Zangskari language

Zangskari (also spelled Zanskari, Zaskari) is an endangered Tibetic language. It is a dialect of the Ladakhi language. It is mostly spoken in the Zanskar region of the Kargil district of Ladakh, India and also by Buddhists in the upper reaches of Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh, and Paddar, Jammu and Kashmir. It is written using the Tibetan script.

Zangskari is divided into four homogeneous groups, namely Oot (Stod) or Upper Zanskari spoken along the Doda River, Zhung (Gžun) or Central Zanskari mostly spoken in Padum valley, Sham (Gšam) or Lower Zanskari spoken along the lower portions of Zanskar River and lastly Lungnak (Luŋnag) along the upper Zanskar River region. A seminar on the documentation and revitalization of the Zanskari language was once held at GMDC Zanskar.

Phonology

Zangskari shows compensatory lengthening and nasalization of vowels, unlike conservative Western Tibetic languages.

Consonants

+ Bilabial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal laminal apicalNasal Stopaspirated pʰ tʰ t͡sʰ t͡ʃʰ ʈʰ kʰ voiceless()voiced Fricativevoiceless voiced Rhotic Approximant

Vowels

+ Monophthongs FrontCentral Backoralnasaloralnasaloralnasal Close ĩː ũː Mid õː Openãː

The diphthongs are /ai/, /ao/, /ui/, /oe/, /oa/, /ea/, /iu/, /ũã/, /õã/, /ũĩ/, and /ĩũ/.

References

Zangskari language

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