Kewat language

Kewat, also known as Kayort¹ 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