Central Tibetan languages
- The term "Central Tibetan" is sometimes restricted to the dBus language, or Central Tibetan proper: See Standard Tibetan.
The Central Tibetan languages are the tonal varieties of Tibetan apart from Khams.
The composition of the Central Tibetan languages per Bradley (1997), with dialect information from the Tibetan Dialects Project at the University of Bern, is:
- Western ('Western Innovative Tibetan', Lahuli–Spiti)
- Dbus aka Ü (alternate transcriptions of [y˧˥˧ʔ]; 'Central Tibetan' proper)
- Most dialects of Ngari Prefecture in western Tibet, of the northern Nepalese border area in Nepal, Tsang Province dialects of Xigazê Prefecture, and Ü Province dialects (Lhokha, Lhasa, etc.). The basis of Standard Tibetan.
Besides Standard (Central) Tibetan, Ethnologue lists a number of small Dbus languages in Nepal: Dolpo and Tichurong, Helambu Sherpa, Humla, Kagate, Kyerung, Lhomi, Lowa, Mugom, Nubri, Tseku (also in Tibet), Tsum, Walungge.
- Northern
- Dialects of Gêrzê, of Nagqu Prefecture in north-central Tibet, and of Nangqên in Southern Qinghai:
Ethnologue does not list any of these as separate languages, but subsumes them under Standard Tibetan, unless the uncertain variety Panangpcr (on the Nagqu–Xigazê border) is Northern.
- Southern
- Tromowa of Chumbi Valley in southern Tsang, Sikkimese in India, Sherpa and Jirel in Nepal, and various varieties in Bhutan:
Dzongkha, Adap, Brokkat, Brokpa, Chocangaca, Lakha, Laya, Lunana.
Southern Central Tibetan is sometimes separated as a southern branch of all Tibetan languages, or even southern Bodish. Because many of southern varieties lie outside the political boundaries of China, they are often considered separate languages, which the other varieties of Central Tibetan are not, despite being mutually unintelligible.
Bibliography
Tournadre, N.,(2005)"L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." Lalies, 2005, n°25, p. 7–56 [1]
External links