View source for Sherpa language

{{Short description|Tibetic language}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Expand Nepali|शेर्पा भाषा|date=August 2018}}
{{Other uses|Sherpa (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Sherpa 
| nativename       = {{lang|xsr|'''शेर्वी तम्ङे'''}}, ''śērwī tamṅē'',<br />{{lang|bo|'''ཤར་པའི་སྐད་ཡིག'''}}, ''shar pa'i skad yig''
| image            = [[File:Sherpa language.png|250px]]
| imagecaption     = 'Sherpa' in Devanagari and Tibetan scripts
| states           = [[Nepal]], [[India]]
| ethnicity        = [[Sherpa people|Sherpa]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|135,000|2}}
| date             = 2011 & 2021 census
| ref              = e27
| familycolor      = Sino-Tibetan
| fam2             = [[Tibeto-Burman]]
| fam3             = [[Tibeto-Kanauri languages|Tibeto-Kanauri]] (?)
| fam4             = [[Bodish languages|Bodish]]
| fam5             = [[Tibetic languages|Tibetic]]
| fam6             = Southern Tibetic
| script           = [[Tibetan script|Tibetan]], [[Devanagari]]
| nation           = {{NPL|Nepal}}
{{flag|India}}
* [[Sikkim]] (additional)<ref name="langoff">{{cite web|url=http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf |page=109 |title=50th Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India |date=16 July 2014 |access-date=6 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102211909/http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM50thReport.pdf|archive-date=2 January 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| iso3             = xsr
| glotto           = sher1255
| glottorefname    = Solu-Khumbu Sherpa
| region           = [[Nepal]], [[Sikkim]]
| mapcaption2      = {{center|{{small|Sherpa is classified as Vulnerable by the [[UNESCO]] [[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]}}}}
}}
'''Sherpa''' (also '''Sharpa''', '''Sherwa''', or '''Xiaerba'''<!--夏尔巴-->) is a [[Tibetic language]] spoken in [[Nepal]] and the [[India|Indian]] state of [[Sikkim]], mainly by the [[Sherpa people|Sherpa]]. The majority speakers of the Sherpa language live in the [[Khumbu|Khumbu region]] of Nepal, spanning from the Chinese (Tibetan) border in the east to the [[Bhotekoshi River|Bhotekosi River]] in the west.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|title=Sherpa {{!}} History & Culture|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sherpa-people|access-date=28 February 2021|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> About 127,000 speakers live in [[Nepal]] (2021 census), some 16,000 in [[Sikkim]], [[India]] (2011), and some 800 in the [[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibetan Autonomous Region]] (1994). Sherpa is a [[SOV language|subject-object-verb (SOV) language]]. Sherpa is predominantly a spoken language, although it is occasionally written using either the [[Devanagari]] or [[Tibetan script|Tibetan]] script.<ref name=":12" />

== Classification ==
Sherpa belongs to the [[Tibetic languages|Tibetic]] branch of the [[Tibeto-Burman languages|Tibeto-Burman]] family. It is closely related to [[Central Tibetan]], [[Jirel language|Jirel]], [[Humla Tibetan language|Humla]], [[Mugom dialect|Mugom]], [[Central Tibetan|Dolpo]], Lo-ke, [[Nubri language|Nubri]], [[Tsum language|Tsum]], [[Kyirong–Kagate languages|Langtang]], [[Kyirong language|Kyirong]], [[Yolmo language|Yolmo]], [[Gyalsumdo language|Gyalsumdo]], [[Kagate language|Kagate]], Lhomi, [[Bantawa language|Walung]], and Tokpe Gola. The Sherpa language five closely related dialects, these being Solu, Khumbu, Pharak, Dram, and Sikkimese Sherpa.<ref>Tournadre, N. (2014). The Tibetic languages and their classification. ''Trans-Himalayan linguistics: Historical and descriptive linguistics of the Himalayan area'', ''266''(1), 105-29.</ref> 

== Phonology ==
Sherpa is a [[Tone (linguistics)|tonal language]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/xsr | title=Sherpa | publisher=Ethnologue | access-date=30 August 2019 }}</ref> Sherpa has the following consonants:<ref>{{cite journal |title=Nepalese Linguistics |journal=Journal of the Linguistic Society of Nepal |date=November 2008 |volume=23 |pages=371–380 |url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepling/pdf/Nep_Ling_23.pdf |access-date=8 October 2021}}</ref>

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
![[Palato-alveolar consonant|Palato-<br>alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPAlink|m}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|མ}} m}}
|
|{{IPAlink|n}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ན}} n}}
|
|
|{{IPAlink|ɲ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཉ}} ny}}
|{{IPAlink|ŋ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ང}} ng}}
|
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Plosive]]/<br>[[Affricate]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|{{IPAlink|p}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|པ}} p}}
|{{IPAlink|t̪}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཏ}} t}}
|{{IPAlink|t͡s}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཙ}} ts}}
|{{IPAlink|ʈ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཊ}} ṭ}}
|{{IPAlink|t͡ʃ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཅ}} c}}
|{{IPAlink|c}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཀྱ}} ky}}
|{{IPAlink|k}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཀ}} k}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
|{{IPA link|pʰ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཕ}} ph}}
|{{IPA link|t̪ʰ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཐ}} th}}
|{{IPA link|t͡sʰ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཚ}} tsh}}
|{{IPA link|ʈʰ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཋ}} ṭh}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃʰ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཆ}} ch}}
|{{IPA link|cʰ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཁྱ}} khy}}
|{{IPA link|kʰ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཁ}} kh}}
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|{{IPAlink|b}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|བ}} b}}
|{{IPAlink|d̪}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ད}} d}}
|{{IPAlink|d͡z}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཛ}} dz}}
|{{IPAlink|ɖ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཌ}} ḍ}}
|{{IPAlink|d͡ʒ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཇ}} j}}
|{{IPAlink|ɟ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|གྱ}} gy}}
|{{IPAlink|ɡ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ག}} g}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative]]
|
|
|{{IPAlink|s}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ས}} s}}
|
|{{IPAlink|ʃ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཤ}} sh}}
|
|
|{{IPAlink|h}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཧ}} h}}
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|
|{{IPAlink|l̪̥}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ལྷ}} lh}}
|{{IPAlink|ɾ̥}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཧྲ}} hr}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|
|{{IPAlink|l̪}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ལ}} l}}
|{{IPAlink|ɾ}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ར}} r}}
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Semivowel]]
|{{IPAlink|w}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཝ}} w}}
|
|
|
|
|{{IPAlink|j}} {{angbr|{{bo-textonly|ཡ}} y}}
|
|
|}

* Stop sounds {{IPA|/p, t̪, ʈ, k/}} can be unreleased {{IPAblink|p̚, t̪̚, ʈ̚, k̚}} in word-final position.
* Palatal sounds {{IPA|/c cʰ ɟ/}} can neutralize to velar sounds {{IPA|[k kʰ ɡ]}} when preceding {{IPA|/i, e, ɛ/}}.
* {{IPA|/n/}} can become a retroflex nasal {{IPAblink|ɳ}} when preceding a retroflex stop.
* {{IPA|/p/}} can have an allophone of {{IPAblink|ɸ}} when occurring in fast speech.
* /l/ and /r/ are devoiced at the end of a word or before a consonant.

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |[[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" |[[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
!<small>[[Oral vowel|oral]]</small>
!<small>[[Nasal vowel|nasal]]</small>
!<small>[[Oral vowel|oral]]</small>
!<small>[[Nasal vowel|nasal]]</small>
|-
![[High vowel|High]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|{{IPA link|ĩ}}
|{{IPA link|u}}
|{{IPA link|ũ}}
|-
![[Mid high|Mid-high]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|{{IPA link|ẽ}}
|{{IPA link|o}}
|{{IPA link|õ}}
|-
![[Mid low|Mid-low]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|{{IPA link|ɛ̃}}
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|{{IPA link|ɔ̃}}
|-
![[Low vowel|Low]]
|{{IPA link|a}}
|{{IPA link|ã}}
|{{IPA link|ʌ}}
|{{IPA link|ʌ̃}}
|}

* Vowel sounds {{IPA|/i, u/}} have the allophones {{IPA|[ɪ, ʊ]}} when between consonants and in closed syllables.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Graves|first=Thomas E.|title=The Phonetics and Phonology of the Sherpa Language|year=2007}}</ref>

=== Tones ===
There are four distinct tones; high {{IPA|/v́/}}, high falling {{IPA|/v̂/}}, low {{IPA|/v̀/}}, and low rising {{IPA|/v̌/}}. Regardless of the regular tone of the word, the last syllable of a question is to be pronounced with a rising tone.

== Grammar ==

=== Verbs ===
Verb stems are modified for aspect and mood. The [[Imperfective aspect|imperfective]] and [[Perfective aspect|perfective]] aspects and the [[Volition (linguistics)|volitional]] (whether an action was intentional), [[infinitive]], disjunct, and [[Imperative mood|imperative]] (commands) moods are differentiated. In verb suffixes, the infinitive, disjunct (action not intended or not known to be intended), past observational, [[Mirativity|mirative]] (speaker's surprise), [[Volition (linguistics)|volitional]], [[augmentative]] (greater intensity), [[participle]], [[Continuative aspect|durative]] (action lasts through an extended time), [[hortative]] (plural imperative), dictative (narrating a story), descentive, ablative, and [[Locative case|locative]] are distinguished. A verb stem may take on up to three suffixes. The perfective and imperfective aspects are often treated as past and non-past tenses, respectively.  The labels "locative" and "ablative" do not refer to the function of the aspect but rather the homomorphous case-like clitic of the same name. Sherpa is strictly verb-final.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Aspect-mood suffixes
!Form
!Suffix
|-
|Infinitive
|''-u/-p''
|-
|Disjunct/Hortative
|''-(k)i''
|-
|Past Observational
|''-suŋ''
|-
|Mirative
|''-nɔk''
|-
|Volitional
|''-ĩ''
|-
|Augmentative
|''-(s)a''
|-
|Participle
|''-''CṼ(C)'',-n''
|-
|Durative
|''-i''
|-
|Dictative
|''-si''
|-
|Ablative
|''-ne''
|-
|Locative
|''-la''
|}
The infinitive also marks the verb of a relative clause and a general action with no specific subject.
{{Interlinear|ɲɛ pèt̪-'''u''' čʰū t̪í t̪èŋa nɔ́k|1SG.GEN spill.PRF-'''INF''' water DEF cold MIR|The water that I spilled is cold
| abbreviations = PRF:perfective aspect
}}
The ablative marking denotes successive actions with some causal relationship.
{{Interlinear|t̪í-ci dzím-ne gal|3SG-GEN catch.PRF-ABL go.PRF.DSJT|He caught (it) and went
| abbreviations = DSJT:disjunct;PRF:perfective aspect
}}
The locative marking denotes when the action in the main clause is done for the purpose of achieving the action in the locative clause.
{{Interlinear|d̪am-i sa-p-la sʌma tsò-suŋ|PROPER.FEM-GEN eat.IMPF-INF-LOC food cook.PRF.DSJT-POBS|Damu cooked food in order to eat
| abbreviations = POBS:past observational;DSJT:disjunct;PROPER:proper noun;IMPF:imperfective aspect;LOC:locative;PRF:perfective aspect
}}
The copula(Imperfective ''hín'', perfective ''hot̪u'')is used for existence, location, identity, and adjectival predicates. The evidential particle ''wɛ́'' occurs at the end of phrases to denote an action which the speaker witnessed. The negative particle ''má'' is used with perfective verbs.

=== Nouns ===
There are four case-like clitics in Sherpa: [[Nominative case|nominative]], [[Genitive case|genitive]], [[Locative case|locative]], and [[Ablative case|ablative]]. These can also be used to mark arguments of a verb. There is a [[Split ergativity|split-ergative]] system based on aspect; [[Nominative–accusative alignment|nominative-accusative]] in the imperfective and [[Ergative–absolutive alignment|ergative-absolutive]] in the perfective.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Graves |first=Thomas E. |title=A grammar of Hile Sherpa |date=April 2007 |access-date=October 16, 2024 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of New York at Buffalo |url=https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/Mega%20linguistics%20pack/Sino-Tibetan/Sherpa%2C%20A%20Grammar%20of%20Hile%20%28Graves%29.pdf |language=en}}</ref>

=== Pronouns ===
Personal pronouns in Sherpa inflect for number and case. Third-person pronouns may be used as demonstratives, and the third person singular nominative also serves as the postnominal definite marker.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! rowspan="2" |Person
! colspan="3" |Singular
! colspan="3" |Plural
|-
!<small>Nominative</small>
!<small>Genitive</small>
!<small>Locative</small>
!<small>Nominative</small>
!<small>Genitive</small>
!<small>Locative</small>
|-
!1 (incl.)
| --
| --
| --
|''d̪ʌkpu''
|''d̪ʌkpi''
|''d̪ʌkpula''
|-
!1 (excl.)
|''ŋʌ''
|''ɲɛ''
|''ŋʌla''
|ɲirʌŋ
|ɲire
|ɲirʌŋla
|-
!2
|cʰuruŋ
|cʰore
|cʰuruŋla
|cʰírʌŋ
|cʰíre
|cʰírʌŋla
|-
!3
|t̪í
|t̪íki
|t̪íla
|t̪iwɔ́
|t̪íwi
|t̪iwɔ́la
|}
There are two articles, which occur phrase-finally. The indefinite form is signaled with the enclitic -''i'' at the end of a noun phrase.

=== Adjectives ===
The general word order within noun-phrases is Noun-Adjective. Quantifiers and numerals also follow the noun they modify. Numerals may take on the suffix ''-pa'' to denote ordinality or ''-kʌr'' to denote collectivity.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Sherpa numerals
!Gloss
!
!
!
|-
|one
|čìk
|eleven
|čučik
|-
|two
|ɲì
|twelve
|čìŋɲi
|-
|three
|sùm
|thirteen
|čùpsum
|-
|four
|ǰi
|twenty
|kʰʌlǰik
|-
|five
|ŋà
|twenty-one
|kʰʌlǰik
|-
|six
|t̪úk
|thirty
|kʰʌlsum
|-
|seven
|d̪in
|fifty
|kʰʌlŋa
|-
|eight
|jɛ́
|seventy
|kʰʌld̪in
|-
|nine
|gu
|ninety
|kʰʌlgu
|-
|ten
|čìt̪ʰʌmba
|one hundred
|kʰʌl čìt̪ʰʌmba
|}

== Vocabulary ==
The following table lists the days of the week, which are derived from the Tibetan language ("Pur-gae").
{| class="wikitable"
|+ '''Days of the week in Sherpa'''
!English
!Sherpa
|-
|Sunday||ŋi`ma
|-
|Monday||Dawa
|-
|Tuesday||Miŋma
|-
|Wednesday||Lakpa
|-
|Thursday||Phurba
|-
|Friday||Pasaŋ
|-
|Saturday||Pemba
|}

== Sample Text ==
The following is a sample text in Sherpa of Article 1 of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]]:

'''Sherpa in Devanagari script'''

:मि रिग ते रि रङ्वाङ् दङ् चिथोङ गि थोप्थङ डडइ थोग् क्येउ यिन्। गङ् ग नम्ज्योद दङ् शेस्रब् ल्हन्क्ये सु ओद्दुब् यिन् चङ् । फर्छुर च्यिग्गि-च्यिग्ल पुन्ग्यि दुशेस्   ज्योग्गोग्यि।        

'''Sherpa in Tibetan script'''

:མི་རིགས་ཏེ་རི་རང་དབང་དང་རྩི་མཐོང་གི་ཐོབ་ཐང་འདྲ་འདྲའི་ཐོག་སྐྱེའུ་ཡིན། གང་ག་རྣམ་དཔྱོད་དང་ཤེས་རབ་ལྷན་སྐྱེས་སུ་འོད་དུབ་ཡིན་ཙང་། ཕར་ཚུར་གཅིག་གིས་གཅིག་ལ་སྤུན་གྱི་འདུ་ཤེས་འཇོག་དགོས་ཀྱི།

'''Sherpa in IAST transliteration'''

:''Mi rig te ri raṅvāṅ daṅ cithoṅ gi thopthaṅ ḍaḍaï thog kyeu yin. Gaṅ ga namjyod daṅ śesrab lhankye su oddub yin caṅ, pharchur cyiggi-cyigla pungyi duśes jyoggogyi.''

'''Sherpa in the [[Wylie transliteration]]'''

:''Mi rigs te ri rang dbang dang rtsi thong gi thob thang 'dra 'dra'i thog skyeu yin. Gang ga rnam dpyod dang shes rab lhan skyes su 'od dub yin tsang, phar tshur gcig gis gcig la spun gyi 'du shes 'jog dgos kyi.''

'''Translation'''

:'''Article 1:'''  All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.himalisherpa.com Himali Sherpa:Sherpa Culture dictionary]
* [https://languages.nepalresearch.org/sh-eng.pdf Sherpa-English and English-Sherpa Dictionary]
* [http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/vient-de-paraitre/tournadre_dicosherpa.htm Sherpa dictionary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302065148/http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/vient-de-paraitre/tournadre_dicosherpa.htm |date=2 March 2013 }} Print edition
* [https://omniglot.com/writing/sherpa.htm Sherpa language] Omniglot

{{Sino-Tibetan languages}}
{{Bodic languages}}
{{Languages of Nepal}}
{{Languages of Northeast India}}

[[Category:Languages of Nepal]]
[[Category:South Bodish languages]]
[[Category:Subject–object–verb languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Sikkim]]
[[Category:Languages of Tibet]]
[[Category:Languages written in Devanagari]]
[[Category:Languages of Koshi Province]]