Sherpa

Sherpa is one of the communities of Sikkim and North Bengal. The population of Sherpas are concentrated in South and West districts of Sikkim. They are also settled in North district viz., Kabi Tingda and East district viz., Phadamchen in Rongli sub division. The total number speakers in Sikkim is 3997. Sherpa is a Tibetic language of the Tibeto-Burman family. It is recognized as one of the State Official Languages in Sikkim in 2003. Sherpa is taught unto class X in Sikkim. Sambhota script is used in writing Sherpa language in Sikkim. Sikkim Herald (Sherpa edition) is published in the same script.

A grammatical sketch of Sherpa and a Sherpa-English-Nepali dictionary are published by the centre.