Brokpa language


Brokpa is a Tibetic language spoken by around 5,000 people.
It is spoken by descendants of pastoral yakherd communities.

Name

The Tibetan word `brog pa refers to a multitude of nomadic or partially nomadic pastoral yak herd communities of the Himalaya region.
Due to their distribution Brokpa of Merak and Sakteng are sometimes also referred to as mera-sakteng-pa and their language as mera-sakteng-kha.

Classification

Brokpa is generally considered to be part of the Tibetic sub-cluster of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The internal classification within Tibetic has hitherto not been conclusively determined, which makes the exact position of Brokpa unclear.Gerber/Grollmann 2020, p. 1-21
Based on the classification by Shafer, Brokpa would be considered as part of the Central Bodish branch, together with, among others, Dzongkha, Chocangacakha and Classical Tibetan.
Tournadre classifies it as part of the Southern Section of Tibetic. However, it has been noted that Brokpa does not share some phonological innovations made by Dzongkha and can therefore not be grouped together with Dzongkha at the lowest order of the family tree.

Usage

The language is mainly spoken in the Bhutanese Gewogs of Merak and Sakteng in the Trashigang District of Eastern Bhutan and in the Indian districts of Tawang and West Kameng in Arunachal Pradesh.
Dondrup lists the following Brokpa villages.
The 1981 census counted 1,855 Brokpa people in Arunachal Pradesh.

Phonology

Brokpa is usually described as a more conservative or archaic language, although it has also made some innovations.

Consonants

The following table shows the inventory of Brokpa consonants as described in Wangdi
LabialAlveolarRetroflexPalatalVelarGlottal
Plosive
Affricate
Fricative
Nasal
Trill
Approximant

Additionally, some speakers do not consistently make the distinction between voiced and breathy voiced stops.
Other scholars do not consider the breathy-voiced stops to be distinctive phonemes since they correlate with low register tone. On the other hand, they consider palatal stops to be phonemic rather than palatalization of a velar consonant followed by the glide as Wangdi does. Additionally, has also been analysed as with free alternation, based on historical evidence.

Vowels

The vowel phonemes of Brokpa, according to Wangdi, are as follows:
FrontCentralBack
Close
Close-Mid
Open-Mid
Open

All vowels contrast in vowel-length in open syllables except for which are always realised as long. Length does not contrast in closed syllables, as long vowels may be realised as short before a syllable-final consonant.
Nasalisation occurs phonemically due to assimilation to adjacent nasal consonants but is not considered phonetically distinctive.
Brokpa has eight of diphthongs in monomorphemic roots, usually in open syllables:.

Tone

Brokpa has two contrasting register tones, high and low. Some scholars mention the possible existence of a third tone, a falling contour tone.
Phonemic tone in Brokpa seems to have emerged due to the loss of voicing contrast in syllable-initial obstruents. Initial obstruents always correlate with certain pitch: Voiced obstruents and breathy-voiced stops are followed by low tone on the vowel, voiceless obstruents are followed by high tone. Tone is only contrasting in sonorant-initial syllables.

Phonotactics

There are five possible syllable types in Brokpa according to Wangdi :
The most frequent syllable structures are and. All consonants are allowed in the initial C1 position. C2 only may be filled by /r, l, w, j/. C3 may be filled by unaspirated voiceless and aspirated voiceless stops, nasals, the fricatives /s, z/, the liquids /l, r/, and the glottal stop. The slot C4 is restricted to /s/ and /ɕ/. There is a tendency to reduce syllable final C3+C4 clusters, especially among younger speakers. Not all possible combinations of C1 and C2 are allowed at the beginning of a syllable. The possible combinations are the following: /pr/, /pl/, /pʰr/, /br/, /bl/, /kr/, /ky/, /kʰy/, /gl/, /gy/.

Nouns

Personal pronouns

Brokpa personal numbers distinguish between first, second and third person in singular and plural. The third person singular pronouns distinguish between masculine and feminine gender. The Brokpa pronouns according to Wangdi are as follows:
singularplural
1st person
2nd person
3rd person masculine
3rd person feminine

Some scholars also note a distinction between first person plural inclusive ' and first person plural exclusive '.

Case

Brokpa marks case with clitics, which are either applied to the head of the noun phrase or its last element. The case markers of Brokpa are the following according to Wangdi :
MorphemeCase
=∅Absolutive
= ~ =Ergative
= ~ =Instrumental
-Genitive
=, =, =Locative
= ~ =Dative
=, =Ablative
=, =Allative
=Associate/Comitative

Note that Wangdi does not consider the genitive -gi a case marker. Other scholars consider the ergative and the instrumental to be a single case marker.
The ergative/instrumental free variation for = ~ = and three additional allomorphs: = following a sonorant consonant; = ~ = following an obstruent; = following a vowel. However, these allomorphic variations are not consistently maintained – the noted environments are but tendencies.
The absolutive case marks intransitive subjects and transitive objects.
The ergative case marks transitive subjects.
The locative marks spatial and/or temporal peripheral arguments. The ablative also marks such arguments if movement away from the referent is present. It may also mark peripheral arguments unrelated to spatial and temporal location.
The instrumental case marks arguments in instrumental function.
The dative marks benefactive, recipient and purpose, as well as indirect objects.
The allative indicates temporal or spatial movement the referent of a noun phrase.
The comitative/associative is used for comitative case marking as well as coordination within a noun phrase, clause coordination and clause-linking.

Grammatical number

Number marking is realised by enclitics and quantifying words, such as ‘many’, or number words. However, number marking is not strictly necessary, if it is clear from context.
Phonologically bound plural markers of Brokpa are:
  • =
  • = ~ = ~ =
  • = ~ =
The plural markers = and = only differ insofar that = may follow the definitive marker and is usually only attested following the definitive, while = always precedes the definitive marker.
The morpheme = on the other hand is used to denote ‘X and associates’.

Number words

The Brokpa numbers from one to ten are:
NumeralCardinal number word
1,
2,
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10)

Note that in the word for 10 both elements ' and ' are optinal.
Ordinal numbers are formed by suffixing - to the cardinal form, with exception to 1, which is ' ‘first’. Frequentative numerals are formed with the bond base ' ‘times’, such as ' ‘three times’. Distributives are formed by adding - to the reduplicated cardinal number.
Numerals from 10 to 19 are formed by adding the cardinal numbers of the ones to the cardinal ' ‘10’, as shown in the following table. Note that in some cases, a preradical from an earlier stage of the language has been retained, which can be seen in the Written Tibetan form.
NumeralCardinal number wordWritten Tibetan
11 ‘1’
12 ‘2’
13 ‘3’
14 ‘4’
15 ‘5’
16 ‘6’
17 ‘7’
18 ‘8’
19 ‘9’

Higher numerals can be formed in a decimal or in a vigesimal system with the base word ‘score, twenty’.

Natural gender

Brokpa does not class nouns by grammatical gender but may mark biological gender of animates. Masculine gender is marked with - ~ - ~ - and female gender with - ~ - ~ -. These morphemes are suffixed to the root of the respective noun such as ' ‘deer’, - ‘male deer, hart’, - ‘female deer, doe’. The morphemes ' and may occur in isolation when functioning as an adjective meaning ‘male’ and ‘female’ respectively.
Some inanimate nouns may take gender marking in some contexts, usually poetic expressions or songs.

Definiteness

Definite noun phrases are marked with = in Brokpa. Indefiniteness is marked with = ~ = ~ =, where = follows an open syllable and = ~ = follow closed syllables.

Augmentative & diminutive

An augmentative of a noun can be formed by suffixing the morpheme -, which historically derives from ' ‘big’. It may indicate bigger size, more power and similar meanings.
Diminutives are formed by suffixing - ~ - ~ - to a noun. Historically, the form may come from the word ' ‘baby’. It is mostly used to indicate an animal of young age or for endearment.