Magar Kaike is a Sino-Tibetan language of Nepal. Ethnologue classifies it as a West Bodish language.
Distribution Kaike is a nepali magar language spoken in Shahartara, Samteling, Tupatara, Tarakot, Namdel and Belawa villages of kaike Rural Municipality, Dolpa District, Karnali Province, Nepal (Ethnologue).
Linguistic contact Honda (2008)Honda, Isao. 2008. Some observations on the relationship between Kaike and Tamangic. Nepalese Linguistics 23: 85-116. notes that Kaike shares many words with Tamangic, but is not part of Tamangic proper. It is also in contact with Tichurong, a divergent Tibetic lect spoken near the Kaike-speaking areas.Honda, Isao. 2018. Preliminary report on Tichyurong Tibetan (Dolpa, Nepal). Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto University. Zemp (2023) discusses the heavy influence of Tichurong on Kaike, but notes that Kaike has a Tamangic base.Zemp, Marius. 2023. Tichurong-Tibetic influence in the grammar of Kaike (Nepal). 26th Himalayan Languages Symposium, 4-6 September 2023. Paris: INALCO.
Lexicon Honda (2008) lists the following Kaike words.
No. Gloss Kaike 1 gold mar 2 cow mi 3 blood kah 4 black Myanma- 5 red loma 6 green piŋgma 7 milk cow Ne 8 thread rup 9 heart diŋg 10 (be) dry khār- 11 snow liŋ 12 hen kā: 13 egg kā:-pum 14 lay eggs phum- 15 excrement khyi 16 one ti: 17 nose nā 18 to rest nā- 19 nasal mucus nap 20 seven ne 21 thin bā- 22 eye mi: 23 name min 24 fire me 25 tongue lai 26 month lā 27 ladder li 28 heavy li- 29 break (e.g., firewood) kyut- 30 plough, dig khoə- 31 borrow/lend khyi- 32 field khye 33 chest gu 34 borrow ŋan- 35 nest cāŋ 36 bridge cām 37 daughter came 38 hang, tie cun- 39 knead cyen- 40 hair cham 41 lift thi- 42 measure (e.g., length) kāt- 43 portion kāl 44 burn ko- 45 weigh kot- 46 shake khār- 47 feed khoə:- 48 grandfather khye 49 suck ŋup- 50 cook, put on the stove cu:- 51 now cõ: 52 count jyer- 53 what tai 54 receive tā:- 55 post, pillar tā: 56 spread tit- 57 this year tiriŋ 58 meet do:- 59 need to toə- 60 today tyā 61 full nāŋ- 62 tomorrow nāpcye 63 garlic noə 64 break (itr.) noŋ- 65 fear nyin- 66 go yā 67 marker of hearsay ru 68 village nām 69 dog khyu 70 fly (insect) baraŋ 71 fish ŋā 72 foot, leg le 73 grind ra:- 74 cliff ra: 75 four li 76 flatten lep- 77 see raŋ- 78 smile, laugh rai- 79 penis lu 80 forget let- 81 rice lā 82 flour rā:pi 83 buckwheat barau:
References