ybh ISO 639

याक्खा‎ (Yākkhā) Autonyms

Yakkha

  • Geography

    NP Kosi province: Dhankuta district, Mahalaxmi municipality; Sankhuwasabha district, Chainpur, Dharmadevi, Madi, and Panchakhapan municipalities.
  • Language Cloud

A language of Nepal

ybh
Dewansala, Jimi Bhasa, Yakha, Yakkha Ceya, Yakkhaba, Yakkhaba Cea, Yakkhaba Sala, Yakthomba
याक्खा‎ (Yākkhā)
21,090 in Nepal, all users. L1 users: 19,600 in Nepal (2011 census), decreasing. L2 users: 1,490 (2011 census). Very few monolinguals. Total users in all countries: 21,900 (as L1: 20,410; as L2: 1,490).
Kosi province: Dhankuta district, Mahalaxmi municipality; Sankhuwasabha district, Chainpur, Dharmadevi, Madi, and Panchakhapan municipalities.
Eastern Nepal, India, Map 4
6b (Threatened). Language of recognized indigenous nationality: Yakkha.
Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Western Tibeto-Burman, Himalayan, Kiranti, Eastern
Northern Yakkha (Sankhuwasabha), Southern Yakkha (Dhankuta), Eastern Yakkha (Ilam, Panchthar). Dialects have minimal diversity. Lexical similarity: with Athpariya [aph], Limbu [lif], and Yamphu [ybi].
SOV; postpositions; noun head final; no noun classes or genders; content q-word in situ; 1 prefix, up to 10 suffixes (depending on analysis); clause constituents indicated by case-marking; verbal affixation marks person and number; ergativity; tense and aspect; passives and voice; nontonal; 22 consonant and 5 vowel phonemes.
Home, friends, religion; mixed use: Work, education. Some young people, all adults. Children and elderly. Some use among adolescents, young and older adults (Toba et al 2005). Also use Nepali [npi]. Used as L2 by Limbu [lif].
Literacy rate in L2: 10% in Nepali [npi]. There are attempts to teach Yakkha at school, and textbooks are published up to grade 3, but not widely used. Literature. Dictionary. Grammar. Texts. Agency: Kirant Yakkha Chumma.
Devanagari script [Deva], used since 2011.
Considered by many a distinct group of Kirati not fitting neatly into either Rai or Limbu groups (Bista 1996:39); in terms of mythology and people’s own judgment, they seem closer to Limbu than to Rai groups. Traditional religion, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu.
OLAC resources in and about Yakkha
Yakkha
810 in India (2000). Ethnic population: 6,300 (2007).
Sikkim state: North district; West Bengal state: Darjeeling district.
7 (Shifting)
Younger generation uses Nepali [npi] (Singh). Shifting to Nepali [npi].
Buddhist, Hindu.
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