Sherpa language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sherpa
शेर्वि तम्ङ॓ śērwī tamṅē ཤར་པའི་སྐད་ཡིག shar pa'i skad yig
'Sherpa' in Devanagari and Tibetan scripts
Native to	Nepal, India, China, Bhutan
Region	Nepal, Sikkim
Ethnicity	Sherpa
Native speakers	140,000  (2011 & 2021 census)e27
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri (?) Bodish Tibetic Southern Tibetic Sherpa
Writing system	Tibetan, Devanagari
Official status
Official language in	Nepal  India Sikkim

The Sherpa language is a fascinating language spoken by the Sherpa people. You'll find most Sherpa speakers in the beautiful mountain regions of Nepal. Some also live in the Indian state of Sikkim and a small number in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.

According to recent counts, about 127,000 people spoke Sherpa in Nepal in 2021. In Sikkim, India, about 16,000 speakers were counted in 2011. About 800 speakers were noted in the Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1994.

Sherpa is mainly a spoken language. However, it can be written using two different writing systems: the Devanagari script or the Tibetan script. It's also a "subject-object-verb" (SOV) language. This means sentences are often structured like "I (subject) apple (object) eat (verb)."

Where Sherpa is Spoken

The Sherpa language is spoken in many parts of eastern Nepal, especially in the Himalayan mountains. It is used in several districts across two main provinces:

• In Koshi Province, you can hear Sherpa in places like Solukhumbu District, Okhaldhunga District, and Taplejung District.
• In Bagmati Province, it is spoken in districts such as Ramechhap District, Dolakha District, and Sindhupalchowk District.

How Sherpa is Related to Other Languages

The Sherpa language is part of a larger group called the Tibeto-Burman language family. Think of it like a big family tree! Sherpa is on the Tibetic branch of this tree.

This means Sherpa is related to many other languages. Some of its close relatives include Central Tibetan, Jirel, and Yolmo.

Within the Sherpa language itself, there are five main ways people speak it, called dialects. These include Solu, Khumbu, Pharak, Dram, and Sikkimese Sherpa.

Sounds and Tones in Sherpa

Every language has its own special sounds. Sherpa has a variety of consonant and vowel sounds, just like English. However, some sounds might be different from what you're used to!

Sherpa's Special Tones

One very interesting thing about Sherpa is that it's a tonal language. This means the meaning of a word can change depending on the pitch of your voice when you say it. Imagine saying "hello" in different ways – sometimes it's a question, sometimes it's a statement. In Sherpa, these pitch changes can completely change what a word means!

Sherpa has four main tones: high, high falling, low, and low rising. For example, if you ask a question, the last part of the word will often have a rising tone.

How Sherpa Sentences Work

The grammar of a language is like its rulebook for putting words together. Sherpa has its own interesting rules for verbs, nouns, and how sentences are built.

Sherpa Verbs

In Sherpa, verbs change their form to show different things. For example, they can show if an action is finished or still happening. They also show if someone did something on purpose or by accident.

Verbs can have up to three endings added to them. These endings help explain more about the action. For instance, one ending might show that an action lasted for a long time. Another might show that the speaker was surprised by what happened!

Sherpa Nouns and Pronouns

Nouns in Sherpa can also change slightly to show their role in a sentence. This is called "case." For example, a noun might change to show if it's the subject doing the action or the object receiving the action.

Pronouns, like "I," "you," or "he," also change based on who is speaking and how they are used in the sentence. They can also show if something belongs to someone.

Describing Things: Sherpa Adjectives and Numbers

When you want to describe a noun in Sherpa, the adjective usually comes after the noun. For example, instead of "red car," it might be "car red."

Numbers also follow the noun they describe. Sherpa has its own unique way of counting. Here are some examples:

A Sample of Sherpa Language

To give you an idea of what Sherpa looks like, here is a famous text. It's Article 1 from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This article talks about how all people are born free and equal.

Sherpa in Tibetan script

མི་རིགས་ཏེ་རི་རང་དབང་དང་རྩི་མཐོང་གི་ཐོབ་ཐང་འདྲ་འདྲའི་ཐོག་སྐྱེའུ་ཡིན། གང་ག་རྣམ་དཔྱོད་དང་ཤེས་རབ་ལྷན་སྐྱེས་སུ་འོད་དུབ་ཡིན་ཙང་། ཕར་ཚུར་གཅིག་གིས་གཅིག་ལ་སྤུན་གྱི་འདུ་ཤེས་འཇོག་དགོས་ཀྱི།

Sherpa in Devanagari script

मि रिग ते रि रङ्वाङ् दङ् चिथोङ गि थोप्थङ डडइ थोग् क्येउ यिन्। गङ् ग नम्ज्योद दङ् शेस्रब् ल्हन्क्ये सु ओद्दुब् यिन् चङ् । फर्छुर च्यिग्गि-च्यिग्ल पुन्ग्यि दुशेस् ज्योग्गोग्यि।

Sherpa in IAST transliteration

Mi rig te ri raṅvāṅ daṅ cithoṅ gi thopthaṅ ḍaḍaï thog kyeu yin. Gaṅ ga namjyod daṅ śesrab lhankye su oddub yin caṅ, pharchur cyiggi-cyigla pungyi duśes jyoggogyi.

Sherpa in the Wylie transliteration

Mi rigs te ri rang dbang dang rtsi thong gi thob thang 'dra 'dra'i thog skyeu yin. Gang ga rnam dpyod dang shes rab lhan skyes su 'od dub yin tsang, phar tshur gcig gis gcig la spun gyi 'du shes 'jog dgos kyi.

English Translation

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are given reason and conscience. They should treat each other like brothers and sisters.