Eastern Tamang

Last updated

Eastern Tamang is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is spoken in mainly in Bagmati and Koshi provinces of Nepal as well as the states of Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal (Darjeeling), and Sikkim in India by the Tamang people. [1]

Eastern Tamang
तामाङ‎, རྟ་དམག‎ (tāmāng)
Native to Nepal, India
Ethnicity Tamang
Native speakers
1.2 million (2001 census) [2]
Sino-Tibetan
Tamyig script, Devanagari, Tibetan
Language codes
ISO 639-3 taj
Glottolog east2347

The Eastern Tamang language is a SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) structured language with postpositions, genitives following nouns, and noun heads appearing at the end of phrases. It lacks noun classes or genders, features content question words in situ, and employs a system of one prefix and up to three suffixes. Clause constituents are marked by case, and it follows an ergative alignment. It includes aspects of tense with no passives or voice, has 34 consonant and 16 vowel phonemes, and exhibits CV, CVC, CCV, V, and CCVC syllable structures. The language is tonal, with 5 basic vowels, 5 long vowels, 6 diphthongs, and phonemic distinctions in aspiration and length. [1] [3] [4]

In addition to Eastern Tamang, speakers also speak Bhojpuri, Central Tibetan (in religious contexts) mainly by Vajrayana Buddhists, and the Maithili language. Speakers of Eastern Tamang also speak Nepali, especially among those who have received education or attended schools where Nepali is the medium of instruction or traveled to other parts of Nepal. Eastern Tamang is also spoken by Tamang Hindus, Christians, as well as followers of traditional beliefs. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marwari language</span> Language spoken in Rajasthan, India

Marwari is an Indo Aryan language of the Rajasthani languages group spoken in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is also found in the neighbouring states of Gujarat and Haryana, some adjacent areas in Eastern parts of Pakistan, and some migrant communities in Nepal. With some 7.8 million or so speakers, it is the largest language in the Rajasthani languages group. Most speakers live in Rajasthan and a few in Nepal. There are two dozen varieties of Marwari.

Tshangla is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Bodish branch closely related to the Tibetic languages. Tshangla is primarily spoken in Eastern Bhutan and acts as a lingua franca in the region; it is also spoken in the adjoining Tawang tract in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Pemako region of Tibet. Tshangla is the principal pre-Tibetan language of Bhutan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurung language</span> Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nepal and India

Gurung, also known as Tamu Kyi or Tamu Bhāṣā, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Gurung people of Nepal. The total number of all Gurung speakers in Nepal was 227,918 in 1991 and 325,622 in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepcha language</span> Tibeto-Burman language of Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan

Lepcha language, or Róng language, is a Himalayish language spoken by the Lepcha people in Sikkim, India and parts of West Bengal, Nepal and Bhutan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limbu language</span> Sino-Tibetan language of eastern Nepal and India

Limbu is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Limbu people of Nepal and Northeastern India as well as expatriate communities in Bhutan. The Limbu refer to themselves as Yakthung and their language as Yakthungpan. Yakthungpan has four main dialects: Phedape, Chhathare, Tambarkhole and Panthare dialects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Majhi language</span> Indo-Aryan language of Nepal

Majhi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of Nepal and formerly in some small pockets of neighboring India.:1 The language is associated with the Majhi people, an ethnic group in those regions who dwell historically near the Saptakoshi River and its tributaries and elsewhere in central and eastern Nepal. The Majhi people generally subsist off of work associated with rivers, including fishing and ferrying.:2 Majhi is written using the Devanagari writing system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunwar language</span> Kiranti language of Nepal and India

Sunuwar, Sunuwar, or Kõinch, is a Kiranti language of the Sino-Tibetan language family spoken in Nepal and India by the Sunuwar people. It was first comprehensively attested by the Himalayan Languages Project. It is also known as Kõits Lo, Kiranti-Kõits, Mukhiya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamang language</span> Sino-Tibetan dialect cluster

Tamang is a term used to collectively refer to a dialect cluster spoken mainly in Nepal, Sikkim, West Bengal (Darjeeling) and North-Eastern India. It comprises Eastern Tamang, Northwestern Tamang, Southwestern Tamang, Eastern Gorkha Tamang, and Western Tamang. Lexical similarity between Eastern Tamang and other Tamang languages varies between 81% and 63%. For comparison, lexical similarity between Spanish and Portuguese, is estimated at 89%.

Yakkha is a language spoken in parts of Nepal, Darjeeling district and Sikkim. The Yakkha-speaking villages are located to the East of the Arun river, in the southern part of the Sankhuwasabha district and in the northern part of the Dhankuta district of Nepal. About 14,000 people still speak the language, out of 17,003 ethnic Yakkha in Nepal. Genealogically, Yakkha belongs to the Eastern Kiranti languages and is in one subgroup with several Limbu languages, e.g. Belhare, Athpare, Chintang and Chulung. Ethnically however, the Yakkha people perceive themselves as distinct from the other Kiranti groups such as Limbu.

The Sikkimese language, also called Sikkimese, Bhutia, or Drenjongké, Dranjoke, Denjongka, Denzongpeke and Denzongke, belongs to the Tibeto-Burman languages. It is spoken by the Bhutia in Sikkim, India and in parts of Koshi, Nepal. The Sikkimese people refer to their own language as Drendzongké and their homeland as Drendzong. Up until 1975 Sikkimese was not a written language. After gaining Indian Statehood the language was introduced as a school subject in Sikkim and the written language was developed.

The Bantawa Language, is a Kiranti language spoken in the eastern Himalayan hills of eastern Nepal by Kirati Bantawa ethnic groups. They use a syllabic alphabet system known as Kirat Rai. Among the Khambu or Rai people of Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling and Kalimpong in India, Bantawa is the largest language spoken. According to the 2001 National Census, at least 1.63% of the Nepal's total population speaks Bantawa. About 370,000 speak Bantawa Language mostly in eastern hilly regions of Nepal (2001). Although Bantawa is among the more widely used variety of the Bantawa language, it falls in the below-100,000 category of endangered languages. It is experiencing language shift to Nepali, especially in the northern region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Bhutan</span> Overview of the languages spoken in Bhutan

There are two dozen languages of Bhutan, all members of the Tibeto-Burman language family except for Nepali, which is an Indo-Aryan language, and Bhutanese Sign Language. Dzongkha, the national language, is the only native language of Bhutan with a literary tradition, though Lepcha and Nepali are literary languages in other countries. Other non-Bhutanese minority languages are also spoken along Bhutan's borders and among the primarily Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa community in South and East Bhutan. Chöke is the language of the traditional literature and learning of the Buddhist monastics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chamling language</span> Language in Nepal, Bhutan and India

Chamling is one of the Kirati languages spoken by the Chamling of Nepal, India and Bhutan. Alternate renderings and names include Chamling, Chamlinge and Rodong. It is closely related to the Bantawa and Puma languages of the Kiranti language family in eastern Nepal, and it belongs to the broader Sino-Tibetan language family. Chamling has SOV word order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of South Asia</span> Overview of South Asian languages

South Asia is home to several hundred languages, spanning the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is home to the third most spoken language in the world, Hindi–Urdu; and the sixth most spoken language, Bengali. The languages in the region mostly comprise Indo-Iranic and Dravidian languages, and further members of other language families like Austroasiatic, and Tibeto-Burman languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tharu languages</span> Indo-Aryan language group of Nepal and India

The Tharu or Tharuhat languages are any of the Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the Tharu people of the Terai region in Nepal, and neighboring regions of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yolmo language</span> Sino-Tibetan language of Nepal

Yolmo (Hyolmo) or Helambu Sherpa, is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Hyolmo people of Nepal. Yolmo is spoken predominantly in the Helambu and Melamchi valleys in northern Nuwakot District and northwestern Sindhupalchowk District. Dialects are also spoken by smaller populations in Lamjung District and Ilam District and also in Ramecchap District. It is very similar to Kyirong Tibetan and less similar to Standard Tibetan and Sherpa. There are approximately 10,000 Yolmo speakers, although some dialects have larger populations than others.

Kadu or Kado is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Sal branch spoken in Sagaing Region, Myanmar by the Kadu people. Dialects are Settaw, Mawkhwin, and Mawteik [extinct], with 30,000 speakers total. Kadu is considered an endangered language, and is closely related to the Ganan and Sak languages.

Manang, also called Manangba, Manange, Manang Ke, Nyishang, Nyishangte and Nyishangba, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Nepal. Native speakers refer to the language as ŋyeshaŋ, meaning 'our language'. It is one of half a dozen languages of the Sino-Tibetan family. Manang and its most closely related languages are often written as TGTM in literature, referring to Tamang, Gurung, Thakali, and Manangba, due to the high degree of similarity in the linguistic characteristics of the languages. The language is unwritten and almost solely spoken within the Manang District, leading it to be classified as threatened, with the number of speakers continuing to decline. Suspected reasons for the decline include parents not passing down the language to their children, in order to allow for what they see as more advanced communication with other groups of people, and thus gain more opportunities. Due to the proximity of the district to Tibet, as well as various globally widespread languages being introduced into the area, use of the native language is declining in favor of new languages, which are perceived to aid in the advancement of the people and region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepali language</span> Indo-Aryan Language

Nepali is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a lingua franca. Nepali has official status in the Indian state of Sikkim and in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration of West Bengal. It is spoken by about a quarter of Bhutan's population. Nepali also has a significant number of speakers in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Uttarakhand. In Myanmar it is spoken by the Burmese Gurkhas. The Nepali diaspora in the Middle East, Brunei, Australia and worldwide also use the language. Nepali is spoken by approximately 16 million native speakers and another 9 million as a second language.

Western Tamang, also known as Gyot Tamang, is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Tamang people in Nepal. It belongs to the Tamangic branch within the Tamang languages, which is part of the Sino-Tibetan language family.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Eastern Tamang". Ethnologue. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
  2. Eastern Tamang at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  3. Lee, Sung-Woo. 2011. Eastern Tamang Grammar Sketch. (MA thesis, Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics; xvii+176pp.)
  4. Poudel, Kedar Prasad. 2006. Dhankute Tamang grammar. (Languages of the World/Materials, 454.) München: Lincom. 181pp.