Nihali

Also known as Nihali language, Nahali

language

Key facts

Native to: India
Region: Jalgaon Jamod , Buldhana district , Maharashtra (on the border with Madhya Pradesh )
Ethnicity: 5,000 Nihali
Native speakers: 2,500 (2016)
Language family: Language isolate
Iso 639 3: nll
Glottolog: niha1238
Elp: Nihali

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Wikidata facts

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number of speakers, writers, or signers: 2000
exact match: publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/language/NLL

Sources (9)

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Article

Nihali, also known as Nahali ( Nihali: [nihaːliː, nahaːliː]), is an endangered language isolate that is spoken in west-central India by approximately 2,500 people as of 2016. The name of the language derives from nahal, meaning "tiger".

Nihali has not been definitively proven to be related to any other surrounding language families of South Asia, such as Munda, Indo-Aryan, and Dravidian languages, nor to other language isolates like Burushaski and Kusunda. However, a connection with Ainu has been suggested.