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Raji–Raute is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family that includes the three closely related languages, namely Raji, Raute, and Rawat. They are spoken by small hunter-gatherer communities in the Terai region of Nepal and in neighboring Uttarakhand, India.

Like some other Tibeto-Burman languages, Raji–Raute languages have voiceless sonorants.

Classification

Raute and Rawat are closely related; Raji is more distantly related. Fortier classifies the Raji–Raute languages as follows. Note that language varieties that classify within the Rawat subgroup are known by various names; Raute of Dadeldhura/Darchula is taxonomically a Rawat language, and is not to be confused with Raute proper.

Raji–Raute

• Raute–Rawat
  • Raute (nomadic groups)
  • Rawat
    • Rajwar (spoken in Khirdwari)
    • Rawat
      • Rawat (also known as Ban Raji)
      • Raute of Dadeldhura/Darchula
• Raji
  • Naukule
  • Bandale, Purbia

Schorer (2016)

Schorer (2016:293) classifies Raji–Raute as part of his newly proposed Greater Magaric group.

Greater Magaric

• Dura
  • Dura
  • Tandrange
• Magaric: Kham, Magar
• Chepangic-Raji
  • Chepangic: Chepang, Bhujel
  • Raji-Raute

Fortier (2012)

A database of 700 words for items from households of Raute and Ban Rawat speakers (Fortier 2012) indicates a largely Sino-Tibetan language ancestry. Deep Root items include 58 words of Sino-Tibetan origin and 7 of Austroasiatic origin. Proto-family items include 281 morphemes of Proto-Tibeto-Burman origin. Meso-root, or subfamily items include 34 words of Proto-Kuki-Chin origin, 23 of Proto-Tani origin, 6 of Proto-Tangkulic origin, and 1 of Northern Chin origin. The database omits most loans of Indo-Aryan origin although 43 items were of Sanskrit origin. Work remains on identifying etymologies of the remaining 247 items in the Raute–Rawat database.

Distribution

Raji-Raute varieties are spoken in the following areas of Nepal and India.

• Dadeldhura/Darchula Raute: Darchula District and Dadeldhura District, Nepal
• Ban Raji/Rawat: Pithoragarh District, Uttarakhand, India
• Khirdwari Rajwar: Champawat District, Uttarakhand, India
• Raute: nomadic, 10 districts of western Nepal
• Bandale Raji: Surkhet District and Kailali District, Nepal
• Naukule Raji: Kailali District, Nepal
• Purbia Raji: Bardia District, Nepal

Vocabulary

The comparative vocabulary lists of Raji and Raute below are from Rastogi & Fortier (2005). Rastogi & Fortier (2005) also provide Purbia Raji and Janggali Raute forms.

Swadesh list

The following is a 100-word Swadesh list from Rastogi & Fortier (2005).

Body parts

Rastogi & Fortier (2005) list the following body part terms.

Footnotes

1. ^ Fortier, Jana. Creating an Orthography for the Raute and Rawat.
2. Schorer, Nicolas. 2016. The Dura Language: Grammar and Phylogeny. Leiden: Brill.

References

• George van Driem (2001) Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill.
• Fortier, Jana (2012) "Annotated Dictionary of Raute and Rawat Languages"
• Rastogi, Kavita and Jana Fortier. 2005. Daa, Nii, Sum/Khung: Comparative Vocabulary of the West-Central Himalayan Languages Rawati (Raji) and Khamci (Raute). Indian Linguistics 66. 105–115.

Further reading

• Fortier, Jana. 2019. A Comparative Dictionary of Raute and Rawat: Tibeto-Burman Languages of the Central Himalayas. Harvard Oriental Series 88. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674984349
• Krishan, Shree. 2003. Darma, Chaudangsi, and Raji. In: Randy J. LaPolla (ed.), Tibeto-Burman Languages of Uttar Pradesh, pp. 139–272.

v t e Sino-Tibetan branches
Western Himalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand, Nepal, Sikkim)	West Himalayish Tamangic Newaric Newar Baram–Thangmi Kiranti Dhimalish Dhimal Toto Lhokpu Lepcha Greater Magaric Magaric Magar Kham Chepangic Chepang Bhujel Raji–Raute Dura–Tandrange
Eastern Himalayas (Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal)	Bodish Tibetic East Bodish Tshangla Basum Nam? Gongduk ʼOle Tani Chamdo
Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border	Karbi Kuki-Chin Mruic Mru Hkongso Pyu Taman "Naga" Ao Angami–Pochuri Meitei Tangkhulic Zeme Sal Boro–Garo Konyak Jingpho–Luish
East and Southeast Asia	Sinitic Bai Tujia Nungish Karenic Gong Kathu Cai–Long Caijia Longjia Luren Burmo-Qiangic Qiangic Gyalrongic Ersuic Naic Lolo-Burmese Mondzish Burmish Loloish
Dubious (possible isolates) (Arunachal)	Hrusish Hruso Mijiic Kho-Bwa Puroik Miju–Meyor Songlin Greater Siangic Siangic Koro Milang Idu–Taraon
Proposed groupings	Central Tibeto-Burman Kuki-Chin–Naga Macro-Bai Mahakiranti Rung Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri
Proto-languages	Proto-Sino-Tibetan Proto-Tibeto-Burman Proto-Loloish Proto-Karenic Proto-Min Proto-Hakka
Italics indicates single languages that are also considered to be separate branches.

• Raji–Raute languages
• Languages of India