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 Zhag'yab County (Tibetan: བྲག་གཡབ་རྫོང་ Wylie brag g-yab rdzong; ), also spelled Chagyab, is a county of the Chamdo Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China China, officially the People's Republic of C ...

Chamdo Chamdo, officially Qamdo () and also known in Chinese as Changdu, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Its seat is the town of Chengguan in Karuo District. Chamdo is Tibet's third largest city ...

, eastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

. Suzuki & Nyima (2018) document the dialect of Drag-yab spoken in the village of Razi 热孜村 in Xiangdui Town 香堆镇,

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 巴日乡 townships of

. The language is also referred to as both sMa and rMa. Nyima & Suzuki (2019) report the

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

''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

, eastern

, namely Lamo and Larong. Their relationship outside of this group, the

Chamdo languages The Chamdo languages are a group of recently discovered, closely related Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet.Suzuki, Hiroyuki and Tashi Nyima. 2018Historical relationship among three non-Tibetic languages in Chamdo, TAR ''Pr ...

, within the Sino-Tibetan family 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