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Amdo Tibetan (; also called ''Am kä'') is the
Tibetic language The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descended from Old Tibetan (7th to 9th centuries).Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In ''Trans-Himalayan linguistics, historical and descripti ...
spoken in
Amdo Amdo ( �am˥˥.to˥˥ ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being U-Tsang in the west and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Amdo is also the bi ...
(now mostly in
Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...
, some in Ngawa and Gannan). It has two dialects, the farmer dialect and the nomad dialect. Amdo is one of the three branches of traditional classification of
Tibetic language The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descended from Old Tibetan (7th to 9th centuries).Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In ''Trans-Himalayan linguistics, historical and descripti ...
s (the other two being
Khams Tibetan Khams Tibetan () is the Tibetic language used by the majority of the people in Kham. Khams is one of the three branches of the traditional classification of Tibetic languages (the other two being Amdo Tibetan and Ü-Tsang). In terms of mutual i ...
and
Ü-Tsang Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered ...
). In terms of mutual intelligibility, Amdo could not communicate even at a basic level with the
Ü-Tsang Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered ...
branch (including Lhasa Tibetan). The nomad dialect of Amdo Tibetan is closer to classical written Tibetan as it preserves the word-initial
consonant cluster In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fi ...
s and it is non- tonal, both now elided in the
Ü-Tsang Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered ...
branch (including Lhasa Tibetan). Hence, its conservatism in phonology becomes a source of pride among Amdo Tibetans.


Dialects

Dialects are: *North Kokonor (Kangtsa, Themchen, Arik, etc.) *West Kokonor ( Dulan, Na'gormo, etc.), *Southeast Kokonor ( Jainca, Thrika, Hualong, etc.) *Labrang (Labrang, Luchu) *Golok (Machen, Matö, Gabde) *Ngapa (Ngapa, Dzorge, Dzamthang) *Kandze Bradley (1997) includes Thewo and Choni as close to Amdo if not actually Amdo dialects. Hua (2001) contains word lists of the
Xiahe County Xiahe (; ) is a county in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province, the People's Republic of China, bordering Qinghai province to the west. It is home to the famed Labrang Tibetan Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Tibetan Bu ...
夏河,
Tongren County Tongren (; ), known to Tibetans as Rebgong () in the historic region of Amdo, is the capital and second smallest administrative subdivision by area within Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, China. The city has an area of 3465 squa ...
同仁, Xunhua County 循化, Hualong County 化隆,
Hongyuan County Gakog (Hongyuan) County ( or ; ) is a county in the north of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. There is a river called ''Ka Chu/Gaqu'' () in the area and ''kog'' means " ...
红原, and
Tianjun County Tianjun County is a county of Qinghai Province, China, bordering Gansu Province to the north. It is under the administration of the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (; mn, ᠬᠠ� ...
天峻 dialects of Amdo Tibetan in Gansu and
Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...
provinces.


Phonology


Consonants

* Retroflex stop sounds may also be pronounced as affricate sounds in free variation. * Voiced consonants are often heard as pre-breathy-voiced (i.e. ) among different dialects. * , typically written phonemically as , can be heard as an alveolar flap in word-medial positions. * may also be heard as a palatal in free variation. * Labio-dental fricatives and may also occur in words of foreign origin.


Vowels

* Amdo Tibetan typically has a four-vowel system as , as all close vowels have merged to one vowel . However, when there is a consonant sound within the coda position, the pronunciation of is changed, thus realizing one of the three close sounds , depending on the consonant in place. * may typically be heard as more fronted before a mid vowel , and may also be realized as an open-mid in some environments.


Media

;Inside China *The Qinghai Tibetan Radio () station broadcasts in Amdolese Tibetan on FM 99.7. ;Diaspora *Radio Free Asia broadcasts in three Tibetan languages: Standard Tibetan, Khams language and Amdolese language.


See also

*
Balti language Balti (Nastaʿlīq script: , Tibetan script: སྦལ་ཏི།, ) is a Tibetic language natively spoken by the ethnic Balti people in the Baltistan region of Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan, Nubra Valley of the Leh district and in the Karg ...


References


Bibliography

*Norbu, Kalsang, Karl Peet, dPal Idan bKra shis, & Kevin Stuart, ''Modern Oral Amdo Tibetan: A Language Primer.''
Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international independent company and academic publishing house with editorial offices in Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Wales. It was founded, in 1972, by the religious studies scholar Profess ...
, 2000. *Hua Kan 华侃主编 (ed). 2001. Vocabulary of Amdo Tibetan dialects ��语安多方言词汇 Lanzhou: Gansu People's Press ��肃民族出版社 (Contains word lists of the
Xiahe County Xiahe (; ) is a county in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu province, the People's Republic of China, bordering Qinghai province to the west. It is home to the famed Labrang Tibetan Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Tibetan Bu ...
夏河,
Tongren County Tongren (; ), known to Tibetans as Rebgong () in the historic region of Amdo, is the capital and second smallest administrative subdivision by area within Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, China. The city has an area of 3465 squa ...
同仁, Xunhua County 循化, Hualong County 化隆,
Hongyuan County Gakog (Hongyuan) County ( or ; ) is a county in the north of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. There is a river called ''Ka Chu/Gaqu'' () in the area and ''kog'' means " ...
红原, and
Tianjun County Tianjun County is a county of Qinghai Province, China, bordering Gansu Province to the north. It is under the administration of the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (; mn, ᠬᠠ� ...
天峻 dialects in Gansu and
Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest pop ...
provinces.)


External links


The Tibetan Phrasebook - A Phrasebook of Modern Amdo TibetanA Bibliography of Tibetan Linguistics
an Amdo primer
AHP43 Amdo Tibetan Language
{{Authority control Bodic languages Qinghai Languages of Tibet Tibet Languages written in Tibetan script Non-tonal languages in tonal families