Tamang language

Tamang
तामाङ
Spoken in	Nepal, India, Bhutan
Region	South Asia
Ethnicity	Tamang
Native speakers	1,300  (2000)
Language family	Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) Tamangic Tamang
Writing system	Tibetan script, Devnagari
Language codes
ISO 639-3	variously: taj – Eastern Tamang tdg – Western Tamang tmk – Northwestern Tamang tsf – Southwestern Tamang tde – Eastern Gorkha Tamang

Selected ethnic groups of Nepal; Bhotia, Sherpa, Thakali, Gurung, Kirant, Rai, Limbu, Nepal Bhasa, Pahari, Tamang

Tamang (Devnagari: तामाङ; tāmāng) is a term used to collectively refer to a dialect cluster spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim. It comprises Eastern Tamang, Northwestern Tamang, Southwestern Tamang, Eastern Gorkha Tamang, and Western Tamang. Lexical similarity between Eastern Tamang (which is regarded as the most prominent) and other Tamang languages varies between 81% to 63%; lexical similarity between Spanish and Portuguese, for instance, is estimated at 89%^{[citation needed]}.

Dialects

The Tamang language has further been subdivided into the following dialects-

• Eastern Tamang: 759,257 in Nepal (2000 WCD). Population total all countries: 773,257;
• Western Tamang: 322,598 (2000 WCD);
• Southwestern Tamang: 109,051 (1991 census);
• Northwestern Tamang: 55,000 (1991 census);
• Eastern Gorkha Tamang: 3,977 (2000 WCD).

Tamang language is the largest Tibeto-Burman language in Nepal.

Grammar

Some grammatical features of Tamang languages are

• A canonical word order of SOV
• Use of postpositions;
• The genitives follow nouns;
• question word medial;
• It is ergative language;
• CV, CVC, CCV, V, CCVC;

Phonetically Tamang languages are tonal.

Writing system

Tamang languages use Tam-Yig which is similar to Tibetan scripts and Devanāgarī. In many situations, however, Tamang is written in Devanāgarī proper.

See also

• Tamang (ethnic group)
• Gurung (ethnic group)
• Languages of Nepal
• Languages of Bhutan

External links

• Counting in Tamang
• Ethnologue
• Tamangs.com