Nyenkha
Encyclopedia
Nyenkha is an East Bodish language
spoken by about 10,000 people in the eastern, northern, and western areas of the Black Mountains
. Speakers live primarily between the Tang Chuu
to the east and Mangde Chhu to the west, from the town of Trongsa
in Trongsa District
; along Black River passes in the Trongsa District villages of Taktse and Usar; to in Ridha and Tashiding villages, and Phobji
, Dangchu
, and Sephu Gewog
s and surrounding villages in southeast Wangdue Phodrang District.
Nyenkha is related to the East Bodish Bumthangkha
and Kurtöpkha
, with 75–77% and 69% lexical similarity, respectively, however they are not mutually intelligible. Dialects within Nyenkha show variation in tone and vocabulary. Dialects are generally named for their villages, such that names for the overall language are largely confined to academia.
s. In 1993, the number of speakers was around 10,000 according to van Driem
. A 2010 study showed about 8,700 speakers in 10 gewogs, which had been redrawn several times since 1991. The decline in numbers may be attributed to population shifts as landless families and former slash-and-burn agriculturalists relocate to areas opened for settlement. In addition to migration and movement, modernization trends have served to limit the practicality of Nyenkha as a fully functional language. Despite the decline in numbers and a shift toward bilingualism, the majority of young people remain fluent in the language.
Many Nyenkha speakers have extensive contact with other languages of Bhutan
, often through trade. Traditionally, Nyenkha speakers raised sheep and other livestock for speakers of Labikha in exchange for cereals from lower altitudes. The communities also traditionally shared Bönpo orators.
, a sister East Bodish language, and to Dzongkha, the national language.
. Nouns and pronouns may be singular or plural
.
Unlike Dzongkha and most other languages of Bhutan
, Nyenkha verbs inflect according to subject number: སྔ་ལཱེག་དོ་ nga laeg-do, "I am going;" ནེ་ལཱ་ཆུག་དོ་ ney laachhug-do, "We are going;" ཁི་ལས་ཤི་ khi las-shi, "He/she has gone"; བོས་ལཱ་ཆུག་ཤི་ boe laachhug-shi, "They have gone."
East Bodish languages
The East Bodish languages are those Bodish languages not covered by the name Tibetan, such as those spoken by the Monpa. They include:*Dakpa*Dzala*Bumthang *Tawang*Black Mountain Monpa .The most divergent is Dakpa...
spoken by about 10,000 people in the eastern, northern, and western areas of the Black Mountains
Black Mountains (Bhutan)
The Black Mountains is a mountain range located in Bhutan. The current Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park was previously the Black Mountains park. Elevations run up to 15145 ft or 4617 meters. -References:...
. Speakers live primarily between the Tang Chuu
Tang Chuu
The Tang Chuu is a tributary of the Mo Chhu in western Bhutan.-Course:It originates in the Himalayas near Thowadra Gompa. It receives numerous hill streams, including the Yenyer Chhu.It joins the Mo Chhu, which later takes on the name of Sankosh, at Wangdi Phodrang.-Bumthang:There are four major...
to the east and Mangde Chhu to the west, from the town of Trongsa
Trongsa
Trongsa, previously Tongsa , is a town and capital of Trongsa District in central Bhutan. The name means "new village" in Dzongkha. The first temple was built in 1543 by the Drukpa Kagyu lama, Ngagi Wangchuk, who was the great-grandfather of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, the person who unified...
in Trongsa District
Trongsa District
Trongsa District is one of the districts of Bhutan. It is the most central district of Bhutan and the geographic centre of Bhutan is located within it at Trongsa Dzong....
; along Black River passes in the Trongsa District villages of Taktse and Usar; to in Ridha and Tashiding villages, and Phobji
Phobji Gewog
Phobji Gewog is a gewog of Wangdue Phodrang District, Bhutan....
, Dangchu
Dangchu Gewog
Dangchu Gewog is a gewog of Wangdue Phodrang District, Bhutan....
, and Sephu Gewog
Sephu Gewog
Sephu Gewog is a gewog of Wangdue Phodrang District, Bhutan....
s and surrounding villages in southeast Wangdue Phodrang District.
Nyenkha is related to the East Bodish Bumthangkha
Bumthang language
The Bumthang language is an East Bodish language spoken by about 36,500 people in Bumthang and surrounding districts in central Bhutan...
and Kurtöpkha
Kurtöp language
The Kurtöp language is a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family spoken in the Kurtoe Gewog, Lhuntse District, Bhutan...
, with 75–77% and 69% lexical similarity, respectively, however they are not mutually intelligible. Dialects within Nyenkha show variation in tone and vocabulary. Dialects are generally named for their villages, such that names for the overall language are largely confined to academia.
Population
The 1991 census revealed 11,472 Nyenkha speakers in six gewogGewog
A gewog, or geog refers to a group of villages in Bhutan. Gewogs form a geographic administrative unit below dzongkhag districts , and above thromde municipalities. Bhutan comprises 205 gewogs, which average 230 km² in area...
s. In 1993, the number of speakers was around 10,000 according to van Driem
George van Driem
George van Driem, born 1957, is a linguist at , where he holds the chair of Historical Linguistics and directs the .-Background:George van Driem has conducted field research in the Himalayas since 1983...
. A 2010 study showed about 8,700 speakers in 10 gewogs, which had been redrawn several times since 1991. The decline in numbers may be attributed to population shifts as landless families and former slash-and-burn agriculturalists relocate to areas opened for settlement. In addition to migration and movement, modernization trends have served to limit the practicality of Nyenkha as a fully functional language. Despite the decline in numbers and a shift toward bilingualism, the majority of young people remain fluent in the language.
Many Nyenkha speakers have extensive contact with other languages of Bhutan
Languages of Bhutan
There are over nineteen languages of Bhutan, all members of the Tibeto-Burman language family, except for Nepali which is Indo-European. Dzongkha, the national language, is the only language with a native literary tradition in Bhutan, though Lepcha and Nepali are literary languages in other countries...
, often through trade. Traditionally, Nyenkha speakers raised sheep and other livestock for speakers of Labikha in exchange for cereals from lower altitudes. The communities also traditionally shared Bönpo orators.
Vocabulary
Nyenkha basic vocabulary shows significant difference to Kurtöp (Zhake)Kurtöp language
The Kurtöp language is a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family spoken in the Kurtoe Gewog, Lhuntse District, Bhutan...
, a sister East Bodish language, and to Dzongkha, the national language.
| Nyenkha | Kurtöp Kurtöp language The Kurtöp language is a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family spoken in the Kurtoe Gewog, Lhuntse District, Bhutan... |
Dzongkha | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| dasu | dasum/dusum | dari | today |
| dawl | dangla | khatsa | yesterday |
| naembae | yamba | naba | tomorrow |
| doe/doegyi | dodlai | nyaeda | sleep |
| zoo/zayee | zooye | za | eat |
| chhung | thrung | chhum | rice |
| nes | nad | naa | barley |
| zeng | kar | kaa | wheat |
| kapch | kebtang | kebta | bread |
| kheh | khoe | chhu | water |
Grammar
Nyenkha has no grammatical genderGrammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
. Nouns and pronouns may be singular or plural
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1p | སྔ་ nga |
ནེ་ ney |
| 2p | གཡེ་ gye |
ཡིད་ yid |
| 3p | ཁི་ khi |
བོས་ boe |
Unlike Dzongkha and most other languages of Bhutan
Languages of Bhutan
There are over nineteen languages of Bhutan, all members of the Tibeto-Burman language family, except for Nepali which is Indo-European. Dzongkha, the national language, is the only language with a native literary tradition in Bhutan, though Lepcha and Nepali are literary languages in other countries...
, Nyenkha verbs inflect according to subject number: སྔ་ལཱེག་དོ་ nga laeg-do, "I am going;" ནེ་ལཱ་ཆུག་དོ་ ney laachhug-do, "We are going;" ཁི་ལས་ཤི་ khi las-shi, "He/she has gone"; བོས་ལཱ་ཆུག་ཤི་ boe laachhug-shi, "They have gone."