Tamang language

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Tamang
तामाङ, རྟ་དམག་ / རྟ་མང་/
Native toNepal
India
Bhutan
EthnicityTamang/Moormi
Native speakers
1.35 million in Nepal (2011 census)[1]
20,154 in India (2011 census)[2]
Language family
Sino-Tibetan
Writing system
Tamyig script, Devanagari, Tibetan
Official status
Official language in
 India
  • Sikkim (additional)[3]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
taj – Eastern Tamang
tdg – Western Tamang
tmk – Northwestern Tamang (not distinct)
tge – Eastern Gorkha Tamang
Glottolognucl1729
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Selected ethnic groups of Nepal; Bhotia, Sherpa, Thakali, Gurung, Kirant, Rai, Limbu, Nepal Bhasa, Pahari, Tamang|Tamang (note that Kulu Rodu (Kulung) territories are mistakenly marked as Tamu/Gurung territories in this map)

Tamang (Devanagari: तामाङ; tāmāng) is a term used to collectively refer to a dialect cluster spoken mainly in Nepal, Sikkim, West Bengal (Darjeeling) and North-Eastern India. 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%.[4]

Dialects[]

Ethnologue divides Tamang into the following varieties due to mutual unintelligibility.

  • Eastern Tamang: 759,000 in Nepal (2000 WCD). Population total all countries: 773,000. Sub-dialects are as follows.
    • Outer-Eastern Tamang (Sailung Tamang)
    • Central-Eastern Tamang (Temal Tamang)
    • Southwestern Tamang (Kath-Bhotiya, Lama Bhote, Murmi, Rongba, Sain, Tamang Gyoi, Tamang Gyot, Tamang Lengmo, Tamang Tam)
  • Western Tamang: 323,000 (2000 WCD). Sub-dialects are as follows.
    • Trisuli (Nuwakot)
    • Rasuwa
    • Northwestern dialect of Western Tamang (Dhading) — separate ISO code. Population 55,000 (1991 census). Spoken in the central mountainous strip of Nuwakot District, Bagmati Province.
    • Southwestern dialect of Western Tamang
  • Eastern Gorkha Tamang: 4,000 (2000 WCD). Sub-dialects are as follows.
    • Kasigaon
    • Kerounja

The Tamang language is the most widely spoken Sino-Tibetan language in Nepal.

Geographical distribution[]

Ethnologue gives the following location information for the varieties of Tamang.

Eastern Tamang

  • Bagmati Province: Bhaktapur District, Chitwan District, Dolkha District, Kathmandu District, Kavrepalanchok District, Lalitpur District, Makwanpur District, eastern Nuwakot District, Ramechhap District, Sindhuli District and western Sindhupalchowk District
  • Province No. 1: Okhaldhunga District, western Khotang District, and Udayapur District

Southwestern Tamang

  • Bagmati Province: Chitwan District, southern Dhading District, western and northwestern Kathmandu District area and northwestern Makwanpur District
  • Province No. 2: Bara District, Parsa District and Rautahat District

Western Tamang

  • Bagmati Province: western Nuwakot District, Rasuwa District, and Dhading District
  • central mountainous strip of Nuwakot District, Bagmati Province (Northwestern Tamang)
  • northeastern Sindhupalchok District, Bagmati Province: Bhote Namlan, and Bhote Chaur, on Trishuli river west bank toward Budhi Gandaki river
  • northwestern Makwanpur District, Bagmati Province: Phakel, Chakhel, Khulekhani, Markhu, Tistung, and Palung
  • northern Kathmandu District, Bagmati Province: Jhor, Thoka, and Gagal Phedi

Eastern Tamang

  • south and east of , northern Gorkha District, Gandaki Province

Grammar[]

Some grammatical features of the Tamang languages include:

Phonetically Tamang languages are tonal.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p t ts ʈ k
aspirated pʰ tʰ tsʰ ʈʰ kʰ
palatalized pʲ tʲ tsʲ ʈʲ kʲ
labialized pʷ tʷ tsʷ ʈʷ kʷ
Fricative s h
Rhotic r
Approximant w l j

Vowels[]

Front Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː

Nasality only marginally occurs, and is typically transcribed with a [ã] mark.

Tones[]

Four tones occur as high falling [â], mid-high level [á], mid-low level [à], very low [ȁ].[5]

Writing system[]

Tamang language is written in Tamyig script.

References[]

  1. ^ Eastern Tamang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Western Tamang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Northwestern Tamang (not distinct) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Eastern Gorkha Tamang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  3. ^ "50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). 16 July 2014. p. 109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  4. ^ Ethnologue report for Spanish
  5. ^ Mazaudon (2003)

Bibliography[]

  • Perumal Samy P. (2013). Tamang in LSI Sikkim, volume I Page Nos. 404-472. Published by Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner,India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
  • Hwang, Hyunkyung; Lee, Seunghun J.; P. Gerber; S. Grollmann (2019). "Laryngeal contrast and tone in Tamang: an analysis based on a new set of Tamang data". Journal of the Phonetic Society of Japan (23.1): 41–50. doi:10.24467/onseikenkyu.23.0_41.

External links[]

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