Central Tibetan, also known as Dbus, Ü or Ü-Tsang, is the most widely spoken

Tibetic language The Tibetic languages form a well-defined group of languages descended from Old Tibetan (7th to 9th centuries).Tournadre, Nicolas. 2014. "The Tibetic languages and their classification." In ''Trans-Himalayan linguistics, historical and descriptiv ...

and the basis of

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-branch ...

. ''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 Brahmic scripts, Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Lhasa Tibetan, Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese language, Sikkimese, Ladakhi language, Ladakhi, Jire ...

, , 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 Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.) Prestige may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films * ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...

of Lhasa.

Languages or dialects

There are many

mutually intelligible 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 ...

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 ru ...

(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 The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...

(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 Nubri ( Tibetan: ནུབ་རི; ) is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by about 2000 ethnically Tibetan people living in Nubri Valley in northern Central Nepal, upper Gorkhā District of Gandaki Province. Nubri has at least three dialects as ...

, Lhomi, Dhrogpai Gola,

Walungchung Gola Olangchung Gola (locally as Walung or Holung, , historically transcribed as Wallanchoon) is a village (previously: a village development committee) in ward no. 7 of Phaktanglung rural municipality of Taplejung District of Province No. 1 in Nepal ...

(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

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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'' of ...

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