Vayu language

{{Short description|Sino-Tibetan language}} {{About|the language spoken in Nepal|the language of South America|Wayuu language}} {{Infobox language |name=Vayu |altname=Hayu |nativename=वायु, हायु |state=Nepal |region=Janakpur Zone |speakers={{sigfig|1520|2}} |date=2011 census |ref=e18 |familycolor=Sino-Tibetan |fam2=Tibeto-Burman |fam3=Mahakiranti (?) |fam4=Kiranti |fam5=Western |fam6=Northwestern |script=Devanagari |iso3=vay |glotto=wayu1241 |glottorefname=Wayu }}

'''Vayu''' (वायु), also known as '''Wayu''' or '''Hayu''' (हायु) is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nepal by about 1,520 people in Bagmati Province. Dialects include Pali Gau (पालि गाउ), Mudajor, Sukajor, Ramechhap, Sindhuli, and Marin Khola.

The Vayu language features SOV ordering. There are strong Nepali influences in its phonology, lexicon, and grammar. Its uses the Devanagari script as its writing system. There are no known monolingual speakers of the language, as its speaking population also uses Nepali.<ref name="e18" /> Despite a lack of monolingual children, use of Vayu has survived into the 21st century <ref>Frawley, W. (2003). Wayu. ''The International Encyclopedia of Linguistics.'' (Vol. 4, pp. 536) New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.</ref>

== Phonology == {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ Vowels<ref name="Hayu">{{Cite web|url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01486506/document|title=Hayu|last=Michailovsky|first=Boyd}}</ref> ! !Front !Back |- !Close |{{IPA link|i}} |{{IPA link|u}} |- !Near-close |{{IPA link|ɪ}} |{{IPA link|ʊ}} |- !Open-mid |{{IPA link|ɛ}} |{{IPA link|ɔ}} |- !Open |colspan=2|{{IPA link|a}} |}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ Consonants<ref name="Hayu"/> ! colspan="2" | ! bilabial ! dental ! alveolar ! palatal ! velar ! glottal |- ! colspan="2" | nasal | {{IPA link|m}} | {{IPA link|n}} | | | {{IPA link|ŋ}} | |- ! rowspan="3" | plosive ! plain | {{IPA link|p}} | {{IPA link|t}} | {{IPA link|ts}} | {{IPA link|c}} {{IPAblink|tɕ}} | {{IPA link|k}} | |- ! voiced | {{IPA link|b}} | {{IPA link|d}} | {{IPA link|dz}} | {{IPA link|ɟ}} {{IPAblink|dʑ}} | {{IPA link|g}} | |- ! aspirated | {{IPA link|pʰ}} | {{IPA link|tʰ}} | {{IPA link|tsʰ}} | | {{IPA link|kʰ}} | |- ! colspan="2" | fricative | | | {{IPA link|s}} | {{IPA link|x}} | | {{IPA link|h}} |- ! colspan="2" | tap | | | {{IPA link|ɾ}} | | | |- ! rowspan="2" | lateral ! voiceless | | {{IPA link|ɬ}} | | | | |- ! voiced | | {{IPA link|l}} | | | | |- ! colspan="2" | semivowel | {{IPA link|w}} | | | {{IPA link|j}} | | |}

==Grammar== {{interlinear|indent=2|c1=<ref name="Hayu"/> |a-mʊ kɔ lɔm-nɔŋ kɔ nakpu xʷaptsɔ {dum –} kɛm-hɛ kɔlu xʷaptsɔ {nɔ […]} dzəmmə kɔ tsʰukpu dŭmɛ |3S-GEN TOP road-on TOP two:HUM spouse become:{{gcl|23S|second and third person, singular}} house-in one spouse be:{{gcl|23S|second and third person, singular}} all TOP three:HUM become:3P |‘Now he had two wives on the road – he had one at home – altogether they were three.’}}

==Geographical distribution== Hayu is spoken in the following locations of Nepal.<ref name="e18" />

*Ramechhap District, Bagmati Province: Mudajor and Sukajor villages *Sindhuli District: Manedihi village

Hayu is spoken in the Sunkoshi valley, southwards across the Mahabharat range. Ethnic Hayu live on the hills on both sides of the Sun Kosi River but the language is only spoken in the villages listed.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Boyd Michailovsky (1988) ''La langue hayu.'' Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. * Boyd Michailovsky (2003) "Hayu". In Graham Thurgood & Randy LaPolla (eds.), The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 518–532. London & New York: Routledge. * George van Driem (2001) ''Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region.'' Brill. *Rai, Tara Mani (2017). A Sociolinguistic survey of Hayu: A Tibeto-Burman Language. Central Department of Linugistcs, TU. https://portal.tu.edu.np/downloads/Hayu_2023_09_30_11_19_00.pdf

==Further reading== * Hodgson, B. (1857). Váyu Vocabulary. ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 26.'' 372–485. * Hodgson, B. (1858). On the Vayu tribe of the Central Himalaya. ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 27.'' 443–6. * Michailovsky, B. (1973). Notes on the Hayu language. ''Kailash : A Journal of Himalayan Studies, 1(2)'', 135–152. * Michailovsky, B. (1974). Hayu Typology and Verbal Morphology. ''Linguistics Of The Tibeto-Burman Area'', 11–26. * Michailovsky, B. (1976). A Case of Rhinoglottophilia in Hayu. ''Linguistics Of The Tibeto-Burman Area'', 2293. * Park, I. (1995). Grammaticalization of Verbs in Three Tibeto-Burman Languages. ''Dissertation Abstracts International, 55(8)'', 2369A. * Sherard, M. (1986). Morphological Structure of the Pronominal and Verb Systems in Two Pronominalized Himalayan Languages. In J. McCoy, T. Light (Eds.), ''Contributions to Sino-Tibetan Studies'' (pp. 172–199). Leiden: Brill. * Yadava, Y. P., Glover, W. W. (1999). Topics in Nepalese Linguistics. In Yadava, Yogendra P. and Warren W. Glover (eds.) Kamaladi, Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy. p. 603.

==External links== * [http://cocoon.huma-num.fr/exist/crdo/rechercher.xql?terme=hayu Hayu recordings from COCOON, COllections de COrpus Oraux Numériques]{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * [http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/3399 Endangered Languages Profile for Hayu]

Category:Articles in class projects/Rutgers Category:Kiranti languages Category:Languages of Nepal Category:Subject–object–verb languages Category:Endangered Sino-Tibetan languages Category:Languages of Bagmati Province Category:Languages written in Devanagari