Humla Tibetan, also known as Humla Bhotiya, and Humli Tamang, is the

Sino-Tibetan language Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 ...

of the

Tibetan people Tibetans () are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group Indigenous peoples, native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 7.7 million. In addition to the majority living in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, sig ...

Humla district Humla District (), 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 as per the census of 2011. Namkha is the larg ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

(ISO 639-3: ut GlottoCode: uml1238.

Language name

Humla Tibetan speakers self-identify using general

ethnic An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

terms such as Bhote, Tibetan, Tamang,

Lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

, and

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...

. This has led scholars to assign a variety of language names to the speech of these people (Humla Tibetan,de Vries, Klaas. (2014)
A sociolinguistic survey of Humla Tibetan in Northwest Nepal
Kathmandu: Linguistic Survey of Nepal (LinSuN), Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Humla Bhotiya, and Humli Tamang). As Humla Tibetan speakers refer to their language either in general terms or at the level of village dialect, no truly native glottonym can be assigned to the

Tibetic language The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descending from Old Tibetan.Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In ''Trans-Himalayan linguistics, historical and descriptive linguistics of the H ...

spoken in this district.

Language classification

Humla Tibetan (Humli Tamang) is classified as:

Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan (also referred to as Trans-Himalayan) is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. Around 1.4 billion people speak a Sino-Tibetan language. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 ...

Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak ...

, Western Tibeto-Burman, Bodish, Central Bodish, Central (Tibetan), and mNgahris. It is one of fifteen related languages that Tournadre classifies as South-western Tibetic under Old Tibetan, all of which are spoken in Nepal. These closely related languages are as follows: Mugom-Karmarong (ISO 639-3: muk),

Dolpo Dolpo ( ) 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-pastoral population, ...

(ISO 639-3:

dre DRE may refer to: * ''Dre'' (album), 2010 by American rapper Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, 2010 * Dre (given name) **Dr. Dre Andre Romell Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, recor ...

), Gyalsumdo (ISO 639-3:

gyo , fully titled in Japan, is a horror ''seinen'' manga written and illustrated by Junji Ito, appearing as a serial in the weekly manga magazine ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 2001 to 2002. Shogakukan collected the chapters into two bound volume ...

), Hyolmo (ISO 639-3: scp), Jirel (ISO 639-3: jul]), Kyirong language, Kyirong (ISO 639-3: kgy), Lhomi (ISO 639-3: lhm), Lhowa ISO 639-3: loy), Nubri (ISO 639-3: kte),

Sherpa SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access) is an organisation originally set up in 2002 to run and manage the SHERPA Project. History SHERPA began as an endeavour to support the establishment of a number of open ...

(ISO 639-3: xsr), Syuba (ISO 639-3: syw), Tichurong (ISO 639-3:

tcn TCN is the flagship television station of the Nine Network in Australia. The station is currently located at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney. The licence, issued to a company named Television Corporation Ltd headed by Frank Packer, was one of the ...

), Tsum (ISO 639-3: ttz), Walungge (ISO 639-3:

ola Ola may refer to: Places Panama *Olá, a subdistrict in Coclé Province * Olá District Russia *Ola, Russia, an urban settlement in Magadan Oblast * Ola District, an administrative division in Magadan Oblast * Ola (river), a river in Magadan ...

Speakers

Humla Tibetan is spoken by roughly 5,000 people originating from the

Namkha The namkha (Tibetan: ''nam mkha'' (ནམ་མཁའ་), 'sky', ' space', ' aether', ' heaven'), also known as ''Dö'' (Tibetan: ''mdos'' (མདོས)),) is a form of yarn or thread cross composed traditionally of wool or silk and is a fo ...

and Simkot municipalities of

, along the Humla Karnali River.Central Bureau of Statistics. (2014). National population and housing census 2011. Kathmandu: Government of Nepal. Diaspora communities of Humla Tibetan can be found in the capital city of

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

( Bouddha).

Dialects

At least four dialects of Humla Tibetan have been identified. Various authors use different names to distinguish between groups/varieties, generally related to geographical location. Speakers often self-identify using village or dialect-specific names, and these are usually unrelated to the names scholars attribute to these sub-groups. A semi-nomadic group, the Humli Khyampa, also lives and travels in the Humla district. The relationship between the language spoken by Humla Tibetans and the language of the Humli Khyampa is unclear, though Wilde lists it as a possible fifth dialect of Humla Tibetan, saying that some speakers believe it is related and mutually intelligible. The various names of the four sub-groups are present in the following table.

Humla Tibetan groups/varieties

Lexical similarity between Humla Tibetan varieties

Language vitality

In 2014, a sociolinguistic study found that Humla Tibetan is used extensively in all domains of daily life in their native villages. Ninety-three percent of participants said their first language was their own Humla Tibetan variety. The study also found that local Humla Tibetan was being transmitted to children. ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' has assigned EGIDS level 6a “vigorous” to Humla Tibetan (ISO 639-3 hut). However, the

Atlas of the world's languages in danger The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' was an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after ...

, 3rd edition has Limirong (Limi valley Tibetan) listed as (DE) Definitely endangered.

Resources

* Language documentation: Greninger, David E. (2014). Preliminary Documentation of the Humla Tibetan Language. Report submitted to Centre for International Relations and Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal. Ms. * Language documentation: Greniger, David E. (2018). Text Interlinearization and Glossary Production in the Limi Dialect of Humla Tibetan. Report submitted to Centre for International Relations and Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal. ms. * Phonology: Greniger, David E. (2021). Preliminary Segmental Phonology and Glossary Production in the Nyinba Subdialect of Humla Tibetan. Report submitted to Centre for International Relations and Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal. ms. * Phonology: Wilde, Christopher Pekka. (2001). Preliminary phonological analysis of the Limi dialect of Humla Bhotiya. (MA thesis, University of Helsinki; 91pp.) * Sociolinguistic study: de Vries, Klaas. 2014
A sociolinguistic survey of Humla Tibetan in Northwest Nepal.
Kathmandu: Linguistic Survey of Nepal (LinSuN), Central Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

References

{{Reflist Languages of Nepal Central Bodish languages Endangered Sino-Tibetan languages Humla District Endangered languages of Asia