Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday, May 8, 2009
The Tibetan languages
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages
Tibeto-Burman languagesThe Tibeto-Burman family of languages is spoken in various Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia and southeast Asian countries, including Burma , Tibet, northern Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, parts of central China , northern parts of Nepal, eastern parts of Bangladesh , Bhutan, northern parts of Pakistan , and various regions of India .... spoken primarily by Tibetan people
Tibetan peoplegroup = Tibetansimage = File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-BB-046-03, Tibetexpedition, Tibeter.jpgcaption =population = between 5 and 10 million...s who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau
Tibetan PlateauThe Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in China and Ladakh in Kashmir, India.... and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan
BaltistanBaltistan , also known as ?????? in the Balti language, is a region in northern Pakistan , bordering Xinjiang Autonomous regions of China of People's Republic of China...., Ladakh
LadakhLadakh is a region in the Indian Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir between the Kunlun Mountains mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryans and Tibetan people descent...., Nepal
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by India...., Sikkim
SikkimSikkim is a landlocked States and territories of India nestled in the Himalayas. It is the least populous state in India, and the second-smallest in area after Goa...., and Bhutan
BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by India and to the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China..... The classical written form
Classical TibetanClassical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetan language after the Old Tibetan period and before the modern period, but in particular refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from other languages, especially Sanskrit.... is a major regional literary language, particularly for its use in Buddhist
BuddhismBuddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal.... literature.For political reasons, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa
LhasaLhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....), Kham
KhamKham , is a region presently divided between the China provinces of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Sichuan where Khampas, a subgroup within the Tibetan ethnicity, live....s, and Amdo
AmdoAmdo is one of the three traditional cultural areas of Tibet, the other two being ?-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, the 14th Dalai Lama.... in China are considered dialects of a single Tibetan language, while Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa
Sherpa languageSherpa is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim mainly by the Sherpa community. About 130,000 speakers live in Nepal , some 20,000 in India , and some 800 in Tibet ...., and Ladakhi
Ladakhi languageThe Ladakhi language, more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti dialect and Burig dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh and Baltistan regions of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India.... are generally considered to be separate languages, although their speakers may consider themselves to be ethnically Tibetan. However, this does not reflect linguistic reality: Dzongkha and Sherpa, for example, are closer to Lhasa Tibetan than Khams or Amdo are.The Tibetan languages are spoken by approximately 6 million people. Lhasa Tibetan is spoken by approximately 150,000 exile speakers who have moved from modern-day Tibet to India
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world.... and other countries. Tibetan is also spoken by groups of ethnic minorities in Tibet who have lived in close proximity to Tibetans for centuries, but nevertheless retain their own languages and cultures. Although some of the Qiangic peoples of Kham
KhamKham , is a region presently divided between the China provinces of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Sichuan where Khampas, a subgroup within the Tibetan ethnicity, live.... are classified by the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population.... as ethnic Tibetans, Qiangic languages
Qiangic languagesQiangic or Kiangic, formerly known as Dzorgai, is a language group of the northeastern Tibeto-Burman of Sino-Tibetan languages, spoken mainly in Southwestern China, including Sichuan, Tibet, and Yunnan.... are not Tibetan, but rather form their own branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family.Classical Tibetan
Classical TibetanClassical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetan language after the Old Tibetan period and before the modern period, but in particular refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from other languages, especially Sanskrit.... was not a tonal language
Tonal languageA tonal language is a language that uses tone to distinguish words. Tone is a Phonology common to many languages around the world . Various Chinese language languages such as Mandarin, Min Nan/Taiwanese Minnan and Cantonese are perhaps the most well-known of such languages...., but some varieties such as Central and Khams Tibetan have developed tone. (Amdo and Ladakhi/Balti are without tone.) Tibetan morphology can generally be described as agglutinative, although Classical Tibetan was largely analytic.
Languages The Tibetan languages used for broadcasting within China are Standard Tibetan
Standard TibetanStandard Tibetan, often called Central Tibetan, is the official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is based on the speech of Lhasa, an ? Province dialect of dBus, one of the Central Tibetan languages.... (based on the Ü dialect of Lhasa
LhasaLhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel.... used as a lingua franca
Lingua francaA lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues.... throughout Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang?-Tsang , or Tsang-?, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically ?-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Brahmaputra watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount Kailash, and much of the vast Chang Ta...), Khams
Khams Tibetan languageKham Ke is the eastern-most Tibetan language, spoken in Eastern Tibet or Kham . It is used alongside Central Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan language in broadcasting, but shares the Classical Tibetan orthography with them and is not accorded the status of a separate language...., and Amdo
AmdoAmdo is one of the three traditional cultural areas of Tibet, the other two being ?-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, the 14th Dalai Lama.....The languages cluster as follows:
Ladakhi
Ladakhi languageThe Ladakhi language, more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti dialect and Burig dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh and Baltistan regions of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India.... ('Western Archaic Tibetan', including Balti
Balti languageBalti is a language spoken in Baltistan, in the Northern Areas, Pakistan of Pakistan and adjoining parts of Ladakh, India. Baltistan - before 1948 - was part of Ladakh province.... and Purik
BurigThe Burig, or Purik, are another group of Tibetan people Muslims with small dardic admixture, who live south of the Balti in Ladakh. Most of them live in Ladakh and Baltistan, especially in Kargil, although significant numbers reside in Leh....) (non-tonal)
Central Tibetan
Central Tibetan languagesThe Central Tibetan languages are the tonal Tibetan languages apart from Khams Tibetan language.The composition of the Central Tibetan languages per Bradley , with dialect information from the Tibetan Dialects Project at the University of Bern, is:... (tonal)
Western Innovative Tibetan, primarily in Ladakh
LadakhLadakh is a region in the Indian Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir between the Kunlun Mountains mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryans and Tibetan people descent.... and the border areas
dBus (Central Tibetan proper), in Ngari, Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang?-Tsang , or Tsang-?, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically ?-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Brahmaputra watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount Kailash, and much of the vast Chang Ta... (including Lhasa
LhasaLhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....), and northern Nepal border areas
Northern Tibetan: Nagchu and southern Qinghai
Qinghaiis a provinces of China of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest....
Southern Tibetan: Southern Ü-Tsang, Sikkim
SikkimSikkim is a landlocked States and territories of India nestled in the Himalayas. It is the least populous state in India, and the second-smallest in area after Goa...., and Bhutan
BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by India and to the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China...., such as Dzongkha
Dzongkha languageDzongkha is the national language of Bhutan. The word "dzongkha" means the language spoken in the dzong, ? dzong being the fortress-like monasteries established throughout Bhutan by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the 17th century...., Sherpa
Sherpa languageSherpa is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim mainly by the Sherpa community. About 130,000 speakers live in Nepal , some 20,000 in India , and some 800 in Tibet ...., Sikkimese
Khams Tibetan
Khams Tibetan languageKham Ke is the eastern-most Tibetan language, spoken in Eastern Tibet or Kham . It is used alongside Central Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan language in broadcasting, but shares the Classical Tibetan orthography with them and is not accorded the status of a separate language.... (tonal); spoken in Qinghai
Qinghaiis a provinces of China of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest...., Chamdo
ChamdoChamdo , population about 86.280 in Kham in the eastern Tibet Autonomous Region, is Tibet's third largest city . It is located about 480km from Lhasa, on the road the distance covers 1120 km or 1030 km ...., Sichuan
Sichuanis a Province in western China proper with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, ?? , is an abbreviation of ??? , or "Four circuit #Circuits in East Asia of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from ???? , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the existing circuit into four during the Song..., Yunnan
Yunnanis a political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers ....
Amdo Tibetan
Amdo Tibetan languageAmdo, also Anduo, Ngambo, is the northeastern-most Tibetan languages. It is used alongside Central Tibetan and Khams Tibetan language in broadcasting, but shares the Classical Tibetan orthography and is not accorded the status of a separate language.... (non-tonal); spoken in Qinghai, Gansu
Gansuor , is a political divisions of China located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Loess Plateau, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west...., Sichuan Varying classifications are found. Some group Khams and Amdo together as Eastern Tibetan (not to be confused with East Bodish
East Bodish languagesThe East Bodish languages are those Bodish languages not covered by the name Tibetan languages. They include Khengkha, Dakpa language, Dzala language, Bumthang language, and Black Mountain M?npa...., which is not ethnically Tibetan). Others break up Central Tibetan. Phrases such as 'Central Tibetan' and 'Central Bodish' may or may not be synonymous: Southern (Central) Tibetan can be found as Southern Bodish, for example; 'Central Tibetan' may mean dBus or all tonal lects apart from Khams; 'Western Bodish' may be used for the non-tonal western lects while 'Western Tibetan' is used for the tonal lects, or 'Bodish' may even be used for other branches of the Tibeto-Kanauri languages
Tibeto-Kanauri languagesThe Tibeto-Kanauri or Bodish-Himalayish languages are a proposed intermediate level of classification of the Tibeto-Burman languages, centered on the Tibetan and Kanauri languages.....
Writing systems Most Tibetan languages are written in an Indic script, with a historically conservative orthography (see below) that helps unify the Tibetan-language area. However, some Ladakhi and Balti speakers write with the Urdu script. The Tibetan script fell out of use in Pakistani Baltistan hundreds of years ago upon the region's adoption of Islam. However, increased concern among Pakistani Baltis for the preservation of their language and traditions, especially in the face of strong Panjabi cultural influence throughout Pakistan, has fostered renewed interest in reviving Tibetan script and using it along side the Arabic-Persian script. Many shops in Baltistan's capital Skardu in Pakistan's "Northern Areas" region have begun supplementing signs written in the Arabic-Persian script with signs written in Tibetan script. Baltis see this initiative not as separatist but rather as part of an attempt to preserve the cultural aspects of their region which has shared a close history with neighbors like Kashmiris and Panjabis since the arrival of Islam in the region many centuries ago.
Historical phonology Old Tibetan phonology is rather accurately rendered by the script. The finals were pronounced devoiced although they are written as voiced, the prefix letters assimilated their voicing to the root letters. The graphic combinations hr and lh represent voiceless and not necessarily aspirate correspondences to r and l respectively. The letter ' was pronounced as a voiced guttural fricative before vowels but as homorganic prenasalization before consonants. Whether the gigu verso had phonetic meaning or not remains controversial.For instance, Srong rtsan Sgam po would have been pronounced (now pronounced in Lhasa Tibetan) and babs would have been pronounced (pronounced in Lhasa Tibetan).Already in the 9th century the process of cluster simplification, devoicing and tonogenesis had begun in the central dialects can be shown with Tibetan words transliterated in other languages, particularly Middle Chinese
Middle ChineseMiddle Chinese , or Ancient Chinese as used by linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui dynasty, Tang dynasty, and Song dynasty dynasties .... but also Uyghur
Uyghur languageUyghur is a Turkic language spoken by the Uyghur people in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a Central Asian region administered by People's Republic of China.....The concurrence of the evidence indicated above enables us to form the following outline of the evolution of Tibetan. In the 9th century, as shown by the bilingual Tibeto-Chinese
Chinese languageChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages.... treaty of 821–822 found in front of Lhasa
LhasaLhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....'s Jokhang
JokhangThe Jokhang, , also called the Qokang, Jokang, Jokhang Temple, Jokhang Monastery or Tsuklakang , is the first Buddhist temple in Tibet, located on Barkhor Square in Lhasa...., the complex initial clusters had already been reduced, and the process of tonogenesis was likely well underway.The next change took place in Tsang (Gtsang) dialects: The ra-tags were altered into retroflex
Retroflex consonantIn phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. The tongue is placed behind the alveolar ridge, and may even be curled back to touch the palate: that is, they are articulated in the postalveolar consonant to palatal consonant region of the mouth.... consonants, and the ya-tags became palatals.Later on the superscribed letters and finals d and s disappeared, except in the east and west. It was at this stage that the language spread in Lahul and Spiti, where the superscribed letters were silent, the d and g finals were hardly heard, and as, os, us were ai, oi, ui. The words introduced from Tibet into the border languages at that time differ greatly from those introduced at an earlier period.The other changes are more recent and restricted to Ü and Tsang. In Ü, the vowel sounds a, o, u have now mostly umlauted to ä, ö, ü when followed by the coronal sounds i, d, s, l and n. The same holds for Tsang with the exception of l which merely lengthens the vowel. The medials have become aspirate tenues with a low intonation, which also marks the words having a simple initial consonant; while the former aspirates and the complex initials simplified in speech are uttered with a high tone, shrill and rapidly.
Tibeto-Burman languagesThe Tibeto-Burman family of languages is spoken in various Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia and southeast Asian countries, including Burma , Tibet, northern Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, parts of central China , northern parts of Nepal, eastern parts of Bangladesh , Bhutan, northern parts of Pakistan , and various regions of India .... spoken primarily by Tibetan people
Tibetan peoplegroup = Tibetansimage = File:Bundesarchiv Bild 135-BB-046-03, Tibetexpedition, Tibeter.jpgcaption =population = between 5 and 10 million...s who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau
Tibetan PlateauThe Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in China and Ladakh in Kashmir, India.... and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan
BaltistanBaltistan , also known as ?????? in the Balti language, is a region in northern Pakistan , bordering Xinjiang Autonomous regions of China of People's Republic of China...., Ladakh
LadakhLadakh is a region in the Indian Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir between the Kunlun Mountains mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryans and Tibetan people descent...., Nepal
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by India...., Sikkim
SikkimSikkim is a landlocked States and territories of India nestled in the Himalayas. It is the least populous state in India, and the second-smallest in area after Goa...., and Bhutan
BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by India and to the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China..... The classical written form
Classical TibetanClassical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetan language after the Old Tibetan period and before the modern period, but in particular refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from other languages, especially Sanskrit.... is a major regional literary language, particularly for its use in Buddhist
BuddhismBuddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal.... literature.For political reasons, the dialects of central Tibet (including Lhasa
LhasaLhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....), Kham
KhamKham , is a region presently divided between the China provinces of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Sichuan where Khampas, a subgroup within the Tibetan ethnicity, live....s, and Amdo
AmdoAmdo is one of the three traditional cultural areas of Tibet, the other two being ?-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, the 14th Dalai Lama.... in China are considered dialects of a single Tibetan language, while Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Sherpa
Sherpa languageSherpa is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim mainly by the Sherpa community. About 130,000 speakers live in Nepal , some 20,000 in India , and some 800 in Tibet ...., and Ladakhi
Ladakhi languageThe Ladakhi language, more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti dialect and Burig dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh and Baltistan regions of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India.... are generally considered to be separate languages, although their speakers may consider themselves to be ethnically Tibetan. However, this does not reflect linguistic reality: Dzongkha and Sherpa, for example, are closer to Lhasa Tibetan than Khams or Amdo are.The Tibetan languages are spoken by approximately 6 million people. Lhasa Tibetan is spoken by approximately 150,000 exile speakers who have moved from modern-day Tibet to India
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world.... and other countries. Tibetan is also spoken by groups of ethnic minorities in Tibet who have lived in close proximity to Tibetans for centuries, but nevertheless retain their own languages and cultures. Although some of the Qiangic peoples of Kham
KhamKham , is a region presently divided between the China provinces of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Sichuan where Khampas, a subgroup within the Tibetan ethnicity, live.... are classified by the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population.... as ethnic Tibetans, Qiangic languages
Qiangic languagesQiangic or Kiangic, formerly known as Dzorgai, is a language group of the northeastern Tibeto-Burman of Sino-Tibetan languages, spoken mainly in Southwestern China, including Sichuan, Tibet, and Yunnan.... are not Tibetan, but rather form their own branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family.Classical Tibetan
Classical TibetanClassical Tibetan refers to the language of any text written in Tibetan language after the Old Tibetan period and before the modern period, but in particular refers to the language of early canonical texts translated from other languages, especially Sanskrit.... was not a tonal language
Tonal languageA tonal language is a language that uses tone to distinguish words. Tone is a Phonology common to many languages around the world . Various Chinese language languages such as Mandarin, Min Nan/Taiwanese Minnan and Cantonese are perhaps the most well-known of such languages...., but some varieties such as Central and Khams Tibetan have developed tone. (Amdo and Ladakhi/Balti are without tone.) Tibetan morphology can generally be described as agglutinative, although Classical Tibetan was largely analytic.
Languages The Tibetan languages used for broadcasting within China are Standard Tibetan
Standard TibetanStandard Tibetan, often called Central Tibetan, is the official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is based on the speech of Lhasa, an ? Province dialect of dBus, one of the Central Tibetan languages.... (based on the Ü dialect of Lhasa
LhasaLhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel.... used as a lingua franca
Lingua francaA lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues.... throughout Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang?-Tsang , or Tsang-?, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically ?-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Brahmaputra watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount Kailash, and much of the vast Chang Ta...), Khams
Khams Tibetan languageKham Ke is the eastern-most Tibetan language, spoken in Eastern Tibet or Kham . It is used alongside Central Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan language in broadcasting, but shares the Classical Tibetan orthography with them and is not accorded the status of a separate language...., and Amdo
AmdoAmdo is one of the three traditional cultural areas of Tibet, the other two being ?-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, the 14th Dalai Lama.....The languages cluster as follows:
Ladakhi
Ladakhi languageThe Ladakhi language, more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti dialect and Burig dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh and Baltistan regions of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India.... ('Western Archaic Tibetan', including Balti
Balti languageBalti is a language spoken in Baltistan, in the Northern Areas, Pakistan of Pakistan and adjoining parts of Ladakh, India. Baltistan - before 1948 - was part of Ladakh province.... and Purik
BurigThe Burig, or Purik, are another group of Tibetan people Muslims with small dardic admixture, who live south of the Balti in Ladakh. Most of them live in Ladakh and Baltistan, especially in Kargil, although significant numbers reside in Leh....) (non-tonal)
Central Tibetan
Central Tibetan languagesThe Central Tibetan languages are the tonal Tibetan languages apart from Khams Tibetan language.The composition of the Central Tibetan languages per Bradley , with dialect information from the Tibetan Dialects Project at the University of Bern, is:... (tonal)
Western Innovative Tibetan, primarily in Ladakh
LadakhLadakh is a region in the Indian Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir between the Kunlun Mountains mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south, inhabited by people of Indo-Aryans and Tibetan people descent.... and the border areas
dBus (Central Tibetan proper), in Ngari, Ü-Tsang
Ü-Tsang?-Tsang , or Tsang-?, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham. Geographically ?-Tsang covered the central and western portions of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Brahmaputra watershed, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount Kailash, and much of the vast Chang Ta... (including Lhasa
LhasaLhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....), and northern Nepal border areas
Northern Tibetan: Nagchu and southern Qinghai
Qinghaiis a provinces of China of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest....
Southern Tibetan: Southern Ü-Tsang, Sikkim
SikkimSikkim is a landlocked States and territories of India nestled in the Himalayas. It is the least populous state in India, and the second-smallest in area after Goa...., and Bhutan
BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by India and to the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China...., such as Dzongkha
Dzongkha languageDzongkha is the national language of Bhutan. The word "dzongkha" means the language spoken in the dzong, ? dzong being the fortress-like monasteries established throughout Bhutan by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the 17th century...., Sherpa
Sherpa languageSherpa is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim mainly by the Sherpa community. About 130,000 speakers live in Nepal , some 20,000 in India , and some 800 in Tibet ...., Sikkimese
Khams Tibetan
Khams Tibetan languageKham Ke is the eastern-most Tibetan language, spoken in Eastern Tibet or Kham . It is used alongside Central Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan language in broadcasting, but shares the Classical Tibetan orthography with them and is not accorded the status of a separate language.... (tonal); spoken in Qinghai
Qinghaiis a provinces of China of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest...., Chamdo
ChamdoChamdo , population about 86.280 in Kham in the eastern Tibet Autonomous Region, is Tibet's third largest city . It is located about 480km from Lhasa, on the road the distance covers 1120 km or 1030 km ...., Sichuan
Sichuanis a Province in western China proper with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, ?? , is an abbreviation of ??? , or "Four circuit #Circuits in East Asia of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from ???? , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the existing circuit into four during the Song..., Yunnan
Yunnanis a political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers ....
Amdo Tibetan
Amdo Tibetan languageAmdo, also Anduo, Ngambo, is the northeastern-most Tibetan languages. It is used alongside Central Tibetan and Khams Tibetan language in broadcasting, but shares the Classical Tibetan orthography and is not accorded the status of a separate language.... (non-tonal); spoken in Qinghai, Gansu
Gansuor , is a political divisions of China located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Loess Plateau, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west...., Sichuan Varying classifications are found. Some group Khams and Amdo together as Eastern Tibetan (not to be confused with East Bodish
East Bodish languagesThe East Bodish languages are those Bodish languages not covered by the name Tibetan languages. They include Khengkha, Dakpa language, Dzala language, Bumthang language, and Black Mountain M?npa...., which is not ethnically Tibetan). Others break up Central Tibetan. Phrases such as 'Central Tibetan' and 'Central Bodish' may or may not be synonymous: Southern (Central) Tibetan can be found as Southern Bodish, for example; 'Central Tibetan' may mean dBus or all tonal lects apart from Khams; 'Western Bodish' may be used for the non-tonal western lects while 'Western Tibetan' is used for the tonal lects, or 'Bodish' may even be used for other branches of the Tibeto-Kanauri languages
Tibeto-Kanauri languagesThe Tibeto-Kanauri or Bodish-Himalayish languages are a proposed intermediate level of classification of the Tibeto-Burman languages, centered on the Tibetan and Kanauri languages.....
Writing systems Most Tibetan languages are written in an Indic script, with a historically conservative orthography (see below) that helps unify the Tibetan-language area. However, some Ladakhi and Balti speakers write with the Urdu script. The Tibetan script fell out of use in Pakistani Baltistan hundreds of years ago upon the region's adoption of Islam. However, increased concern among Pakistani Baltis for the preservation of their language and traditions, especially in the face of strong Panjabi cultural influence throughout Pakistan, has fostered renewed interest in reviving Tibetan script and using it along side the Arabic-Persian script. Many shops in Baltistan's capital Skardu in Pakistan's "Northern Areas" region have begun supplementing signs written in the Arabic-Persian script with signs written in Tibetan script. Baltis see this initiative not as separatist but rather as part of an attempt to preserve the cultural aspects of their region which has shared a close history with neighbors like Kashmiris and Panjabis since the arrival of Islam in the region many centuries ago.
Historical phonology Old Tibetan phonology is rather accurately rendered by the script. The finals were pronounced devoiced although they are written as voiced, the prefix letters assimilated their voicing to the root letters. The graphic combinations hr and lh represent voiceless and not necessarily aspirate correspondences to r and l respectively. The letter ' was pronounced as a voiced guttural fricative before vowels but as homorganic prenasalization before consonants. Whether the gigu verso had phonetic meaning or not remains controversial.For instance, Srong rtsan Sgam po would have been pronounced (now pronounced in Lhasa Tibetan) and babs would have been pronounced (pronounced in Lhasa Tibetan).Already in the 9th century the process of cluster simplification, devoicing and tonogenesis had begun in the central dialects can be shown with Tibetan words transliterated in other languages, particularly Middle Chinese
Middle ChineseMiddle Chinese , or Ancient Chinese as used by linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui dynasty, Tang dynasty, and Song dynasty dynasties .... but also Uyghur
Uyghur languageUyghur is a Turkic language spoken by the Uyghur people in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a Central Asian region administered by People's Republic of China.....The concurrence of the evidence indicated above enables us to form the following outline of the evolution of Tibetan. In the 9th century, as shown by the bilingual Tibeto-Chinese
Chinese languageChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages.... treaty of 821–822 found in front of Lhasa
LhasaLhasa, sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. Lhasa is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....'s Jokhang
JokhangThe Jokhang, , also called the Qokang, Jokang, Jokhang Temple, Jokhang Monastery or Tsuklakang , is the first Buddhist temple in Tibet, located on Barkhor Square in Lhasa...., the complex initial clusters had already been reduced, and the process of tonogenesis was likely well underway.The next change took place in Tsang (Gtsang) dialects: The ra-tags were altered into retroflex
Retroflex consonantIn phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. The tongue is placed behind the alveolar ridge, and may even be curled back to touch the palate: that is, they are articulated in the postalveolar consonant to palatal consonant region of the mouth.... consonants, and the ya-tags became palatals.Later on the superscribed letters and finals d and s disappeared, except in the east and west. It was at this stage that the language spread in Lahul and Spiti, where the superscribed letters were silent, the d and g finals were hardly heard, and as, os, us were ai, oi, ui. The words introduced from Tibet into the border languages at that time differ greatly from those introduced at an earlier period.The other changes are more recent and restricted to Ü and Tsang. In Ü, the vowel sounds a, o, u have now mostly umlauted to ä, ö, ü when followed by the coronal sounds i, d, s, l and n. The same holds for Tsang with the exception of l which merely lengthens the vowel. The medials have become aspirate tenues with a low intonation, which also marks the words having a simple initial consonant; while the former aspirates and the complex initials simplified in speech are uttered with a high tone, shrill and rapidly.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Balti (بلتی) Language
Balti (بلتی) is a language spoken in Baltistan, in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Baltistan - before 1948 - was part of Ladakh province. The language is a sub-dialect of Ladakhi and an archaic dialect of the Tibetan language. Many of the consonants that are silent in most modern Tibetan dialects are pronounced in Balti
Balti, Ladakhi & English
Ordinary Balti....Honorific..........Ladakhi..............Meaning...............
Ata...............Baba................Aba...................Father...................
Ano/Amo...........Zizi................Ama...................Mother...................
Kaka..............Kacho...............Acho..................Brother (elder)..........
Bustring..........Zung................Nama..................Wife.....................
Momo..............Jangmocho...........Ajang.................Maternal uncle...........
Nene..............Nenecho.............Ane...................Aunt.....................
Bu................Bucho...............Tugu..................Son......................
Fru...............Nono......................................Boy......................
Apo...............Apocho..............Meme..................Grandfather..............
Api...............Apicho..............Abi...................Grandmother..............
Ashe..............Ashcho..............Singmo................Sister (elder)...........
Zo................bjes................Zo....................Eat......................
Thung.............bjes................Thung.................Drink....................
Ong...............Shokhs..............Yong..................Come.....................
Zer...............Kasal-byung.........Zer...................Speak/Say................
Ngid tong.........gZim tong...........Ngid tong.............Sleep (go to)............
Lagpa.............Phyaq-laq/g.........Lagpa.................Hand/Arm.................
Khyang............Yang/Yari-phyaqpo...Khyorang..............You......................
Ata...............Baba................Aba...................Father...................
Ano/Amo...........Zizi................Ama...................Mother...................
Kaka..............Kacho...............Acho..................Brother (elder)..........
Bustring..........Zung................Nama..................Wife.....................
Momo..............Jangmocho...........Ajang.................Maternal uncle...........
Nene..............Nenecho.............Ane...................Aunt.....................
Bu................Bucho...............Tugu..................Son......................
Fru...............Nono......................................Boy......................
Apo...............Apocho..............Meme..................Grandfather..............
Api...............Apicho..............Abi...................Grandmother..............
Ashe..............Ashcho..............Singmo................Sister (elder)...........
Zo................bjes................Zo....................Eat......................
Thung.............bjes................Thung.................Drink....................
Ong...............Shokhs..............Yong..................Come.....................
Zer...............Kasal-byung.........Zer...................Speak/Say................
Ngid tong.........gZim tong...........Ngid tong.............Sleep (go to)............
Lagpa.............Phyaq-laq/g.........Lagpa.................Hand/Arm.................
Khyang............Yang/Yari-phyaqpo...Khyorang..............You......................
Friday, April 17, 2009
Balti into English
Some useful balti sentences:
Juo (salaam)- Hi, Hello,
Chee hal yod? - How are you?
Yari mintakhpo chee in? - What is your name?
Yang gaar na in? - Where are you from?
Namza liakhmo yod. - Weather is good.
Dering sahadpa yod. - It’s hot today.
Dering grahmo yod. - It’s cold today.
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