In the western part of Nepal, near the Himalayas, a dying language called Kusunda is spoken, and only one person speaks it fluently. The threat of extinction has loomed over this ancient language for a long time, but the Nepali Language Commission and other organizations are working to preserve it, especially among the younger generation.

The Kusundas, who previously led a nomadic lifestyle in the Nepali forests, engaged in hunting and gathering. By the mid-20th century, they settled into villages as the expansion of agriculture in the 1950s forced them to abandon their traditional way of life. As a result, their language also became endangered, and now, at the age of 61, Kamala Khati is the only person who speaks the Kusunda language as a native.

Madhav Pokharel, a linguistics professor at Tribhuvan University, told the BBC that he has been studying the Kusunda language for 15 years but has not been able to link it to any known language. Linguists today believe that Kusunda may have survived from some ancient language.

The uniqueness of the language lies in the absence of words with negative connotations. Therefore, the word “no” is missing from their dictionary, and surprisingly, there is no equivalent for the word “yes” in Kusunda.

Estimates suggest that there are approximately 6,500 to 7,000 languages in the world. Modern linguistic research provides various figures; Ethnologue, an encyclopedic compilation of the world’s languages, includes descriptions of 7,106 languages, while the 2009 version mentions 6,909, and the 1996 version reports only 6,703 languages.

According to linguistics professor Bhojrar Gautam, the Kusunda language does not form traditional sentences but rather context-dependent, associative structures. For example, a negating sentence like “I don’t want tea” is expressed with the word “tea” and a text context expressing low probability.

Currently, Kamala Khati is teaching this rare language to a small group to save it from extinction. A German company, NowHere Media, has also produced a documentary series showcasing the Kusunda language and its associated culture.

(Photo: YouTube)