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YKH

　The Ykhs are a small tribe who are found in the same localities as the Limbus, i.e. between the Arun River and the Singilela range. They are not numerous. Most of them are found in Chainpur. There are also small settlements in Darjeeling and Sikkim, and at the last Census of 1901, Ykhs were also returned from Assam.

　No estimates are available about the number of speakers in Nepal. According to information collected for the purposes of this Survey the dialect was spoken by 1,250 individuals in Darjeeling. At the last Census of 1904, Ykh was returned from the following districts:-

　According to Sir Herbert Risley, the tribe call themselves yak-thomba or yakherds, with reference to the tradition that this was their characteristic occupation before they crossed the Himalaya into Eastern Nepal. Compare the denomination yk-thng-b which the Limbus apply to themselves. Hodgson, on the other hand, is inclined to identify the Ykhs with the Yakkhas mentioned in the Mahvamsa as living in the Himlayas.

　The Ykhs, like the Jimdrs, use the honorific title Ri to denote themselves.

AUTHORITIES-

　HODGSON, B.H.,-Comparative Vocabulary of the several Languages (Dialects) of the celebrated people called Kirntis, now occupying the eastern-most province of the kingdom of Npl, or the basin of the river run, which province is named after them Kirnt. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. xxvi, 1857, pp. 333 and ff. Reprinted in Miscollaneous Essays relating to Indian Subjects, Vol. i, London, 1880, pp. 177 and ff.

　HUNTER, W.W.,-A Comparative Dictionary of the Languages of India and High Asia. London, 1868.

　Two specimens and a list of Standard Words and Phrases have been received from Darjeeling. The handwriting in the list was so bad that some passages could not be restored with certainty. Such cases have been indicated by adding a query within parenthesis.

　Pronunciation.-The vowels a, i, and u may be either long or short. The long and short sounds, however, sometimes interchange in the same word, e.g. in the plural suffix ch or chi. It is therefore possible that Ykh agrees with Tibetan in not possess- ing really long vowels.

　E and y are sometimes interchanged; thus, Tngkheng and Tngkhyng, heaven.

　There are four gutturals, viz.: k, kh, g, and gh. The dialect also possesses corre- sponding sets of palatals, dentals, and labials, and probably also of cerebrals.

　Ch interchanges with j and z in the plural suffix ch, ji or zi.

　Concurrent consonants are sometimes assimilated; thus, km-me instead of km-be, on work; hip-png and hichchi, two; ten, village, but tem-be, in the viliage; ung-khi,

　　VOL. III, PART I. 　　

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