The
Magaric languages,
MagarNot to be confused with the Magyar language, known in English as HungarianMagar is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim in India by Magar people. It is divided into two groups: Eastern and Western, and further dialect divisions give distinct tribal identity...
and
KhamKham is a language complex of Bodic Tibeto-Burmese language varieties spoken in the remoter highlands of Bheri, Dhaulagiri, Karnali and Rapti Zones by the four northern clans of the Magar tribe, called collectively Kham Magar or Northern Magars.These highlands are centered in a 4,000 meter knot...
, are a small proposed family of
Tibeto-Burman languagesThe Tibeto-Burman family of languages is spoken in various central, east, south and southeast Asian countries, including Burma , Tibet, northern Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, parts of central China , northern parts of Nepal, eastern parts of Bangladesh , Bhutan, northern parts of...
spoken in Nepal.
(EthnologueEthnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language.The Ethnologue contains statistics for 7,358 languages...
considers each to be a cluster of languages.) They are often classified as part of the Mahakiranti family, and Van Driem (2001) proposes that they are close relatives of Mahakiranti.
Several neighboring languages with uncertain affiliation may prove to belong to an enlarged Magaric family.
The
Magaric languages,
MagarNot to be confused with the Magyar language, known in English as HungarianMagar is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim in India by Magar people. It is divided into two groups: Eastern and Western, and further dialect divisions give distinct tribal identity...
and
KhamKham is a language complex of Bodic Tibeto-Burmese language varieties spoken in the remoter highlands of Bheri, Dhaulagiri, Karnali and Rapti Zones by the four northern clans of the Magar tribe, called collectively Kham Magar or Northern Magars.These highlands are centered in a 4,000 meter knot...
, are a small proposed family of
Tibeto-Burman languagesThe Tibeto-Burman family of languages is spoken in various central, east, south and southeast Asian countries, including Burma , Tibet, northern Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, parts of central China , northern parts of Nepal, eastern parts of Bangladesh , Bhutan, northern parts of...
spoken in Nepal.
(EthnologueEthnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language.The Ethnologue contains statistics for 7,358 languages...
considers each to be a cluster of languages.) They are often classified as part of the Mahakiranti family, and Van Driem (2001) proposes that they are close relatives of Mahakiranti.
Several neighboring languages with uncertain affiliation may prove to belong to an enlarged Magaric family. These are
ChepangicThe Chepangic languages, Chepang and Bujhyal , are Tibeto-Burman languages of uncertain affiliation spoken in Nepal...
and possibly
Raji-RauteThe poorly documented and closely related languages Raji and Raute are spoken by hunter-gatherers in the Nepali Terai. Their relationship within the Tibeto-Burman languages is unclear.-References:...
and the extinct Dura language.
Thurgood & La Polla (2003) included Kham in La Polla's speculative 'Rung' proposal, but found the inclusion of Magar and Chepang less probable, suggesting that the evidence for even a Magar–Kham connection is far from clear cut.