Back Llingües tibetanes AST تبت دیللری AZB Тыбецкія мовы Byelorussian Тыбэцкія мовы BE-X-OLD তিব্বতি ভাষাসমূহ Bengali/Bangla བོད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་གྲུ་སོ་སོའི་སྐད། Tibetan Yezhoù tibetek rik Breton Tibetanische Sprachen German Zıwanê Tibetki DIQ Tibetaj lingvoj Esperanto
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| Tibetic | |
|---|---|
| Tibetan Central Bodish | |
| Ethnicity | Tibetan people, and other Tibetic-speaking peoples such as Bhutanese and Nepalese |
| Geographic distribution | China (Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan); India (Ladakh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam); Pakistan (Gilgit-Baltistan); Nepal; Bhutan; Myanmar (Kachin State) |
Native speakers | 6 million (2014)[1] |
| Linguistic classification | Sino-Tibetan
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Early forms | |
| Subdivisions |
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| Glottolog | oldm1245 |
 Division of Tibetic Cultural Areas | |
The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descended from Old Tibetan (7th to 9th centuries).[2] According to Tournadre (2014), there are 50 languages, which split into over 200 dialects or could be grouped into 8 dialect continua.[2] These languages are spoken in the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalayas in Gilgit-Baltistan, Aksai Chin, Ladakh, Nepal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bhutan, and the Kachin State of Myanmar.[3] Classical Tibetan is the major literary language, particularly for its use in Buddhist literature.
Tibetan languages are spoken by some 6 million people, not all of whom are Tibetans.[1] With the worldwide spread of Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetan language has spread into the western world and can be found in many Buddhist publications and prayer materials; with some western students learning the language for translation of Tibetan texts. Outside Lhasa itself, Lhasa Tibetan is spoken by approximately 200,000 exile speakers who have moved from modern-day Tibet to India 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), 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.
- ^ a b Tournadre, Nicolas (2014). "The Tibetic languages and their classification". In Owen-Smith, Thomas; Hill, Nathan W. (eds.). Trans-Himalayan Linguistics: Historical and Descriptive Linguistics of the Himalayan Area. De Gruyter. pp. 103–129. ISBN 978-3-11-031074-0. (preprint)
- ^ a b Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In Trans-Himalayan linguistics, historical and descriptive linguistics of the Himalayan area. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- ^ Tournadre & Suzuki 2023.