Nar Phu, or ’Narpa, is a Sino-Tibetan variety spoken in the two villages of Nar and Phu, in the Valley of the Nar Khola in the Manang district of Nepal. It forms a dialect continuum with Manang and may be intelligible with it; however, the Nar and Phu share a secret language to confound Gyasumdo and Manang who would otherwise understand them.[1]

Phonology

Vowels

The language lacks all middle vowels and the open mid vowel /ɔ/.

Consonants

Comparatively to the English language, the /g/ is not in the language.

Tones

Nar Phu distinguishes four tones: high falling, high level, low rising murmured, and mid/low falling murmured.

Language Patterns

Nar-Phu has a different vowel system than other Tamangic languages, due to the amount of front vowels.​ Nar-Phu is a four-tone language. Tones 1 and 4 are falling; tones 3 and 4 are murmured. Tone 2 is distinguished by its clear, high quality.​ Nar-Phu has no formal gendered language system, but some suffixes are used to describe animals, even castrated male animals. Honorific Noun phrases are used when there is not a noun in place for said words. [1]

Swadesh List

• čhipruŋ - Nar
• ŋêe min - my name is
• cɦecuke - children
• tɦosor - happy/happier/happiness
• læ̂se/yarcʌkômpʌ - Yarsagompa
• šiŋ - wood
• kɦêpɛ - eighth month
• ɦyâŋi - yaks
• momori - momo
• kɦeskʌ - gas
• læ̂pa - cup
• bɦaʈʈi - hotel
• eki - again
• mɦi - dies
• molompapɛ - religious books
• molom - worship

[1]

References

Bibliography

• Noonan, Michael (2003). "Nar-Phu" Sino-Tibetan Languages, edited by Randy LaPolla and Graham Thurgood, 336-352. London: Routledge.
• Kristine A. Hildebrandt (2013). “Converb and aspect marking polysemy in Nar” Responses to Language Endangerment: In Honor of Mickey Noonan, edited by Elena Mihas, Bernard Perley, Gabriel Rei-Doval, and Kathleen Wheatley, 97-117. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Kristine A. Hildebrandt, D.N. Dhakal, Oliver Bond, Matt Vallejo and Andrea Fyffe. (2015). “A sociolinguistic survey of the languages of Manang, Nepal: Co-existence and endangerment.” NFDIN Journal, 14.6: 104-122.
• Mandala collections. Nar-Phu | Mandala Collections - Audio-Video. (n.d.). Retrieved December 10, 2021, from https://av.mandala.library.virginia.edu/collection/nar-phu.

External links

• Manang Languages Project of Kristine Hildebrandt
• Nar Phu Valley Trekking Nepal
• Nar-Phu language archive at the University of Virginia Tibetan and Himalayan Library