Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Sharpa, Sharpa Bhotia, Xiaerba, Serwa, Sharpā, Bhōṭiā of northwestern Nepal, Sharwa
CLASSIFICATION		Sino-Tibetan, Bodish
ORTHOGRAPHY		Tibetan scripts
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		xsr
VARIANTS & DIALECTS		Khumbu Solu Ramechap
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

Compare Sources (4)

Information from: “A Grammar of Hile Sherpa” . Thomas E. Graves (2007)

Threatened

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
15,000 ~ 70,000
Native speakers worldwide

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

The Sherpa who live in the urban areas have shifted to Nepali though the Sherpa language is actively used in the Sherpa homeland, the Himalayan mountains.

SPEAKER ATTITUDE

Some people consider Sherpa less useful and old-fashioned, compared to Nepali.

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Nepali

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

Nepali is used in various domains such as schooling, mass media, doing business, and when talking about the modern world.

PLACES: Nepal; China; India

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "various dialects of Sherpa are spoken in northeastern Nepal from the districts of Dolkha and Ramechap in the eastern part of the central region of the country to the most northeastern district of Taplejung... also some speakers in the district of Bhojpur, which is southeast of the Solukhumbu
district." (p.2)

Endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
<50,000
Native speakers worldwide

TRANSMISSION

PLACES: Nepal

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Solukhumbu district and around Mt. Everest.

Scripts (Writing system): Tibetan scripts
Competing Orthographies: Devanagari and Latin scripts

PLACES: Nepal

		2007	South Asia and the Middle East	Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages	283-348	Christopher Moseley	London & New York: Routledge						George van Driem	George van Driem. 2007. "South Asia and the Middle East." In Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, edited by C. Moseley. 283-348. London & New York: Routledge.	HHOLD	<50,000	10000-99999						Endangered (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	13				Nepal	Solukhumbu district and around Mt. Everest.
	November	2009	Sherpa orthography in Sambhota script		327-334			Nepalese Linguistics	24			http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepling/pdf/Nep_Ling_24.pdf	Gelu Sherpa	Gelu Sherpa. 2009. Sherpa orthography in Sambhota script. Nepalese Linguistics 24, pp. 327-334.														Nepal
		2007	A Grammar of Hile Sherpa								State University of New York at Buffalo		Thomas E. Graves	Graves, Thomas E. 2007. A Grammar of Hile Sherpa. PhD thesis. State University of New York at Buffalo.	HHOLD	15,000 ~ 70,000	10000-99999	various domains	Nepali	Some people consider Sherpa less useful and old-fashioned, compared to Nepali.	Nepali is used in various domains such as schooling, mass media, doing business, and when talking about the modern world.	many	Threatened (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	11	The Sherpa who live in the urban areas have shifted to Nepali though the Sherpa language is actively used in the Sherpa homeland, the Himalayan mountains.	13	12	Nepal; China; India	"various dialects of Sherpa are spoken in northeastern Nepal from the districts of Dolkha and Ramechap in the eastern part of the central region of the country to the most northeastern district of Taplejung... also some speakers in the district of Bhojpur, which is southeast of the Solukhumbu district." (p.2)
0199255911		2005	The World Atlas of Language Structures			Bernard Comrie and David Gil and Martin Haspelmath and Matthew S. Dryer	Oxford University Press			New York				2005. "The World Atlas of Language Structures." edited by Bernard Comrie et al. Oxford University Press.																27.75,86.8333333333

Sherpa

Language metadata

Language information by source

Threatened

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

15,000 ~ 70,000

Endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<50,000

Discussion