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Dzongkha Languages
Dzongkha (; ) is a Sino-Tibetan language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script. The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language". , Dzongkha had 171,080 native speakers and about 640,000 total speakers. Dzongkha is considered a South Tibetic language. It is closely related to and partially intelligible with Sikkimese, and to some other Bhutanese languages such as Chocha Ngacha, Brokpa, Brokkat and Lakha. It has a more distant relationship to Standard Tibetan. Spoken Dzongkha and Tibetan are around 50 to 80 percent mutually intelligible. Usage Dzongkha and its dialects are the native tongue of eight western districts of Bhutan (''viz.'' Wangdue Phodrang, , Thimphu, Gasa, Paro, Ha, Dagana and Chukha). There are also some native speakers near the Indian town of Kalimpong, once part of Bhutan but now in North Bengal and in Sikkim. Dzongkha was declared the national language of Bhutan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous country, Bhutan is known as "Druk Yul," or "Land of the Thunder Dragon". Nepal and Bangladesh are located near Bhutan but do not share a land border. The country has a population of over 727,145 and territory of and ranks 133rd in terms of land area and 160th in population. Bhutan is a Constitutional Democratic Monarchy with King as head of state and Prime Minister as head of government. Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism is the state religion and the Je Khenpo is the head of state religion. The subalpine Himalayan mountains in the north rise from the country's lush subtropical plains in the south. In the Bhutanese Himalayas, there are peaks higher than above sea level. Gangkhar Puensum is Bhutan's highest peak and is the highest uncl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sikkimese Language
The Sikkimese language, also called Sikkimese, Bhutia, or Drenjongké (, "Rice Valley language"),"Lost Syllables and Tone Contour in Dzongkha (Bhutan)" ''in'' David Bradley, Eguénie J.A. Henderson and Martine Mazaudon, eds, Prosodic analysis and Asian linguistics: to honour R. K. Sprigg, 115-136; Pacific Linguistics, C-104, 1988 ''Dranjoke'', ''Denjongka'', ''Denzongpeke'' and ''Denzongke'', belongs to the Tibeto-Burman languages. It is spoken by the Bhutia in Sikkim, India and in parts of Province No. 1, Nepal. The Sikkimese people refer to their own language as Drendzongké and their homeland as Drendzong (, "Rice Valley"). Up until 1975 Sikkimese did not have a written language. After gaining Indian Statehood the language was introduced as a school subject in Sikkim and the written language was developed. Script Sikkimese is written using Sambhota script and Zhang Yeshe De Script, which it inherited from Classical Tibetan. Sikkimese phonology and lexicon differ markedly fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dagana District
Dagana District is a district located in Bhutan. Most of the district is populated by Dzongkha speakers. However, in the southwest part near the Sarpang District, Nepali language, Nepali is also spoken as a native language. Administrative divisions Dagana District itself is divided into fourteen village blocks (or ''gewogs''): *Dorona Gewog *Drujegang Gewog *Gesarling Gewog *Goshi Gewog *Karmaling Gewog *Kana Gewog *Khebisa Gewog *Lajab Gewog *Lhamoy Zingkha Gewog *Nichula Gewog *Tashiding Gewog *Tsangkha Gewog *Tsendagang Gewog *Tseza Gewog Environment Like most of the districts of Bhutan, Dagana contains protected areas of Bhutan, environmentally protected areas. In southeastern Dagana that is along the border with India, lies the western half of Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary, covering parts of Karmaling Gewog, Karmaling, Lhamoy Zingkha Gewog, Lhamoy Zingkha and Nichula Gewogs. Phibsoo has no human inhabitants. It has districts that are habituated by Nepali speaking people. Daga Z ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haa District
Haa District ( Dzongkha: ཧཱ་; Wylie: ''Haa''; alternative spellings include "Ha") is one of the 20 dzongkhag or districts comprising Bhutan. An alternative name for the district is "Hidden-Land Rice Valley." It the second least-populated dzongkhag in the country after Gasa.http://www.haa.gov.bt/downloads?Type=12&Sector=AlBhutan Census website The most-spoken language of the district is Dzongkha. The river Haa Chhu, originating at Jomolhari mountain, flows through the district. Mystical history of Haa The name Haa (pronounced "hah"), as well as the more ancient name ''Has'' ( Dzongkha: ཧས་; Wylie: ''Has''; pronounced "hay"), connotes esoteric hiddenness. Haa's major feature is the Haa Valley, a steep north-south valley with a narrow floor. The district is presided over by three mountains collectively referred as "Three Brothers" -- ''Jampelyang, Chana-Dorji, and Chenrezig.'' Black, White, and Haa Gonpa temples Local historians maintain that two important templ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paro District
Paro District (Dzongkha: སྤ་རོ་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Spa-ro rdzong-khag'') is a district (''dzongkhag''), valley, river and town (population 20,000) in Bhutan. It is one of the most historic valleys in Bhutan. Both trade goods and invading Tibetans came over the pass at the head of the valley, giving Paro the closest cultural connection with Tibet of any Bhutanese district. The dominant language in Paro is Dzongkha, the national language. Paro contains the only international airport in Bhutan, Paro Airport. Geography Paro District is bordered by Haa District to the west, Tibet to the north, Thimphu District to the east, and Chukha District to the south. Administrative divisions Paro Districts comprises ten village blocks (or '' gewogs''): * Doga Gewog * Dopshari Gewog * Doteng Gewog * Hungrel Gewog * Lamgong Gewog * Lungnyi Gewog * Naja Gewog * Shapa Gewog *Tsento Gewog * Wangchang Gewog Environment Northern Paro District (the ''gewogs'' of Dot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gasa District
Gasa District or Gasa Dzongkhag ( Dzongkha: མགར་ས་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Mgar-sa rdzong-khag'') is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) comprising Bhutan. The capital of Gasa District is Gasa Dzong near Gasa. It is located in the far north of the county and spans the Middle and High regions of the Tibetan Himalayas. The dominant language of the district is Dzongkha, which is the national language. Related languages, Layakha and Lunanakha, are spoken by semi-nomadic communities in the north of the district. The People's Republic of China claims the northern part of Gasa District. Gasa has an area of , formerly . It had a population of 3,116 as of the 2005 census, making it the largest, least populated, and thus least densely populated of all the dzongkhags; it is also the least developed district of Bhutan. History Gasa was formerly a '' drungkhag'' (sub-district) of the Punakha ''dzongkhag'' (district). It became a separate ''dzongkhag'' in 199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thimphu
Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient capital city of Punakha was replaced by Thimphu as capital in 1955, and in 1961 Thimphu was declared as the capital of the Kingdom of Bhutan by the 3rd Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. The city extends in a north–south direction on the west bank of the valley formed by the Wang Chhu, which flows out into India as the Raidāk River. Thimphu is the List of capital cities by altitude, fifth highest capital in the world by altitude and ranges in altitude from to .Brown, p. 97Palin, p. 245 Unusually for a capital city, Thimphu does not have its own airport, instead relying on the Paro Airport (connected by road some away). Thimphu, as the political and Economy of Bhutan, economic center of Bhutan, has a dominant agriculture and livestoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Punakha
Punakha ( dz, སྤུ་ན་ཁ་) is the administrative centre of Punakha dzongkhag, one of the 20 districts of Bhutan. Punakha was the capital of Bhutan and the seat of government until 1955, when the capital was moved to Thimphu. It is about 72 km away from Thimphu, and it takes about 3 hours by car from the capital, Thimphu. Unlike Thimphu, it is quite warm in winter and hot in summer. It is located at an elevation of 1,200 metres above sea level, and rice is grown as the main crop along the river valleys of two main rivers of Bhutan, the Pho Chu and Mo Chu. Dzongkha is widely spoken in this district. Pungthang Dewachen Gi Phodrang Pungthang Dewachen Phodrang (Palace of Great Happiness) or Punakha Dzong was constructed by Tuebi Zaow Balip under the great command of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1637 and believed to have been completed in a two-year time period. It is also the country's most beautiful Dzong. It is the winter residence of Bhutan's Central Monas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wangdue Phodrang
Wangdue Phodrang (, Dzongkha 'Wangdi Phodr'a) is a town and capital (dzongkhag thromde) of Wangdue Phodrang District in central Bhutan. It is located in Thedtsho Gewog. History The town shares its name with the Wangdue Phodrang Dzong built in 1638 that dominates the district. The name is said to have been given by Ngawang Namgyal, the 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche, who was searching for the best location for a dzong to prevent incursions from the south. At the chosen spot, the Zhabdrung encountered a boy named Wangdi playing beside the river and hence named the dzong "Wangdi's Palace". Fire and reconstruction Wangdi Phodrang Dzong burnt down in the afternoon of 24 June 2012, supposedly because of a faulty electrical water cooker. However, the dzong was being renovated at the time, so most of the historical relics had already been put into storage and were saved from destruction. Shortly after the fire, more than 1000 Japanese sympathizers donated an equivalent of over US$134,500 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutual Intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an important criterion for distinguishing languages from dialects, although sociolinguistic factors are often also used. Intelligibility between languages can be asymmetric, with speakers of one understanding more of the other than speakers of the other understanding the first. When it is relatively symmetric, it is characterized as "mutual". It exists in differing degrees among many related or geographically proximate languages of the world, often in the context of a dialect continuum. Intelligibility Factors An individual's achievement of moderate proficiency or understanding in a language (called L2) other than their first language (L1) typically requires considerable time and effort through study and practical application if the two l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard Tibetan
Lhasa Tibetan (), or Standard Tibetan, is the Tibetan dialect spoken by educated people of Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. It is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the traditional "three-branched" classification of Tibetic languages, the Lhasa dialect belongs to the Central Tibetan branch (the other two being Khams Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan). In terms of mutual intelligibility, speakers of Khams Tibetan are able to communicate at a basic level with Lhasa Tibetan, while Amdo speakers cannot. Both Lhasa Tibetan and Khams Tibetan evolved to become Tone (linguistics), tonal and do not preserve the word-initial consonant clusters, which makes them very far from Classical Tibetan, especially when compared to the more Linguistic conservatism, conservative Amdo Tibetan. Registers Like many languages, Lhasa Tibetan has a variety of Register (sociolinguistics), language registers: * (Wylie transliteration, Wylie: , literally "wikt:demot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lakha Language
Lakha ( "language of the mountain pass", also called "Tshangkha") is a Southern Tibetic language spoken by about 8,000 people in Wangdue Phodrang and Trongsa Districts in central Bhutan. Lakha is spoken by descendants of pastoral yakherd communities. See also *Languages of Bhutan There are two dozen languages of Bhutan, all members of the Tibeto-Burman language family except for Nepali, which is an Indo-Aryan language, and Bhutanese Sign Language. Dzongkha, the national language, is the only native language of Bhutan wit ... References Languages of Bhutan South Bodish languages {{Bhutan-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
