Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Sunuwar, Sunbar, Sunwari, Sonowar, Sonowal, Mukhiya, Kwoico Lo, Sunuwār, Sunuvār, Koĩc, Kirānti-Kõints
CLASSIFICATION		Sino-Tibetan, Kiranti
ORTHOGRAPHY		Devanagari and Sunwar script
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		suz
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

Compare Sources (4)

Information from: “Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 17th Edition (2013)” . Paul M. Lewis; Gary F. Simons; and Charles D. Fennig · Dallas, Texas: SIL International

Threatened

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
26,611 (2001 census)
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
95,300 (2001 census)
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
Very few speakers are monolingual in Sunwar.

DATE OF INFO: 2001

DOMAINS OF USE

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"Mixed use: Home, friends, religion, work. Adolescents and older. Some use among children. Language is passed down to children only in village areas (Toba, Toba, and Rai 2002)"

Younger people use Nepali [npi] for trade and official purposes with low proficiency (1998 SIL).

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Bhujel; Tamang; Nepali

Scripts (Writing system)

devanagari

PLACES: Nepal

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Janakpur Zone, Ramechhap, Dolakha districts, east hills; Sagarmatha Zone, northwest Okhaldhunga district.

Ethnic population
30,000
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"Spoken by a dwindling minority of the 30,000 ethnic Sunwar."

PLACES: Nepal

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Likhu and Khimti river valleys

PLACES: Nepal

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
25000
Native speakers worldwide

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY
Scripts (Writing system): Devanagari and Sunwar script
More on Orthography: traditionally not written down; Educated speakers tend to write down Sunwar using Devanagari (the writing system for Nepali) if they have to; Sunwar script invented around 1940s in Sikkim

PLACES: Nepal

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: eastern Nepal, in the districts of Okhalḍhūṅgā and Rāmechāp

				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	30,000				"Spoken by a dwindling minority of the 30,000 ethnic Sunwar."							Nepal	Likhu and Khimti river valleys
			3rd	2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger				UNESCO Publishing		Paris	http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub												Nepal		27.3485,86.2337
9789004167094	Brill's Tibetan Studies	April		2008	A Grammar of Sunwar: Descriptive Grammar, Paradigms, Texts and Glossary		318pp		Leiden: Brill	5			Borchers, Dörte	Borchers, Dörte. 2008. A Grammar of Sunwar: Descriptive Grammar, Paradigms, Texts and Glossary. Brill's Tibetan Studies Vol. 5. Leiden: Brill. 318pp.			25000		10000-99999		Nepali	all	Vulnerable (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)				Nepal	eastern Nepal, in the districts of Okhalḍhūṅgā and Rāmechāp
			17th	2013	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 17th Edition (2013)			Paul M. Lewis; Gary F. Simons; and Charles D. Fennig	Dallas, Texas: SIL International			http://www.ethnologue.com Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 17th Edition (2013)		Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.), 2013. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 17th edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.		95,300 (2001 census)	26,611 (2001 census)	2001	10000-99999	Very few speakers are monolingual in Sunwar.	Bhujel; Tamang; Nepali	most	Threatened (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	12	"Mixed use: Home, friends, religion, work. Adolescents and older. Some use among children. Language is passed down to children only in village areas (Toba, Toba, and Rai 2002)" Younger people use Nepali [npi] for trade and official purposes with low proficiency (1998 SIL).	13	Nepal	Janakpur Zone, Ramechhap, Dolakha districts, east hills; Sagarmatha Zone, northwest Okhaldhunga district.

Sunwar

Language metadata

Language information by source

Threatened

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

26,611 (2001 census)

Vulnerable

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

25000

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