Languages · Profile
कुसुन्डा
Kusunda
A language with no known relatives anywhere in the world, once spoken by forest-dwelling hunter-gatherers of western Nepal. Only 23 people named it as their mother tongue in 2021, and by the latest available accounts only one fluent native speaker, Kamala Sen Khatri, remains.
23
mother tongue speakers in Nepal (2021 census)
0.00%
of Nepal's population
Language isolate
language family
No traditional script
script
In Nepal
Where it is spoken
Critically endangered, a language isolate
Historically the forests of Gorkha, Dang, Pyuthan and Surkhet; remaining speakers live in Dang and nearby districts.
LumbiniGandakiKarnali
Beyond Nepal
Who else speaks it
- Outside Nepal: Not spoken anywhere else
The Dehat
Our work in Kusunda
Urgent documentation with the last speakers, our highest preservation priority.
Speak Kusunda, or know someone who does? We want to hear your stories.
ContributeSources: National Population and Housing Census 2021, Nepal (mother tongue); Census of India 2011. Figures for small and endangered languages are estimates.