A woman from the Achham district of Nepal discusses cooking mutton and fish in the Achhami dialect.
Doteli, or Dotyali (Doteli-Devanagari: डोटेली) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 495,000 people, most of whom live in Nepal. It is a dialect of Khas, which is an ancient form of the modern Nepali language, and is written in the Devanagari script. It has official status in Nepal as per Part 1, Section 6 of the Constitution of Nepal 2072 (2015).[1] There are four main dialects of Doteli, namely Baitadeli, Achhami, Bajhangi Nepali, Darchuli and Doteli.[4] The mutual intelligibility between these dialects is high and all dialects of Doteli are able to share language-based materials.
Example short phrases
Words/Phrases
Transliteration
English Translation
नमस्कार
Namaskar
Hello (formal)
तमरो नाम कि हो
Tamaro naam ki ho
What is your name?
तम काँ बठे आया हौ
Tam kan bathe aaya hou
Where are you from?
तम कसा छौ
Tam kasa chhau
How are you?
मुई निको छुँ
Mui niko chhu
I'm fine.
तम काँ झान्या हौ
Tam kan jhanya hou
Where are you going? / Where will you go?
कि भ्यो / कि भयो
Ki bhyo / ki bhayo
What happened?
छाँटो घर आया
Chhanto ghar aaya
Come home soon.
Names of the language
The language is known by various names in the far–western region of Nepal, according to the districts.
Although Dotyali isn't fully intelligible with standard Nepali, Dotyali is considered a member of the macrolanguage Nepali.[5] In Nepal, Doteli is considered a Nepali dialect. However, local intellectuals and people of Doti, those who speak Doteli, are increasingly demanding their language to be recognized as one of the national languages of Nepal.
