Takpa language

The Takpa or Dakpa language (Tibetan: དག་པ་ཁ་, Wylie: dak pa kha), Dakpakha, known in India as Tawang Monpa,^[4] also known as Brami in Bhutan,^[5] is an East Bodish language spoken in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh, and in northern Trashigang District in eastern Bhutan, mainly in Kyaleng (Shongphu gewog), Phongmed Gewog, Dangpholeng and Lengkhar near Radi Gewog.^[6][7] Van Driem (2001) describes Takpa as the most divergent of Bhutan's East Bodish languages,^[8] though it shares many similarities with Bumthang. SIL reports that Takpa may be a dialect of the Brokpa language and that it been influenced by the Dzala language whereas Brokpa has not.^[7]

Takpa
Tawang Monpa
དག་པ་ཁ་, dakpakha
Region	India; Bhutan; Lhoka, Tibet
Ethnicity	Takpa
Native speakers	9,100 in India (2006)[1] 2,000 in Bhutan (2011);[2] 1,300 in China (2000 census)[3]
Language family	Sino-Tibetan Tibeto-Burman? Tibeto-Kanauri? Bodish East Bodish Dakpa–Dzala Takpa
Writing system	Tibetan script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: dka – Dakpa twm – Tawang Monpa tkk – Takpa
Glottolog	dakp1242
ELP	Dakpa Takpa
Takpa is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Takpa is mutually unintelligible with Monpa of Zemithang and Monpa of Mago-Thingbu.^[9] Monpa of Zemithang is another East Bodish language, and is documented in Abraham, et al. (2018).^[10]

Wangchu (2002) reports that Tawang Monpa is spoken in Lhou, Seru, Lemberdung, and Changprong villages, Tawang District, Arunachal Pradesh.

Phonology

These tables represent the phonemes of the variety of Takpa spoken in China, in Tsona County. ^[11]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i i iː [iː] y y yː [yː]		u u uː [uː]
Mid	e [e] eː [eː]	ʌ ʌ ʌː [ʌː]	o o oː [oː]
Low	ɛ [ɛ] ɛː ɛː	a a aː [aː]	ɔ ɔ ɔː [ɔː]

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Retroflex	Pal.-alv.	Velars		Glottal
			Central	Lateral			Palatals	Velars
Stops	Voiceless	p p	t t					k k	ʔ ʔ
	Aspirated	ph pʰ	th tʰ					kh kʰ
	Voiced	b b	d d					ɡ ɡ
Fricatives	Voiceless		s s	ɬ ɬ	ʂ ʂ	ɕ ɕ			h h
	Voiced		z z			ʑ ʑ
Affricates	Voiceless		ts t͡s		tʂ t͡ʂ	tɕ t͡ɕ	cç c͡ç
	Aspirated		tsh t͡sʰ		tʂh t͡ʂʰ	tɕh t͡ɕʰ	cçh c͡çʰ
	Voiced		dz d͡z		dʐ d͡ʐ	dʑ d͡ʑ	ɟʝ ɟ͡ʝ
Liquids			r r	l l
Nasals		m m	n n		ɳ ɳ			ŋ ŋ
Semivowel		w w				j j

Monba is a tonal language, with four contour tones: 55, 53, 35, and 31.^[11]

See also

• Languages of Bhutan

References

1. ISO change request
2. Dakpa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
3. Tawang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
4. Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
5. Tshering, Karma;van Driem, George (2019). "The Grammar of Dzongkha". Himalayan Linguistics Journal. 7.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
6. van Driem, George L. (1993). "Language Policy in Bhutan". London: SOAS. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-01. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
7. "Dakpakha". Ethnologue Online. Dallas: SIL International. 2006. Retrieved 2011-01-18.
8. van Driem, George (2001). Languages of the Himalayas: An Ethnolinguistic Handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region. Brill Publishers.
9. Blench, Roger; Post, Mark (2011), (De)classifying Arunachal languages: Reconstructing the evidence (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-26
10. Abraham, Binny, Kara Sako, Elina Kinny, Isapdaile Zeliang. 2018. Sociolinguistic Research among Selected Groups in Western Arunachal Pradesh: Highlighting Monpa. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2018-009.
11. Huang, 1992, p. 634.

External links

• Himalayan Languages Project^[usurped]