Tibetic languages


The Tibetic languages are a branch of the Tibeto-Burman languages in the Sino-Tibetan language family. Descending from Old Tibetan, there are 50 recognized Tibetic languages, which branch into more than 200 dialects, which could be grouped into eight dialect continua. These Tibetic languages are spoken in parts of China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and India. Classical Tibetan is the major literary language, particularly for its use in Tibetan Buddhist scriptures and literature.
Tibetan languages are spoken by some 6 million people, not all of whom are Tibetan. With the worldwide spread of Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetan language has also spread into the western world and can be found in many Buddhist publications and prayer materials, while western students also learn the language for the translation of Tibetan texts. Outside of Lhasa itself, Lhasa Tibetan is spoken by approximately 200,000 exiled Tibetans who have moved from Tibet to India, Nepal 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 the Qiang peoples of Kham are classified by China as ethnic Tibetan, the Qiangic languages are not Tibetan, but rather form their own branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family.
Classical Tibetan was not a tonal language, but many varieties such as Central and Khams Tibetan have developed tone registers. Amdo and Ladakhi-Balti are without tone. Tibetan morphology can generally be described as agglutinative.

Terminology

Although the term "Tibetic" had been applied in various ways within the Sino-Tibetan research tradition, Nicolas Tournadre defined it as a phylum derived from Old Tibetan. Following Nishi and Beyer, he identified several lexical innovations that can be used as a diagnosis to distinguish Tibetic from the other languages of the family, such as "seven".
The "Tibetic languages" in this sense are a substitute for the term "Tibetan languages/dialects" used in the previous literature; the distinction between "language" and "dialect" is not straightforward, and labeling varieties of Tibetic as "Tibetan dialects" could be misleading not only because those "dialects" are often mutually-unintelligible, but also the speakers of Tibetic do not necessarily consider themselves as ethnic Tibetan, as is the case with Sherpas, Ladakhis, Baltis, Lahaulas, Sikkimese and Bhutanese.

Origins

Marius Zemp hypothesizes that Tibetan originated as a pidgin with the West Himalayish language Zhangzhung as its superstratum, and Rgyalrongic as its substratum. However, there are many grammatical differences between the Rgyalrongic and Tibetic languages; Rgyalrongic tend to use prefixes such as *kə-, *tə-, etc., while Tibetic languages use suffixes such as -pa/-ba, -ma, -po/-bo, -mo, etc.
Similarly, Tamangic also has a West Himalayish superstratum, but its substratum is derived from a different Sino-Tibetan branch.
Only a few language clusters in the world are derived from a common language which is identical to or closely related to an old literary language. This small group includes the Tibetic languages, as descendants from Old Tibetan, but also the Romance languages with Latin, the Arabic languages with Classical Arabic, the Sinitic languages with Old Chinese, the modern Indic languages with Vedic Sanskrit.

Classification

The more divergent languages are spoken in the north and east, likely due to language contact with the Qiangic, Rgyalrongic languages. The divergence exhibited in Khalong may also be due to language shift. In addition, there is Baima, which retains an apparent Qiangic substratum, and has multiple layers of borrowing from Amdo, Khams, and Zhongu, but does not correspond to any established branch of Tibetic.
The two major Tibetic languages used for broadcasting within China are Standard Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan.

Tournadre & Suzuki (2023)

& Suzuki recognize 8 geographical sections, each with about 7-14 groups of Tibetic dialects. This classification is a revision of Tournadre.
  • Tibetic
  • *South-eastern section :
  • **Nagchu
  • **Drachen/Bachen
  • **Kyegu
  • **Pämbar
  • **Khyungpo
  • **Rongdrak
  • **Minyak Rabgang
  • **Northern route（Chamdo）, （Derge）, （Kandze）
  • **Southern route
  • **Dzayül
  • **Derong-nJol
  • **Chagthreng
  • **Pomborgang
  • **Semkyi Nyida
  • *Eastern section :
  • **Čone
  • **Thewo-tö
  • **Thewo-mä
  • **Drugchu
  • **Pälkyi/Pashi
  • **Khöpokhok
  • **Sharkhok
  • **Thromjekhok
  • **Zhongu
  • **Throchu
  • **Baima
  • *North-eastern section :
  • **Tsho Ngönpo
  • **Tsongkha
  • **Labrang-Rebgong
  • **Rwanak pastoralist group
  • **Ngawa
  • **Arik
  • **Hwari
  • **Mewa pastoralists’ group
  • **Washül pastoralists’group
  • **Gorkä
  • **Gyälrongo-spheric Amdo
  • **Dungnak and rTarmnyik
  • *Central section :
  • **Ü
  • **Tsang
  • **Phänpo
  • **Tö pastoralists’ dialects
  • **Eastern Tö cultivators’ dialects
  • **Western Tö cultivators’ dialects
  • **Kongpo
  • **Lhokha
  • *Southern section :
  • **Dzongkha
  • **Lhoke
  • **Choča-ngača
  • **Brokpa
  • **Dur pastoralists’ dialect
  • **Lakha or Säphuk pastoralists’ dialect
  • **Dromo
  • *South-western section :
  • **Humla
  • **Karmarong
  • **Dölpo and Tichyurong
  • **Lo-Mönthang
  • **Kyirong-Yolmo
  • **Jirel
  • **Sherpa
  • **Lhomi
  • **Gola
  • *Western section :
  • **Spiti
  • **Khunu-Töt
  • **Garzha
  • **Pangi
  • **Paldar
  • **Durbuk Jangpa dialect
  • **Nyoma Jangpa dialect
  • **Jadang dialect
  • *North-western section :
  • **Balti
  • **Purik
  • **Nubra
  • **Sham
  • **Leh
  • **Zanhar
  • **Kharu

    Tournadre (2014)

classifies the Tibetic languages as eight geolinguistic continua, consisting of 50 languages and over 200 dialects. This is an updated version of his work in 2008. The Eastern and Southeastern branches have lower internal mutual intelligibility, but it is more limited in the Northwestern branch and between certain southern and northern Khams dialects. These continua are spread across five countries with one exception, this being Sangdam, a Khams dialect in Kachin, Myanmar.
classifies the Tibetic languages as follows.
  • Tibetic
  • *Central Tibetan
  • **The basis of Standard Tibetan that includes various Nepalese varieties
  • *Khams
  • *Amdo
  • *Dzongkha–Lhokä
  • **Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Lakha, Naapa, Chocangaca, Brokkat, Brokpa and probably Groma
  • *Ladakhi–Balti
  • **Ladakhi, Burig, Zangskari, Balti
  • *Lahuli–Spiti
  • *Kyirong–Kagate
  • *Sherpa–Jirel
  • **Sherpa, Jirel
The other languages are not mutually intelligible, but are not known well enough to classify. mDungnag, a Tibetan language spoken in Gansu, is also divergent and is not mutually intelligible with either Khams or Amdo.
Tournadre adds Tseku and Khamba to Khams, and groups Thewo-Chone, Zhongu, and Baima as an Eastern branch of Tibetic.

Bradley (1997)

According to Bradley, the languages cluster as follows :

  • *Southern Tibetan
  • **Groma language of Chumbi Valley in southern Tsang, Sikkimese in India, Sherpa and Jirel in Nepal, and various languages of Bhutan:
Dzongkha, Brokkat, Brokpa, Chocangaca, Lakha, Laya dialect, Lunana dialect.
;Other
Some classifications group Khams and Amdo together as Eastern Tibetan. Some, like Tournadre, break up Central Tibetan. Phrases such as 'Central Tibetan' and 'Central Bodish' may or may not be synonymous: Southern 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.

Lexical similarity

Amdo Tibetan has 70% lexical similarity with Central Tibetan and Khams Tibetan, while Khams Tibetan has 80% lexical similarity with Central Tibetan.

Geographical distribution

The Tibetic-speaking area spans six countries: China, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, and Myanmar. Tibetan is also spoken in diaspora communities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.