Dzongkha

File:JakarDzong.jpg

Jakar Dzong, representative of the distinct dzong architecture from which Dzongkha gets its name

Dzongkha (Template:Bo-textonly; ) is a Tibeto-Burman language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script.

The word Template:Transliteration means "the language of the fortress", from Template:Transliteration "fortress" and Template:Transliteration "language". Template:As of, Dzongkha had 171,080 native speakers and about 640,000 total speakers.

Dzongkha is a South Tibetic language. It is closely related to Laya and Lunana and partially intelligible with Sikkimese, and to some other Bhutanese languages such as Chocha Ngacha, Brokpa, Brokkat and Lakha. It has a more distant relationship to Standard Tibetan. Spoken Dzongkha and Tibetan are around 50 to 80 percent mutually intelligible.Template:Clarification needed

Classification

Dzongkha is considered a South Tibetic language. It is closely related to and partially intelligible with Sikkimese, and to some other Bhutanese languages such as Chocha Ngacha, Brokpa, Brokkat and Lakha.

Dzongkha bears a close linguistic relationship to J'umowa, which is spoken in the Chumbi Valley of Southern Tibet. It has a much more distant relationship to Standard Tibetan. Spoken Dzongkha and Tibetan are around 50% to 80% mutually intelligible, with the literary forms of both highly influenced by the liturgical (clerical) Classical Tibetan language, known in Bhutan as Chöke, which has been used for centuries by Buddhist monks. Chöke was used as the language of education in Bhutan until the early 1960s when it was replaced by Dzongkha in public schools.

Although descended from Classical Tibetan, Dzongkha shows a great many irregularities in sound changes that make the official spelling and standard pronunciation more distant from each other than is the case with Standard Tibetan. "Traditional orthography and modern phonology are two distinct systems operating by a distinct set of rules."

Usage

Dzongkha and its dialects are the native tongue of eight western districts of Bhutan (viz. Wangdue Phodrang, , Thimphu, Gasa, Paro, Ha, Dagana and Chukha). There are also some native speakers near the Indian town of Kalimpong, once part of Bhutan but now in North Bengal, and in Sikkim.

Dzongkha was declared the national language of Bhutan in 1971. Dzongkha study is mandatory in all schools, and the language is the lingua franca in the districts to the south and east where it is not the mother tongue. The Bhutanese films Travellers and Magicians (2003) and Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019) are in Dzongkha.

Phonology

Tones

Dzongkha is a tonal language and has two register tones: high and low.Template:Sfnp The tone of a syllable determines the allophone of the onset and the phonation type of the nuclear vowel.Template:Sfnp

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

		Bilabial	Dental/ alveolar	Retroflex/ palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Stop	plain	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	aspirated	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Affricate	plain		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	aspirated		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Sibilant			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Rhotic			Template:IPA link
Continuant			Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link

All consonants may begin a syllable. In the onsets of low-tone syllables, consonants are voiced.Template:Sfnp Aspirated consonants (indicated by the superscript h), , and are not found in low-tone syllables.Template:Sfnp The rhotic is usually a trill Template:IPAblink or a fricative trill Template:IPAblink,Template:Sfnp and is voiceless in the onsets of high-tone syllables.Template:Sfnp

are dental.Template:Sfnp Descriptions of the palatal affricates and fricatives vary from alveolo-palatal to plain palatal.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Only a few consonants are found in syllable-final positions. Most common among them are .Template:Sfnp Syllable-final is often elided and results in the preceding vowel nasalized and prolonged, especially word-finally.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Syllable-final is most often omitted when word-final as well, unless in formal speech.Template:Sfnp In literary pronunciation, liquids and may also end a syllable.Template:Sfnp Though rare, is also found in syllable-final positions.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp No other consonants are found in syllable-final positions.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Back
Close	Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link
Open	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link  Template:IPA link

• When in low tone, vowels are produced with breathy voice.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
• In closed syllables, varies between Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, the latter being more common.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
• varies between Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
• varies between close-mid Template:IPAblink and open-mid Template:IPAblink, the latter being common in closed syllables. is close-mid Template:IPAblink. may not be longer than at all, and differs from more often in quality than in length.Template:Sfnp
• Descriptions of vary between close-mid Template:IPAblink and open-mid Template:IPAblink.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
• is close-mid Template:IPAblink, but may approach open-mid Template:IPAblink especially in closed syllables. is close-mid Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
• is slightly lower than open-mid, i.e. Template:IPAblink.Template:Sfnp
• may approach Template:IPAblink, especially in closed syllables.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
• When nasalized or followed by , vowels are always long.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Phonotactics

Many words in Dzongkha are monosyllabic.Template:Sfnp Syllables usually take the form of CVC, CV, or VC.Template:Sfnp Syllables with complex onsets are also found, but such an onset must be a combination of an unaspirated bilabial stop and a palatal affricate.Template:Sfnp The bilabial stops in complex onsets are often omitted in colloquial speech.Template:Sfnp

Writing system

File:Dzongkha - in Bhutanese script.svg

The word "Dzongkha" in Jôyi, a Bhutanese form of the Uchen script

The Tibetan script used to write Dzongkha has thirty basic letters, sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants. Dzongkha is usually written in Bhutanese forms of the Uchen script, forms of the Tibetan script known as Jôyi "cursive longhand" and Jôtshum "formal longhand". The print form is known simply as Tshûm.

Romanization

There are various systems of romanization and transliteration for Dzongkha, but none accurately represents its phonetic sound. The Bhutanese government adopted a transcription system known as Roman Dzongkha, devised by the linguist George van Driem, as its standard in 1991.

Grammar

Nouns

Number

Dzongkha nouns distinguish between singular (unmarked) and plural, with the plural either unmarked or suffixed with Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration. The use of the plural suffix is not obligatory and is used mainly for emphasis.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Case

Dzongkha nouns are marked for 5 cases: genitive, locative, ablative, dative and ergative.Template:Sfnp

• genitive case: marks possession and is often translated as "of". There are 4 genitive suffixes in written Dzongkha:
  • Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration - after words ending in Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly.
  • Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration - after words ending in Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly and certain words ending in a vowel.
  • Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration - after words ending in Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly.
  • Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration after certain words ending in a vowel.
• locative case - marks location or destination and is often translated as "in", "at" or "on". It's indicated by the suffix Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration.
• ablative case - marks direction away from the noun and is often translated as "from". It's indicated by the suffix Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration.
• dative case - marks the goal or where an activity takes place and is often translated as "to", "for" or "at". It's indicated by the suffix Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration.
• ergative case - used for ergative and instrumental functions. There are 3 ergative suffixes in written Dzongkha:
  • Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration - after words ending in Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly.
  • Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration - after words ending in Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly or a vowel.
  • Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration - ater words ending in Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly, Template:Bo-textonly.

Derivation

As in other Tibetic languages, compounding is the most common method for deriving new nouns in Dzongkha. A compound usually consists of two (or, less commonly, more) monossyllabic roots, which can be either free or bound.Template:Sfnp

Root 1	Root 2	Compound noun	Notes
Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (praise)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (praise)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration is a bound morpheme with no meaning of its own.
Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (cover)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (top)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (lid)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration is a bound morpheme and means something like "top" in most (though not all) compounds.
Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (stone)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (black)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (graphite)

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (I)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (we)
2nd	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (you)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (you all)
3rd (m)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (he)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (they)
3rd (f)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (she)
honorific	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (he; she; you)	Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration (they; you all)

• The honorific pronoun Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration and its plural form are used when one wants to show respect to the person being addressed or to a 3rd person of either gender.

Verbs

Dzongkha verbs inflect for tense, aspect and mood, but unlike many languages, they do not show agreement for person and number.Template:Sfnp

Copula

In Dzongkha, there are 5 copular verbs that can be translated as "to be" in English: Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration, Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration, Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration, Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration and Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration.

Adjectives

Comparison

The comparative is indicated by the suffix Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration ("than") while the superlative is indicated by the suffix Template:Bo-textonly Template:Transliteration ("the most", "-est").Template:Sfnp

Numerals

Hindu-Arabic numerals	Dzongkha numerals	Spelling	Roman Dzongkha
1	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	ci
2	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	’nyî
3	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	sum
4	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	zhi
5	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	'nga
6	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	dr°u
7	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	dün
8	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	gä
9	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	gu
10	Template:Bo-textonly	Template:Bo-textonly	cuthâm

Vocabulary

The following is a sample vocabulary:Template:Sfnp

Dzongkha
Dzongkha	Transliteration (Wylie)	Pronunciation (Roman Dzongkha)	Meaning
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	tâ	tiger
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	tön	to teach
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	pcing	glue
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	tîm	heel
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	meng	name
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	'mosh	isn't it so?
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	dr°eng	mule
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	'öng	left
Template:Script/Tibetan	Template:Transliteration	totsha	friend

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Dzongkha of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

See also

• Roman Dzongkha
• Dzongkha Braille
• Dzongkha numerals
• Languages of Bhutan
• Dzongkha keyboard layout

Bibliography

• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Dead link
• Mazaudon, Martine. 1985. "Dzongkha Number Systems." S. Ratanakul, D. Thomas & S. Premsirat (eds.). Southeast Asian Linguistic Studies presented to André-G. Haudricourt. Bangkok: Mahidol University. 124–57
• Template:Cite thesis
• Template:Cite thesis
• – A language textbook with three audio compact disks.

External links

• Bhutanese literatures
• Dzongkha Development Commission Thimphu, Bhutan
• Dzongkha-English Dictionary
• Dzongkha podcast
• Dzongkha Romanization for Geographical Names
• Free textbooks and dictionaries published by the Dzongkha Development Commission
• Bhutan National Policy and Strategy for Development and Promotion of Dzongkha
• Dzongkha Unicode Template:Webarchive – site The National Library of Bhutan (en – dz Template:Webarchive)

Vocabulary

• Online searchable dictionary (Dz-En, En-Dz, Dz-Dz) or Online Dzongkha-English Dictionary – site Dzongkha Development Commission (en – dz)
• Dzongkha Computer Terms(pdf)
• English-Dzongkha Pocket Dictionary(pdf)
• Rigpai Lodap: An Intermediate Dzongkha-English Dictionary(pdf)
• Kartshok Threngwa: A Book on Dzongkha Synonyms & Antonyms(pdf)
• Names of Countries and Capitals in Dzongkha(pdf)
• A Guide to Dzongkha-Translation(pdf)

Grammar

• A colloquial grammar of the Bhutanese language. by Byrne, St. Quintin. Allahabad: Pioneer Press, 1909
• Dzongkha transliteration Template:Webarchive – site National Library of Bhutan (en – dz Template:Webarchive)
• Dzongkha, The National Language of Bhutan – site Dzongkha Linux (en – dz)
• Romanization of Dzongkha
• Dzongkha : Origin and Description
• Dzongkha language, alphabet and pronunciation
• Dzongkha in Wikipedia: Русский, Français, 日本語, Eesti, English
• Template:Usurped(pdf)
• Dzongkha Grammar & other materials – site The Dzongkha Development Commission (en – dz)
• Коряков Ю.Б. Практическая транскрипция для языка дзонг-кэ
• Classical Tibetan-Dzongkha Dictionary(pdf)