| Kewat | |
|---|---|
| केवट, कयोर्ट কেবট, কয়োর্ট | |
| Native to | Nepal, India |
| Region | Terai (Predominantly Nepal) |
| Ethnicity | Kewat |
| Devanagari | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kyv |
| Glottolog | kayo1247 |
Kewat, also known as Kayort [1] is a Bengali-Assamese language spoken in the Terai and adjacent lowlands of southern Nepal. [2] It is considered endangered, with only a small number of speakers reported in linguistic surveys and language resource listings. [3]
Besides Kewat and Kayort, the language is also known by several alternate names, including Kayot, Kaot, Kevat, Kewati and Kevati. [4]
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. [5]
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. [6] Because it is severely under-documented, priority research includes updating speaker counts, dialect mapping, phonological and morphological description, and documentation of intergenerational transmission. [7]
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. [8] There is currently no comprehensive descriptive grammar, phonology, or text corpus for Kewat available in the academic literature. [9]