page_title: Yolmo language
section_title: Melamchi Valley Yolmo
hierarchical_section_title: Yolmo language / Dialects / Melamchi Valley Yolmo
caption_attribution_description: English: Sermathang Village, Nepal.
context_page_description: Yolmo or Helambu Sherpa, is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Hyolmo people of Nepal. Yolmo is spoken predominantly in the Helambu and Melamchi valleys in northern Nuwakot District and northwestern Sindhupalchowk District. Dialects are also spoken by smaller populations in Lamjung District and Ilam District and also in Ramecchap District. It is very similar to Kyirong Tibetan and less similar to Standard Tibetan and Sherpa. There are approximately 10,000 Yolmo speakers, although some dialects have larger populations than others.
context_section_description: The variety of Yolmo documented by Anna Marie Hari is mostly spoken in the Melamchi Valley area. Hari documented the variety of Yolmo mostly spoken around the villages of Sermathang and Chhimi. Hari also encountered speakers from other areas in the Melamchi and Helambu valleys, and suggested there are two dialects across this area. mostly distinguished by vocabulary. The two dialects are the 'western' dialect, mostly in Nuwakot district and the 'eastern' dialect, which Hari's work focuses on. While discussing these dialects Hari also observes that the variety spoken around Tarkeghyang is different again, suggesting there may be more than two dialects spoken in the area.
  Hari produced a Yolmo-Nepali-English dictionary of the language with Chhegu Lama, and a sketch grammar. Hari also translated the New Testament of the Bible into Yolmo. Original cassette recordings of her work have been digitised and archived with PARADISEC. Unless otherwise stated, all discussion of the grammar of Yolmo on this page is drawn from the work on Melamchi Valley Yolmo.
caption: Sermathang Village, Melamchi Valley, Nepal
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