Ladakhi language

The Ladakhi language is a Tibetic language spoken in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. It is the predominant language in the Buddhist-dominated district of Leh, and a minority language in the district of Kargil.

Ladakhi has several dialects: Lehskat, named after Leh where it is spoken, Shamskat, spoken northwest of Leh, Stotskat, spoken in the Indus valley and which unlike the others is tonal, Nubra, spoken north of Leh, the Changthang language, spoken in the Changtang region by the Changpa people, and the Zangskari language, spoken in the Zanskar region of Ladakh.

Name

The Ladakhi language () is also referred to as Bhoti or Bodhi. Supporters of the Bhoti name hold a "lumper" view of the language: they use the term "Bhoti" to refer to Classical Tibetan and treat as the one, proper form of Tibetic languages across the Himalayas. This section of Ladakhi society has demanded inclusion Bhoti to the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. They say that Bhoti is spoken by Ladakhis, Baltis, Tibetans, and throughout the Himalayas from Baltistan to Arunachal Pradesh.

Dialects

The dialects of Ladakhi are:

Lehskat, named after Leh where it is spoken.
Shamskat, spoken northwest of Leh in the sham region of ladakh.
Stotskat, spoken in the upper Indus valley of ladakh and which unlike the others is tonal.
Nubraskat, spoken north of Leh in the nubra region of Ladakh.

Classification

Nicolas Tournadre considers Ladakhi, Balti, and Purgi to be distinct languages on the basis of mutual intelligibility (Zangskari is not as distinct). As a group they are termed Ladakhi–Balti or Western Archaic Tibetan.

Zangskari is a dialect of Ladakhi spoken in Zanskar and also spoken by Buddhists in the upper reaches of Lahaul (Himachal Pradesh) and Paddar (Paldar). It has four subdialects, Stod, Zhung, Sham, and Lungna. It is written using the Tibetan script by Buddhists and the Arabic script by Muslim and Christian Ladakhis.

Phonology

Consonants

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! colspan="2" |

!Labial

!Dental

!Alveolar

!Retroflex

!Palatal

!Velar

!Glottal

! colspan="2" |Nasal

! rowspan="3" |Plosive/ Affricate

!voiceless

!aspirated

!voiced

! rowspan="2" |Fricative

!voiceless

!voiced

! colspan="2" |Trill

! rowspan="2" |Lateral

!plain

!murmured

! colspan="2" |Semivowel

can fricative sounds as allophones that occur within free variation.
has an allophone of a retracted velar stop .
can have allophones when occurring initially before a voiceless consonant.

Vowels

Ladakhi has a regular five vowel system, but with being replaced with , making it unusual, as most languages have . This tendency is more pronounced to the west of Leh, and on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control, in Baltistan. Although the pronunciation is relatively conservative, the Ladakhi language has accumulated significant grammatical differences from the classical, written language.

The question of whether to write colloquial Ladakhi (phalskat) in the Tibetan script or to write an only slightly Ladakhified version of Classical Tibetan (choskat) is controversial in Ladakh. Muslim Ladakhis speak Ladakhi but most do not read the Tibetan script. Most Buddhist Ladakhis can sound out the Tibetan script but do not understand Classical Tibetan, yet many Ladakhi Buddhist scholars insist that Ladakhi must be written only in a form of Classical Tibetan, seeing the vernacular-based orthography only as deviation from the "proper" language. This linguistic convention is a way to express politeness and honor towards the listener, emphasizing the cultural values of respect and courtesy.

Written Ladakhi is most often romanised using modified Wylie transliteration, with th denoting an aspirated dental t, for example.

Grammar

Nouns

Ladakhi nouns inflect for number and case.

There are two numbers: singular (unmarked) and plural (indicated by -kun, -gun or -sək).