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Nepali

File:Nepali_language_Devanagari.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ33823· pop 138· linked from 6,832 articles

Also known as Nepal, Nepalese, Nepali language, Gorkhali

official language of Nepal

AI overview

Nepali is the official language of Nepal, a country in South Asia. It matters because it serves as the primary language for government, education, and communication across Nepal.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of
language variety
Country
Myanmar
Image
Nepali language.svg
Show 20 more facts
Commons category
Nepali language
Wikimedia language code
ne
topic's main category
Category:Nepali language
writing system
Devanagari
native label
नेपाली
language regulatory body
Nepal Academy
linguistic typology
fusional language
indigenous to
Khas people
different from
Newar
category for films in this language
Category:Nepali-language films
P10369
wood
number of speakers, writers, or signers
24131000
has grammatical gender
feminine
on focus list of Wikimedia project
Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
topic has template
Template:Ne icon
ethnic group
Nepalis
ranking
59
Sources (15)

via Wikidata · CC0

~22 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Nepali (Devanagari: नेपाली) is the official and most-widely spoken language of Nepal, where it also serves as a lingua franca. It is an Indo-Aryan language, belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch within the Indo-European language family, native to the Himalayan region of South Asia.

Historically, the language has been known by several names. It was previously called Gorkhali language, after the Gorkha Kingdom, and before that as Khas Kura, the language of the Khas people, and Parbatiya language, meaning the language of the mountain people. The term Nepali came into official use in the 20th century during the reign of King Mahendra, when the language was standardized and promoted as the national language of Nepal.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Nepali” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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