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Kewat language

Kewat, also known as Kayort is a Bengali-Assamese language spoken in the Terai and adjacent lowlands of southern Nepal. It is considered endangered, with only a small number of speakers reported in linguistic surveys and language resource listings.

Names

Besides Kewat and Kayort, the language is also known by several alternate names, including Kayot, Kaot, Kevat, Kewati and Kevati.

Classification

Kewat belongs to the Eastern zone of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family, though its precise classification is uncertain due to limited data.

Some catalogues list Kewat as an alternate name or local variety of Bagheli or related Eastern Indo-Aryan lects, suggesting possible overlap or inclusion in a dialect chain. Because it is severely under-documented, priority research includes updating speaker counts, dialect mapping, phonological and morphological description, and documentation of intergenerational transmission.

Distribution

Kewat is primarily spoken in the southern districts of Nepal's Terai near the India-Nepal border, though detailed mapping of its speaker communities remains incomplete. There is currently no comprehensive descriptive grammar, phonology, or text corpus for Kewat available in the academic literature.

References