Tibetic Languages - Languages

Languages

Nicolas Tournadre (2008) describes the language situation of Tibetan as follows:

Based on my 20 years of field work throughout the Tibetan language area and on the existing literature, I estimate that there are 220 'Tibetan dialects' derived from Old Tibetan and nowadays spread across 5 countries: China, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan may be classed within 25 dialect groups, i.e. groups which do not allow mutual intelligibility. The notion of ‘dialect group’ is equivalent to the notion of language but does not entail any standardization. Thus if we set aside the notion of standardization, I believe it would be more appropriate to speak of 25 languages derived from Old Tibetan. This is not only a terminological issue but it gives an entirely different perception of the range of variation. When we refer to 25 languages, we make clear that we are dealing with a family comparable in size to the Romance family which has 19 groups of dialects.

The 25 languages include a dozen major dialect clusters:

Ü-Tsang (China), Kham-Hor (Chamdo (Tibet), Sichuan, Qinghai, Yunnan), Amdo (Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan), Thewo-Chone (Gansu, Sichuan), Ladakhi (Jammu and Kashmir), Balti (Pakistan), Purki (Jammu and Kashmir), Spiti (Himalchal), Dzongkha (Bhutan), Drenjong (=Sikkimese), Sherpa (Nepal, Tibet), Kyirong-Kagate (Nepal, Tibet)

and another dozen minor clusters or single dialects, mostly spoken by a few hundred to a few thousand people:

Jirel (Nepal), Tsamang (=Chocangaca; Bhutan), Lakha (Bhutan), Dur (=Brokkat; Bhutan), Mera-Sakteng (=Brokpa; Bhutan), Dhromo (=Groma; Tibet), Zhongu (Sichuan), Gserpa (Sichuan), Khalong (Sichuan), Dongwang (Yunnan), Zitsadegu (Sichuan), Drugchu (Gansu)

In addition there is Baima, which retains an apparent Qiangic substratum, and has multiple layers of borrowing from Amdo, Khams, and Zhongu but does not correspond to any established branch of Tibetic. The more divergent dialects such as this are spoken in the north and east near the Qiangic and Jiarong languages, and some such as Khalong may also be due to language shift.

The Tibetic languages used for broadcasting within China are Standard Tibetan (based on the Ü dialect of Lhasa used as a lingua franca throughout Ü-Tsang), Khams, and Amdo.