Nar Phu language

Nar Phu, or ’Narpa, is a Sino-Tibetan variety spoken in the two villages of Nar and Phu, in the Valley of the Nar Khola in the Manang district of Nepal. It forms a dialect continuum with Manang and may be intelligible with it; however, the Nar and Phu share a secret language to confound Gyasumdo and Manang who would otherwise understand them.^[1]

Nar Phu
Native to	Nepal
Region	Manang district
Native speakers	600 (2011)[1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tamangic Manang Nar Phu
Dialects	Nar (Lower Nar) Phu (Upper Nar)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	npa
Glottolog	narp1239
ELP	Nar Phu
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Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ
Low	a	ɑ

The language lacks all middle vowels and the open mid vowel /ɔ/.

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Velar
Plosive	unaspirated	p	t	ʈ		k
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	ʈʰ		kʰ
Affricate	unaspirated		ts		tɕ
	aspirated		tsʰ		tɕʰ
Fricative			s		ɕ
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Lateral	voiced		l
	voiceless		l̥
Rhotic	voiced		r
	voiceless		r̥
Approximant		w			j	ɰ

Comparatively to the English language, the /g/ is not in the language.

Tones

Nar Phu distinguishes four tones: high falling, high level, low rising murmured, and mid/low falling murmured.

Language Patterns

Nar-Phu has a different vowel system than other Tamangic languages, due to the amount of front vowels. Nar-Phu is a four-tone language. Tones 1 and 4 are falling; tones 3 and 4 are murmured. Tone 2 is distinguished by its clear, high quality. Nar-Phu has no formal gendered language system, but some suffixes are used to describe animals, even castrated male animals. Honorific Noun phrases are used when there is not a noun in place for said words. ^[1]

Swadesh List

• čhipruŋ - Nar
• ŋêe min - my name is
• cɦecuke - children
• tɦosor - happy/happier/happiness
• læ̂se/yarcʌkômpʌ - Yarsagompa
• šiŋ - wood
• kɦêpɛ - eighth month
• ɦyâŋi - yaks
• momori - momo
• kɦeskʌ - gas
• læ̂pa - cup
• bɦaʈʈi - hotel
• eki - again
• mɦi - dies
• molompapɛ - religious books
• molom - worship

[1]