Lamo Language

Lamo (also called mBo; IPA: ; ’Bo skad) is an unclassified Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Tshawarong, Zogang County, Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet. It was recently documented by Suzuki & Nyima (2016). sMad skad, a closely related language variety, is also spoken in Tshawarong.

Suzuki & Nyima (2018) document the Kyilwa (格瓦) variety of Dongba Township (东坝乡).

Names

Lamo is referred to by the ''Changdu Gazetteer'' (2005: 819)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 ''Dongba'' (东坝话), as it is spoken in Dongba Township (东坝乡), Zogang County.

Khams Tibetan people refer to Lamo speakers as ''mBo'' or ''mBo mi'' (’bo mi). Traditionally, Lamo speakers also referred to themselves as ''Po mi'', although this autonym is not known by all Lamo speakers. They refer to their own language as ''Lamo''. Some Lamo speakers also refer to their town language as ''ˊmbo hkə''.

Lamo autonyms by location (gSerkhu, discussed below, is a minor mutually intelligible variety):

Demographics

Lamo is spoken by about 4,000 speakers, with 2,000 in Dongba Township, and 2,000 in Zhonglinka Township. Both townships are located along the Nujiang River in Dzogang County.

Lamo and gSerkhu villages by township:

Dialects

There are two dialects:
*Lamo (Tibetan name for the language: mBo-skad)
*Lamei

There are 5 Lamo-speaking village clusters in Dongba Township, which are Kyilwa, Phurkha, Gewa, Gyastod and Gyasmed. The remaining village clusters, out of a total of 13 village clusters in Dongba Township, are Khams Tibetan-speaking villages.

Lamei is spoken by 1,500 to 2,000 people in 5 village clusters in is spoken in Zhonglinka Township. Sitrikhapa, Wangtod, Wangmed, Rongba, and Laba village clusters have only Lamei speakers. Woba, Pula, and Zuoshod village clusters have both Lamei and Khams Tibetan speakers.

gSerkhu is a variety of Lamo, with which it is mutually intelligible. Khams Tibetan speakers refer to the language as Sikhu. gSerkhu is spoken by about 400 people (80 households) in 4 villages of the gSerkhu Valley, which are Benzhui, Muzong, Cuixi, and Sangba, all located in Shangchayu Town, Dzayul County. Dzayul County also has Khams Tibetan speakers who had originally migrated from the Lamo-speaking area of Dongba Township, Dzogang County.

Classification

Suzuki & Nyima (2016, 2018) suggest that Lamo may be a Qiangic language. Guillaume Jacques (2016)Jacques, Guillaumes. 2016
Les journées d'études sur les langues du Sichuan
suggests that mBo is a rGyalrongic language belonging to the Stau- Khroskyabs (Horpa-Lavrung) branch.

Suzuki & Nyima (2018) note that Lamo is closely related to two other recently documented languages of Chamdo, eastern Tibet, namely Larong (spoken in the Lancang River valley of Zogang County and Markam County) and Drag-yab (spoken in southern Zhag'yab County). These languages together are called the Chamdo languages.

Lamo compared with Written Tibetan and Proto-Tibeto-Burman (Nyima & Suzuki 2019):

Lexicon

Suzuki & Nyima (2016) list the following Lamo words.

Phonology

Suzuki & Nyima (2018) report the phonology of the Kyilwa dialect. They have drawn the conclusion that Lamo "tends to have a different phonetic development from the others".

Consonants: /p^h, p, b, t^h, t, d, ʈ, ʈ^h, ɖ, k^h, k, g, q^h, q, ɢ, ʔ, ts^h, ts, dz, tɕ^h, tɕ, dʑ, s, z, ʂ, ɕ, ʑ, x, ɣ, χ, ʁ, h, ɦ, m, m̥, n, n̥, ȵ, ȵ̊, ŋ, ŋ̊, ɴ, ɴ̥, l, l̥, r, w, j/.

Vowels: / i, e, ɛ, a, ɑ, ɔ, o, u, ɯ, ə, ʉ, ɵ/. All of these vowels have creaky