Yakkha Language

Yakkha Language

Yakkha (also erroneously spelled as Yakha) is a language spoken in parts of Nepal, Darjeeling district and Sikkim. The Yakkha-speaking villages are located to the East of the Arun river, in the southern part of the Sankhuwasabha district and in the northern part of the Dhankuta district of Nepal. About 14,000 people still speak the language, out of 17,003 ethnic Yakkha in Nepal. Genealogically, Yakkha belongs to the Eastern Kiranti languages and is in one subgroup with several Rai languages, e.g. Belhare, Athpare, Chintang and Chulung (Chɨlɨng). Ethnically however, the Yakkha people perceive themselves as distinct from the other Kiranti groups such as Limbu and Rai. Yakkha has no own script, but recently published materials use a slightly adjusted Devanagari script.