| Humla Tibetan | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Nepal |
| Ethnicity | Tibetan |
Native speakers | 5,000 (2014) [1] |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hut |
 | |
| Coordinates: 30.051394, 81.700777 | |
Humla Tibetan, also known as Humla Bhotiya, [2] and Humli Tamang, [3] is the Sino-Tibetan language of the Tibetan people of Humla district in Nepal (ISO 639-3: [hut], GlottoCode: [huml1238]) [1] [4] .
Humla Tibetan speakers self-identify using general ethnic terms such as Bhote, Tibetan, Tamang, Lama, and Kham. This has led scholars to assign a variety of language names to the speech of these people (Humla Tibetan, [5] Humla Bhotiya, [2] and Humli Tamang [3] ). As Humla Tibetan speakers refer to their language either in general terms or at the level of village dialect, no truly native glottonym can be assigned to the Tibetic language spoken in this district.
Humla Tibetan (Humli Tamang) is classified as: Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Western Tibeto-Burman, Bodish, Central Bodish, Central (Tibetan), and mNgahris. [3] It is one of fifteen related languages that Tournadre classifies as South-western Tibetic under Old Tibetan, all of which are spoken in Nepal. [6] These closely related languages are as follows: Mugom-Karmarong (ISO 639-3: muk), Dolpo (ISO 639-3: dre), Gyalsumdo (ISO 639-3: gyo), Hyolmo (ISO 639-3: scp), Jirel (ISO 639-3: jul]), Kyirong (ISO 639-3: kgy), Lhomi (ISO 639-3: lhm), Lhowa ISO 639-3: loy), Nubri (ISO 639-3: kte), Sherpa (ISO 639-3: xsr), Syuba (ISO 639-3: syw), Tichurong (ISO 639-3: tcn), Tsum (ISO 639-3: ttz), Walungge (ISO 639-3: ola).
Humla Tibetan is spoken by roughly 5,000 people originating from the Namkha and Simkot municipalities of Humla district of Nepal, along the Humla Karnali River. [7] Diaspora communities of Humla Tibetan can be found in the capital city of Kathmandu (Bouddha).
At least four dialects of Humla Tibetan have been identified. Various authors use different names to distinguish between groups/varieties, generally related to geographical location. Speakers often self-identify using village or dialect-specific names, and these are usually unrelated to the names scholars attribute to these sub-groups. A semi-nomadic group, the Humli Khyampa, also lives and travels in the Humla district. The relationship between the language spoken by Humla Tibetans and the language of the Humli Khyampa is unclear, though Wilde lists it as a possible fifth dialect of Humla Tibetan, saying that some speakers believe it is related and mutually intelligible. [2] The various names of the four sub-groups are present in the following table.
| von Fürer-Haimendorf [8] | Wilde [2] | de Vries [5] | Lama [9] | Self-identification [10] [5] |
| Satthapale | Upper Humla | Upper Humla | Yultsodunba | Sakyako bhasa, tukchu bhasa, tsangkat |
| Syandephale, Panchsati | La Yakpa | Lower Humla | Tugchulungba | Sarak khalu |
| Barthapale | Nyinba | Eastern Humla | Bara-Thapalya | Nyinba |
| Limi | Limi | Limi | Limya(l) | Limike, limi, limi khalu, limi lap, limi kecha |
| Varieties | Lexical Similarity [5] |
| Limi & Upper Humla | 79% |
| Limi & Lower Humla | 82% |
| Limi & Eastern Humla | 74-77% |
| Upper Humla & Lower Humla | 79-85% |
| Upper Humla & Eastern Humla | 73-77% |
| Lower Humla & Eastern Humla | 76-82% |
In 2014, a sociolinguistic study found that Humla Tibetan is used extensively in all domains of daily life in their native villages. [5] Ninety-three percent of participants said their first language was their own Humla Tibetan variety. The study also found that local Humla Tibetan was being transmitted to children. Ethnologue has assigned EGIDS level 6a “vigorous” to Humla Tibetan (ISO 639-3 hut). However, the Atlas of the world's languages in danger, 3rd edition has Limirong (Limi valley Tibetan) listed as (DE) Definitely endangered.
Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. Other Sino-Tibetan languages with large numbers of speakers include Burmese and the Tibetic languages. Other languages of the family are spoken in the Himalayas, the Southeast Asian Massif, and the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Most of these have small speech communities in remote mountain areas, and as such are poorly documented.
The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descended from Old Tibetan. According to Tournadre (2014), there are 50 languages, which split into over 200 dialects or could be group into 8 dialect continua. These languages are spoken in the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalayas in Gilgit-Baltistan, Aksai Chin, Ladakh, Nepal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Bhutan. Classical Tibetan is the major literary language, particularly for its use in Buddhist literature.
Gurung, also known as Tamu Kyi or Tamu Bhaasaa, is a 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.
Magar Dhut is a Sino-Tibetan Language spoken mainly in Nepal, Southern Bhutan, and in Darjeeling and Sikkim, India, by the Magar people. It is divided into two groups and further dialect divisions give distinct tribal identity. In Nepal 788,530 people speak the language.
Khaling is a Kiranti language spoken in Solukhumbu district, Nepal and Sikkim, Darjeeling, and Kalimpong in India. It is one of the few Kiranti languages with tonal contrasts, which are of secondary origin.
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 Tibeto-Kanauri languages, also called Bodic, Bodish–Himalayish, and Western Tibeto-Burman, are a proposed intermediate level of classification of the Sino-Tibetan languages, centered on the Tibetic languages and the Kinnauri dialect cluster. The conception of the relationship, or if it is even a valid group, varies between researchers.
The West Himalayish languages, also known as Almora and Kanauric, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages centered in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and across the border into Nepal. LaPolla (2003) proposes that the West Himalayish languages may be part of a larger "Rung" group.
The Tamangic languages, TGTM languages, or West Bodish languages, are a family of Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in the Himalayas of Nepal. They are called "West Bodish" by Bradley (1997), from Bod, the native term for Tibet. TGTM stands for Tamang-Gurung-Thakali-Manang.
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak Tibeto-Burman languages. The name derives from the most widely spoken of these languages, Burmese and the Tibetic languages, which also have extensive literary traditions, dating from the 12th and 7th centuries respectively. Most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail.
Central Tibetan, also known as Dbus, Ü or Ü-Tsang, is the most widely spoken Tibetic language and the basis of Standard Tibetan.
ʼOle, also called ʼOlekha or Black Mountain Monpa, is possibly 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.
Thangmi, also called Thāmī, Thangmi Kham, Thangmi Wakhe, and Thani, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in central-eastern Nepal and northeastern India by the Thami people. The Thami refer to their language as Thangmi Kham or Thangmi Wakhe while the rest of Nepal refers to it as Thāmī. The majority of these speakers, however, live in Nepal in their traditional homeland of Dolakhā District. In India, the Thami population is concentrated mostly in Darjeeling. The Thangmi language is written using the Devanagari script. Thangmi has been extensively documented by Mark Turin.
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.
Kagate or Syuba is a language from the subgroup of Tibetic languages spoken by the Kagate people primarily in the Ramechhap district of Nepal.
Tsum is a language from the subgroup of Tibetic languages spoken by the Tsum people primarily in the Tsum Valley of the Gorka District of Nepal. The language is also known as Tsumke.
Nubri is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by about 2000 ethnically Tibetan people living in Nubri Valley in northern Central Nepal, upper Gorkhā District of Gandaki Province. Nubri has at least three dialects as typified by the Prok, Lho and Sama village varieties. Nubri is largely undocumented and undescribed, with the exception of a lexicon. Nubri is perhaps most closely related to neighbouring Tsum language and the Kyirong variety of Tibetan spoken just across the border in Tibet. It has also been claimed to be closely related to Gyalsumdo. Like these languages it is tonal and shares many Tibetic grammatical features, but is uniquely different in many ways.
Karmarong language, also known as Karmai kat or Kar-ket, is the Sino-Tibetan language of the Karmarong people (Tibetan) of Mugu district in Nepal.
Mugom-Karmarong is the Sino-Tibetan language variety of the Tibetan people of Mugu district in Nepal. This language variety represents two dialects Mugom and Karmarong, which are spoken by distinct ethnicities and are separate language in the perceptions of these groups. Based on census data taken in 2011, the total population of Mugom-Karmarong is estimated to be about 7,500 speakers.
Lhowa (ल्होवा), also known as Loke Tibetan, Mustang Tibetan and Lhopa is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by approximately 3,000 Tibetan people of Mustang district in central Nepal.
