Writing Tamang (original) (raw)
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2017
Traditional pedagogy for learning alphabetic principles focuses on introducing the alphabet a letter at a time in a traditional order—the ABCs for English speakers; ཀ་ཁ་ག་ང་། for Tibetan. What educational research has shown, however, is that this form of education can actually be disadvantageous to the beginning reader. Instead, students benefit most from explicit instruction that concretely makes the connection between sound (phoneme) and text (grapheme). We've made these connections explicit by (1) disambiguating graphemes by using an appropriate CPS; (2) disambiguating consonant clusters by using bold, color-coded grapheme-to-phoneme connections; (3) disambiguating word-level meaning; and (4) disambiguating letters and their sounds by using frequency analysis. By modeling a systematic set of introductory lessons on the Tibetan alphabet using these (and other) modern pedagogical principles, our aim is giving the student of the language the best possible start for l...
Coding grammatical signals in Western Tamang: a typological perspective
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Western Tamang differs from Eastern Tamang while coding grammatical signals by different morphosyntactic devices especially at propositional information level. Both dialects almost equally share most of the common structural features of Bodish group. However, dialect specific differences have to be compared from a typological perspective for practical implications in Tamang.
The sounds of Tawrã (Digaru-Mishmi), a Tibeto-Burman language
Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area , 2021
The present study is a phonological analysis of the segments and tones of the Tawrã language (ISO 69-3: mhu; Glottolog: Diga1241), a Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and in Tibet, China. This paper, the first collaboration between a Tawrã-speaking non-linguist and a non-Tawrã-speaking linguist, attempts to clear up some confusion in the existing literature. For example, previous studies did not note that stop codas /-p,-k/ are in free variation with glides [-w,-j, ɰ], and that the morpheme, rather than the syllable, is the tone-bearing unit. Acoustic analyses provide justification for the phonemic representation of the vowels and the tones. Finally, the paper is designed to introduce Tawrã speakers to the recently standardized (2020) orthography, and to show how the letters and letter combinations function together as a system.
The Phonological Construction of Tibetan Words and its Frequency Phenomena
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This paper first introduces the present situation of information technology in Tibetan language in China, then discusses the formal structure and pattern of Tibetan words, and the restrictive phonological construction within Tibetan words as well. Last, the present paper provides some important data about Tibetan characters, special structural patterns and words, which derived from a large scale Tibetan text.
The uvularization of g-/d- in Tibetic languages
Journal of Language Relationship, 2023
This study reviews four competing explanations for the origins of uvular preinitials in Tibetic lects, making a specific case study of modern uvular preinitial reflexes from Old Tibetan g-/d-. The first explanation is from Huang (2012), who claims that uvular preinitials were phonologically present in Pre-Tibetan, and thus at least some of the uvular preinitials in modern Tibetic lects descend from this Pre-Tibetan strata. Her argument is predicated on the hypothesis that Tibetic lects broke up into different languages before Old Tibetan was reduced to writing in the 7th century AD. The second explanation is from Hill (2010), who argues that all uvular preinitials are not inherited from Pre-Tibetan but are the result of language contact with Qiangic and/or Mongolic languages. Differing from Huang’s explanation, Hill’s explanation rests on the theory that all modern Tibetic lects descend from Old Tibetan. The third explanation assumes that Hill is correct in the claim that there were no uvular pre- initials in Old Tibetan, and claims that there is a regular sound change from g-/d- to ve- lar/postvelar/uvular fricatives (except before velar initials, where the change is to r-) in Amdo lects and to uvular fricatives in Gyalrongic lects. For WAT lects, g- regularly changes to velar/postvelar/uvular fricatives, but d- changes to velar/postvelar/uvular or ʂ-/r-. The fourth explanation is that in Old Tibetan ḫ and g-/d- were in velar and uvular free variation, and thus uvular preinitials do come from Old Tibetan, but originate from phones and not phonemes. The first three explanations are scientific hypotheses; i.e., they can be tested through evidence and are falsifiable. The final explanation (appealing to free variation) is not a falsifiable. After examining the evidence on the timing of the breakup of the Tibetic lects, Huang’s hypothesis is eliminated, leaving only Hill’s explanation and ‘Explanation 3’ standing. How- ever, Explanation 3 is the only explanation that proposes a set of regular sound changes to summarize the uvularization of g-/d-.
The evolution of vowel length in TGTM (Tamangish) languages
2015
Vowel length in open syllables is a rare feature in Tibeto-Burman languages. It is not reconstructed at the Proto-Tibeto-Burman (PTB) level, and it is not widely reported in modern languages. The languages of the Tamang group (= TGTM, Shafer's (1955) Gurung branch of Bodish) have developed it and are in the process of losing it again, as a part of a general process of reduction of the syllable canon. We touch briefly upon the development of vowel length on open syllables in Proto-Tamang (= Proto-TGTM), and concentrate on the different evolution patterns followed by diverse dialects in eliminating vowel length contrast.
Tonal contrasts and initial consonants: a case study of Tamang, a 'missing link' in tonogenesis
Phonetica, 2008
Tamang (Bodic division of Tibeto-Burman) is spoken at the edge of the East Asian "tone-prone" zone, next to the almost tone-free Indian linguistic area, and is, chronologically, at the late end of the tone multiplication wave which has swept through East Asia in the course of the last two millenia. It can be regarded as a 'missing link' in tonogenesis: following the loss of voicing contrasts on syllable-initial consonants, Tamang has four tonal categories instead of its earlier two-tone system; the present state of the prosodic system is typologically transitional, in that these four tonal categories are realised by several cues which include fundamental frequency (F0), phonation type, and allophonic variation in the realisation of consonants. Acoustic and electroglottographic recordings of 131 words in two carrier sentences by five speakers were conducted (total number of target syllables analysed: 1651). They allow for a description in terms of F0, glottal open quotient, duration, and realisation of consonants. The results confirm the diversity of cues to the four tonal categories, and show evidence of laxness on tones 3 and 4, i.e. on the two tones which originate diachronically in voiced initials. The discussion hinges on the phonological definition of tone.
2020
This dissertation describes the sound system of the Sikles variety of Gurung, or Tamu Kyui, a Tibeto-Burman minority language of Nepal. Drawing on data collected with the help of Sikles Gurung speakers living in Nepal and New York between 2014 and 2018, it presents evidence that the phonetics and phonology of this variety differ from descriptions of other varieties. Major findings include contrastive vowel duration, a 2-category register system rather than the 4-tone system reported for other varieties, and allophonic secondary consonant articulations assigned by the backness of adjacent vowels and glides. The secondary articulation system is linked to the three glides described for Sikles Gurung: palatal, labiovelar, and unrounded velar. The unrounded velar glide corresponds to the low or central glides described for closely related languages. Sikles Gurung is best analyzed with a 3-way laryngeal contrast for word-initial obstruents, supported by voice onset time measurements. As is reported for other Tamangic languages, obstruent laryngeal contrasts interact with the register system, although in Sikles the asymmetric distribution of contrasts across each register category is linked to obstruent place of articulation. The distinction between the phonological and grammatical word is invoked to account for additional asymmetries in the number of contrasts permitted in different syllables. This dissertation also examines allophonic post-stopped nasals, the lateral fricative, and six word-final lenition processes, all of which are characteristic features of the Gurung spoken in Sikles Village. It argues that the word-final lenition processes are tied to contrastive vowel duration and secondary consonant articulations, and draws parallels with sound changes reported for other Tibeto-Burman languages. As analyzed in this dissertation, Sikles Gurung patterns closely with other Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal, and may show fewer contact effects than is reported for other varieties.