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62-506: The Druk ( Standard Tibetan : འབྲུག , Dzongkha : འབྲུག ་ ) is the "Thunder Dragon " of Tibetan and Bhutanese mythology and a Bhutanese national symbol . A druk appears on the flag of Bhutan , holding jewels to represent wealth. In Dzongkha , Bhutan is called Druk Yul "Land of Druk", and Bhutanese leaders are called Druk Gyalpo , "Thunder Dragon Kings". During the Bhutanese mock election in 2007 , all four mock parties were called

124-421: A Lhasa Tibetan syllable is relatively simple; no consonant cluster is allowed and codas are only allowed with a single consonant. Vowels can be either short or long, and long vowels may further be nasalized . Vowel harmony is observed in two syllable words as well as verbs with a finite ending. Also, tones are contrastive in this language, where at least two tonemes are distinguished. Although

186-717: A Tibetan grammar in Hindi . Some of his other works on Tibetan were: In much of Tibet, primary education is conducted either primarily or entirely in the Tibetan language, and bilingual education is rarely introduced before students reach middle school . However, Chinese is the language of instruction of most Tibetan secondary schools . In April 2020, classroom instruction was switched from Tibetan to Mandarin Chinese in Ngaba , Sichuan. Students who continue on to tertiary education have

248-719: A basic level with Lhasa Tibetan, while Amdo speakers cannot. Both Lhasa Tibetan and Khams Tibetan evolved to become tonal and do not preserve the word-initial consonant clusters , which makes them very far from Classical Tibetan , especially when compared to the more conservative Amdo Tibetan. Like many languages, Lhasa Tibetan has a variety of language registers : Tibetan is an ergative language , with what can loosely be termed subject–object–verb (SOV) word order . Grammatical constituents broadly have head-final word order: Tibetan nouns do not possess grammatical gender , although this may be marked lexically, nor do they inflect for number . However, definite human nouns may take

310-588: A collective or integral are often used after the tens, sometimes after a smaller number. In scientific and astrological works, the numerals, as in Vedic Sanskrit , are expressed by symbolical words. The written numerals are a variant of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system , forming a base-10 positional counting system that is attested early on in Classical Tibetan texts. Tibetan makes use of

372-410: A constituent question. They are also prevalent, though, as relative pronouns, in which case they serve to introduce a relative clause and are not part of a question. The wh -word focuses a particular constituent, and most of the time, it appears in clause-initial position. The following examples illustrate standard interrogative wh -clauses. The b-sentences are direct questions (independent clauses), and

434-594: A deliberate policy of extinguishing all that is Tibetan, including their own language in their own country" and he asserted a right for Tibetans to express themselves "in their mother tongue". However, Tibetologist Elliot Sperling has noted that "within certain limits the PRC does make efforts to accommodate Tibetan cultural expression" and "the cultural activity taking place all over the Tibetan plateau cannot be ignored." Some scholars also question such claims because most Tibetans continue to reside in rural areas where Chinese

496-477: A distinctive trait that is a prominent characteristic of their syntactic form. The position of the finite verb is one major trait used for classification, and the appearance of a specific type of focusing word (e.g. 'Wh'-word ) is another. These two criteria overlap to an extent, which means that often no single aspect of syntactic form is always decisive in deciding how the clause functions. There are, however, strong tendencies. Standard SV-clauses (subject-verb) are

558-415: A flat or rising-falling contour, the latter being a tone that rises to a medium level before falling again. It is normally safe to distinguish only between the two tones because there are very few minimal pairs that differ only because of contour. The difference occurs only in certain words ending in the sounds [m] or [ŋ]; for instance, the word kham ( Tibetan : ཁམ་ , "piece") is pronounced [kʰám] with

620-419: A form of umlaut in the Ü/Dbus branch of Central Tibetan . In some unusual cases, the vowels /a/ , /u/ , and /o/ may also be nasalised. The Lhasa dialect is usually described as having two tones: high and low. However, in monosyllabic words, each tone can occur with two distinct contours. The high tone can be pronounced with either a flat or a falling contour, and the low tone can be pronounced with either

682-470: A high flat tone, whereas the word Khams ( Tibetan : ཁམས་ , "the Kham region") is pronounced [kʰâm] with a high falling tone. In polysyllabic words, tone is not important except in the first syllable. This means that from the point of view of phonological typology , Tibetan could more accurately be described as a pitch-accent language than a true tone language , in the latter of which all syllables in

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744-516: A lengthening of the vowel is also frequently substituted for the sounds [r] and [l] when they occur at the end of a syllable. The vowels /i/ , /y/ , /e/ , /ø/ , and /ɛ/ each have nasalized forms: /ĩ/ , /ỹ/ , /ẽ/ , /ø̃/ , and /ɛ̃/ , respectively. These historically result from /in/ , /un/ , /en/ , /on/ , /an/ , and are reflected in the written language. The vowel quality of /un/ , /on/ and /an/ has shifted, since historical /n/ , along with all other coronal final consonants, caused

806-486: A mixed group. In English they can be standard SV-clauses if they are introduced by that or lack a relative pronoun entirely, or they can be wh -clauses if they are introduced by a wh -word that serves as a relative pronoun . Embedded clauses can be categorized according to their syntactic function in terms of predicate-argument structures. They can function as arguments , as adjuncts , or as predicative expressions . That is, embedded clauses can be an argument of

868-475: A non-finite clause is usually a non-finite verb (as opposed to a finite verb ). There are various types of non-finite clauses that can be acknowledged based in part on the type of non-finite verb at hand. Gerunds are widely acknowledged to constitute non-finite clauses, and some modern grammars also judge many to -infinitives to be the structural locus of non-finite clauses. Finally, some modern grammars also acknowledge so-called small clauses , which often lack

930-776: A plural marker ཚོ <tsho> . Tibetan has been described as having six cases: absolutive , agentive , genitive , ablative , associative and oblique . These are generally marked by particles, which are attached to entire noun phrases, rather than individual nouns. These suffixes may vary in form based on the final sound of the root. Personal pronouns are inflected for number , showing singular, dual and plural forms. They can have between one and three registers . The Standard Tibetan language distinguishes three levels of demonstrative : proximal འདི <'di> "this", medial དེ <de> "that", and distal ཕ་གི <pha-gi> "that over there (yonder)". These can also take case suffixes. Verbs in Tibetan always come at

992-522: A predicate, an adjunct on a predicate, or (part of) the predicate itself. The predicate in question is usually the predicate of an independent clause, but embedding of predicates is also frequent. A clause that functions as the argument of a given predicate is known as an argument clause . Argument clauses can appear as subjects, as objects, and as obliques. They can also modify a noun predicate, in which case they are known as content clauses . The following examples illustrate argument clauses that provide

1054-575: A simple sentence), which may be co-ordinated with other independents with or without dependents. Some dependent clauses are non-finite , i.e. they do not contain any element/verb marking a specific tense. A primary division for the discussion of clauses is the distinction between independent clauses and dependent clauses . An independent clause can stand alone, i.e. it can constitute a complete sentence by itself. A dependent clause, by contrast, relies on an independent clause's presence to be efficiently utilizable. A second significant distinction concerns

1116-555: A special connector particle for the units above each multiple of ten. Between 100 and 199, the connective དང dang , literally "and", is used after the hundred portion. Above ས་ཡ saya million, the numbers are treated as nouns and thus have their multiples following the word. The numbers 1, 2, 3 and 10 change spelling when combined with other numerals, reflecting a change in pronunciation in combination. Tibetan numerals Tibetan numerals Tibetan numerals (1 Million) (1 Billion) Ordinal numbers are formed by adding

1178-488: A suffix to the cardinal number, པ ( -pa ), with the exception of the ordinal number "first", which has its own lexeme, དང་པོ ( dang po ). Tibetan is written with an Indic script , with a historically conservative orthography that reflects Old Tibetan phonology and helps unify the Tibetan-language area. It is also helpful in reconstructing Proto Sino-Tibetan and Old Chinese . Wylie transliteration

1240-428: A superordinate expression. The first is a dependent of the main verb of the matrix clause and the second is a dependent of the object noun. The arrow dependency edges identify them as adjuncts. The arrow points away from the adjunct towards it governor to indicate that semantic selection is running counter to the direction of the syntactic dependency; the adjunct is selecting its governor. The next four trees illustrate

1302-400: A verb altogether. It should be apparent that non-finite clauses are (by and large) embedded clauses. The underlined words in the following examples are considered non-finite clauses, e.g. Each of the gerunds in the a-sentences ( stopping , attempting , and cheating ) constitutes a non-finite clause. The subject-predicate relationship that has long been taken as the defining trait of clauses

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1364-497: A word can carry their own tone. The Lhasa Tibetan verbal system distinguishes four tenses and three evidential moods. The three moods may all occur with all three grammatical persons, though early descriptions associated the personal modal category with European first-person agreement. In the 18th and 19th centuries several Western linguists arrived in Tibet: Indian indologist and linguist Rahul Sankrityayan wrote

1426-411: A yes/no-question via subject–auxiliary inversion , 2. they express a condition as an embedded clause, or 3. they express a command via imperative mood, e.g. Most verb first clauses are independent clauses. Verb first conditional clauses, however, must be classified as embedded clauses because they cannot stand alone. In English , Wh -clauses contain a wh -word. Wh -words often serve to help express

1488-415: Is a relative clause, e.g. An embedded clause can also function as a predicative expression . That is, it can form (part of) the predicate of a greater clause. These predicative clauses are functioning just like other predicative expressions, e.g. predicative adjectives ( That was good ) and predicative nominals ( That was the truth ). They form the matrix predicate together with the copula . Some of

1550-514: Is fully present in the a-sentences. The fact that the b-sentences are also acceptable illustrates the enigmatic behavior of gerunds. They seem to straddle two syntactic categories: they can function as non-finite verbs or as nouns. When they function as nouns as in the b-sentences, it is debatable whether they constitute clauses, since nouns are not generally taken to be constitutive of clauses. Some modern theories of syntax take many to -infinitives to be constitutive of non-finite clauses. This stance

1612-590: Is rarely spoken, as opposed to Lhasa and other Tibetan cities where Chinese can often be heard. In the Texas Journal of International Law , Barry Sautman stated that "none of the many recent studies of endangered languages deems Tibetan to be imperiled, and language maintenance among Tibetans contrasts with language loss even in the remote areas of Western states renowned for liberal policies... claims that primary schools in Tibet teach Mandarin are in error. Tibetan

1674-433: Is supported by the clear predicate status of many to -infinitives. It is challenged, however, by the fact that to -infinitives do not take an overt subject, e.g. The to -infinitives to consider and to explain clearly qualify as predicates (because they can be negated). They do not, however, take overt subjects. The subjects she and he are dependents of the matrix verbs refuses and attempted , respectively, not of

1736-565: Is the most common system of romanization used by Western scholars in rendering written Tibetan using the Latin alphabet (such as employed on much of this page), while linguists tend to use other special transliteration systems of their own. As for transcriptions meant to approximate the pronunciation, Tibetan pinyin is the official romanization system employed by the government of the People's Republic of China , while English language materials use

1798-572: The Druk [colour] Party . The national anthem of Bhutan, Druk tsendhen , translates into English as "Kingdom of Druk". The druk (also known as a "duk" or "dug") was adopted as an emblem by the Drukpa Lineage , which originated in Tibet and spread to Bhutan. According to traditional accounts, when the sect's founder, Tsangpa Gyare , 1st Gyalwang Drukpa , began to build Ralung Monastery , there

1860-567: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Tibetan, written in the Tibetan script : Clause In language , a clause is a constituent or phrase that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic predicate . A typical clause consists of a subject and a syntactic predicate , the latter typically a verb phrase composed of a verb with or without any objects and other modifiers . However,

1922-539: The [ɛ̈] phone (resulting from /e/ in a closed syllable) and the [ɛ] phone (resulting from /a/ through the i-mutation ) are distinct or basically identical. Phonemic vowel length exists in Lhasa Tibetan but in a restricted set of circumstances. Assimilation of Classical Tibetan's suffixes, normally ' i (འི་), at the end of a word produces a long vowel in Lhasa Tibetan; the feature is sometimes omitted in phonetic transcriptions. In normal spoken pronunciation,

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1984-440: The absolutive , remaining unmarked. Nonetheless, distinction in transitivity is orthogonal to volition; both the volitional and non-volitional classes contain transitive as well as intransitive verbs. The aspect of the verb affects which verbal suffixes and which final auxiliary copulae are attached. Morphologically, verbs in the unaccomplished aspect are marked by the suffix གི <gi> or its other forms, identical to

2046-421: The genitive case for nouns, whereas accomplished aspect verbs do not use this suffix. Each can be broken down into two subcategories: under the unaccomplished aspect, future and progressive /general; under the accomplished aspect, perfect and aorist or simple perfective . Evidentiality is a well-known feature of Tibetan verb morphology, gaining much scholarly attention, and contributing substantially to

2108-404: The to -infinitives. Data like these are often addressed in terms of control . The matrix predicates refuses and attempted are control verbs; they control the embedded predicates consider and explain , which means they determine which of their arguments serves as the subject argument of the embedded predicate. Some theories of syntax posit the null subject PRO (i.e. pronoun) to help address

2170-592: The wh -word is a dependent of the finite verb, whereas it is the head over the finite verb in the embedded wh -clauses. There has been confusion about the distinction between clauses and phrases . This confusion is due in part to how these concepts are employed in the phrase structure grammars of the Chomskyan tradition. In the 1970s, Chomskyan grammars began labeling many clauses as CPs (i.e. complementizer phrases) or as IPs (i.e. inflection phrases), and then later as TPs (i.e. tense phrases), etc. The choice of labels

2232-512: The THL transcription system. Certain names may also retain irregular transcriptions, such as Chomolungma for Mount Everest . Tibetan orthographic syllable structure is (C 1 C 2 )C 3 (C 4 )V(C 5 C 6 ) Not all combinations are licit. The following summarizes the sound system of the dialect of Tibetan spoken in Lhasa , the most influential variety of the spoken language. The structure of

2294-545: The absence of subject-auxiliary inversion in embedded clauses, as illustrated in the c-examples just produced. Subject-auxiliary inversion is obligatory in matrix clauses when something other than the subject is focused, but it never occurs in embedded clauses regardless of the constituent that is focused. A systematic distinction in word order emerges across matrix wh -clauses, which can have VS order, and embedded wh -clauses, which always maintain SV order, e.g. Relative clauses are

2356-485: The actual status of the syntactic units to which the labels are attached. A more traditional understanding of clauses and phrases maintains that phrases are not clauses, and clauses are not phrases. There is a progression in the size and status of syntactic units: words < phrases < clauses . The characteristic trait of clauses, i.e. the presence of a subject and a (finite) verb, is absent from phrases. Clauses can be, however, embedded inside phrases. The central word of

2418-495: The appropriate intonation contour and/or the appearance of a question word, e.g. Examples like these demonstrate that how a clause functions cannot be known based entirely on a single distinctive syntactic criterion. SV-clauses are usually declarative, but intonation and/or the appearance of a question word can render them interrogative or exclamative. Verb first clauses in English usually play one of three roles: 1. They express

2480-412: The c-sentences contain the corresponding indirect questions (embedded clauses): One important aspect of matrix wh -clauses is that subject-auxiliary inversion is obligatory when something other than the subject is focused. When it is the subject (or something embedded in the subject) that is focused, however, subject-auxiliary inversion does not occur. Another important aspect of wh -clauses concerns

2542-522: The content of a noun. Such argument clauses are content clauses: The content clauses like these in the a-sentences are arguments. Relative clauses introduced by the relative pronoun that as in the b-clauses here have an outward appearance that is closely similar to that of content clauses. The relative clauses are adjuncts, however, not arguments. Adjunct clauses are embedded clauses that modify an entire predicate-argument structure. All clause types (SV-, verb first, wh- ) can function as adjuncts, although

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2604-529: The difference between finite and non-finite clauses. A finite clause contains a structurally central finite verb , whereas the structurally central word of a non-finite clause is often a non-finite verb . Traditional grammar focuses on finite clauses, the awareness of non-finite clauses having arisen much later in connection with the modern study of syntax. The discussion here also focuses on finite clauses, although some aspects of non-finite clauses are considered further below. Clauses can be classified according to

2666-416: The distinction mentioned above between matrix wh -clauses and embedded wh -clauses The embedded wh -clause is an object argument each time. The position of the wh -word across the matrix clauses (a-trees) and the embedded clauses (b-trees) captures the difference in word order. Matrix wh -clauses have V2 word order , whereas embedded wh-clauses have (what amounts to) V3 word order. In the matrix clauses,

2728-405: The distinctions presented above are represented in syntax trees. These trees make the difference between main and subordinate clauses very clear, and they also illustrate well the difference between argument and adjunct clauses. The following dependency grammar trees show that embedded clauses are dependent on an element in the independent clause, often on a verb: The independent clause comprises

2790-503: The end of the clause . Verbs do not show agreement in person , number or gender in Tibetan. There is also no voice distinction between active and passive ; Tibetan verbs are neutral with regard to voice. Tibetan verbs can be divided into classes based on volition and valency . The volition of the verb has a major effect on its morphology and syntax . Volitional verbs have imperative forms, whilst non-volitional verbs do not: compare ལྟོས་ཤིག <ltos shig> "Look!" with

2852-578: The entire trees in both instances, whereas the embedded clauses constitute arguments of the respective independent clauses: the embedded wh -clause what we want is the object argument of the predicate know ; the embedded clause that he is gaining is the subject argument of the predicate is motivating . Both of these argument clauses are dependent on the verb of the matrix clause. The following trees identify adjunct clauses using an arrow dependency edge: These two embedded clauses are adjunct clauses because they provide circumstantial information that modifies

2914-459: The facts of control constructions, e.g. With the presence of PRO as a null subject, to -infinitives can be construed as complete clauses, since both subject and predicate are present. PRO-theory is particular to one tradition in the study of syntax and grammar ( Government and Binding Theory , Minimalist Program ). Other theories of syntax and grammar (e.g. Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar , Construction Grammar , dependency grammar ) reject

2976-483: The four tone analysis is favored by linguists in China, DeLancey (2003) suggests that the falling tone and the final [k] or [ʔ] are in contrastive distribution , describing Lhasa Tibetan syllables as either high or low. The vowels of Lhasa Tibetan have been characterized and described in several different ways, and it continues to be a topic of ongoing research. Tournadre and Sangda Dorje describe eight vowels in

3038-400: The non-existent * མཐོང་ཤིག <mthong shig> "*See!". Additionally, only volitional verbs can take the egophoric copula ཡིན <yin> . Verbs in Tibetan can be split into monovalent and divalent verbs; some may also act as both, such as ཆག <chag> "break". This interacts with the volition of the verb to condition which nouns take the ergative case and which must take

3100-410: The norm in English. They are usually declarative (as opposed to exclamative, imperative, or interrogative); they express information neutrally, e.g. Declarative clauses like these are by far the most frequently occurring type of clause in any language. They can be viewed as basic, with other clause types being derived from them. Standard SV-clauses can also be interrogative or exclamative, however, given

3162-566: The option of studying humanistic disciplines in Tibetan at a number of minority colleges in China. This contrasts with Tibetan schools in Dharamsala , India, where the Ministry of Human Resource Development curriculum requires academic subjects to be taught in English from middle school. In February 2008, Norman Baker , a UK MP, released a statement to mark International Mother Language Day claiming, "The Chinese government are following

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3224-408: The presence of null elements such as PRO, which means they are likely to reject the stance that to -infinitives constitute clauses. Another type of construction that some schools of syntax and grammar view as non-finite clauses is the so-called small clause . A typical small clause consists of a noun phrase and a predicative expression, e.g. The subject-predicate relationship is clearly present in

3286-518: The same sound as the one following it. The result is that the first is pronounced as an open syllable but retains the vowel typical of a closed syllable. For instance, ཞབས zhabs (foot) is pronounced [ɕʌp] and པད pad (borrowing from Sanskrit padma , lotus ) is pronounced [pɛʔ] , but the compound word, ཞབས་པད zhabs pad (lotus-foot, government minister) is pronounced [ɕʌpɛʔ] . This process can result in minimal pairs involving sounds that are otherwise allophones. Sources vary on whether

3348-679: The sect became more popular, it set up monasteries in what is now Bhutan, with the result that the area became known as Dug Yul, or Land of Thunder, among both Tibetans and Bhutanese. Standard Tibetan language In the traditional "three-branched" classification of the Tibetic languages , the Lhasa dialect belongs to the Central Tibetan branch (the other two being Khams Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan ). In terms of mutual intelligibility , speakers of Khams Tibetan are able to communicate at

3410-455: The standard language: Three additional vowels are sometimes described as significantly distinct: [ʌ] or [ə] , which is normally an allophone of /a/ ; [ɔ] , which is normally an allophone of /o/ ; and [ɛ̈] (an unrounded, centralised, mid front vowel), which is normally an allophone of /e/ . These sounds normally occur in closed syllables; because Tibetan does not allow geminated consonants , there are cases in which one syllable ends with

3472-399: The stereotypical adjunct clause is SV and introduced by a subordinator (i.e. subordinate conjunction , e.g. after , because , before , now , etc.), e.g. These adjunct clauses modify the entire matrix clause. Thus before you did in the first example modifies the matrix clause Fred arrived . Adjunct clauses can also modify a nominal predicate. The typical instance of this type of adjunct

3534-475: The subject is sometimes unexpressed if it is easily deducible from the context, especially in null-subject language but also in other languages, including instances of the imperative mood in English . A complete simple sentence contains a single clause with a finite verb . Complex sentences contain at least one clause subordinated ( dependent ) to an independent clause (one that could stand alone as

3596-414: The underlined strings. The expression on the right is a predication over the noun phrase immediately to its left. While the subject-predicate relationship is indisputably present, the underlined strings do not behave as single constituents , a fact that undermines their status as clauses. Hence one can debate whether the underlined strings in these examples should qualify as clauses. The layered structures of

3658-554: The understanding of evidentiality across languages. The evidentials in Standard Tibetan interact with aspect in a system marked by final copulae, with the following resultant modalities being a feature of Standard Tibetan, as classified by Nicolas Tournadre : Unlike many other languages of East Asia such as Burmese , Chinese , Japanese , Korean and Vietnamese , there are no numeral auxiliaries or measure words used in counting in Tibetan. However, words expressive of

3720-518: Was a violent storm. Thunder, or the "Cloud-Voice", is seen as the roar of the dragon. Deciding that this was an omen, he named the monastery Drug-Ralung, adding the word "thunder dragon" to the name. The disciples at the monastery were known as Drugpa, or "Those of the Thunder." As of the 1900s, the Grand Lama of Bhutan wore a hat with thunder dragons on it to signify the origins of the sect. As

3782-484: Was influenced by the theory-internal desire to use the labels consistently. The X-bar schema acknowledged at least three projection levels for every lexical head: a minimal projection (e.g. N, V, P, etc.), an intermediate projection (e.g. N', V', P', etc.), and a phrase level projection (e.g. NP, VP, PP, etc.). Extending this convention to the clausal categories occurred in the interest of the consistent use of labels. This use of labels should not, however, be confused with

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3844-443: Was the main language of instruction in 98% of TAR primary schools in 1996; today, Mandarin is introduced in early grades only in urban schools.... Because less than four out of ten TAR Tibetans reach secondary school, primary school matters most for their cultural formation." An incomplete list of machine translation software or applications that can translate Tibetan language from/to a variety of other languages. From Article 1 of

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