Migration story
The Sunkoshi crossing
Clan histories recount the river crossing that split brothers into the lineages still named at rituals.
Language profile
Sunuwar
कोँइच / Koids
Sunuwar, self-named Koinch, has its own script — Jenticha, devised in 1942 by Karna Bahadur Jenticha — and a Mundhum tradition tied to the Sunkoshi and Likhu rivers.
- Language family
- Sino-Tibetan › Kiranti
- Script
- Jenticha (Koinch Brese), Devanagari
- Speakers
- ≈ 37,000
- Status
- Endangered
- Also called
- Koinch, Mukhiya
- Greeting
- Sewa
Where it is spoken
Geographic distribution
OkhaldhungaRamechhapDolakhaSindhuli
Script
Jenticha (Koinch Brese), Devanagari
Writing sample
𑄇𑄮𑄁 — Jenticha script
Scripts carry more than sound: letterforms, numerals and orthographic conventions record centuries of contact, patronage and revival.
Note
Numeral documentation for Sunuwar is in progress with community contributors.
Words & expressions
Everyday speech
सेवा
Sewa
Greetings
गे दोसो नोव?
Ge doso nov?
How are you?
Alphabet
Letters and numerals
Devanagari
Official script of Nepal, used for Nepali and most Indo-Aryan and many Tibeto-Burman languages of the country.
Vowels
अआइईउऊऋएऐओऔअंअः
Consonants
कखगघङचछजझञटठडढणतथदधनपफबभमयरलवशषसहक्षत्रज्ञ
Numerals
०१२३४५६७८९
Words
Core vocabulary
आमा
ama
mother
बाक्खु
bakkhu
water
खिं
khin
house
कोइँच
Koinch
Sunuwar (self-name)
नासो
naso
ancestral trust
सिली
sili
dance step
ग्युब्रे
gyubre
ritual specialist
सेवा
sewa
greetings
Idioms & sayings
How the language thinks
नासो बिर्सिए मूल सुक्छ
Naso birsie mool sukchha
Forget the trust and the spring dries up.
History
How Sunuwar came to be written and spoken
Early era
Koinch Sunuwar settlement along the Sunkoshi and Molung valleys.
20th century
Migration and Nepali-medium schooling reduce daily use of the language.
Today
Koinch Sunuwar bodies publish primers and promote the Koinch Brese script.
Tales
Told and retold
Indigenous knowledge
Knowledge carried in the language, not in books
Ritual bee and honey lore
Cliff and log hives tended with offerings, harvest limited to protect the colony.
Millet beer for ritual
Jaand brewed to fixed strengths for named rites, each with its own vessel.
AI preparedness index
How ready is Sunuwar for language technology?
Overall readiness
0.33%
readiness score from the global index of 6,000+ world languages
AI resource readiness0.00%
Infrastructural readiness37.96%
Socioeconomic readiness2.83%
ISO 639-3
suz
Speakers (index)
38,000
Endangerment
Definitely endangered
Open datasets
11
Published models
45
Wikipedia articles
0
Dictionary exists
Yes
Full text corpus
Yes
These figures place Sunuwar on the readiness index: how much machine-readable text, speech and model work already exists, and how far the digital and socioeconomic conditions around its speakers support building them. A low AI resource score is exactly where corpus collection changes the outcome.
Source: global language readiness index (Sunwar, suz). Scores are readiness percentages across the full index of 6,000+ languages.
Stories
Oral tradition
Mundhum
Rivers as ancestors
The Koinch Mundhum traces the clan's migration upstream along the Sunkoshi, each confluence a station in the ancestral route.
Songs & music
Sung heritage
♪
Sakela sili
Ritual dance
Danced with Kiranti neighbours at Ubhauli.
Recording being catalogued
Culture & traditions
Festivals, dress, food, craft
Festivals
UbhauliUdhauliChandi
Dress
White cotton with red sash and coin necklaces.
Food
Wachipa, millet dhido, jaand.
Crafts
Jenticha calligraphy, bamboo craft.
People & community
The people who keep Sunuwar alive
Koinch communities of the Sunkoshi basin, with pidar and poinbo ritual specialists.
Language → People → Place → Culture → Heritage
Sunuwar → Koinch communities of the Sunkoshi basin → Okhaldhunga, Ramechhap, Dolakha → Ubhauli → audio, video, text and images held with community consent.
Related languages
Bantawa Rai
बान्तावा
Sino-Tibetan › Kiranti
Limbu
ᤛᤡᤖᤡᤈᤞᤠ᤺ᤴ / याक्थुङ पान्
Sino-Tibetan › Kiranti
Tamang
तामाङ / ཏའ་མང་
Sino-Tibetan › Tamangic
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