Zangskari language

Zangskari
Zanskari, Zaskari, Zangs-dkar, Z’angkar
ཟངས་དཀར
Native to	India
Region	Zanskar, Ladakh
Native speakers	(12,000 cited 2000) [1]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Kanauri (?) Bodish Tibetic Ladakhi–Balti Ladakhi Zangskari
Writing system	Tibetan script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zau
Glottolog	zang1248
ELP	Zangskari

Zangskari (Zanskari, Zaskari) is an endangered Tibetic language. It is a dialect of the Ladakhi language. It is mostly spoken in the Zanskar region of the Kargil district of Ladakh, India and also by Buddhists in the upper reaches of Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh, and Paddar, Jammu and Kashmir. ^[2] It is written using the Tibetan script. ^[3]

Zangskari is divided into four homogeneous groups, namely Oot (Stod) or Upper Zanskari spoken along the Doda River, Zhung (Gžun) or Central Zanskari mostly spoken in Padum valley, Sham (Gšam) or Lower Zanskari spoken along the lower portions of Zanskar River and lastly Lungnak (Luŋnag) along the upper Zanskar River region. ^[4] A seminar on the documentation and revitalization of the Zanskari language was once held at GMDC Zanskar. ^[5]

Phonology

Zangskari shows compensatory lengthening and nasalization of vowels, unlike conservative Western Tibetic languages. ^[6]

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
				Laminal	Apical
Plosive	p b pʰ	t d tʰ			ʈ ɖ ʈʰ		k g kʰ	(ʔ)
Affricate			t͡s d͡z t͡sʰ	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ʃʰ
Fricative	ɸ β	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ	ʂ (ɹ̝)	ç ʝ		h
Nasal	m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Rhotic			r
Lateral			l
Approximant	w					j	ɰ

Vowels

Monophthongs

	Front	Back
Close	i iː ĩː	u uː ũː
Mid	e eː	o oː õː
Open	a aː ãː

The diphthongs are /ai/, /ao/, /ui/, /oe/, /oa/, /ea/, /iu/, /ũã/, /õã/, /ũĩ/, and /ĩũ/.

References

1. Zangskari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Beek, Martijn van Pirie, Fernanda (2008). Modern Ladakh : anthropological perspectives on continuity and change. Brill. ISBN   978-90-04-16713-1. OCLC   896146052.
3. "Zangskari". Script Source. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
4. Mark Turin; Bettina Zeisler (2011). Himalayan Languages and Linguistics: Studies in Phonology, Semantics, Morphology and Syntax. BRILL. p. 243. ISBN   978-9004194489.
5. "Seminar on 'Documentation of Zanskari Language and Revitalization' held at GMDC Zanskar. | The Administration of Union Territory of Ladakh | India" . Retrieved 12 January 2026.
6. Shaikh, Maaz (January 2024). An Acoustic Analysis of the Zangskari Vowels. ResearchGate. Retrieved 12 January 2026.

Further reading

• Paul Hattaway (2004). "Zangskari". Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Diary. William Carey Library. ISBN   0878083618.
• Braj B. Kachru; Yamuna Kachru; S. N. Sridhar (2008). "Tibeto-Burman". Language in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0521781411.
• Mingle, Jonathan (2015), "Glossary of Zanskari-Ladakhi Words", Fire and Ice: Soot, Solidarity and Survival on the Roof of the World, St. Martin's Press, pp. 405–409

External links

• Endangered Languages Project Profile for Zangskari
• "Zangskari Numerals". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
• YouTube video of Zangskari on YouTube
• Linguistic Map of Zangskari
• Free-access archived version of Zangskari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015). Archived 1 December 2016.
• Zangskari at the UNT Digital Library