Ladakhi language
Ladakhi | ||
---|---|---|
Spoken in |
Ladakh ( India ), West Tibet ( PR China ) | |
speaker | 120,000 | |
Linguistic classification |
|
|
Official status | ||
Official language in | - | |
Language codes | ||
ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
ISO 639 -2 |
sit |
|
ISO 639-3 |
lbj |
The Ladakhi language ( Ladakhisch even Ladakhi ), officially even now Bhoti , belongs to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family . It is closely related to the Tibetan language , but is now generally recognized as a separate language.
Ladakh is the predominant language in the Indian Union Territory of Ladakh , where it is spoken by over 100,000 people. In addition, there are around 12,000 speakers in western Tibet ( PR China ).
In comparison to the modern Tibetan of Lhasa, Ladakhi is considered to be more conservative in pronunciation. Many initial and final sounds in script that are mute in standard Tibetan or can only be recognized in the change of vowel or tone are spoken in Ladakh. This tendency is strongest in western Ladakh and in Baltistan on the Pakistani side. For example, sta (ax) is spoken in Lhasa [ta˦] , but in Ladakh [sta] , and 'bras (rice) a Tibetan speaks something like ngtä ( IPA : [ɳʈɛʔ˨]), a Ladakhi but dras and a Balti bras .
The standard of spoken Ladakhi is the dialect of Leh , the capital of Ladakh. There are also four other dialects. Shamma is spoken in the northwest and Stotpa in the southeast of Leh in the valley of the Indus . Nubra is common north of Leh. The Zanskar region west of Ladakh also has its own dialect.
Ladakhi is written in the Tibetan script . There is a pronounced diglossia situation . The written language ( Bodyik ) is close to classical Tibetan and thus differs considerably from the colloquial language.
status
On February 27, 2011, the government of the autonomous district of Leh (Autonomous Hill Development Council) applied for Ladakhi to be included under the name Bhoti as a " listed language " in Amendment 8 of the Indian Constitution and thus to take it into account at the federal level.
Web links
- Rebecca Norman: Beginners course in Ladakhi. (PDF; English)