Tibetic Languages - Wikipedia

5/14/24, 12:23 PM Tibetic languages - Wikipedia
Tibetic languages
The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of
Tibetic
languages descended from Old Tibetan (7th to 9th
Tibetan
centuries).[2] According to Tournadre (2014), there are
Central Bodish
50 languages, which split into over 200 dialects or could
be grouped into 8 dialect continua.[2] These languages Ethnicity Tibetan people and other
are spoken in the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalayas Tibetic-speaking peoples
in Gilgit-Baltistan, Aksai Chin, Ladakh, Nepal, Himachal Geographic China (Tibet Autonomous
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bhutan, and the Kachin State of distribution Region, Qinghai, Sichuan,
Myanmar.[3] Classical Tibetan is the major literary Gansu, Yunnan); India
language, particularly for its use in Buddhist literature. (Ladakh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand,
Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal
Tibetan languages are spoken by some 6 million people, Pradesh, Assam); Pakistan
not all of whom are Tibetans.[1] With the worldwide (Gilgit-Baltistan); Nepal;
spread of Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetan language has Bhutan; Myanmar (Kachin
spread into the western world and can be found in many State)
Buddhist publications and prayer materials; with some Native 6 million (2014)[1]
western students learning the language for translation of speakers
Tibetan texts. Outside Lhasa itself, Lhasa Tibetan is Linguistic Sino-Tibetan
spoken by approximately 200,000 exile speakers who classification
have moved from modern-day Tibet to India and other Tibeto-Burman
countries. Tibetan is also spoken by groups of ethnic Tibeto-Kanauri (?)
minorities in Tibet who have lived in close proximity to Bodish
Tibetans for centuries, but nevertheless retain their own
Tibetic
languages and cultures.
Early forms Old Tibetan
Although some of the Qiang peoples of Kham are
Classical Tibetan
classified by China as ethnic Tibetans (see Gyalrongic
languages; Gyalrong people are identified as 'Tibetan' in Subdivisions Central Tibetan
China), the Qiangic languages are not Tibetan, but rather Amdo
form their own branch of the Tibeto-Burman language Khams
family. Dzongkha–Lhokä
Classical Tibetan was not a tonal language, but many Ladakhi–Balti

varieties such as Central and Khams Tibetan have Lahuli–Spiti
developed tone registers. Amdo and Ladakhi-Balti are Kyirong–Kagate
without tone. Tibetan morphology can generally be Sherpa
described as agglutinative.
(various unclassified
languages)
Terminology Glottolog oldm1245 (https://glottol
Although the term "Tibetic" had been applied in various og.org/resource/languoid/
ways within the Sino-Tibetan research tradition, Nicolas id/oldm1245)
Tournadre defined it as a phylum derived from Old
Tibetan.[2] Following Nishi (1987)[4] and Beyer (1992),[5]
he identified several lexical innovations that can be used
as a diagnosis to distinguish Tibetic from the other
languages of the family, such as བདུན bdun "seven".[2][6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetic_languages 1/13
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.[2][7]
Division of Tibetic Cultural Areas
Origins
Marius Zemp (2018)[8] hypothesizes that Tibetan originated as a pidgin with the West Himalayish
language Zhangzhung as its superstratum, and Rgyalrongic as its substratum (both languages are part
of the broader Sino-Tibetan family). 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.[9]
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 (7th–9th centuries), but also the Romance languages with Latin, the
Arabic languages (or "dialects") with Classical Arabic, the Sinitic languages with Middle Chinese, the
modern Indic languages with Vedic Sanskrit.[2]
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.[10]
The two major Tibetic languages used for broadcasting within

China are Standard Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan.
Ethnolinguistic map of Tibet
Tournadre & Suzuki (2023)

Tournadre & Suzuki (2023) recognize 8 geographical sections, each with about 7-14 groups of Tibetic
dialects.[3] This classification is a revision of Tournadre (2014).[2]
Tibetic
South-eastern section (14 groups):
Nagchu (traditionally called Hor dialects)
Drachen/Bachen
Kyegu
Pämbar
Khyungpo
Rongdrak
Minyak Rabgang
Southern route (Markham, Bathang, Lithang)
Dzayül
Derong-nJol
Chagthreng
Pomborgang
Semkyi Nyida
Eastern section (11 groups):
Čone
Thewo-tö
Thewo-mä
Drugchu
Pälkyi/Pashi
Khöpokhok
Sharkhok
Thromjekhok
Zhongu
Throchu
Baima
North-eastern section (14 groups):
Tsho Ngönpo (or Kokonor)
Tsongkha
Labrang-Rebgong
Rwanak (Banak) pastoralist group
Ngawa
Arik
Hwari (Pari)
Mewa pastoralists’ group (with settlements in Kham)
Washül pastoralists’group (with migrations into Kham)
Gorkä (divergent)
Gyälrongo-spheric Amdo (divergent)
Dungnak and rTarmnyik (near Western Yughur in Gansu) (divergent)
Central section (8 groups):
Ü
Tsang
Phänpo
Tö pastoralists’ dialects (Drogpä Tö-kä)
Eastern Tö cultivators’ dialects (Sharchok Rongpä Tö-kä)
Western Tö cultivators’ dialects (Nubchok Rongpä Tö-kä)
Kongpo
Lhokha
Southern section (7 groups):
Dzongkha
Lhoke
Choča-ngača (also called Tsamang-Tsakhaling)
Brokpa (Mera Sakteng pastoralists’ dialect)
Dur pastoralists’ dialect
Lakha or Säphuk pastoralists’ dialect
Dromo
South-western section (9 groups):
Humla (or Limirong)
Karmarong (Mugu)
Dölpo and Tichyurong
Lo-Mönthang (often called Lokä/Mustang)
Kyirong-Yolmo
Jirel
Sherpa
Lhomi
Gola
Western section (8 groups):

Spiti
Khunu-Töt
Garzha
Pangi
Paldar
Durbuk Jangpa dialect
Nyoma Jangpa dialect
Jadang (or Dzathang) dialect
North-western section (7 groups):
Balti
Purik
Nubra
Sham
Leh (Central Ladakh)
Zanhar
Kharu
Tournadre (2014)
Tournadre (2014)[2] 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.[11] 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.
Tibetic
North-Western: Ladakhi, Zangskari, Balti, Purki
Western: Spiti, Garzha, Khunu, Jad
Central: Dbus, Tsang, Phenpo, Lhokha, Tö, Kongpo (in Kongpo with Basum)
South-Western: Sherpa and Jirel; other languages/dialects along the Sino-Nepalese border:
Humla, Mugu, Dolpo, Lo-ke, Nubri, Tsum, Langtang, Kyirong, Yolmo, Gyalsumdo, Kagate, Lhomi,
Walungge, Tokpe Gola.
Southern: Dzongkha, Drengjong, Tsamang, Dhromo Lakha, Dur Brokkat, Mera Sakteng Brokpa-ke
South-Eastern: Hor Nagchu, Hor Bachen, Yushu, Pembar, Rongdrak, Minyak, Dzayul, Derong-Jol,
Chaktreng, Muli-Dappa, Semkyi Nyida
'Northern route' dialects: 'Chamdo (Chab-mdo), Derge (sde-dge), and Kandze (dkar-mdzes)
'Southern route' dialects: Markham (smar-khams), Bathang ('ba'-thang), Lithang (li-thang)
Eastern: Drugchu, Khöpokhok, Thewo-Chone, Baima, Sharkhok, Palkyi (or Pashi; four dialects,
including Chos-rje), and Zhongu
North-Eastern
Amdo
Gser-Rdo:[12] Gserpa, Khalong
Tournadre (2005, 2008)

Tournadre (2005)[13] 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 (Thewo-Chone, Zhongu, Khalong, Dongwang, Gserpa, Zitsadegu, Drugchu, Baima)
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.[14]
Tournadre (2013) adds Tseku and Khamba to Khams, and groups Thewo-Chone, Zhongu, and Baima as
an Eastern branch of Tibetic.
Bradley (1997)
According to Bradley,[15] the languages cluster as follows (dialect information from the Tibetan Dialects
Project at the University of Bern):
Tibetic
Western Archaic Tibetan (non-tonal), including Ladakhi, Balti and Burig
Amdo Tibetan (including Thewo-Chone) (non-tonal)
Khams Tibetan (tonal)
Western Innovative Tibetan (Lahuli–Spiti) (slightly tonal)
Dialects of Upper Ladakh and Zanskar, of the Northwest Indian Border Area (Lahaul and Spiti
district and Uttarakhand), and of Zanda County (westernmost Tibet)
Central Tibetan (slightly tonal)
Most dialects of Ngari Prefecture in western Tibet, of the northern Nepalese border area in
Nepal, Tsang dialects of Shigatse Prefecture, and Ü dialects (Lhokha, Lhasa, etc.). The basis of
Standard Tibetan.
Northern Tibetan (slightly tonal)
Dialects of Gêrzê, of Nagqu Prefecture in north-central Tibet, and of Nangqên County in South
Qinghai
(Considered dialects of Khams by Tournadre)
Southern Tibetan (slightly tonal)
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 (not to be confused with East
Bodish, whose speakers are not ethnically Tibetan). Some, like Tournadre, 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.[16]
Lexical similarity
Amdo Tibetan has 70% lexical similarity with Central Tibetan and Khams Tibetan, while Khams
Tibetan has 80% lexical similarity with Central Tibetan.[17]
Geographical distribution
The Tibetic-speaking area spans six countries: China (PRC), Nepal, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, and
Myanmar.[2][18] Tibetan is also spoken in diaspora communities in Europe, North America (e.g. Little
Tibet, Toronto), Asia and Australia.[19]
China
Within China, the great majority of Tibetic speakers are officially classified into the "Tibetan
nationality" ( 藏族 ), which however includes speakers of other Trans-Himalayan languages such as
Rgyalrongnic.[20] Aside from Tibet Autonomous Region, there are several autonomous prefectures for
the "nationality" in Sichuan, Qinhai, Gansu, and Yunnan.[21]
Nepal
Lhasa Tibetan, or more technically, Standard Tibetan (natively called སྤྱི་སྐད spyi skad) is used among
post-1950s Tibetan emigrants to Nepal.[2] Other Tibetic varieties such as Sherpa, Jirel and Yolmo are
spoken in districts along the China-Nepal border.[22][23]
Bhutan
The national language of Bhutan is Dzongkha, a Tibetic language originally spoken in the western
region.[23] Although non-Tibetic languages (Tshangla, East Bodish) are dominant in many parts of the
country, Dzongkha is also widely used there as a second-language.[23] Other Tibetic varieties of Bhutan
include Choča-ngača, Brokpa and Lakha.[24]
Pakistan
Within areas administrated by Pakistan, Balti is spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan.[23]
India
Within areas administrated by India, some Tibetic varieties are spoken in Ladakh, Sikkim, Himachal
Pradesh (Kinnaur, Lahul and Spiti), West Bengal (Darjeeling and Kalimpong), as well as
Uttarakhand.[23][25] As with Bhutan and Nepal, there reside a number of Tibetan refugees across the
country, notably in Dharamshala where the headquarter of Central Tibetan Administration is
located.[26]
Myanmar
In Myanmar, a variant of Khams Tibetan is spoken near the Hkakabo Razi, Kachin State which is
adjacent to Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan and Tibet Autonomous Region.[27] Suzuki
(2012) describes the phonology of the Sangdam dialect, as well as giving a brief overview of Tibetic
varieties in the country.
He estimates there are about 300 Khams Tibetan speakers inhabiting at least four villages in
Dazundam Village Tract, Pannandin Sub-township, Nogmong Township, Putao District, Kachin
State.[28] The four villages he mentions are Tahaundam, "Shidudan" (Japanese: シドゥダン), Sandam,
Madin, the second of which he provides no romanization because the placename is uncharted on the
map available to him.[28] According to Suzuki's consultant, they migrated from Zayu County, Tibet
more than a century ago although they still have contact with relatives living there, and there are few
differences between the dialects of the four villages .[29]
Since Rawang people are the ethnic majority of the area, the Tibetans also have a command of Rawang,
which is mainly used for interethnic communication; those with primary education can speak and write
Burmese as well, while they are illiterate in their own language.[29]
Writing systems
Most Tibetic languages are written in one of two Indic scripts. Standard Tibetan and most other Tibetic
languages are written in the Tibetan script with a historically conservative orthography (see below) that
helps unify the Tibetan-language area. Some other Tibetan languages (in India and Nepal) are written
in the related Devanagari script, which is also used to write Hindi, Nepali and many other languages.
However, some Ladakhi and Balti speakers write with the Urdu script; this occurs almost exclusively in
Pakistan. 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 Balti people for the preservation of their
language and traditions, especially in the face of strong Punjabi cultural influence throughout Pakistan,
has fostered renewed interest in reviving the Tibetan script and using it alongside the Perso-Arabic
script. Many shops in Baltistan's capital Skardu in Pakistan's "Northern Areas" region have begun
supplementing signs written in the Perso-Arabic script with signs written in the 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 neighbours like Kashmiris and Punjabis 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, Srongbtsan Sgampo would have been pronounced [sroŋpʦan zɡampo] (now pronounced
[sɔ́ŋʦɛ̃ ɡʌ̀ mpo] in Lhasa Tibetan) and 'babs would have been pronounced [mbaps] (pronounced [bapˤ]
in Lhasa Tibetan).
Already in the 9th century the process of cluster simplification, devoicing and tonogenesis had begun in
the central dialects, as can be shown by Tibetan words transliterated into other languages, particularly
Middle Chinese but also Uyghur.
The combination of the abovementioned evidence enables us to form the following outline of the
evolution of Tibetan. In the 9th century, as shown by the bilingual Tibetan–Chinese treaty of 821–822
found in front of Lhasa's Jokhang, 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
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 pronounced ai, oi, ui. The words introduced from
Tibet into the border languages at that time differ greatly from those borrowed at an earlier period.
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 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.
Reconstruction
Proto-Tibetic
Proto-Tibetic, the hypothetical proto-language ancestral to the Tibetic languages, has been
reconstructed by Tournadre (2014).[2] Proto-Tibetic is similar to, but not identical to, written Classical
Literary Tibetan. The following phonological features are characteristic of Proto-Tibetic (Tournadre
2014: 113).
The prefixes *s(ǝ)-, *d(ǝ)-/g(ǝ)-, *m(ǝ)-, and *b(ǝ)-, which have been retained from Proto-Tibeto-
Burman. *s(ǝ)- is primarily used with animals and body parts, as well as *d(ǝ)-/*g(ǝ)- and
*m(ǝ)-/*r(ǝ)-.
Palatalization of dental and alveolar consonants before y (/j/).
Consonant change from lateral to dental position after /m/ (e.g., *ml > *md).
Distinctive aspirated initial stops. This phenomenon is attested by alternating aspirated and non-
aspirated consonants in Old Tibetan orthography. Examples include gcig ~ gchig (གཅིག་ ~ གཆིག་) 'one';
phyin-chad ~ phyin-cad (ཕྱིན་ཆད་ ~ ཕྱིན་ཅད་) 'from now on'; ci ~ chi (ཅི་ ~ ཆི་) 'what'; and cu ~ chu (ཅུ་ ~ ཆུ་)
'water'.
Reconstructed Proto-Tibetic forms from Tournadre (2014) include:
*g(ǝ)-tɕik 'one' *s(ǝ)-bal 'frog'

*g(ǝ)-nyis 'two' *s(ǝ)-tak 'tiger'
*g(ǝ)-su- 'three' *s(ǝ)-b-rul 'snake'
*b(ǝ)-ʑi 'four' *s(ǝ)-pra 'monkey'
*l(ǝ)-ŋa 'five' *s(ǝ)-kra 'hair'
*d(ǝ)-ruk 'six' *s(ǝ)-nyiŋ 'heart'
*b(ǝ)-dun 'seven' *s(ǝ)-na 'nose'
*b(ǝ)-rgyat 'eight' *d(ǝ)-myik 'eye'
*d(ǝ)-gu 'nine' *m(ǝ)-go 'head'
*b(ǝ)-tɕu 'ten' *r(ǝ)-na 'ear'
*s(ǝ)-dik-pa 'scorpion'
Pre-Tibetic
Pre-Tibetic is a hypothetical pre-formation stage of Proto-Tibetic.[2]
*ty-, *ly-, *sy- were not palatalized in Pre-Tibetic, but underwent palatalization in Proto-Tibetic
(Tournadre 2014: 113-114).[2] Posited sound changes from Pre-Tibetic to Proto-Tibetic include *ty- >
*tɕ-, *sy- > *ɕ-, *tsy- > *tɕ-, and *ly- > *ʑ-. However, Tournadre (2014: 114) notes that many Bodish
languages such as Basum, Tamang, and Kurtöp (East Bodish) have not undergone these changes (e.g.,
Bake (Basum) ti 'what' vs. Proto-Tibetic *tɕ(h)i and Bake tɨ 'one' vs. Proto-Tibetic *g(ǝ)-tɕ(h)ik; Kurtöp
Hla:
'iron' and Bumthap lak 'iron' vs. Proto-Tibetic *ltɕaks).
Some Pre-Tibetic reconstructions, along with reconstructed Proto-Tibetic forms and orthographic
Classical Literary Tibetan, from Tournadre (2014: 114-116) are listed below.
Gloss Pre-Tibetic Proto-Tibetic Classical Literary Tibetan
one *g(ǝ)-tyik *g(ǝ)-tɕ(h)ik gcig / gchig གཅིག་ / གཆིག (Old Tibetan)
big *tye *tɕ(h)e che ཆེ་ (Old Tibetan)
ten *b(ǝ)-tyu *b(ǝ)-tɕu bcu / bchu བཅུ་ / བཆུ་ (Old Tibetan)
what *tyi *tɕ(h)i ci / chi ཅི་ / ཆི་ (Old Tibetan)
flesh *sya *ɕa sha ཤ་
know *syes *ɕes shes ཤེས་
wood *sying *ɕiŋ shing ཤིང་
to cut (past stem) *b(ǝ)-tsyat *b(ǝ)-tɕat bcad བཅད་
spittle *m(ǝ)-tsyil-ma *m(ǝ)-tɕ(h)il-ma mchil-ma མཆིལ་མ་
liver *m(ǝ)-tsin-pa *m(ǝ)-tɕ(h)in-pa mchin-pa མཆིན་པ
four *b(ǝ)-lyi *b(ǝ)ʑi bzhi བཞི་
field *lying *ʑiŋ zhing ཞིང་
flea *ldi *ldʑi lji ལྗི་, 'ji ་འཇི་
iron *s(ǝ)-lak(s) > *l-sak(s) > *l-tsyak(s) *ltɕaks lcags ལྕགས་
arrow *mda mda' མདའ་
to suppress *bnans *mnans mnand (Old Tibetan)
to listen *bnyan *nyan mnyand
eye *d(ǝ)myik dmyig དམྱིག་ (Old Tibetan); mig
flower *mentok men-tog མེན་ཏོག (Old Tibetan); ་me-tog
Comparison of numerals
The numerals in different Tibetan/Tibetic languages are:[30]
Ü-Tsang (Middle)
CLASSICAL
GLOSS
Cheng Amdo Khams
Lhasa Dolpo Jirel Mugom Sherpa Yohlmo TIBETAN
Zhang
*xʨik
'1' ʨiʔ53 ʨi53 ʂik dokpoi ʧɪk ʦɪk55 ʨīː xʨɨx ʨi55 gtšig
*gnis
'2' ȵi55 ȵi55 ɲiː ŋi ŋi ŋi55 ɲìː ɦȵi ɲɯ53 gnis
*xsum
'3' sum55 sɔ̃53 sum sum sum sum55 sūm sɘm sũ53 gsum
*βʑi
'4' ɕi13 ɣɯ31 ɕi̤ ː si ɕi ʣi55 ʑì̤ ɦʑɘ ʐə33 bži
*ɬŋɑ
'5' ŋa53 ɴɐ53 ŋa ŋa ŋá ŋɑ55 ŋɑ̀ ɦŋa ŋɑ53 lŋa
*dɽuk
'6' tʂʰuʔ13 tʂu31 ʈṳk tʰuk duk ɖʊk11 ʈṳ̀ ː tʂəx tʂo33 drug
*βdun
'7' tỹ15 dɛ̃24 ty̤ n duin dun dɪn55 t̪ ì̤ n ɦdɘn dĩ33 bdun
*βɽgjat
'8' ɕɛʔ13 dʑe31 ce̤ ʔ get ket gæ55 cē̤ ː ɦdʑʲɛ ʑe33 brgyad
*dgu
'9' ku13 ɡɯ31 kṳ gu gu gu55 kṳ̀ ɦgɘ gə33 dgu
*ɸʨu
'10' ʨu53 ʨɯ53 tɕu ʦutʰambaː ʧú ʦi55tʰɑm11ba11 ʨʉ̄ ʨɘ ʨə55 btšu
For the Central or Eastern Tibetic languages:
Dzongkha-Lakha Balti-Ladakhi Spiti

GLOSS
Dzongkha Sikkimese Balti Changthang Ladakhi Purik Zangskari bhoti
'1' ʨí ʧi ʧik ʧik ʧik ʧik ʧiʔ ʧík
'2' ɲí ni ɲis ɲis ɲis ɲis ɲiː ɲiː

'3' súm súm xsum sum sum sum sum súm
'4' ʃi̤ ʒe βʒi zi zi ʒi ʒi ʒì
'5' ŋə ŋa ɣɑ ŋa ʂŋa ʂŋə ŋa ŋá

'6' dʑo tʰu truk ɖruk ʈuk ʈuk ʈuʔ ʈùk
'7' ty̤ n dĩ βdun dun rdun rdun ðun dùn
'8' kæ̤ gɛ βgyʌt gʲat rgʲat rgyət ʝət ɟèt

'9' kṳ go rgu gu rgu rgu ɣu gù
'10' ʨu tʰam ʧɔːmba ɸʧu ʧu rʧu rču ʧu ʧú
References
Beyer, Stephan V. (1992). The Classical Tibetan Language. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-1099-4.
Denwood, Philip (1999). Tibetan. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 90-272-3803-0.
Izzard, Jeff Robert (2015). Language attitudes and identity in the Tibetan Dharamsala diaspora (htt
p://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22824/) (Ph.D thesis). SOAS University of London. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
Nishi, Yoshiro (1987). "Gendei Tibet-go hoogen no bunrui" 現代チベット語方言の分類 [A
Classification of Tibetan Dialects]. Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology. 11 (4): 837–900.
hdl:10502/2932 (https://hdl.handle.net/10502%2F2932).
Sagart, Laurent; Jacques, Guillaume; Lai, Yunfan; Ryder, Robin; Thouzeau, Valentin; Greenhill,
Simon J.; List, Johann-Mattis (2019), "Dated language phylogenies shed light on the history of
Sino-Tibetan", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
116 (21): 10317–10322, doi:10.1073/pnas.1817972116 (https://doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.18179721
16), PMC 6534992 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6534992), PMID 31061123 (http
s://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31061123).
Suzuki, Hiroyuki (2012), "Kamutibetto-go Sangdam hoogen no onsei bunseki to sono tokutyoo" カ
ムチベット語 Sangdam 方言の音声分析とその方言特徴 (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
339786552) [Khams Tibetan Sangdam Dialect: Phonetic and Dialectal Analysis], Journal of Asian
and African Studies, 83: 37–58.
Tournadre, Nicolas; Suzuki, Hiroyuki (2023). The Tibetic Languages: an introduction to the family of
languages derived from Old Tibetan (https://lacito.cnrs.fr/en/tibetic-languages/). Paris: LACITO.
ISBN 978-2-490768-08-0.
"Origin of Sino-Tibetan language family revealed by new research" (https://www.sciencedaily.com/r
eleases/2019/05/190506151822.htm). ScienceDaily (Press release). May 6, 2019.
Footnotes
1. Tournadre, Nicolas (2014). "The Tibetic languages and their classification". In Owen-Smith,
Thomas; Hill, Nathan W. (eds.). Trans-Himalayan Linguistics: Historical and Descriptive Linguistics
of the Himalayan Area. De Gruyter. pp. 103–129. ISBN 978-3-11-031074-0. (preprint (http://www.nic
olas-tournadre.net/wp-content/uploads/multimedia/2014-The_Tibetic_languages.pdf))
2. Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In Trans-Himalayan
linguistics, historical and descriptive linguistics of the Himalayan area. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
3. Tournadre & Suzuki 2023.
4. Nishi 1987, p. 849.
5. Beyer 1992, p. 7.
6. Tournadre & Suzuki 2023, p. 654.
8. Zemp, Marius. 2018. On the origins of Tibetan (http://hdl.handle.net/2433/235316). Proceedings of
the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018). Kyoto: Kyoto
University.
10. Katia Chirkova, 2008, "On the position of Báimǎ within Tibetan", in Lubotsky et al. (eds), Evidence
and Counter-Evidence, vol. 2.
11. Tournadre, Nicolas (2008). "Arguments against the Concept of 'Conjunct'/'Disjunct' in Tibetan" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20110720224934/http://tournadre.nicolas.free.fr/fichiers/2008-Conjunct.pdf)
(PDF). In B. Huber; M. Volkart; P. Widmer; P. Schwieger (eds.). Chomolangma, Demawend und
Kasbek: Festschrift für Roland Bielmeier zu Seinem 65. Geburtstag, Vol. 1. Halle: International
Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies. pp. 282–283. Archived from the original (http://tournadre.
nicolas.free.fr/fichiers/2008-Conjunct.pdf) (PDF) on 2011-07-20.
12. Sun, Jackson T.-S. 2021. Gser-Rdo: A New Tibetic Language Across the Rngaba-Dkarmdzes
Border (https://www.academia.edu/47755528/Gser_Rdo_A_New_Tibetic_Language_Across_the_R
ngaba_Dkarmdzes_Border).
13. N. Tournadre (2005) "L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." Lalies, 2005, n°25, p. 7–
56 [1] (http://tournadre.nicolas.free.fr/fichiers/2005-aire.pdf)
14. Shao, Mingyuan 邵明园 (2018). Hexi Zoulang binwei Zangyu Dongnahua yanjiu 河西走廊濒危藏语
东纳话研究 [Study on the mDungnag dialect, an endangered Tibetan language in Hexi Corridor].
Guangzhou: Zhongshan University Publishing House 中山大学出版社.
15. Bradley (1997) (https://web.archive.org/web/20070623162537/http://www.isw2.unibe.ch/tibet/Dialec
ts.htm)
16. Minahan, J.B. (2014). Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=YhXHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA188). Ethnic Groups of the World. Bloomsbury
Publishing. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-61069-018-8. Retrieved 2024-05-12.
17. "China" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160909075938/http://www.ethnologue.com/country/CN/lang
uages). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Nineteenth Edition. 2016. Archived from the original
(http://www.ethnologue.com/country/CN/languages) on 2016-09-09.
21. Tournadre & Suzuki 2023, pp. 81–83.
22. Denwood 1999, p. 34.
24. Denwood 1999, p. 36.
25. Denwood 1999, pp. 33–34.
26. Izzard 2015.
28. Suzuki 2012, p. 38.
29. Suzuki 2012, p. 39.
30. "Bodish Numerals (Eugene Chan)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120305030131/http://lingweb.ev
a.mpg.de/numeral/Sino-Tibetan.htm). Archived from the original (http://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/numera
l/Sino-Tibetan.htm) on 2012-03-05.
Further reading
Denwood, Philip (2007). "The Language History of Tibetan". In Bielmeier, Roland; Haller, Felix
(eds.). Linguistics of the Himalayas and beyond. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 47–70. ISBN 978-3-11-
019828-7.
Dpal ldan bkra shis (2016). "Amdo Tibetan Language: An Introduction to Normative Oral Amdo" (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20160628052350/http://tibetanplateau.wikischolars.columbia.edu/file/vie
w/AHP43AmdoTibetanLanguage_An%20Introduction%20to%20Normative%20Oral%20Amdo_text.
pdf/586186877/AHP43AmdoTibetanLanguage_An%20Introduction%20to%20Normative%20Oral%
20Amdo_text.pdf) (PDF). Asian Highland Perspectives. 43. ISSN 1925-6329 (https://www.worldcat.
org/issn/1925-6329). LCCN 2008944256 (https://lccn.loc.gov/2008944256). Archived from the
original (http://tibetanplateau.wikischolars.columbia.edu/file/view/AHP43AmdoTibetanLanguage_A
n%20Introduction%20to%20Normative%20Oral%20Amdo_text.pdf/586186877/AHP43AmdoTibeta
nLanguage_An%20Introduction%20to%20Normative%20Oral%20Amdo_text.pdf) (PDF) on 2016-
06-28.
van Driem, George (2001). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the
Greater Himalayan Region containing an Introduction to the Symbiotic Theory of Language. Brill.
ISBN 9004103902.
External links
Comparative Dictionary of Tibetan Dialects (CDTD) (http://www.himalayanlanguages.org/cdtd)
Languages on the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas (http://www.thdl.org/xml/show.php?xml=/colle
ctions/langling/languages/index.xml&l=9) — Nicolas Tournadre
Overview of Old Tibetan Synchronic phonology (http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/8964/1/Hill_2010_overvie
w_of_Old_Tibetan_phonology.pdf) by Nathan Hill
L'évolution des langues et les facteurs écolinguistiques : le cas des langues d'éleveurs et des
langues d'agriculteurs sur le Haut Plateau tibétain (https://web.archive.org/web/20120318215914/ht
tp://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/colloque/deserts/videos_gestion/nt.htm) at CNRS-LACITO
China's Tibet policy continued attempt at erasing Tibetan language (https://web.archive.org/web/20
140324094654/http://thetibetpost.com/en/outlook/opinions-and-columns/3811-chinas-tibet-policy-co
ntinued-attempt-at-erasing-tibetan-language)
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Tibetic Languages - Wikipedia

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5/14/24, 12:23 PM Tibetic languages - Wikipedia

Classical Tibetan was not a tonal language, but many Ladakhi–Balti

The "Tibetic languages" in this sense are a substitute for

The two major Tibetic languages used for broadcasting within

Tournadre & Suzuki (2023)

Western section (8 groups):

Tournadre (2005, 2008)

*g(ǝ)-tɕik 'one' *s(ǝ)-bal 'frog'

Gloss Pre-Tibetic Proto-Tibetic Classical Literary Tibetan

one *g(ǝ)-tyik *g(ǝ)-tɕ(h)ik gcig / gchig གཅིག་ / གཆིག (Old Tibetan)

big *tye *tɕ(h)e che ཆེ་ (Old Tibetan)

ten *b(ǝ)-tyu *b(ǝ)-tɕu bcu / bchu བཅུ་ / བཆུ་ (Old Tibetan)

what *tyi *tɕ(h)i ci / chi ཅི་ / ཆི་ (Old Tibetan)

flesh *sya *ɕa sha ཤ་

know *syes *ɕes shes ཤེས་

wood *sying *ɕiŋ shing ཤིང་

to cut (past stem) *b(ǝ)-tsyat *b(ǝ)-tɕat bcad བཅད་

spittle *m(ǝ)-tsyil-ma *m(ǝ)-tɕ(h)il-ma mchil-ma མཆིལ་མ་

liver *m(ǝ)-tsin-pa *m(ǝ)-tɕ(h)in-pa mchin-pa མཆིན་པ

four *b(ǝ)-lyi *b(ǝ)ʑi bzhi བཞི་

field *lying *ʑiŋ zhing ཞིང་

flea *ldi *ldʑi lji ལྗི་, 'ji ་འཇི་

iron *s(ǝ)-lak(s) > *l-sak(s) > *l-tsyak(s) *ltɕaks lcags ལྕགས་

arrow *mda mda' མདའ་

to suppress *bnans *mnans mnand (Old Tibetan)

to listen *bnyan *nyan mnyand

eye *d(ǝ)myik dmyig དམྱིག་ (Old Tibetan); mig

flower *mentok men-tog མེན་ཏོག (Old Tibetan); ་me-tog

For the Central or Eastern Tibetic languages:

Dzongkha-Lakha Balti-Ladakhi Spiti

'1' ʨí ʧi ʧik ʧik ʧik ʧik ʧiʔ ʧík

'2' ɲí ni ɲis ɲis ɲis ɲis ɲiː ɲiː

'4' ʃi̤ ʒe βʒi zi zi ʒi ʒi ʒì

'5' ŋə ŋa ɣɑ ŋa ʂŋa ʂŋə ŋa ŋá

'7' ty̤ n dĩ βdun dun rdun rdun ðun dùn

'8' kæ̤ gɛ βgyʌt gʲat rgʲat rgyət ʝət ɟèt

'10' ʨu tʰam ʧɔːmba ɸʧu ʧu rʧu rču ʧu ʧú

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tibetic_languages&oldid=1223585927"

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g(ǝ)-tɕik 'one' s(ǝ)-bal 'frog'

one g(ǝ)-tyik g(ǝ)-tɕ(h)ik gcig / gchig གཅིག་ / གཆིག (Old Tibetan)

big tye tɕ(h)e che ཆེ་ (Old Tibetan)

ten b(ǝ)-tyu b(ǝ)-tɕu bcu / bchu བཅུ་ / བཆུ་ (Old Tibetan)

what tyi tɕ(h)i ci / chi ཅི་ / ཆི་ (Old Tibetan)

flesh sya ɕa sha ཤ་

know syes ɕes shes ཤེས་

wood sying ɕiŋ shing ཤིང་

to cut (past stem) b(ǝ)-tsyat b(ǝ)-tɕat bcad བཅད་

spittle m(ǝ)-tsyil-ma m(ǝ)-tɕ(h)il-ma mchil-ma མཆིལ་མ་

liver m(ǝ)-tsin-pa m(ǝ)-tɕ(h)in-pa mchin-pa མཆིན་པ

four b(ǝ)-lyi b(ǝ)ʑi bzhi བཞི་

field lying ʑiŋ zhing ཞིང་

flea ldi ldʑi lji ལྗི་, 'ji ་འཇི་

iron s(ǝ)-lak(s) > l-sak(s) > l-tsyak(s) ltɕaks lcags ལྕགས་

to suppress bnans mnans mnand (Old Tibetan)

to listen bnyan nyan mnyand