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Gongduk | |
---|---|
Gongdukpa Ang དགོང་འདུས་ | |
Region | Bhutan |
Native speakers | 2,000 (2006) [1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
Tibetan script | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | goe |
Glottolog | gong1251 |
ELP | Gongduk |
Gongduk or Gongdu (Tibetan : དགོང་འདུས་, Wylie : Dgong-'dus, it is also known as Gongdubikha [2] ) is an endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken by about 1,000 people in a few inaccessible villages located near the Kuri Chhu river in the Gongdue Gewog of Mongar District in eastern Bhutan. The names of the villages are Bala, Dagsa, Damkhar, Pam, Pangthang, and Yangbari ( Ethnologue ).
Gongduk has complex verbal morphology, which Ethnologue considers a retention from Proto-Tibeto-Burman, [1] and is lexically highly divergent. [3] On this basis, it is apparently not part of any major subgroup and will probably have to be assigned to its own branch. [3] [4]
The people are said to have come from hunters that would move from place to place at times. [5]
The language is notable for only being discovered by linguists in 1991. [6] Currently, George van Driem is working towards the completion of a description of Gongduk based on his work with native speakers in the Gongduk area. [4]
George van Driem (2001:870) [7] proposes that the Greater Bumthang (East Bodish) languages, including Bumthang, Khengkha, and Kurtöp, may have a Gongduk substratum. Gongduk itself may also have a non-Tibeto-Burman substrate.[ citation needed ]
Gerber (2018) [8] notes that Gongduk has had extensive contact with Black Mountain Mönpa before the arrival of East Bodish languages in Bhutan. Gongduk also has many Tshangla loanwords. The following comparative vocabulary table from Gerber (2020) compares Gongduk, Black Mountain Mönpa, and Bjokapakha, which is a divergent Tshangla variety. [9]
Gloss | Gongduk | Black Mountain Mönpa | Bjokapakha |
---|---|---|---|
hair (on head) | θɤm | guluŋ | tsham |
tongue | dəli | líː | lɪ |
eye | mik | mek ~ mik | miŋ |
ear | nərəŋ | naktaŋ | nabali |
tooth | ɤn | áː ~ waː | sha |
bone | rukɤŋ | ɦɤtphok ~ yöphok | khaŋ |
blood | winiʔ | kɔk | yi |
hand/arm | gur | lɤk ~ lok | gadaŋ |
leg/foot | bidɤʔ | dɤkpɛŋ ~ tɛ̤kɛŋ | bitiŋ |
faeces | ki | cok | khɨ |
water | dɤŋli | cö, khe | ri |
rain | wɤ | ghö | ŋamtsu |
dog | oki | cüla ~ khula | khu |
pig | don | pɔk | phakpa |
fish | kuŋwə | nye̤ | ŋa |
louse | dɤr | θæːk | shiŋ |
bear | bekpələ | wɤm ~ wom | omsha |
son | ledə | bæθaː | za |
daughter | medə | bæmɛt | zamin |
name | kət | mön ~ min | mɨŋ |
house | kiŋ | mhiː̤ ~ mhe̤ː | phai |
fire | mi | áːmik ~ áːmit | mɨ |
to hear | lə yu- | goː- | nai tha- |
to see | tɤŋ- | tuŋ- | thoŋ- |
to look | məl- ~ mɤt- | mak- | got- |
to sit | mi- ~ mu- | buŋ- ~ bæŋ- | laŋ- |
to die | komθ- | θɛː- ~ θɛʔ- | shi- |
to kill | tɤt- | θüt- ~ θut- ~ θit | she- |
Comparison of numerals: [9]
Gloss | Gongduk | Black Mountain Mönpa | Bjokapakha |
---|---|---|---|
one | ti | tɛk | thur |
two | niktsə | nhü | ɲiktsiŋ |
three | towə | sam | sam |
four | piyə | blö | pshi |
five | ŋəwə | lɔŋ | ŋa |
six | kukpə | o̤ːk | khuŋ |
seven | ðukpə | nyí | zum |
eight | yitpə | jit [ʤit] | yɪn |
nine | guwə | doːga | gu |
ten | deyə | chö | se |
Comparison of pronouns: [9]
Pronoun | Gongduk | Black Mountain Mönpa | Bjokapakha |
---|---|---|---|
1SG | ðə | kö | jaŋ |
2SG | gi | iŋ | nan |
3SG | gon | hoʔma (MAS); hoʔmet (FEM) | dan |
1PL | ðiŋ | ɔŋdat (INCL); anak (EXCL) | ai |
2PL | giŋ | iŋnak | nai |
3PL | gonmət | hoʔoŋ | dai |
Gongduk has productive suffixal morphology (van Driem 2014). [10]
Examples:
However, non-human plural nouns do not take on any suffixes, and remain the same:
Examples:
Examples:
Examples:
Gongduk demonstratives precede head nouns. [10]
Examples:
Gongduk has the following personal pronoun paradigm. [10]
singular (absolutive) | singular (ergative & genitive) | plural (absolutive) | plural (ergative & genitive) | dual (absolutive) | dual (ergative & genitive) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
first person | ðə | ðe | ðiŋ | ðiŋ, ðiŋ ŋəŋpoe | ||
second person | gi | gi | giŋ | giŋ, giŋ ŋəŋpoe | ||
third person | gon | gonðe | gonmə | gonməe, gonma ŋəŋpoe | ||
inclusive | iθi, iθirəŋ gəŋpo | dei, dei gəŋpoe |
van Driem (2014) compares the Gongduk first person singular personal pronoun ðə 'I, me' to Kathmandu Newar dʑiː ~ dʑĩ- 'I, me' and Tshangla dʑaŋ ~ dʑi- ~ dʑiŋ- 'I, me'. He also compares the Gongduk first person plural personal pronoun ðiŋ 'we, us' to Kathmandu Newar dʑʰai ~ dʑʰĩ- 'we, us'.
The Gongduk words and phrases below are from van Driem (2014). [10]
Dzongkha is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by over half a million people in Bhutan; it is the country's sole official and national language. The Tibetan script is used to write Dzongkha.
Mongar District is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) comprising Bhutan. Mongar is the fastest-developing dzongkhag in eastern Bhutan. A regional hospital has been constructed and the region is bustling with many economic activities. Mongar is noted for its lemon grass, a plant that can be used to produce an essential oil. It also has a hydroelectric power-plant on the Kuri Chhu river. Mongar is notable for having the longest work time in all the dzongkhags of Bhutan.
The Mahakiranti or Maha-Kiranti languages are a proposed intermediate level of classification of the Sino-Tibetan languages, consisting of the Kiranti languages and neighbouring languages thought to be closely related to them. Researchers disagree on which languages belong in Mahakiranti, or even whether Mahakiranti is a valid group. The group was originally proposed by George van Driem, who retracted his proposal in 2004 after a field study in Bhutan.
The Sharchops are the populations of mixed Tibetan, Southeast Asian and South Asian descent that mostly live in the eastern districts of Bhutan.
Tshangla is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Bodish branch closely related to the Tibetic languages and much of its vocabulary derives from Classical Tibetan. Tshangla is primarily spoken in Eastern Bhutan and acts as a lingua franca in the country particularly among Sharchop/Tshangla communities; it is also spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and Tibet. Tshangla is the principal pre-Tibetan (pre-Dzongkha) language of Bhutan.
George (Sjors) van Driem is a Dutch linguist at the University of Bern, where he is the chair of Historical Linguistics and directs the Linguistics Institute.
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.
There are numerous ethnic groups in Bhutan, but the Ngalop people who speak the Dzongkha language constitute a majority of the Bhutanese population. The Bhutanese are of four main ethnic groups, which themselves are not necessarily exclusive: the politically and culturally dominant Ngalop of western and northern Bhutan; the Sharchop of eastern Bhutan; the Lhotshampa concentrated in southern Bhutan; and Bhutanese tribal and aboriginal peoples living in villages scattered throughout 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 language with a native literary tradition in Bhutan, 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.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Bhutan:
The Khengkha language, or Kheng, is an East Bodish language spoken by ~40,000 native speakers worldwide, in the Zhemgang, Trongsa, and Mongar districts of south–central Bhutan.
Bodish, named for the Tibetan ethnonym Bod, is a proposed grouping consisting of the Tibetic languages and associated Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Tibet, North India, Nepal, Bhutan, and North Pakistan. It has not been demonstrated that all these languages form a clade, characterized by shared innovations, within Sino-Tibetan.
The East Bodish languages are a small group of non-Tibetic Bodish languages spoken in eastern Bhutan and adjacent areas of Tibet and India. They include:
The Kurtöp language is an East Bodish language spoken in Kurtoe Gewog, Lhuntse District, Bhutan. In 1993, there were about 10,000 speakers of Kurtöp.
Lhokpu, also Lhobikha or Taba-Damey-Bikha, is one of the autochthonous languages of Bhutan spoken by the Lhop people. It is spoken in southwestern Bhutan along the border of Samtse and Chukha Districts. Van Driem (2003) leaves it unclassified as a separate branch within the Sino-Tibetan language family.
The Dzala language, also called Dzalakha, Dzalamat, or Yangtsebikha, is an East Bodish language spoken in eastern Bhutan, in the Lhuntse and Trashiyangtse Districts.
ʼOle, also called ʼOlekha or Black Mountain Monpa, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by about 1,000 people in the Black Mountains of Wangdue Phodrang and Trongsa Districts in western Bhutan. The term ʼOle refers to a clan of speakers.
The Chocha Ngacha language or Chochangachakha or Tsamang is a Southern Tibetic language spoken by about 20,000 people in the Kurichu Valley of Lhuntse and Mongar Districts in eastern Bhutan.
The Bumthang language ; also called "Bhumtam", "Bumtang(kha)", "Bumtanp", "Bumthapkha", and "Kebumtamp") is an East Bodish language spoken by about 20,000 people in Bumthang and surrounding districts of Bhutan. Van Driem (1993) describes Bumthang as the dominant language of central Bhutan.
Laya is a Tibetic variety spoken by indigenous Layaps inhabiting the high mountains of northwest Bhutan in the village of Laya, Gasa District. Speakers also inhabit the northern regions of Thimphu and Punakha Districts. Its speakers are ethnically related to the Tibetans. Most speakers live at an altitude of 3,850 metres (12,630 ft), just below the Tsendagang peak. Laya speakers are also called Bjop by the Bhutanese, sometimes considered a condescending term. There were 1,100 speakers of Laya in 2003.