Central Tibetan, also known as Dbus, Ü or Ü-Tsang, is the most widely spoken Tibetic language and the basis of Standard Tibetan. ''Dbus'' and ''Ü'' are forms of the same name. ''Dbus'' is a transliteration of the name in

Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic langua ...

, , whereas ''Ü'' is the pronunciation of the same in Lhasa dialect, (or ). That is, in Tibetan, the name is spelled ''Dbus'' and pronounced ''Ü''. All of these names are frequently applied specifically to the prestige dialect of Lhasa.

Languages or dialects

There are many mutually intelligible Central Tibetan languages besides that of Lhasa, with particular diversity along the border and in Nepal: :

Limi Limi Valley is a high-altitude valley that forms the northernmost part of the Humla District of north-western Nepal. To its north, the Limi valley borders the Purang County of Tibet, China. Administrative Limi is a ward council of the Namkha ...

(Limirong), Mugum,

Dolpo Dolpo ( bo, དོལ་པོ ) is a high-altitude culturally Tibetan region in the upper part of the Dolpa District of western Nepal, bordered in the north by China.. Part of the region lies in Shey Phoksundo National Park. The sparse, agro ...

(Dolkha), Mustang (Lowa, Lokä),

Humla Humla District ( ne, हुम्ला जिल्ला), a part of Karnali Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Simikot as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has population of 50,858 a ...

, Nubri, Lhomi, Dhrogpai Gola, Walungchung Gola (Walungge/Halungge), Tseku : Basum (most divergent, possibly a separate language) ''Ethnologue'' reports that Walungge is highly intelligible with Thudam. ''Glottolog'' reports these South-Western Tibetic languages as forming a separate subgroup of languages within Central Tibetan languages, but that Thudam is not a distinct variety. On the opposite, ''Glottolog'' does not classify Basum within Central Tibetan but leaves it unclassified within Tibetic languages. ''Tournadre'' (2013) classifies Tseku with

Khams Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham ...

.N. Tournadre (2005) "L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." ''Lalies'', 2005, n°25, p. 7–5

/ref>

Consonants

* འ isn't commonly transliterated to Roman, in the

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles () is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Francis Wade, during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert A. Giles's '' Chinese–English Dictionary'' o ...

system ' is used.

Vowels

ཨ（◌）

Pronunciation

一"ai, ain, oi, oin" is also written to "ä, än, ö, ön".

Conjunct vowels

Last consonant

References

Languages of China Languages of Nepal Central Bodish languages Languages of Tibet Languages written in Tibetan script {{st-lang-stub