Непал және Үндістандағы Киранти тілі: Якха тілінің ерекшеліктері

Kiranti language spoken in Nepal and India

Yakkha (also erroneously spelled as Yakha) is a language spoken in parts of Nepal, Darjeeling district and Sikkim. The Yakkha speaking villages are located to the East of the Arun river, in the southern part of the Sankhuwasabha district and in the northern part of the Dhankuta district of Nepal. About 14,000 people still speak the language, out of 17,003 ethnic Yakkha in Nepal. Genealogically, Yakkha belongs to the Eastern Kiranti languages and is in one subgroup with several Limbu languages, e. g. Belhare, Athpare, Chintang and Chulung. Ethnically however, the Yakkha people perceive themselves as distinct from the other Kiranti groups such as Limbu.

Mugali is spoken between Mugakhola and Sinuwakhola on the eastern banks of the Arun River in Dhankuta District, Province No. 1, Nepal, in the villages (VDC's) of Muga, Pakhribas, and Phalate. is spoken in Arkhaule Jitpur and Marek Katahare VDC's, northern Dhankuta District, Province No. 1, Nepal.

Yakkha has rich nominal and verbal morphology. Nouns inflect for case and number. Verbs inflect for person, number (singular, dual, plural/nonsingular), negation, several categories in the domain of tense, aspect and mood. In transitive verbs, both actor and undergoer are coreferenced on the verb. The category of inclusive/exclusive is found in the verbal morphology and in the possessive pronouns and prefixes.

Yakkha marks non singular on common nouns with the suffixing clitic =ci. There is no overt marking of singular.

Yakkha has the following interrogative pronouns and other interrogatives: isa "who", i/ina "what", iya "what" (if many items or uncountables are asked for), hetna "which", imin "how", ijaŋ "why", hetne "where", hetniŋ "when". If a certain item is asked for, ina will be used, but if an event is in question, the root i occurs without further morphology, e. g. i leksa? "What happened?". Reduplication of the pronouns may result in indefinite reference, e. g. hetniŋ hetniŋ "some time".

The verbal morphology is very complex, which is a typical feature of Kiranti languages. The outline given here necessarily provides a simplified picture. The verbal morphology is predominantly represented by suffixes, but one prefix slot exists, that is filled with an underspecified nasal that codes either third person plural or negation. Person and number of both actor and undergoer are indicated on the verb, and these affixes may differ according to the semantic role of their referent. For instance, the suffix ka/ ga codes second person ("you"), regardless of the semantic role, while the suffix m codes only (first and second person) agents, and the suffix u only codes third person undergoer. There are syncretisms, for instance the already mentioned suffix m, that stands for both agreement with first and second person plural (agent). Some relations are coded by a portmanteau morpheme, e. g. the first person acting on the second is coded by ' nen' (i. e. "I understand/call/kiss etc. YOU"), supplemented by number suffixes if necessary. Another feature typical for Kiranti verbal morphology is the copying of nasals into syllable codas in the suffix string of a finite verb. For instance, the negated form of tum me ŋ c u ŋ ci ŋa "we (dual, excl) understand them" is n dum me n c u n ci ŋa n na, where the negation marker n is copied several times. As for tense, the nonpast is overtly marked by meʔ or wa. Both suffixes have their origin in grammaticalized lexical verbs ("do" and "be/exist" respectively). They occupy different slots in the verbal suffix template. The past is marked by the suffix a, which is often elided to avoid hiatus in underlying vowel sequences. The perfect tense is built by the addition of the suffixes ma or uks to the past morpheme, and the past perfect tense is built by further addition of the suffix sa to this suffix string. As for mood, the imperative is also coded by the suffix a, e. g. ab a "Come!" In transitive verbs with a third person patient, the overt suffix is u, and the imperative suffix is not overtly realised. The subjunctive mood has no dedicated marker, it is marked precisely by the absence of anything but the agreement morphology, e. g. ciya hops u m? "Shall we have tea?" (tea sip 3P 1A). The subjunctive mood also expresses warnings, suggestions and potential situations in some subordinate clause types.