Rajbanshi language (Nepal)

Rajbanshi
Rajbanshi
राजबंशी‎, ताजपुरीया
Native to	Nepal
Region	Jhapa District, Morang District
Ethnicity	Rajbanshi
Native speakers	170,000 (2011)
Language family	Indo-European Indo-Iranian Indo-Aryan Eastern Odia–Bengali–Assamese Bengali–Assamese Kamrupa Kamta Western Kamta Rajbanshi; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Devanagari and Bengali–Assamese Script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; rjs – Rajbanshi; kyv – Kayort
Glottolog	rajb1243 Rajbanshi; kayo1247 Kayort

Rajbanshi (also called Tajpuria^[3]) is a Bengali-Assamese language spoken in Nepal. It is related to, but distinct from Rangpuri/Kamta in Bangladesh and India, which is also known by the alternative name "Rajbanshi", with which it forms the KRNB cluster.^[4]

Phonology

This section is based on Wilde 2008.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t̪	ʈ		k
	aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ	ʈʰ		kʰ
	voiced	b	d̪	ɖ		ɡ
	breathy	bʱ	d̪ʱ	ɖʱ		ɡʱ
Affricate	voiceless		ts
	aspirated		tsʰ
	voiced		dz
	breathy		dzʱ
Fricative			s		(ʃ)		h
Nasal	plain	m	n̪			ŋ
Nasal	breathy	mʱ	n̪ʱ			ŋʱ
Trill	plain		r
Trill	breathy		rʱ
Approximant	lateral		l
	lateral br.		lʱ
	central	(w)			(j)

/ts, tsʰ, dz, dzʱ/ can often be heard as post-alveolar [tʃ, tʃʰ, dʒ, dʒʱ], when following back vowels.
/r/ and /rʱ/ can have allophones of [ɽ ɾ] and [ɽʱ ɾʱ].
/b/ can have allophones of [β w].
/pʰ/ can also be realised as [f].
/s/ can also have an allophone of [ʃ].
/h/ can be realised as voiceless or voiced [ɦ] in word-initial positions.
/n̪/ can be heard as alveolar [n] before an alveolar consonant, and as a retroflex [ɳ] when preceding a retroflex consonant.
A word-final /r/ may tend to be voiceless [r̥].
Central approximants [w j] occur, but are deemed allophones of /u i/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		ʌ	o
Low	æ	(ɐ)

In addition to these vowels, Rangpuri has the following diphthongs: /ie, iæ, iu, iʌ, ui, uæ, uʌ, ei, eu, æi, æu, ʌi, ʌu/.

Vowels /i, e/ can have shortened allophones of [ɪ, ɛ].
/æ/ can also be articulated more central as [ɐ, ä].
/ʌ/ may also be heard as two sounds [ɜ, ə] in free variation.^[5]

Morphology

One notable characteristic of Rājbanshi is the double agreement found regularly in verbs. Having this pattern also means that Rājbanshi, along with regional Indo-Aryan languages of Southern Nepal-Bihar-Jharkhand where multiple agreement is attested such as in Maithili, Kurmali, Majhi, and Darai share a verbal system that is distinct from the rest of the mainstream Indo-Aryan languages.

kalʰi

tomorrow

di-m-(k)u-n

give-FUT-2SG.OBJ-1SG.SUBJ

'I will give (it) to you tomorrow.'