Бутанның шығыс тілі: Цангла тілінің сипаттамасы

Eastern language of Bhutan

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. Van Driem (2011), however, leaves it unclassified within Sino Tibetan, pending further research. Bodt (2012:188 189) classifies Tshangla as a Bodish language, but notes that Tshangla (like East Bodish) is related to, but not directly descended, from Classical Tibetan. Grollmann & Gerber (2023) note that Tshangla is not particularly closely related to Bodish at all and should be placed in a separate part of the Trans Himalayan linguistic phylum.

Most dialects of Tshangla do not make lexical distinctions according to tone, however, the language overall may be in the process of tonogenesis. Some dialects such as those of Central Monpa and Padma bkod have replaced voiceless voiced contrasts with a high low tone distinction, respectively.

Tshangla dialects represent a continuum centered around the town of Trashigang, whose dialect is considered by Tshangla speakers to be the prestige dialect. Differences between dialects do not prevent mutual intelligibility, and many loanwords have come through Classical Tibetan (Chöke). In Arunachal Pradesh, Tshangla is spoken by the Monpa tribe in the Kalaktang and Dirang area of West Kameng. The dialect there, called "Central Monpa", is spoken by some 6,000 people. More speakers of Tshangla dialects live in Kathmandu, Darjeeling and Assam. In Bhutan, Tshangla is virtually identical to the Tshangla of southeastern Tibet, also called "Mêdog (Bomê) Monpa". The Bomê County region of Tibet, formerly known as Padma bkod or Pemako, contains remnants of these Tshangla communities separated by hundreds of miles.