The East Bodish languages are a small group of non-Tibetic

Bodish languages Bodish, named for the Tibetan ethnonym ''Bod'', is a proposed grouping consisting of the Tibetic languages and associated Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in Tibet, North India, Nepal, Bhutan, and North Pakistan. It has not been demonstrated ...

spoken in eastern

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 ...

and adjacent areas of Tibet and India. They include: * Dakpa (Tawang Monpa) * Dzala *

Nyen Nyenschantz (russian: Ниенша́нц, ''Nienshants''; sv, Nyenskans; fi, Nevanlinna) was a Swedish fortress at the confluence of the Neva River and Okhta River, the site of present-day Saint Petersburg, Russia. Nyenschantz was built in 16 ...

, including Mangde and Phobjib * Chali * Bumthang * Kheng * Kurtöp

George van Driem George "Sjors" van Driem (born 1957) is a Dutch linguist associated with the University of Bern, where he is the chair of Historical Linguistics and directs the Linguistics Institute. Education * Leiden University, 1983–1987 (PhD, ''A Grammar ...

initially proposed that 'Ole belonged to the group, but later decided that it belonged to a group of its own. Although the East Bodish languages are closely related,

Tshangla Tshangla is a Sino-Tibetan language of the Bodish branch closely related to the Tibetic languages. Tshangla is primarily spoken in Eastern Bhutan and acts as a lingua franca in the region; it is also spoken in the adjoining Tawang tract in the I ...

and related languages of eastern Bhutan, also called "Monpa" and predating Dzongkha, form a sister branch not to the East Bodish group, but to its parent Bodish branch. Thus the ambiguous term "Monpa" risks separating languages that should be grouped together, whereas grouping languages together that are quite distinct. Zakhring is apparently also related, though strongly influenced by Miju or a similar language.

Internal classification

Hyslop (2010) classifies the East Bodish languages as follows. ;East Bodish *Dakpa–Dzala ** Dakpa ** Dzala *(core branch) ** Phobjip **Chali–Bumthang *** Chali ***Bumthangic **** Bumthang **** Kheng **** Kurtöp She regards the Dakpa–Dzala and Bumthangic subgroups as secure, and the placement of Phobjip and Chali as more tentative. Lu (2002) divides the "Menba language" (门巴语) into the following subdivisions: *Southern: 30,000 speakers in

Cona County Tsona County () or Cona County () is a county in Shannan prefecture in southern part of Tibet region of China. The county lies immediately to the north of the McMahon Line agreed as the mutual border between British India and Tibet in 1914. Chi ...

Lhoka (Shannan) Prefecture ShannanThe official spelling according to (), also romanized from Tibetan as Lhoka (; ), is a prefecture-level city in the southeastern Tibet Autonomous Region, China. Shannan includes Gonggar County within its jurisdiction with Gongkar Chö Mo ...

, Tibet **Mama dialect 麻玛土语: Mama Township 麻玛乡 (or 麻麻乡), Lebu District 勒布区 ** Dawang dialect 达旺土语: Dawang Township 达旺镇, Mendawang District 门达旺地区 *Northern: 5,000 speakers in

Mêdog County Mêdog, or Metok, or Motuo County (; ), also known as Pemako ( meaning "Lotus Array", ), is a county as well as a traditional region of the prefecture-level city of Nyingchi in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the China, People's Republic of Chin ...

Nyingchi Prefecture Nyingchi (), also known as Linzhi and as Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District. Nyingchi is the location of Buchu Monastery. Economy ...

, Tibet **Wenlang dialect 文浪土语: Wenlang Township 文浪乡, Dexing District 德兴区 **Banjin dialect 邦金土语: Bangjin District 邦金地区

Reconstruction

Hyslop (2014) reconstructs the following Proto-East Bodish forms. * *kwa ‘tooth’ * *kra ‘hair’ * *kak ‘blood’ * *kʰrat ‘waist’ * *lak ‘hand’ * *ná ‘nose’ * *pOskOm (?) ‘knee’ * *rOs ‘bone’ * *gO- ‘head’ * *mE- ‘eye’ * *kram ‘otter’ * *ta ‘horse’ * *kʰa- ‘hen’ * *wam ‘bear’ * *kʰwi ‘dog’ * *kʰaça ‘deer’ * *zV ‘eat’ * *ra ‘come’ * *gal ‘go’ * *lok ‘pour’ * *dot ‘sleep’ * *bi ‘give’ * *kʰar ‘white’ * *mla ‘arrow’ * *gor ‘stone’ * *kʰwe/*tsʰi ‘water’ * *rO (?) ‘wind’ * *On (?) ‘baby’ * *daŋ ‘yesterday’ * *néŋ ‘year’ * *da- ‘today’ * *tʰek ‘one’ * *sum ‘three’ * *ble ‘four’ * *laŋa ‘five’ * *grok ‘six’ * *nís ‘seven’ * *gʲat ‘eight’ * *dOgO ‘nine’ * *kʰal(tʰek) ‘twenty’ * *ŋa ‘1.SG’ * *i/*nVn ‘2.SG’ * *kʰi/*ba ‘3.SG’ * *-ma ‘FUT’ * *lo ‘Q.COP’ Additional reconstructions can be found in Hyslop (2016).Hyslop, Gwendolyn. 2016.
East Bodish reconstructions in a comparative light
'. Fourth Workshop on Sino-Tibetan Languages of Southwest China (STLS-2016). University of Washington, Seattle, September 8–10, 2016.

References

* * {{Sino-Tibetan branches Languages of Bhutan