Denjongka

Denjongka ( འབྲས་ ལྗོངས་ སྐད )
Spoken in	India ( Sikkim , Darjeeling )
speaker	approx. 50,000
Linguistic ; classification	Sino-Tibetan languages Tibeto-Burmese languages Bodic languages Tibetan languages Denjongka ;
Official status
Official language in	Sikkim
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sip

The Sikkimese Language , also Bhutia , Bhotia or Sikkimesisch , is a Tibeto-Burman language that in the Himalayan region of India in the state of Sikkim and in the district of Darjeeling is spoken.

designation

The name Denjongka ( འབྲས་ ལྗོངས་ སྐད , transcription after Wylie : ′ bras ljongs skad ) is derived from Denjong , the Tibetan name of Sikkim, which literally means "rice district". The speakers of Denjongka call themselves Denjongpa . There are numerous different transcriptions in each case. The name Bhutia or Bhotia is a foreign name that is used in the Indo-Aryan languages to designate both the language and its speakers. It is derived from Bhoṭa , the Sanskrit name of Tibet (cf. Tibetan Bod ). The name is not clear, because it can also refer to the Bhutanese or other peoples related to the Tibetans.

Kinship

The Denjongka belongs to the Tibetan subgroup of the Tibetan Burman languages and within this to the southern Tibetan branch. It is closely related to Dzongkha , the main language of the neighboring state of Bhutan, and somewhat more closely related to Tibetan . Denjongka and Dzongkha are partially mutually understandable. The agreement in vocabulary with Dzongkha is 65 percent, with Tibetan 42 percent.

Number of speakers and distribution

Location of Sikkims in India

The exact number of Denjongka speakers is difficult to quantify. The 2001 Indian census recorded 81,012 speakers of the "Bhotia" throughout India. Of these, however, over 28,000 lived in the north-west Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir , Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand , which suggests that they are speakers of other Tibetan languages, which are also known as Bhotia , but not closely related to Denjongka are. Accordingly, the number of actual Denjongka speakers is more likely to be around 50,000. Ethnologue gives the number of speakers for 2001 at 70,300.

In the state of Sikkim, Denjongka (Bhotia) is spoken by around 42,000 people as their mother tongue according to the 2001 census. Another 6,500 Denjongka speakers live in the neighboring state of West Bengal , mainly in the Darjeeling district bordering Sikkim . The speakers of Denjongka immigrated to Sikkim from the Tsang region of Tibet in the 16th century . Until the end of the 19th century, the Denjongpa and the Lepcha, who had already lived for a long time, were the dominant population groups in Sikkim. As a result of mass immigration from Nepal , however, their share has decreased significantly. Today Denjongka speakers make up 7.7 percent of Sikkim's population. Denjongka is the second largest language in the state after Nepali . Nepali serves as the lingua franca in Sikkim and is also used as a second language by most Denjongka speakers . According to the 2001 census, 78 percent of Denjongka speakers in Sikkim are bilingual or multilingual. Many younger Denjongpa have since given up Denjongka in favor of Nepali.

During Sikkim's independence until 1973, the Denjongpa used Tibetan as a written language. Since then, Denjongka written in the Tibetan script has gradually replaced Tibetan as the written language. It is also taught in schools and used on the radio. A literature on Denjongka is slowly emerging. In addition to ten other languages, Denjongka is recognized as an official language in Sikkim.