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Tibetic languages

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The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descending from Old Tibetan (7th to 9th centuries, or to the 11th/12th centuries). According to Nicolas Tournadre, there are 50 Tibetic languages, which branch into more than 200 dialects, which could be grouped into eight dialect continua . These Tibetic languages are spoken in Tibet , the greater Tibetan Plateau , and in the Himalayas in Gilgit-Baltistan , Ladakh , Aksai Chin , Nepal , and in India at Himachal Pradesh , and Uttarakhand . Classical Tibetan is the major literary language, particularly for its use in Tibetan Buddhist scriptures and literature.

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87-449: Tibetan languages are spoken by some 6 million people, not all of whom are Tibetan people . With the worldwide spread of Tibetan Buddhism , the Tibetan language has also spread into the western world and can be found in many Buddhist publications and prayer materials, while western students also learn the language for the translation of Tibetan texts. Outside of Lhasa itself, Lhasa Tibetan

174-736: A Khams dialect in Kachin , Myanmar . Tournadre (2005) classifies the Tibetic languages as follows. The other languages ( Thewo-Chone , Zhongu , Khalong , Dongwang , Gserpa , Zitsadegu , Drugchu , Baima ) are not mutually intelligible , but are not known well enough to classify. mDungnag , a Tibetan language spoken in Gansu , is also divergent and is not mutually intelligible with either Khams or Amdo . Tournadre (2013) adds Tseku and Khamba to Khams , and groups Thewo-Chone , Zhongu , and Baima as an Eastern branch of Tibetic. According to Bradley,

261-560: A pidgin with the West Himalayish language Zhangzhung as its superstratum , and Rgyalrongic as its substratum (both languages are part of the broader Sino-Tibetan family). However, there are many grammatical differences between the Rgyalrongic and Tibetic languages; Rgyalrongic tend to use prefixes such as *kə-, *tə-, etc., while Tibetic languages use suffixes such as -pa/-ba, -ma, -po/-bo, -mo, etc. Similarly, Tamangic also has

348-450: A West Himalayish superstratum, but its substratum is derived from a different Sino-Tibetan branch. Only a few language clusters in the world are derived from a common language which is identical to or closely related to an old literary language. This small group includes the Tibetic languages, as descendants from Old Tibetan (7th–9th centuries), but also the Romance languages with Latin ,

435-439: A Yellow River farmers-like population c. 4,700 years ago, resulting in the formation of a "Tibetan cline". Modern Tibetans display genetic continuity to ancient samples from Nepal , with their genetic diversity having been reduced compared to 'Early Ancient Tibetans' suggesting low to none geneflow from outside groups since c. 3,500 years ago. Subsequent internal geneflow resulted in "a northeastern plateau ancestry associated with

522-571: A brief overview of Tibetic varieties in the country. He estimates there are about 300 Khams Tibetan speakers inhabiting at least four villages in Dazundam Village Tract, Pannandin Sub-township, Nogmong Township , Putao District , Kachin State. The four villages he mentions are Tahaundam , "Shidudan" ( Japanese : シドゥダン ) , Sandam, Madin, the second of which he provides no romanization because

609-483: A clade with them to the exclusion of other Eurasians. The Northern East Asian lineage can be represented by Neolithic Yellow River farmers, which are associated with the spread of Sino-Tibetan languages. Modern Tibetans derive up to 20% from Paleolithic Tibetans, with the remaining 80% being primarily derived from Yellow River farmers. The formation of the present-day Tibetan gene pool dates back at least 5,100 years BP. Northeastern Tibetans display additional geneflow from

696-462: A clockwise direction, although the reverse direction is true for Bön . Tibetan Buddhists chant the prayer " Om mani padme hum ", while the practitioners of Bön chant "Om matri muye sale du". Tibet is rich in culture. Tibetan festivals such as Losar , Shoton , Linka , and the Bathing Festival are deeply rooted in indigenous religion and also contain foreign influences. Each person takes part in

783-639: A cluster of mutually unintelligible Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by approximately 8 million people, primarily Tibetan, living across a wide area of East and South Asia , including the Tibetan Plateau and Baltistan , Ladakh , Nepal, Sikkim , and Bhutan. Classical Tibetan is a major regional literary language, particularly for its use in Buddhist literature. The Central Tibetan language (the dialects of Ü-Tsang , including Lhasa ), Khams Tibetan , and Amdo Tibetan are generally considered to be dialects of

870-661: A divergent sister branch to them. Full genome studies revealed that Tibetans and other high-alltitude East Asians formed from two divergent Ancient East Eurasian lineages in Eastern Asia, specifically a lineage representing the Paleolithic population of the Tibetan Plateau, and a lineage associated with Ancient Northern East Asians . The Paleolithic Tibetan lineage was found to be distinct from other deep lineages such as Ust'-Ishim , Hoabinhian / Onge or Tianyuan , but forming

957-454: A frequency of >75%. The widespread presence of this gene may represent one of "the fastest genetic change ever observed in humans". Recent research into the ability of Tibetans' metabolism to function normally in the oxygen-deficient atmosphere above 4,400 metres (14,400 ft) shows that, although Tibetans living at high altitudes have no more oxygen in their blood than other people, they have ten times more nitric oxide and double

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1044-504: A major role in the lives of the Tibetan people, conducting religious ceremonies and taking care of the monasteries. Pilgrims plant prayer flags over sacred grounds as a symbol of good luck. The prayer wheel is a means of simulating the chant of a mantra by physically revolving the object several times in a clockwise direction. It is widely seen among Tibetan people. In order not to desecrate religious artifacts such as Stupas , mani stones, and Gompas , Tibetan Buddhists walk around them in

1131-653: A number of Tibetan refugees across the country, notably in Dharamshala where the headquarters of the Central Tibetan Administration is located. In Myanmar , a variant of Khams Tibetan is spoken near the Hkakabo Razi , Kachin State which is adjacent to Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture , Yunnan and Tibet Autonomous Region . Suzuki (2012) describes the phonology of the Sangdam dialect, as well as giving

1218-526: A probable link between Vedic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit and languages of the Epics. Complex meters such as Anuṣṭubh and rules of Sanskrit prosody had been or were being innovated by this time, but parts of the Brāhmaṇa layers show the language is still close to Vedic Sanskrit. This is the last stratum of Vedic literature, comprising the bulk of the Śrautasūtras and Gṛhyasūtras and some Upaniṣad s such as

1305-425: A shorter version with pants underneath. The style of the clothing varies between regions. Nomads often wear thick sheepskin versions. In more urban places like Lhasa, men and women dress in modern clothing, and many choose to wear chuba during festivals and holidays like Losar . Tibet has national literature that has both religious, semi-spiritual and secular elements. While the religious texts are well-known, Tibet

1392-476: A significant minority observe the indigenous Bon religion. There are also smaller communities of Tibetan Muslims and Christians. Tibetan Buddhism influences Tibetan art , drama and architecture, while the harsh geography of Tibet has produced an adaptive culture of Tibetan medicine and cuisine . As of the 2014 census, there are about 6 million Tibetans living in the Tibet Autonomous Region and

1479-402: A single language, especially since they all share the same literary language, while Dzongkha , Sikkimese , Sherpa , and Ladakhi are generally considered to be separate languages. The ethnic roots of Tibetans can be traced back to a deep Eastern Asian lineage representing the indigenous population of the Tibetan plateau since c. 40,000 to 30,000 years ago, and arriving Neolithic farmers from

1566-514: A strict tripartite division of vocalic length between hrasva (short, 1 mora), dīrgha (long, 2 morae) and pluta (prolated, 3+ morae). Pluta vowels are recorded a total of 3 times in the Rigveda and 15 times in the Atharvaveda , typically in cases of questioning and particularly where two options are being compared. For example: The pluti attained the peak of their popularity in

1653-409: A total of 156 chapters in the form of Thangkas, which tell about the archaic Tibetan medicine and the essences of medicines in other places. The Cuisine of Tibet reflects the rich heritage of the country and people's adaptation to high altitude and religious culinary restrictions. The most important crop is barley . Dough made from barley flour, called tsampa , is the staple food of Tibet . This

1740-499: Is Baima , which retains an apparent Qiangic substratum , and has multiple layers of borrowing from Amdo , Khams , and Zhongu , but does not correspond to any established branch of Tibetic. The two major Tibetic languages used for broadcasting within China are Standard Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan . Tournadre & Suzuki (2023) recognize 8 geographical sections , each with about 7-14 groups of Tibetic dialects. This classification

1827-559: Is orally preserved , predating the advent of writing by several centuries. Extensive ancient literature in the Vedic Sanskrit language has survived into the modern era, and this has been a major source of information for reconstructing Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Indo-Iranian history. The separation of Proto-Indo-Iranian language into Proto-Iranian and Proto-Indo-Aryan is estimated, on linguistic grounds, to have occurred around or before 1800 BCE. The date of composition of

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1914-558: Is a revision of Tournadre (2014). Tournadre (2014) classifies the Tibetic languages as eight geolinguistic continua , consisting of 50 languages and over 200 dialects. This is an updated version of his work in 2008. The Eastern and Southeastern branches have lower internal mutual intelligibility , but it is more limited in the Northwestern branch and between certain southern and northern Khams dialects. These continua are spread across five countries with one exception, this being Sangdam,

2001-432: Is also home to the semi-spiritual Gesar Epic , which is the longest epic in the world and is popular throughout Mongolia and Central Asia. There are secular texts such as The Dispute Between Tea and Chang (Tibetan beer) and Khache Phalu's Advice . Monogamy is common throughout Tibet. Marriages are sometimes arranged by the parents if the son or daughter has not picked their own partner by a certain age. However, polyandry

2088-522: Is also spoken in diaspora communities in Europe , North America (e.g. Little Tibet, Toronto ), Asia and Australia . Within China , the great majority of Tibetic speakers are officially classified into the " Tibetan nationality " (藏族), which however includes speakers of other Trans-Himalayan languages such as Rgyalrongnic . Aside from Tibet Autonomous Region , there are several autonomous prefectures for

2175-438: Is available for heating or lighting, so flat roofs are built to conserve heat, and multiple windows are constructed to let in sunlight. Walls are usually sloped inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against frequent earthquakes in the mountainous area. Tibetan homes and buildings are white-washed on the outside, and beautifully decorated inside. Standing at 117 metres (384 ft) in height and 360 metres (1,180 ft) in width,

2262-400: Is conducted at the end of the play. There are also many historical myths/epics written by high lamas about the reincarnation of a "chosen one" who will do great things. The most unusual feature of Tibetan architecture is that many of the houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south. They are commonly made of a mixture of rocks, wood, cement and earth. Little fuel

2349-483: Is drawn from Buddhist stories and Tibetan history. Tibetan opera was founded in the fourteenth century by Thang Tong Gyalpo , a lama and a bridge-builder. Gyalpo and seven girls he recruited organized the first performance to raise funds for building bridges to facilitate transportation in Tibet. The tradition continued uninterrupted for nearly seven hundred years, and performances are held on various festive occasions such as

2436-511: Is either rolled into noodles or made into steamed dumplings called momo . Meat dishes are likely to be yak , goat or mutton , often dried or cooked into a spicy stew with potatoes . Mustard seed is cultivated in Tibet and therefore features heavily in its cuisine. Yak yogurt , butter and cheese are frequently eaten and well-prepared yogurt is considered something of a prestige item. Men and Women wear long thick dresses ( chuba ) in more traditional and rural regions. The men wear

2523-640: Is mainly used for interethnic communication; those with primary education can speak and write Burmese as well, while they are illiterate in their own language. Most Tibetic languages are written in one of two Indic scripts . Standard Tibetan and most other Tibetic languages are written in the Tibetan script with a historically conservative orthography (see below) that helps unify the Tibetan-language area. Some other Tibetan languages (in India and Nepal) are written in

2610-625: Is practiced in parts of Tibet. This is usually done to avoid division of property and provide financial security. Vedic Sanskrit Vedic Sanskrit , also simply referred as the Vedic language , is an ancient language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature compiled over the period of the mid- 2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE. It

2697-623: Is spoken by approximately 200,000 exiled Tibetans who have moved from Tibet to India , Nepal and other countries. Tibetan is also spoken by groups of ethnic minorities in Tibet who have lived in close proximity to Tibetans for centuries, but nevertheless retain their own languages and cultures. Although some of the Qiang peoples of Kham are classified by China as ethnic Tibetans (see Gyalrongic languages ; Gyalrong people are identified as 'Tibetan' in China),

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2784-477: The Kaṭha Upaniṣad and Maitrāyaṇiya Upaniṣad . These texts elucidate the state of the language which formed the basis of Pāṇini's codification into Classical Sanskrit. Vedic differs from Classical Sanskrit to an extent comparable to the difference between Homeric Greek and Classical Greek . The following differences may be observed in the phonology: Vedic had a pitch accent which could even change

2871-584: The Ṛg·veda must have been essentially complete by around the 12th century BCE. The pre-1200 BCE layers mark a gradual change in Vedic Sanskrit, but there is disappearance of these archaic correspondences and linguistics in the post-Rigvedic period. This period includes both the mantra and prose language of the Atharvaveda (Paippalada and Shaunakiya), the Ṛg·veda Khilani , the Samaveda Saṃhitā, and

2958-594: The Arabic languages (or "dialects") with Classical Arabic , the Sinitic languages with Middle Chinese , the modern Indic languages with Vedic Sanskrit . The more divergent languages are spoken in the north and east, likely due to language contact with the Qiangic , Rgyalrongic languages . The divergence exhibited in Khalong may also be due to language shift . In addition, there

3045-467: The EPAS1 gene , also referred to as the "super-athlete gene", which regulates the body's production of hemoglobin, allowing for greater efficiency in the use of oxygen. The genetic basis of Tibetan adaptations have been attributed to a mutation in the EPAS1 gene, and has become prevalent in the past 5,000 years. Ancient Tibetans carried this allele at a frequency of 25–58%, while modern Tibetans carry it at

3132-599: The Late Harappan horizon from about 1900 BCE, and "Proto-Rigvedic" (Proto-Dardic) intrusion to Punjab as corresponding to the Gandhara grave culture from about 1700 BCE. According to this model, Rigvedic within the larger Indo-Aryan group is the direct ancestor of the Dardic languages . The early Vedic Sanskrit language was far less homogeneous compared to the language described by Pāṇini , that is, Classic Sanskrit. The language in

3219-569: The Potala Palace is considered the most important example of Tibetan architecture. Formerly the residence of the Dalai Lama , it contains over a thousand rooms within thirteen stories and houses portraits of the past Dalai Lamas and statues of the Buddha. It is divided between the outer White Palace, which serves as the administrative quarters, and the inner Red Quarters, which houses the assembly hall of

3306-550: The Prakrit language. Originally the epigraphic language of the whole of India was mainly Prakrit and Sanskrit is first noticed in the inscriptions of North India from about the second half of the 1st century BCE. Sanskrit gradually ousted Prakrit from the field of Indian epigraphy in all parts of the country. Five chronologically distinct strata can be identified within the Vedic language: The first three are commonly grouped together, as

3393-489: The Qiangic languages are not Tibetan, but rather form their own branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family . Classical Tibetan was not a tonal language , but many varieties such as Central and Khams Tibetan have developed tone registers. Amdo and Ladakhi-Balti are without tone. Tibetan morphology can generally be described as agglutinative . Although the term "Tibetic" had been applied in various ways within

3480-720: The Rai people , followed by the Magars and the Tamang . Tibetan males predominantly belong to the paternal lineage D-M174 followed by lower amounts of O-M175 . Tibetan females belong mainly to the Northeast Asian maternal haplogroups M9a1a, M9a1b, D4g2, D4i and G2ac, showing continuity with ancient middle and upper Yellow River populations. Although "East Asian Highlanders" (associated with haplogroup D1 ) are closely related to East Asian lowland farmers (associated with haplogroup O ), they form

3567-570: The Sherpa people have allele frequencies which are often found in other Tibeto-Burman regions, the strongest affinity was for Tibetan population sample studies done in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Genetically, the Sherpa cluster closest with the sampled Tibetan and Han populations. Additionally, the Sherpa and Tibetans had exhibited affinity for several Nepalese populations, with the strongest for

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3654-484: The Sino-Tibetan research tradition, Nicolas Tournadre defined it as a phylum derived from Old Tibetan . Following Nishi (1987) and Beyer (1992), he identified several lexical innovations that can be used as a diagnosis to distinguish Tibetic from the other languages of the family, such as བདུན bdun "seven". The "Tibetic languages" in this sense are a substitute for the term "Tibetan languages/dialects" used in

3741-482: The Tibeto-Burman language group . The traditional or mythological explanation of the Tibetan people's origin is that they are the descendants of the human Pha Trelgen Changchup Sempa and rock ogress Ma Drag Sinmo. It is thought that most of the Tibeto-Burman speakers in southwest China , including Tibetans, are direct descendants from the ancient Qiang people . Most Tibetans practice Tibetan Buddhism , although

3828-580: The Yellow River within the last 10,000 years, and which can be associated with having introduced the Sino-Tibetan languages . Modern Tibetan populations are genetically most similar to other East Asian populations, especially Han Chinese , Bhutanese , as well as other Sino-Tibetan-speaking populations . They show relatively more genetic affinity for modern Central Asian than modern Siberian populations. They also share some genetic affinity for South Asian groups . Genetic studies shows that many of

3915-538: The "nationality" in Sichuan , Qinghai , Gansu , and Yunnan . Lhasa Tibetan , or more technically, Standard Tibetan (natively called སྤྱི་སྐད spyi skad ) is used among post-1950s Tibetan emigrants to Nepal . Other Tibetic varieties such as Sherpa , Jirel and Yolmo are spoken in districts along the China-Nepal border . The national language of Bhutan is Dzongkha , a Tibetic language originally spoken in

4002-839: The 10 Tibetan autonomous prefectures in the provinces of Gansu , Qinghai , Sichuan , and Yunnan . The SIL Ethnologue in 2009 documents an additional 189,000 Tibetic speakers living in India , 5,280 in Nepal and 4,800 in Bhutan . The Central Tibetan Administration 's (CTA) Green Book (of the Tibetan Government in Exile ) counts 145,150 Tibetans outside Tibet: a little over 100,000 in India; over 16,000 in Nepal; over 1,800 in Bhutan, and over 25,000 in other parts of

4089-516: The 5.4 million number is a decrease from 6.3 million in 1959 while the Chinese government claims that it is an increase from 2.7 million in 1954. However, the question depends on the definition and extent of "Tibet" ; the region claimed by the CTA is more expansive and China more diminutive . Also, the Tibetan administration did not take a formal census of its territory in the 1950s; the numbers provided by

4176-422: The 8th century. Rectangular and painted on cotton or linen, they usually depict traditional motifs including religious, astrological, and theological subjects, and sometimes a mandala . To ensure that the image will not fade, organic and mineral pigments are added, and the painting is framed in colorful silk brocades. Tibetan folk opera, known as lhamo , is a combination of dances, chants and songs. The repertoire

4263-478: The 9th century the process of cluster simplification, devoicing and tonogenesis had begun in the central dialects, as can be shown by Tibetan words transliterated into other languages, particularly Middle Chinese but also Uyghur . The combination of the abovementioned evidence enables us to form the following outline of the evolution of Tibetan. In the 9th century, as shown by the bilingual Tibetan– Chinese treaty of 821–822 found in front of Lhasa 's Jokhang ,

4350-548: The Bathing Festival three times: at birth, at marriage, and at death. Tibetan art is deeply religious in nature, from the exquisitely detailed statues found in Gonpas to wooden carvings and the intricate designs of the Thangka paintings. Tibetan art can be found in almost every object and every aspect of daily life. Thangka paintings, a syncretism of Indian scroll-painting with Nepalese and Kashmiri painting, appeared in Tibet around

4437-589: The Central or Eastern Tibetic languages: Tibetan people The Tibetan people ( Tibetan : བོད་པ་ , Wylie : bod pa , THL : bö pa ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet . Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China , significant numbers of Tibetans live in the Chinese provinces of Gansu , Qinghai , Sichuan , and Yunnan , as well as in India , Nepal , and Bhutan . The Tibetic languages belong to

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4524-551: The Lamas, chapels, 10,000 shrines, and a vast library of Buddhist scriptures. Traditional Tibetan medicine utilizes up to two thousand types of plants, forty animal species, and fifty minerals. One of the key figures in its development was the renowned 8th century physician Yuthog Yontan Gonpo , who produced the Four Medical Tantras integrating material from the medical traditions of Persia, India and China. The tantras contained

4611-470: The Lingka and Shoton festival. The performance is usually a drama, held on a barren stage that combines dances, chants, and songs. Colorful masks are sometimes worn to identify a character, with red symbolizing a king and yellow indicating deities and lamas. The performance starts with a stage purification and blessings. A narrator then sings a summary of the story, and the performance begins. Another ritual blessing

4698-524: The Saṃhitās comprising the four Vedas: ṛg, atharvan, yajus, sāman, which together constitute the oldest texts in Sanskrit and the canonical foundation both of the Vedic religion, and the later religion known as Hinduism. Many words in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Ṛg·veda have cognates or direct correspondences with the ancient Avestan language, but these do not appear in post-Rigvedic Indian texts. The text of

4785-1346: The Tibetic languages, has been reconstructed by Tournadre (2014). Proto-Tibetic is similar to, but not identical to, written Classical Literary Tibetan . The following phonological features are characteristic of Proto-Tibetic (Tournadre 2014: 113). Reconstructed Proto-Tibetic forms from Tournadre (2014) include: Pre-Tibetic is a hypothetical pre-formation stage of Proto-Tibetic. *ty-, *ly-, *sy- were not palatalized in Pre-Tibetic, but underwent palatalization in Proto-Tibetic (Tournadre 2014: 113-114). Posited sound changes from Pre-Tibetic to Proto-Tibetic include *ty- > *tɕ-, *sy- > *ɕ-, *tsy- > *tɕ-, and *ly- > *ʑ-. However, Tournadre (2014: 114) notes that many Bodish languages such as Basum , Tamang , and Kurtöp ( East Bodish ) have not undergone these changes (e.g., Bake ( Basum ) ti 'what' vs. Proto-Tibetic *tɕ(h)i and Bake tɨ 'one' vs. Proto-Tibetic *g(ǝ)-tɕ(h)ik; Kurtöp la: 'iron' and Bumthap lak 'iron' vs. Proto-Tibetic *ltɕaks). Some Pre-Tibetic reconstructions, along with reconstructed Proto-Tibetic forms and orthographic Classical Literary Tibetan, from Tournadre (2014: 114-116) are listed below. The numerals in different Tibetan/Tibetic languages are: For

4872-1098: The administration at the time were "based on informed guesswork". According to the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2010), there are 6,282,187 Tibetans nationwide: There are 2,716,388 people in the Tibet Autonomous Region , 1,496,524 people in Sichuan Province, 1,375,059 people in Qinghai Province, 488,359 people in Gansu Province (mostly in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Bairi Tibetan Autonomous County ) and 142,257 people in Yunnan Province (mostly in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ). Tibetans account for 0.47% of

4959-528: The complex initial clusters had already been reduced, and the process of tonogenesis was likely well underway. The next change took place in Tsang (Gtsang) dialects: The ra -tags were altered into retroflex consonants, and the ya -tags became palatals. Later on the superscribed letters and finals d and s disappeared, except in the east and west. It was at this stage that the language spread in Lahul and Spiti, where

5046-442: The coronal sounds i , d , s , l and n . The same holds for Tsang with the exception of l , which merely lengthens the vowel. The medials have become aspirate tenues with a low intonation, which also marks words having a simple initial consonant; while the former aspirates and the complex initials simplified in speech are uttered with a high tone, shrill and rapidly. Proto-Tibetic, the hypothetical proto-language ancestral to

5133-532: The cultural aspects of their region which has shared a close history with neighbours like Kashmiris and Punjabis since the arrival of Islam in the region many centuries ago. Old Tibetan phonology is rather accurately rendered by the script. The finals were pronounced devoiced although they are written as voiced, the prefix letters assimilated their voicing to the root letters. The graphic combinations hr and lh represent voiceless and not necessarily aspirate correspondences to r and l respectively. The letter '

5220-412: The development of periphrastic aorist forms. This must have occurred before the time of Pāṇini because Panini makes a list of those from the northwestern region of India who knew these older rules of Vedic Sanskrit. In this layer of Vedic literature, the archaic Vedic Sanskrit verb system has been abandoned, and a prototype of pre-Panini Vedic Sanskrit structure emerges. The Yajñagāthās texts provide

5307-420: The early Upanishads of Hinduism and the late Vedic literature approaches Classical Sanskrit. The formalization of the late form of Vedic Sanskrit language into the Classical Sanskrit form is credited to Pāṇini 's Aṣṭādhyāyī , along with Patanjali 's Mahabhasya and Katyayana 's commentary that preceded Patanjali's work. The earliest epigraphic records of the indigenous rulers of India are written in

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5394-451: The eastern Tibet and northwestern Yunnan of China. Also there are some Tibetan Hindus who mainly live in China, India and Nepal. According to legend, the 28th king of Tibet, Thothori Nyantsen , dreamed of a sacred treasure falling from heaven, which contained a Buddhist sutra , mantras , and religious objects. However, because the Tibetan script had not been invented, the text could not be translated in writing and no one initially knew what

5481-458: The face of strong Punjabi cultural influence throughout Pakistan, has fostered renewed interest in reviving the Tibetan script and using it alongside the Perso-Arabic script . Many shops in Baltistan's capital Skardu in Pakistan's "Northern Areas" region have begun supplementing signs written in the Perso-Arabic script with signs written in the Tibetan script. Baltis see this initiative not as separatist but rather as part of an attempt to preserve

5568-428: The forearm blood flow of low-altitude dwellers. Tibetans inherited this adaptation due to selected genes associated with Denisovan admixture among Asian populations, highlighting how different environments trigger different selective pressures. Nitric oxide causes dilation of blood vessels, allowing blood to flow more freely to the extremities and aids the release of oxygen to tissues. According to Tibetan mythology ,

5655-581: The languages cluster as follows (dialect information from the Tibetan Dialects Project at the University of Bern): Some classifications group Khams and Amdo together as Eastern Tibetan (not to be confused with East Bodish , whose speakers are not ethnically Tibetan). Some, like Tournadre, break up Central Tibetan. Phrases such as 'Central Tibetan' and 'Central Bodish' may or may not be synonymous: Southern (Central) Tibetan can be found as Southern Bodish, for example; 'Central Tibetan' may mean dBus or all tonal lects apart from Khams; 'Western Bodish' may be used for

5742-418: The mantras of the Yajurveda . These texts are largely derived from the Ṛg·veda, but have undergone certain changes, both by linguistic change and by reinterpretation. For example, the more ancient injunctive verb system is no longer in use. An important linguistic change is the disappearance of the injunctive , subjunctive, optative, imperative (the aorist ). New innovations in Vedic Sanskrit appear such as

5829-409: The meaning of the words, and was still in use in Pāṇini's time, as can be inferred by his use of devices to indicate its position. At some latter time, this was replaced by a stress accent limited to the second to fourth syllables from the end. Since a small number of words in the late pronunciation of Vedic carry the so-called "independent svarita " on a short vowel, one can argue that late Vedic

5916-441: The non-tonal western lects while 'Western Tibetan' is used for the tonal lects, or 'Bodish' may even be used for other branches of the Tibeto-Kanauri languages . Amdo Tibetan has 70% lexical similarity with Central Tibetan and Khams Tibetan, while Khams Tibetan has 80% lexical similarity with Central Tibetan. The Tibetic-speaking area spans six countries: China (PRC), Nepal , Pakistan , India , Bhutan , and Myanmar . Tibetan

6003-524: The northeast cluster, a southern plateau ancestry associated with the south-southwest cluster, and a southeastern plateau ancestry associated with the southeast-central cluster". There was limited contact with Central Asian populations, inline with historical events, evident in mutual geneflow. The expansion of the Tibetan Empire may have left genetic traces in surrounding populations. Genetic studies identified more than 30 genetic factors that make Tibetans' bodies well-suited for high-altitudes, including

6090-426: The number of Tibetan diaspora in India declined to 85,000. Tibetans are known as Bhotiyas in Nepal, where they are majority in regions such as Upper Mustang , Dolpo , Walung region and Limi and Muchu valleys. Nepal is also home to other Tibetic people such as the Sherpa , Hyolmo and Tamang . There are also more than 10,000 Tibetan refugees in Nepal. The Tibetic languages ( Tibetan : བོད་སྐད། ) are

6177-436: The oldest hymns of the Rigveda is vague at best, generally estimated to roughly 1500 BCE. Both Asko Parpola (1988) and J. P. Mallory (1998) place the locus of the division of Indo-Aryan from Iranian in the Bronze Age culture of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC). Parpola (1999) elaborates the model and has "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans intrude the BMAC around 1700 BCE. He assumes early Indo-Aryan presence in

6264-400: The origins of Tibetans are said to be rooted in the marriage of the monkey Pha Trelgen Changchup Sempa and rock ogress Ma Drag Sinmo. Most Tibetans generally observe Tibetan Buddhism or a collection of native traditions known as Bön (also absorbed into mainstream Tibetan Buddhism). There is a minority Tibetan Muslim population. There is also a small Tibetan Christian population in

6351-423: The overlong or prolated vowels are themselves called pluta . Pluta vowels are usually noted with a numeral "3" ( ३ ) indicating a length of three morae ( trimātra ). A diphthong is prolated by prolongation of its first vowel. Pāṇinian grammarians recognise the phonetic occurrence of diphthongs measuring more than three morae in duration, but classify them all as prolated (i.e. trimoraic) to preserve

6438-458: The placename is uncharted on the map available to him. According to Suzuki's consultant , they migrated from Zayu County , Tibet more than a century ago although they still have contact with relatives living there, and there are few differences between the dialects of the four villages . Since Rawang people are the ethnic majority of the area, the Tibetans also have a command of Rawang , which

6525-492: The previous literature; the distinction between "language" and "dialect" is not straightforward, and labeling varieties of Tibetic as "Tibetan dialects" could be misleading not only because those "dialects" are often mutually-unintelligible , but also the speakers of Tibetic do not necessarily consider themselves as ethnic Tibetan , as is the case with Sherpas , Ladakhis , Baltis , Lahaulas , Sikkimese and Bhutanese . Marius Zemp (2018) hypothesizes that Tibetan originated as

6612-584: The regions of Ladakh (Ladakhi and Balti ), Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh , Spiti valley , Uttarakhand ( Bhotiya ), Sikkim ( Bhutia ), and Arunachal Pradesh ( Khamba , Lhoba and Monpa people ). There are also nearly 100,000 Tibetans living in exile in India since 1959, the majority of them living in Tibetan enclaves such as Dharamshala and Bylakuppe . In 2011, the Indian government reported 150,000 Tibetan diaspora residing in India. In 2019,

6699-623: The related Devanagari script, which is also used to write Hindi , Nepali and many other languages. However, some Ladakhi and Balti speakers write with the Urdu script ; this occurs almost exclusively in Pakistan . The Tibetan script fell out of use in Pakistani Baltistan hundreds of years ago upon the region's adoption of Islam . However, increased concern among Balti people for the preservation of their language and traditions, especially in

6786-520: The resident population of the Tibet Autonomous Region, 3,204,700 were Tibetans and other ethnic minorities, of whom 3,137,900 were Tibetans, an increase of 421,500, or 15.52%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 1.45%; 66,800 were other ethnic minorities, an increase of 26,300, or 64.95%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 5.13%; and 6,680 were other ethnic minorities, an increase of 26,300, or 64.95%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 5.13%. The average annual growth rate

6873-424: The superscribed letters were silent, the d and g finals were hardly heard, and as , os , us were pronounced ai , oi , ui . The words introduced from Tibet into the border languages at that time differ greatly from those borrowed at an earlier period. Other changes are more recent and restricted to Ü and Tsang. In Ü, the vowel sounds a , o , u have now mostly umlauted to ä , ö , ü when followed by

6960-577: The total population of the country. Tibetans account for 90.48% of the total population in Tibet Region, 24.44% of the total population of Qinghai and 1.86% of the total population in Sichuan. Of all Tibetans in China, 315,622 people live in cities, 923,177 in towns, and 5,043,388 people (80.3%) live in rural areas. According to the Seventh Census of 2020 , there are 7,060,700 Tibetans living within China. Of

7047-711: The western region. Although non-Tibetic languages ( Tshangla , East Bodish ) are dominant in many parts of the country, Dzongkha is also widely used there as a second-language. Other Tibetic varieties of Bhutan include Choča-ngača, Brokpa and Lakha . Within areas administrated by Pakistan , Balti is spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan . Within areas administrated by India , some Tibetic varieties are spoken in Ladakh , Sikkim , Himachal Pradesh ( Kinnaur , Lahul and Spiti ), West Bengal ( Darjeeling and Kalimpong ), as well as Uttarakhand . As with Bhutan and Nepal , there reside

7134-675: The world. There are Tibetan communities in the United States , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Costa Rica , France , Mexico , Norway , Mongolia , Germany , Switzerland and the United Kingdom . In the Baltistan region of Northern Pakistan, the Balti people are a Muslim ethnicity of Tibetan descent numbering around 300,000. There is some dispute over the current and historical number of Tibetans. The Central Tibetan Administration claims that

7221-477: Was marginally a tonal language . Note however that in the metrically-restored versions of the Rig Veda almost all of the syllables carrying an independent svarita must revert to a sequence of two syllables, the first of which carries an udātta and the second a so-called dependent svarita . Early Vedic was thus definitely not a tonal language like Chinese but a pitch accent language like Japanese , which

7308-772: Was 5.13%. There are one region, ten prefectures, and two counties officially established by the government: the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Qinghai Province ( Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , and Haiximenggu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ), Sichuan Province ( Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture , Ganz Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , and Muji Tibetan Autonomous County ), Gansu Province ( Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ), and Yunnan Province ( Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ). In India Tibetic people are found in

7395-528: Was inherited from the Proto-Indo-European accent . Pitch accent was not restricted to Vedic. Early Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini gives accent rules for both the spoken language of his post-Vedic time as well as the differences of Vedic accent. However, no extant post-Vedic text with accents are found. Pluti , or prolation , is the term for the phenomenon of protracted or overlong vowels in Sanskrit ;

7482-482: Was pronounced as a voiced guttural fricative before vowels but as homorganic prenasalization before consonants. Whether the gigu verso had phonetic meaning or not remains controversial. For instance, Srongbtsan Sgampo would have been pronounced [sroŋpʦan zɡampo] (now pronounced [sɔ́ŋʦɛ̃ ɡʌ̀mpo] in Lhasa Tibetan) and ' babs would have been pronounced [mbaps] (pronounced [bapˤ] in Lhasa Tibetan). Already in

7569-428: Was written in it. Buddhism did not take root in Tibet until the reign of Songtsän Gampo , who married two Buddhist princesses, Bhrikuti of Nepal and Wencheng of China. It then gained popularity when Padmasambhāva visited Tibet at the invitation of the 38th Tibetan king, Trisong Deutson . Today, one can see Tibetans placing Mani stones prominently in public places. Tibetan lamas , both Buddhist and Bön, play

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