Drag-yab is a Sino-Tibetan language recently documented by Suzuki & Nyima (2018, 2019).Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Tashi Nyima. 2018
Historical relationship among three non-Tibetic languages in Chamdo, TAR
''Proceedings of the 51st International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics (2018)''. Kyoto: Kyoto University. It is spoken in the southern half of Zhag'yab County, Chamdo, eastern Tibet. Suzuki & Nyima (2018) document the dialect of Drag-yab spoken in the village of Razi 热孜村 in Xiangdui Town 香堆镇, Zhag'yab County.

Names

Drag-yab is referred to by the ''Changdu Gazetteer'' (2005)Xizang Changdu Diqu Difangzhi Bianzuan Weiyuanhui 西藏昌都地区地方志编纂委员会 (2005). Changdu Diquzhi 昌都地区志. Beijing: Fangzhi Chubanshe 方志出版社. as ''Zesong'' 则松话, and is reported by Changdu (2005) to be spoken in Zesong 则松乡 and

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

巴日乡 townships of Zhag'yab County. The language is also referred to as both sMa and rMa. Nyima & Suzuki (2019) report the autonym ''m̥a55'' (or ''ma55''), which is identical to the Larong autonym, also reported by them (''m̥a55'').

Classification

Suzuki & Nyima (2018) note that Drag-yab is closely related to two other recently documented Sino-Tibetan languages of Chamdo, eastern Tibet, namely Lamo and Larong. Their relationship outside of this group, the Chamdo languages, within the

Sino-Tibetan family Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese language ...

is still uncertain.

Phonology

Suzuki & Nyima (2018) report the following phonemes from the Razi dialect of Drag-yab. Consonants: /p^h, p, b, t^h, t, d, ʈ^h, ʈ, ɖ, k^h, k, g, q^h, q, ɢ, ʔ, ts^h, ts, dz, tɕ^h, tɕ, dʑ, s, z, ɕ, ʑ, x, ɣ, χ, ʁ, h, ɦ, m, m̥, n, n̥, ȵ, ȵ̊, ŋ, ŋ̊, ɴ, ɴ̥, l, l̥, r, r̥, w, j/. Vowels: /i, e, ɛ, a, ɑ, ɔ, o, u, ɯ, ʉ, ə, ɵ/. Suzuki & Nyima (2018) report that each vowel has a creaky and nasalized counterpart. Tones are high and rising. The first two syllables of each word act as the tone bearing unit. The second syllable is occasionally out of the tone bearing unit.

Geographical distribution

Drag-yab is spoken in 6 townships, along different river valleys within the Lancang (Lachu) River watershed. These include Maiqu, Kaqu, Lasongqu, Guidaqu, and Changqu. *Byams mdun Town (Chinese: Xiangdui 香堆镇): mostly Drag-yab speakers *Dzongsar Township (Chinese: Zongsha 宗沙乡): mostly Drag-yab speakers *Palri Township (Chinese: Bari 巴日乡): all Drag-yab speakers *Khuda (Chinese: Kuoda 扩达乡): mostly Drag-yab speakers *Atshur Township (Chinese: Azi 阿孜乡): mostly Drag-yab speakers *Rongdrub Township (Chinese: Rongzhou 荣周乡): Drag-yab speakers are mainly located in Maidui Village Drag-yab villages by township:

References

{{Na-Qiangic languages Unclassified Sino-Tibetan languages Languages of China Languages of Tibet