the language of the Newar. Spoken in the central valley of Nepal by more than 500,000 people (1971, estimate), Newari is a nonpronominalized Himalayan language (that is, the verb does not change according to person) related to the Tibeto-Burman languages. A distinction is made between classical Newari, the language of surviving 12th-century texts, which experienced strong Indian influence, and the present-day spoken language. Newari has fewer than 40 phonemes. Syllables have a rigidly defined form. Primarily syllabic suffixes are used in the grammar. Verb conjugation is strongly developed. Word order is constant: subject-object-predicate. The attribute precedes the dependent member. Newari uses Nepali script or its own, Indian-related, writing system.