Nepali Language | Britannica

Varieties and lexicon

Nepali includes three regional dialect groups: the western, the central, and the eastern. There is also a distinct dialect used by the members of the royal family and the upper classes. This dialect has a special lexicon and a four-level honorific system, and it is increasingly being adopted by the educated middle class and the newly wealthy.

Nepali has a rich heritage of oral literature as well as a body of written literature that has been developed during last two and half centuries. The vocabulary and style of written Nepali are influenced by Sanskrit and recorded with the Devanagari script.

Also called: Gurkha, Gorkhali, Gurkhali, or Khaskura (Show more) Related Topics: Nepali literature Indian languages Eastern Pahari languages (Show more) See all related content Access for the whole family! Bundle Britannica Premium and Kids for the ultimate resource destination. Subscribe

As a medium of law and administration, the register of legal Nepali has been developed and enriched with Persian and Arabic words. Technical terms for the various administrative branches of government have been devised and borrowed from Sanskrit and English as needed. Modern spoken Nepali has borrowed vocabulary from Hindi, Sanskrit, and English.

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