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108-511: The Sherpa people ( Standard Tibetan : ཤར་པ། , romanized:  shar pa ) are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal and Tibetan Autonomous Region of China . The majority of Sherpas live in the eastern regions of Nepal, namely in Solukhumba , Khatra , Kama , Rolwaling , Barun and Pharak valleys; though some live farther West in

216-725: A serac collapsed above the Khumbu Icefall on Mount Everest, causing an avalanche of massive chunks of ice and snow which killed 16 Nepalese guides, mostly Sherpas. The 2014 avalanche is the second-deadliest disaster in Everest's history, only exceeded by avalanches in the Khumbu Icefall area a year later, on 25 April 2015, caused by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Nepal . In response to that tragedy and others involving deaths and injuries sustained by Sherpas hired by climbers, and

324-421: 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

432-717: 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

540-439: A Yellow River farmers-like population c. 4,700 years ago, resulting in the formation of a "Tibetan cline". Modern Tibetans display genetic continuity to ancient samples from Nepal , with their genetic diversity having been reduced compared to 'Early Ancient Tibetans' suggesting low to none geneflow from outside groups since c. 3,500 years ago. Subsequent internal geneflow resulted in "a northeastern plateau ancestry associated with

648-483: A clade with them to the exclusion of other Eurasians. The Northern East Asian lineage can be represented by Neolithic Yellow River farmers, which are associated with the spread of Sino-Tibetan languages. Modern Tibetans derive up to 20% from Paleolithic Tibetans, with the remaining 80% being primarily derived from Yellow River farmers. The formation of the present-day Tibetan gene pool dates back at least 5,100 years BP. Northeastern Tibetans display additional geneflow from

756-470: A clockwise direction, although the reverse direction is true for Bön . Tibetan Buddhists chant the prayer " Om mani padme hum ", while the practitioners of Bön chant "Om matri muye sale du". Tibet is rich in culture. Tibetan festivals such as Losar , Shoton , Linka , and the Bathing Festival are deeply rooted in indigenous religion and also contain foreign influences. Each person takes part in

864-651: A cluster of mutually unintelligible Sino-Tibetan languages spoken by approximately 8 million people, primarily Tibetan, living across a wide area of East and South Asia , including the Tibetan Plateau and Baltistan , Ladakh , Nepal, Sikkim , and Bhutan. Classical Tibetan is a major regional literary language, particularly for its use in Buddhist literature. The Central Tibetan language (the dialects of Ü-Tsang , including Lhasa ), Khams Tibetan , and Amdo Tibetan are generally considered to be dialects of

972-588: 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

1080-594: 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

1188-680: A divergent sister branch to them. Full genome studies revealed that Tibetans and other high-alltitude East Asians formed from two divergent Ancient East Eurasian lineages in Eastern Asia, specifically a lineage representing the Paleolithic population of the Tibetan Plateau, and a lineage associated with Ancient Northern East Asians . The Paleolithic Tibetan lineage was found to be distinct from other deep lineages such as Ust'-Ishim , Hoabinhian / Onge or Tianyuan , but forming

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1296-415: 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

1404-419: 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

1512-454: A frequency of >75%. The widespread presence of this gene may represent one of "the fastest genetic change ever observed in humans". Recent research into the ability of Tibetans' metabolism to function normally in the oxygen-deficient atmosphere above 4,400 metres (14,400 ft) shows that, although Tibetans living at high altitudes have no more oxygen in their blood than other people, they have ten times more nitric oxide and double

1620-511: A guide or mentor in other situations. Sherpas are renowned in the international climbing and mountaineering community for their hardiness, expertise, and experience at very high altitudes. It has been speculated that part of the Sherpas' climbing ability is the result of a genetic adaptation to living in high altitudes . Some of these adaptations include unique hemoglobin -binding capacity and doubled nitric oxide production. On 18 April 2014,

1728-470: 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

1836-516: 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

1944-504: A major role in the lives of the Tibetan people, conducting religious ceremonies and taking care of the monasteries. Pilgrims plant prayer flags over sacred grounds as a symbol of good luck. The prayer wheel is a means of simulating the chant of a mantra by physically revolving the object several times in a clockwise direction. It is widely seen among Tibetan people. In order not to desecrate religious artifacts such as Stupas , mani stones, and Gompas , Tibetan Buddhists walk around them in

2052-629: A need for a swift escape. On top of this, rumors spread among the Sherpa community that others would hurt them if they were to continue to take foreigners on their expeditions (Peedom, 2016). The 2014 event killed 16 Sherpas and, in 2015, 10 Sherpas died at the Everest Base Camp after the earthquake. In total, 118 Sherpas have died on Mount Everest between 1921 and 2018. An April 2018 report by NPR stated that Sherpas account for one-third of Everest deaths. According to oral Buddhist traditions,

2160-776: 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

2268-425: A shorter version with pants underneath. The style of the clothing varies between regions. Nomads often wear thick sheepskin versions. In more urban places like Lhasa, men and women dress in modern clothing, and many choose to wear chuba during festivals and holidays like Losar . Tibet has national literature that has both religious, semi-spiritual and secular elements. While the religious texts are well-known, Tibet

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2376-402: A single language, especially since they all share the same literary language, while Dzongkha , Sikkimese , Sherpa , and Ladakhi are generally considered to be separate languages. The ethnic roots of Tibetans can be traced back to a deep Eastern Asian lineage representing the indigenous population of the Tibetan plateau since c. 40,000 to 30,000 years ago, and arriving Neolithic farmers from

2484-414: A son marries and has children, the community may help to construct a new house, as the extended family becomes too large for a single home. The neighbours often contribute food, drinks and labour to help the family. Houses are typically spaced to allow fields in between. A spiritual ceremony may be conducted at every building stage as the house must have space for deities, humans and animals. Once constructed,

2592-555: 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

2700-432: A spectacle for foreign climbers. In addition, the entirety of the national park is not governed by the Sherpas but rather foreigners to the land. Park managers have made an effort to try to include Sherpas' voices by creating buffer-zone user groups. These groups are made up of political leaders from the surrounding villages, and serve as a platform for Sherpa demands. However, these groups do not have any official status and

2808-488: 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

2916-409: A total of 156 chapters in the form of Thangkas, which tell about the archaic Tibetan medicine and the essences of medicines in other places. The Cuisine of Tibet reflects the rich heritage of the country and people's adaptation to high altitude and religious culinary restrictions. The most important crop is barley . Dough made from barley flour, called tsampa , is the staple food of Tibet . This

3024-413: A variant called lokpa made from sheepskin. Chuba are worn over raatuk, a blouse (traditionally made out of bure , white raw silk), trousers called kanam , and a stiff collared shirt called tetung . Women traditionally wear long-sleeved floor-length dresses called tongkok . A sleeveless variation called aangi is worn over a full sleeved shirt called honju and with a raatuk (blouse) underneath

3132-497: 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

3240-432: Is also home to the semi-spiritual Gesar Epic , which is the longest epic in the world and is popular throughout Mongolia and Central Asia. There are secular texts such as The Dispute Between Tea and Chang (Tibetan beer) and Khache Phalu's Advice . Monogamy is common throughout Tibet. Marriages are sometimes arranged by the parents if the son or daughter has not picked their own partner by a certain age. However, polyandry

3348-438: Is available for heating or lighting, so flat roofs are built to conserve heat, and multiple windows are constructed to let in sunlight. Walls are usually sloped inwards at 10 degrees as a precaution against frequent earthquakes in the mountainous area. Tibetan homes and buildings are white-washed on the outside, and beautifully decorated inside. Standing at 117 metres (384 ft) in height and 360 metres (1,180 ft) in width,

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3456-400: Is conducted at the end of the play. There are also many historical myths/epics written by high lamas about the reincarnation of a "chosen one" who will do great things. The most unusual feature of Tibetan architecture is that many of the houses and monasteries are built on elevated, sunny sites facing the south. They are commonly made of a mixture of rocks, wood, cement and earth. Little fuel

3564-487: Is drawn from Buddhist stories and Tibetan history. Tibetan opera was founded in the fourteenth century by Thang Tong Gyalpo , a lama and a bridge-builder. Gyalpo and seven girls he recruited organized the first performance to raise funds for building bridges to facilitate transportation in Tibet. The tradition continued uninterrupted for nearly seven hundred years, and performances are held on various festive occasions such as

3672-511: Is either rolled into noodles or made into steamed dumplings called momo . Meat dishes are likely to be yak , goat or mutton , often dried or cooked into a spicy stew with potatoes . Mustard seed is cultivated in Tibet and therefore features heavily in its cuisine. Yak yogurt , butter and cheese are frequently eaten and well-prepared yogurt is considered something of a prestige item. Men and Women wear long thick dresses ( chuba ) in more traditional and rural regions. The men wear

3780-538: 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

3888-420: Is sloping and is made from local natural materials, or imported metal. There's space in the roof to allow for fire smoke to escape. There may be an internal or external outhouse for making compost. "A Sherpa community will most commonly get together for a party, which is held by the host with the purpose of gaining favour with the community and neighbours". Guests are invited hours before the party will start by

3996-565: 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

4104-472: Is the prayer hall for either villages or monasteries. There are numerous gompas and about two dozen monasteries scattered throughout the Solukhumbu region. The monasteries are communities of lamas or monks (sometimes of nuns) who take a vow of celibacy and lead a life of isolation searching for truth and religious enlightenment. They are respected by and supported by the community at large. Their contact with

4212-541: The Balti people are a Muslim ethnicity of Tibetan descent numbering around 300,000. There is some dispute over the current and historical number of Tibetans. The Central Tibetan Administration claims that the 5.4 million number is a decrease from 6.3 million in 1959 while the Chinese government claims that it is an increase from 2.7 million in 1954. However, the question depends on the definition and extent of "Tibet" ;

4320-694: The Bigu and in the Helambu region north of Kathmandu , Nepal. Sherpas establish gompas where they practice their religious traditions. Tengboche was the first celibate monastery in Solu-Khumbu . Sherpa people also live in Tingri County , Bhutan , and the Indian states of Sikkim and the northern portion of West Bengal , specifically the district of Darjeeling . The Sherpa language belongs to

4428-513: The Chinese provinces of Gansu , Qinghai , Sichuan , and Yunnan , as well as in India , Nepal , and Bhutan . The Tibetic languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman language group . The traditional or mythological explanation of the Tibetan people's origin is that they are the descendants of the human Pha Trelgen Changchup Sempa and rock ogress Ma Drag Sinmo. It is thought that most of

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4536-471: The EPAS1 gene , also referred to as the "super-athlete gene", which regulates the body's production of hemoglobin, allowing for greater efficiency in the use of oxygen. The genetic basis of Tibetan adaptations have been attributed to a mutation in the EPAS1 gene, and has become prevalent in the past 5,000 years. Ancient Tibetans carried this allele at a frequency of 25–58%, while modern Tibetans carry it at

4644-518: The Himalayan region, serving as guides at the extreme altitudes of the peaks and passes in the region, particularly for expeditions to climb Mount Everest . Today, the term is often used by foreigners to refer to almost any guide or climbing supporter hired for mountaineering expeditions in the Himalayas, regardless of their ethnicity. Because of this usage, the term has become a slang byword for

4752-586: The Potala Palace is considered the most important example of Tibetan architecture. Formerly the residence of the Dalai Lama , it contains over a thousand rooms within thirteen stories and houses portraits of the past Dalai Lamas and statues of the Buddha. It is divided between the outer White Palace, which serves as the administrative quarters, and the inner Red Quarters, which houses the assembly hall of

4860-738: The Rai people , followed by the Magars and the Tamang . Tibetan males predominantly belong to the paternal lineage D-M174 followed by lower amounts of O-M175 . Tibetan females belong mainly to the Northeast Asian maternal haplogroups M9a1a, M9a1b, D4g2, D4i and G2ac, showing continuity with ancient middle and upper Yellow River populations. Although "East Asian Highlanders" (associated with haplogroup D1 ) are closely related to East Asian lowland farmers (associated with haplogroup O ), they form

4968-535: The Sherpa people have allele frequencies which are often found in other Tibeto-Burman regions, the strongest affinity was for Tibetan population sample studies done in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Genetically, the Sherpa cluster closest with the sampled Tibetan and Han populations. Additionally, the Sherpa and Tibetans had exhibited affinity for several Nepalese populations, with the strongest for

5076-938: The Tibet Autonomous Region , 1,496,524 people in Sichuan Province, 1,375,059 people in Qinghai Province, 488,359 people in Gansu Province (mostly in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Bairi Tibetan Autonomous County ) and 142,257 people in Yunnan Province (mostly in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ). Tibetans account for 0.47% of the total population of the country. Tibetans account for 90.48% of

5184-843: The Tibetan Government in Exile ) counts 145,150 Tibetans outside Tibet: a little over 100,000 in India; over 16,000 in Nepal; over 1,800 in Bhutan, and over 25,000 in other parts of the world. There are Tibetan communities in the United States , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Costa Rica , France , Mexico , Norway , Mongolia , Germany , Switzerland and the United Kingdom . In the Baltistan region of Northern Pakistan,

5292-669: The Tibetan Plateau . This area is situated along the modern border dividing the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal from the People's Republic of China within Solukhumbu District in Koshi , the easternmost Nepali province , to the south of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. According to Sherpa oral history, four groups migrated from Kham in Tibet to Solukhumbu at different times, giving rise to

5400-504: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Tibetan, written in the Tibetan script : Tibetan people The Tibetan people ( Tibetan : བོད་པ་ , Wylie : bod pa , THL : bö pa ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet . Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China , significant numbers of Tibetans live in

5508-646: The Yellow River within the last 10,000 years, and which can be associated with having introduced the Sino-Tibetan languages . Modern Tibetan populations are genetically most similar to other East Asian populations, especially Han Chinese , Bhutanese , as well as other Sino-Tibetan-speaking populations . They show relatively more genetic affinity for modern Central Asian than modern Siberian populations. They also share some genetic affinity for South Asian groups . Genetic studies shows that many of

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5616-539: 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,

5724-440: 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

5832-421: 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

5940-626: The 1400s, the Khumbu Sherpa people had attained autonomy within the newly formed Nepali state. In the 1960s, as tension with China increased, the Nepali government influence on the Sherpa people grew. In 1976, Khumbu became a national park, and tourism became a major economic force. The term sherpa derives from the Tibetan words shar ( ཤར , 'east') and pa ( པ , 'people'). The reasons for adoption of this term are unclear; one common explanation describes origins in eastern Tibet but

6048-507: The 2014 census, there are about 6 million Tibetans living in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the 10 Tibetan autonomous prefectures in the provinces of Gansu , Qinghai , Sichuan , and Yunnan . The SIL Ethnologue in 2009 documents an additional 189,000 Tibetic speakers living in India , 5,280 in Nepal and 4,800 in Bhutan . The Central Tibetan Administration 's (CTA) Green Book (of

6156-422: The 8th century. Rectangular and painted on cotton or linen, they usually depict traditional motifs including religious, astrological, and theological subjects, and sometimes a mandala . To ensure that the image will not fade, organic and mineral pigments are added, and the painting is framed in colorful silk brocades. Tibetan folk opera, known as lhamo , is a combination of dances, chants and songs. The repertoire

6264-557: The Bathing Festival three times: at birth, at marriage, and at death. Tibetan art is deeply religious in nature, from the exquisitely detailed statues found in Gonpas to wooden carvings and the intricate designs of the Thangka paintings. Tibetan art can be found in almost every object and every aspect of daily life. Thangka paintings, a syncretism of Indian scroll-painting with Nepalese and Kashmiri painting, appeared in Tibet around

6372-410: The Khumbu Icefall around 30 times each season; in comparison, foreigners only go through the icefall 2 or 3 times during the season. Sherpas are expected to haul the majority of their clients' gear to each of the five camps and to set up before their clients reach the camps. During each season, Sherpas typically make up to $ 5000 US dollars during their 2 or 3-month period of taking international clients to

6480-564: The Lamas, chapels, 10,000 shrines, and a vast library of Buddhist scriptures. Traditional Tibetan medicine utilizes up to two thousand types of plants, forty animal species, and fifty minerals. One of the key figures in its development was the renowned 8th century physician Yuthog Yontan Gonpo , who produced the Four Medical Tantras integrating material from the medical traditions of Persia, India and China. The tantras contained

6588-474: The Lingka and Shoton festival. The performance is usually a drama, held on a barren stage that combines dances, chants, and songs. Colorful masks are sometimes worn to identify a character, with red symbolizing a king and yellow indicating deities and lamas. The performance starts with a stage purification and blessings. A narrator then sings a summary of the story, and the performance begins. Another ritual blessing

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6696-429: The Sherpa as a subgroup within the broader social group of Mountain/Hill Janajati. At the time of the 2021 Nepal census , 130,637 people (0.45% of the population of Nepal) were Sherpa. Just 9,435 of them speak second language. The frequency of Sherpa people by province was as follows: The frequency of Sherpa people was higher than national average (0.4%) in the following districts: Standard Tibetan language In

6804-417: The Sherpa had exhibited an affinity for several Nepalese populations , with the strongest for the Rai people , followed by the Magars and the Tamang . A 2010 study identified more than 30 genetic factors that make Tibetan bodies well-suited for high altitudes, including EPAS1 , referred to as the "super-athlete gene," that regulates the body's production of hemoglobin, allowing for greater efficiency in

6912-512: 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

7020-558: The Tibeto-Burman speakers in southwest China , including Tibetans, are direct descendants from the ancient Qiang people . Most Tibetans practice Tibetan Buddhism , although a significant minority observe the indigenous Bon religion. There are also smaller communities of Tibetan Muslims and Christians. Tibetan Buddhism influences Tibetan art , drama and architecture, while the harsh geography of Tibet has produced an adaptive culture of Tibetan medicine and cuisine . As of

7128-576: The United States, with a population of approximately 16,000. The 2011 Nepal census recorded 512,946 Sherpas within its borders. Members of the Sherpa population are known for their skills in mountaineering as a livelihood. The Sherpa people descend from historically nomadic progenitors who first settled the Khumbu and Solu regions of the Mahālangūr Himāl section of the Himalayan range in

7236-468: The climbing season that year out of respect for those who lost their lives. They argued that "This route has become a graveyard," and asked "How could we walk over their bodies?". Their clients were debating whether or not to continue to try to reach the summit of Everest because they had paid tens of thousands of dollars to be there. However, international clients were fearful of this strike and how it would affect themselves and had their bags packed in case of

7344-494: The community is based in the Nepalese highlands which is to Tibet's south. Genetic studies show that much of the Sherpa population has allele frequencies that are often found in other Tibeto-Burman regions. In tested genes, the strongest affinity was for Tibetan population sample studies done in the Tibet Autonomous Region . Genetically, the Sherpa cluster is closest to the sample Tibetan and Han populations. Additionally,

7452-451: The eastern Tibet and northwestern Yunnan of China. Also there are some Tibetan Hindus who mainly live in China, India and Nepal. According to legend, the 28th king of Tibet, Thothori Nyantsen , dreamed of a sacred treasure falling from heaven, which contained a Buddhist sutra , mantras , and religious objects. However, because the Tibetan script had not been invented, the text could not be translated in writing and no one initially knew what

7560-503: 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

7668-513: The fabric of Buddhist ritual life. Many of the great Himalayan mountains are considered sacred. The Sherpa call Mount Everest Chomolungma and respect it as the "Mother of the World." Mount Makalu is respected as the deity Shankar (Shiva). Each clan reveres certain mountain peaks and their protective deities. Today, the day-to-day Sherpa religious affairs are presided over by lamas (Buddhist spiritual leaders) and other religious practitioners living in

7776-428: The forearm blood flow of low-altitude dwellers. Tibetans inherited this adaptation due to selected genes associated with Denisovan admixture among Asian populations, highlighting how different environments trigger different selective pressures. Nitric oxide causes dilation of blood vessels, allowing blood to flow more freely to the extremities and aids the release of oxygen to tissues. According to Tibetan mythology ,

7884-525: The four fundamental Sherpa clans: Minyakpa, Thimmi, Lamasherwa, and Chawa. These four groups gradually split into the more than 20 different clans that exist today. Mahayana Buddhism religious conflict may have contributed to the migration out of Tibet in the 13th and 14th centuries and its arrival in the Khumbu regions of Nepal. Sherpa migrants travelled through Ü and Tsang, before crossing the Himalaya. By

7992-431: 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

8100-407: The government can decide whether or not to hear these demands or make the desired changes. Men wear long-sleeved robes called chuba , which fall to slightly below the knee. The chuba is tied at the waist with a cloth sash called kara , creating a pouch-like space called namdok which can be used for storing and carrying small items. Traditionally, chuba were made from thick home-spun wool, or

8208-421: The host's children to reduce the chance of rejection. In all social gatherings the men are seated by order of status, with those of lesser status sitting closer to the door and men of higher status sitting by the fireplace, while the women sit in the center with no ordering. It is polite to sit in a space lower than one's proper place so one may be invited by the host to their proper place. The first several hours of

8316-407: The house is often handed down within a family and not sold. The house style depends on the lay of the land: old river terraces, former lake beds or mountain slopes. There are stone single-story, 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story (on a slope), and the two-story houses, with ample room for animals. Many well-to-do families will have an annex shrine room for sacred statues, scriptures and ritual objects. The roof

8424-405: The icefall. The families of those who died in the avalanche were offered 40,000 rupees, the equivalent of about $ 400 US dollars, from the Nepalese government. At the time of the disaster, the Sherpas were carrying loads of equipment for their clients, including many luxury items. There had been two broken ladders causing a traffic jam in the Khumbu Icefall. It is not uncommon for Sherpas to go through

8532-562: The initial Tibetan migration was a search for a beyul (Buddhist pure-lands). Sherpa practised the Nyingma ("Ancient") school of Buddhism. Allegedly the oldest Buddhist sect in Tibet, founded by Padmasambhava (commonly known as Guru Rinpoche) during the 8th century, it emphasizes mysticism and the incorporation of local deities shared by the pre-Buddhist Bön religion , which has shamanic elements. Sherpa particularly believe in hidden treasures and valleys . Traditionally, Nyingmapa practice

8640-424: The journey through the Khumbu Icefall is in the pitch black. It is safer for climbers to go through the icefall at night because the temperatures at night drop. Therefore, the icefall is not melting as fast as it would during the day. These dangers have resulted in 66 deaths as of 2017, including 6 deaths from falling in a crevasse, 9 deaths from a collapse in a section of the icefall, and 29 deaths from avalanches onto

8748-596: The lack of government support for Sherpas injured or killed while providing their services, some Sherpa climbing guides resigned, and their respective climbing companies stopped providing guides and porters for Everest expeditions. The Khumbu Icefall is a waterfall of ice with continuous structural shifts, requiring continuous changes to the route through the area and making this is one of the most dangerous parts of climbing Mount Everest. Climbers have to walk on ladders over crevasses, while walking underneath large serac formations that could potentially fall at any moment. Oftentimes

8856-400: 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

8964-587: The northeast cluster, a southern plateau ancestry associated with the south-southwest cluster, and a southeastern plateau ancestry associated with the southeast-central cluster". There was limited contact with Central Asian populations, inline with historical events, evident in mutual geneflow. The expansion of the Tibetan Empire may have left genetic traces in surrounding populations. Genetic studies identified more than 30 genetic factors that make Tibetans' bodies well-suited for high-altitudes, including

9072-426: The number of Tibetan diaspora in India declined to 85,000. Tibetans are known as Bhotiyas in Nepal, where they are majority in regions such as Upper Mustang , Dolpo , Walung region and Limi and Muchu valleys. Nepal is also home to other Tibetic people such as the Sherpa , Hyolmo and Tamang . There are also more than 10,000 Tibetan refugees in Nepal. The Tibetic languages ( Tibetan : བོད་སྐད། ) are

9180-621: 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

9288-400: The origins of Tibetans are said to be rooted in the marriage of the monkey Pha Trelgen Changchup Sempa and rock ogress Ma Drag Sinmo. Most Tibetans generally observe Tibetan Buddhism or a collection of native traditions known as Bön (also absorbed into mainstream Tibetan Buddhism). There is a minority Tibetan Muslim population. There is also a small Tibetan Christian population in

9396-594: The outside world is focused on monastery practices and annual festivals to which the public is invited, as well as the reading of sacred texts at funerals. Mt. Everest is located within the Sagarmatha National Park , which is a sacred landscape for local Sherpas. The region is considered the dwelling of supernatural beings. Sherpas value life and the beauty it provides, meaning they avoid killing living creatures. Furthermore, Mt. Everest has attracted many tourists who unknowingly or knowingly are disrupting

9504-417: The party will have only beer served, followed by the serving of food, and then several more hours of singing and dancing before people start to drift out. The act of manipulating one's neighbours into cooperation by hosting a party is known as Yangdzi, and works by expecting the hospitality done by the host with the serving of food and alcohol to be repaid. The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies

9612-514: The paternal gene pool in tested individuals. In the maternal side, M5c2, M21d, and U from the west also count up to 8% of people in given Sherpa populations. However, a later study from 2015 did not support the results from the 2014 study; the 2015 study concluded that genetic sharing from the Indian subcontinent was highly limited; a 2017 study found the same. In a 2015 study of 582 Sherpa individuals (277 males) from China and Nepal, haplogroup D-M174

9720-624: The region claimed by the CTA is more expansive and China more diminutive . Also, the Tibetan administration did not take a formal census of its territory in the 1950s; the numbers provided by the administration at the time were "based on informed guesswork". According to the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2010), there are 6,282,187 Tibetans nationwide: There are 2,716,388 people in

9828-543: The regions of Ladakh (Ladakhi and Balti ), Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh , Spiti valley , Uttarakhand ( Bhotiya ), Sikkim ( Bhutia ), and Arunachal Pradesh ( Khamba , Lhoba and Monpa people ). There are also nearly 100,000 Tibetans living in exile in India since 1959, the majority of them living in Tibetan enclaves such as Dharamshala and Bylakuppe . In 2011, the Indian government reported 150,000 Tibetan diaspora residing in India. In 2019,

9936-441: The sacred land of the park. For example, finding firewood has been deemed problematic. Many tourists stick with the methods they know how to do, which is oftentimes cutting down trees or taking branches off trees to make a fire. This practice is against Sherpas' spiritual law of the land. Moreover, the Sherpas do a spiritual ritual before climbing the mountain to ask the mountain for permission to climb. This ritual seems to have become

10044-518: 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

10152-420: The shirt. These are worn with colourful striped aprons; pangden (or metil ) aprons are worn in front, and gewe (or gyabtil ) in back, and are held together by an embossed silver buckle called kyetig and a kara Sherpa clothing resembles Tibetan clothing. Increasingly, home-spun wool and silk is being replaced by factory-made material. Many Sherpa people also now wear ready-made western clothing. When

10260-407: The southern branch of the Tibeto-Burman languages , mixed with Eastern Tibetan ( Khams Tibetan ) and central Tibetan dialects. However, this language is separate from Lhasa Tibetan and unintelligible to Lhasa speakers. The number of Sherpas migrating to Western countries has significantly increased in recent years, especially to the United States. New York City has the largest Sherpa community in

10368-455: 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

10476-507: The summit of Everest. As of 2019, expeditions on Mt. Everest contributed $ 300 million. The economy of Nepal thrives off of tourism and adventure seekers. As a result of the 2014 disaster, the remaining Sherpas went on strike. They were angry at the government, lack of compensation, and their working conditions. Sherpas came together in the days after the disaster to make a list of demands for the government. The documentary Sherpa contains footage of one of their meetings. Sherpas wanted to cancel

10584-1048: The total population in Tibet Region, 24.44% of the total population of Qinghai and 1.86% of the total population in Sichuan. Of all Tibetans in China, 315,622 people live in cities, 923,177 in towns, and 5,043,388 people (80.3%) live in rural areas. According to the Seventh Census of 2020 , there are 7,060,700 Tibetans living within China. Of the resident population of the Tibet Autonomous Region, 3,204,700 were Tibetans and other ethnic minorities, of whom 3,137,900 were Tibetans, an increase of 421,500, or 15.52%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 1.45%; 66,800 were other ethnic minorities, an increase of 26,300, or 64.95%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 5.13%; and 6,680 were other ethnic minorities, an increase of 26,300, or 64.95%, over 2010, with an average annual growth rate of 5.13%. The average annual growth rate

10692-599: 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 a basic level with Lhasa Tibetan, while Amdo speakers cannot. Both Lhasa Tibetan and Khams Tibetan evolved to become tonal and do not preserve

10800-554: 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

10908-560: The use of oxygen. A 2016 study of Sherpas in Tibet suggested that a small portion of Sherpas' and Tibetans' allele frequencies originated from separate ancient populations, which were estimated to have remained somewhat distributed for 11,000 to 7,000 years. A 2014 study observed that considerable genetic components from the Indian Subcontinent were found in Sherpa people living in Tibet. The western Y chromosomal haplogroups R1a1a-M17, J-M304, and F*-M89 comprise almost 17% of

11016-419: The villages. The village lama who presides over ceremonies and rituals can be a celibate monk or a married householder. In addition, shamans ( lhawa ) and soothsayers ( mindung ) deal with the supernatural and the spirit world. Lamas identify witches ( pem ), act as the mouthpiece of deities and spirits, and diagnose spiritual illnesses. An important aspect of Sherpa religion is the temple or gompa . A gompa

11124-573: 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

11232-772: Was 5.13%. There are one region, ten prefectures, and two counties officially established by the government: the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Qinghai Province ( Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , and Haiximenggu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ), Sichuan Province ( Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture , Ganz Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , and Muji Tibetan Autonomous County ), Gansu Province ( Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ), and Yunnan Province ( Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ). In India Tibetic people are found in

11340-713: Was found most frequently, followed by Haplogroup O-M175 , Haplogroup F-M89 and Haplogroup K-M9 . The Y-chromosome haplogroup distribution for Sherpas follow a pattern similar to that for Tibetans. Sherpa mtDNA distribution shows greater diversity, as Haplogroup A was found most frequently, followed by Haplogroup M9a , Haplogroup C4a , Haplogroup M70, and Haplogroup D . These haplogroups are also found in some Tibetan populations. However, two common mtDNA sub-haplogroups unique to Sherpas populations were identified: Haplogroup A15c1 and Haplogroup C4a3b1. Many Sherpas are highly regarded as elite mountaineers and experts in their local area. They were valuable to early explorers of

11448-426: Was passed down orally through a loose network of lay practitioners. Monasteries with celibate monks and nuns, along with the belief in reincarnated spiritual leaders, are later adaptations. In addition to Buddha and the great Buddhist divinities, the Sherpa also believe in numerous deities and demons who inhabit every mountain, cave, and forest. These have to be respected or appeased through ancient practices woven into

11556-443: 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

11664-479: Was written in it. Buddhism did not take root in Tibet until the reign of Songtsän Gampo , who married two Buddhist princesses, Bhrikuti of Nepal and Wencheng of China. It then gained popularity when Padmasambhāva visited Tibet at the invitation of the 38th Tibetan king, Trisong Deutson . Today, one can see Tibetans placing Mani stones prominently in public places. Tibetan lamas , both Buddhist and Bön, play

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