Tamang language
| Tamang | |
|---|---|
| तामाङ, རྟ་དམག་ / རྟ་མང་ | |
| Native to | Nepal, India, Bhutan |
| Ethnicity | Tamang |
|
Native speakers
|
1.35 million in Nepal (2011 census)[1] 17,500 in India (2001 census) |
|
Sino-Tibetan
|
|
| Tibetan script, Devanagari | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Nepal Sikkim, India |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously: taj – Eastern Tamang tdg – Western Tamang tmk – Northwestern Tamang (not distinct) tge – Eastern Gorkha Tamang |
| Glottolog | nucl1729[2] |
Tamang (Devanagari: तामाङ; tāmāng) is a term used to collectively refer to a dialect cluster spoken mainly in Nepal, Sikkim, West Bengal (Mainly Darjeeling Districts - पश्चिम बङ्गाल राज्यको दार्जीलिङ जिल्लाको बिभिन्न भूभाग), Some parts of Assam and North East Region. It comprises Eastern Tamang, Northwestern Tamang, Southwestern Tamang, Eastern Gorkha Tamang, and Western Tamang. Lexical similarity between Eastern Tamang (which is regarded as the most prominent) and other Tamang languages varies between 81% to 63%. For comparison, lexical similarity between Spanish and Portuguese, is estimated at 89%.[3]
Dialects
The Tamang language has further been subdivided into the following dialects-
- Eastern Tamang: 759,000 in Nepal (2000 WCD). Population total all countries: 773,000;
- Western Tamang: 323,000 (2000 WCD);
- Eastern Gorkha Tamang: 4,000 (2000 WCD).
Tamang language is the most widely spoken Sino-Tibetan language in Nepal.
Grammar
Some grammatical features of the Tamang languages include:
- A canonical word order of SOV
- Use of postpositions;
- The genitives follow nouns;
- question word medial;
- It is an ergative–absolutive language;
- CV, CVC, CCV, V, CCVC;
Phonetically Tamang languages are tonal.
Writing system
Tamang languages use Tam-Yig which is similar to Tibetan scripts and Devanāgarī. In many situations, however, Tamang is written in Devanāgarī proper.
See also
- Tamang (ethnic group)
- Gurung (ethnic group)
- Languages of Nepal
- Languages of Bhutan
References
- ↑ Eastern Tamang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Western Tamang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Northwestern Tamang (not distinct) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Eastern Gorkha Tamang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) - ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Ethnologue report for Spanish
External links
 |
Tamang language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator |
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