Raji–Raute languages

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.