Nihali language
| Nihali | |
|---|---|
| निहाली | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Jalgaon Jamod, Buldhana district, Maharashtra (on the border with Madhya Pradesh) |
| Ethnicity | 5,000 Nihali |
Native speakers | 2,500 (2016) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nll |
| Glottolog | niha1238 |
| ELP | Nihali |
Historically Nihali-speaking area spanning the border between Maharashtra to the south and Madhya Pradesh to the north | |
Nihali is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Nihali, also known as Nahali, is an endangered language isolate that is spoken in west-central India by approximately 2,500 people as of 2016. The name of the language derives from nahal, meaning "tiger".
Nihali has not been definitively proven to be related to any other surrounding language families of South Asia, such as Munda, Indo-Aryan, and Dravidian languages, nor to other language isolates like Burushaski and Kusunda.