Belhare language

Belhare (Nepali: Belhāreor), also known as Athpariya II (not to be confused with Athpariya I), is a Kiranti language spoken by some 2,000 people living on Belhara Hill, at the southern foothills of the Himalayas situated in the Dhankuta District, Koshi Province in eastern Nepal. All speakers of Belhare are bilingual in Nepali, which results in frequent code mixing and a large amount of Nepali loan-words. Nevertheless, the grammar of Belhare has maintained its distinct Kiranti characteristics.

Belhare
Region	Dhankuta district, Nepal
Ethnicity	Kirat Athpare of Belhara
Native speakers	600 (2011 census)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Mahakiranti (?) Kiranti Eastern Greater Yakkha Belhare
Language codes
ISO 639-3	byw
Glottolog	belh1239
ELP	Belhariya
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Like other Kiranti languages, Belhare is characterized by an elaborate morphology in both the nominal and verbal domain. Syntactically, Belhare has partly an accusative, partly an ergative pivot, but accusative syntax is more prominent in terms of frequency.

Phonology

The phonemes in parentheses only occur in loanwords from Nepali.

Consonants

			Bilabial	Apical	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal			m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩		ŋ ⟨ŋ⟩
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	unaspirated	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	ts ⟨c⟩	k ⟨k⟩	ʔ ⟨ʔ⟩
		aspirated	pʰ ⟨ph⟩	tʰ ⟨th⟩	tsʰ ⟨ch⟩	kʰ ⟨kh⟩
	voiced	unaspirated	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩	(dz ⟨j⟩)	ɡ ⟨g⟩
		aspirated	(bʱ ⟨bh⟩)	(dʱ ⟨dh⟩)	(dzʱ ⟨jh⟩)	(ɡʱ ⟨gh⟩)
Fricative				s ⟨s⟩			h ⟨h⟩
Lateral				l ⟨l⟩
Trill		unaspirated		r ⟨r⟩
		aspirated		(rʱ ⟨rh⟩)
Approximant			w ⟨w⟩		j ⟨y⟩

Vowels

	front	central	back
close	i ĩ		u ũ
mid	e	(ʌ)	o
open		a