| Majhi | |
|---|---|
 The word "Majhi" written in Devanagari script | |
| Region | Nepal |
| Ethnicity | Majhi people |
Native speakers | 24,000 (2011)[1] |
| Devanagari | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mjz |
| Glottolog | majh1253 |
| ELP | Majhi |
Majhi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of Nepal and formerly in some small pockets of neighboring India.[2]:1 The language is associated with the Majhi people, an ethnic group in those regions who dwell historically near the Saptakoshi River and its tributaries and elsewhere in central and eastern Nepal. The Majhi people generally subsist off of work associated with rivers, including fishing and ferrying.[2]:2 Majhi is written using the Devanagari writing system.[1]
Ethnologue classifies Mahji as a 6b threatened language. There are roughly 24,400 L1 speakers of Majhi in Nepal and roughly 46,120 L1 and L2 speakers of the language around the globe.[1] Most of the Majhi speakers in Nepal are bilingual with the more predominant Nepali language,[2]:2 and the latter language is replacing Majhi in use.[1] Majhi's lack of official status, use in education, in media, in print, etc. places the survival of the language in a precarious position.[2]:2
The last speaker in India, Thak Bahadur Majhi of Jorethang in Sikkim state, died in 2016.[3]
- ^ a b c d e Majhi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b c d Dhakal, Dubi Nanda (2014). A Grammar of Majhi. Munich: LINCOM EUROPA. ISBN 9783862885497.
- ^ TNN (22 July 2016). "Last speaker of Majhi language dead | Vadodara News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
