Jirel

Language name and location: Jirel, Bagmati province, Nepal [Refer to Ethnologue]

语言名称和分布地区: 基勒尔语, 尼泊尔东部巴格玛蒂省

1. dokpoi	21.
2. ŋi	22. kʰald͡ziktaŋi
3. sum	23. kʰald͡ziktaŋsum
4. si	24.
5. ŋa	25.
6. tʰuk	26.
7. duin	27.
8. ɡet	28.
9. ɡu	29.
10. t͡sutʰambaː	30.
11. t͡sutsik	40.
12. t͡suŋi	50.
13. t͡suksum	60.
14. t͡supsi	70.
15. t͡syaŋa	80.
16. t͡suruk	90.
17. t͡supdin	100. kʰal ŋa ( 20 x 5 )
18. t͡sepket	200.
19. t͡surɡu	1000.
20. ŋesu / kʰald͡zik	2000.

Linguist providing data and dateː Prof. Dr. Tej R. Kansakar, Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhivan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, December 15, 2013.

提供资料的语言学家: Prof. Dr. Tej R. Kansakar, 2013 年 12 月 15 日.

Other comments: Jirel has a traditional vigesimal system, however, they might use Nepali numerals after twenty more frequently now. Ethnologue reports Jirel has Some comprehension of Lhasa Tibetan and some Tibetan dialects. Grammatically similar to Sherpa. Jirel is a tonal language has four contrastive tone patterns. New data in IPA with tones needed.

Tone
     Jirel has four contrastive tone patterns. The main domains of tone is the
     phonological word.   This word may consist of one or more syllables or one or
     more morphemes. It is the realm of a correlation between pitch and contour.
     In the basic tone pattern, the characteristic pitch level is confined to the initial
     syllable of the word, while the contour spreads over the whole word. In
     monosyllabic words the contour is realized as a falling or non-falling glide.
     In di- and poly-syllabic words the non-falling contour is either level or rising.
    The other contour is falling.

    The contrastive tone patterns are marked with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 in superscript
    at the end of the word in the Roman transcription of Jirel. The two high tones carry
    numbers 1 and 3, the two low tones the numbers 2 and 4 respectively.

Word-initial voiced stops and affricates / b /, / d /, / ḑ /, / j /, / g / occur only
with low tone. All other consonants can occur with either high or low tone.

Table 1. The four contrastive tone patterns of monosyllabic words

	non-falling contour	falling contour
high pitch	la¹'wages'	la³ 'steam'
low pitch	la² 'mountain'	la⁴ 'work'

Table 2. The four contrastive tone patterns of disyllabic words

	non-falling contour	falling contour
high pitch	chomu¹ 'sister-in-law'	chomu³ 'a specific day'
low pitch	phumu² 'daughter'	chyomu⁴'hen'

For more details on the different aspects of the Jirel phonology, see the following two publications :

     Strahm, Esther, and Anita Maibaum. 1971. Jirel Phonemic Summary.
     Tibeto-Burman Phonemic   Summaries XI. Summer Institute of Linguistics.
     = Kathmandu: Tribhuvan University.

      Strahm, Esther, and Anita Maibaum. 2005. Jirel-Nepali-English Dictionary.
      Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu,
      Nepal.

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