This is the name under which the language was documented in Grierson's 1909 linguistic survey of India,[3] and by which it is classified in the ISO 639-3 code.

This name is mentioned in documentation literature from the 1970s,[4][5] and speakers are now using this form more actively,[6] see as an example the Syuba-Nepali-English dictionary.

[7] Kagate speakers migrated from the Yolmo area of Helambu around 100–200 years ago.

[7] This orthography is Devanagari-based with modifications to represent the sounds of the Syuba language.

The modifications to Devanagari are minor, and are intended to ensure that all sounds in the language can be represented.

Consonants remain the same as in the existing Devanagari tradition, with the use of joined digraphs to represent additional sounds in the language, such as the combination of क (k) and य (y) for the palatal stop क्य ([c] 'kh'), स (s) and य (y) for the palatal fricative स्य ([ʃ] 'sh'), र and ह for the voiceless liquid र्ह ([r̥] 'rh'), and ल and ह for the voiceless lateral ल्ह ([l̥] 'lh').

Syuba has a two-tone language system, with tone located on the first syllable of a word.

Verb stems in the Melamchi Valley variety of Yolmo alternate depending on the grammatical context, which is a process also seen in Standard Tibetan and other Tibetic languages.

[14] Syuba does not use honorific word forms as frequently as they are used in Melamchi Valley Yolmo.