo⟩ form/terms.[5]
Form:
Translation:
umcili/ici
small, little
ʃūʃ
much, many, very, expensive
theb
big, great (idea, thing)
wan
far
netha
near
Examples of adjectives that are not verbal nouns ending in ⟨-ʃo⟩ by Borchers:[5]
ɓak
water
besā.n
very-much.REIN
wan
far
cha
exist-NPT.3S
ɓak besā.n wan cha
water very-much.REIN far exist-NPT.3S
Water is far away.
go
I
umcili
small
thiẽ
exist-PT.1S
bara
twelve
bars.ṅā
year.GEN
go umcili thiẽ bara bars.ṅā
I small exist-PT.1S twelve year.GEN
I was small, twelve years old.
nepāli.puki
Nepali.PL
ʃūʃ
very
choto
small
bā.ni.m
stay.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
nepāli.puki ʃūʃ choto bā.ni.m
Nepali.PL very small stay.NPT-23D/-P.3P/SVI
Nepalese people are very small.
Particles
As exemplified by Borchers, this table consists of particles in correlation to various relationships.[5]
Conjunction:
Translation:
de
or
hana
if
ṅana
if
dopā
that
meklāpāṅāmin
and then
pāṅāmin
and then
minu ⟨-nu⟩
and then
mapatke
because of
Postpositional particles
According to Borchers, the Sunwar language borrows particles from Nepali that indicate the relationship between clauses.[5]
Examples of postpositional particles by Borchers:[5]
Postpotion:
Gloss:
<lā>
‘only’
⟨-bhandā⟩: A comparison.
‘than’
<cai>: Singling out or can be seen as “exactly this one”.
SNG
<yo>: Inclusive focus.
‘also’
<kõ>: A tag on questions asking for affirmation or negation of a statement.
In linguistic typology, a subject+object+verb (SOV) language is one in which the subject, object, and verb of a sentence always or usually appear in that order. If English were SOV, "Sam oranges ate" would be an ordinary sentence, as opposed to the actual Standard English "Sam ate oranges". (A Grammar of Sunwar)
[9]
Go
I
subject
khamay
rice
object
jainu
eat
verb
Go khamay jainu
I rice eat
subject object verb
"I eat rice."
Sunwar people called "Khangsa" sign language with voice and direct action, for foreign people who don't understand a sunuwar language.[citation needed][3]
